Closing Doors (Part I of IV)

Posted on Sat Nov 9, 2019 @ 10:23pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro

1,199 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Risa, but not as we know it.
Timeline: MD11 1930-2100

[ON]

Ch'Zath and his friends were either dead or dying. The Vulcan soldiers sent to apprehend them were either dead or dying. Smoke rose up from the crater where the shuttle was now a burning twist of aluminium and titanium and all the other things shuttles were made of. Black smoke billowed into the air as a marker of where they were.

The mission had turned into a SNAFU in the blink of an eye. To make things worse, Jason ran off to parts unknown. If there was any consolation to the whole scenario, the surviving Andorians gave as good as they got, taking down the Vulcans with them.

The security team was a bit worse for wear, but still functioning. Despite that, their mission was essentially at an end. All that remained now was to return to the portal and hope it was still intact.

"Commander, we need to leave!" Annora raised her voice to be heard among the din.

“Yes.” Caleb had to agree with his chief of security. He closed Ch’Zath’s eyes. “Ah will get that bastard Sovok for ya,” he promised quietly. Then he straightened up. “The portal is another trap,” he said. “An’ Lt. Haines has run off to who knows where.” Caleb surveyed their surroundings and then pointed toward where the mountain descended into the jungle. “We need ta get out of sight, find somewhere safe ta hunker down. Then we need to recon the portal site while we wait for Haines. We still have our weapons, an’ now we got theirs, as well. An’ we still got the survival supplies we were gonna give the Andorians. We should be able ta hold out for a while, at least, maybe try an’ figure out a way ta get a signal through that portal. Haines seemed ta indicate maybe Betazoid telepathy could work.”

A six person guerilla team against an undetermined number of murderous Vulcans wasn't the best odds, but would have to do. "We had planned to skirt the cliffs at Suraya Bay. I still think it's our best bet. We can use the jungle as cover in the meantime."

“That works,” Caleb said. “We need to disappear, get off their radar, so they don’t know where we are.” Caleb glanced at the sky. “Sun’s goin’ down. We should hit the portal by dusk.”

"I'd expect the portal to be guarded still, but hopefully our friends in green on the other side realized something is up and have held their end of the portal." She wasn't fully sure how the Commander or the Marines would know the situation had gone to pieces, but if nothing else, expected them to prevent any further incursions.

"Martin, Vandenberg, take the middle. Akioka, stick with the Commander. Kawalsky, you're with me. Your show, Commander. You want to take point, or should I?"

Caleb’s own Security instincts pushed him to take the lead, but as mission commander, he knew he should let Annora do her job. “Go ahead, Lieutenant,” he told her.

"Roger that, sir." Annora set off at a moderate pace. Ideally she'd move faster, but, considering they had wounded, a slightly slower pace would be better. Walking in a slightly staggered formation, the group headed away from the remains of the shuttle and towards the jungle's edge.

Caleb moved to the front to help hack at the foliage until they reached the deeper jungle beneath the high canopy where the undergrowth was reduced do to lack of light and the only obstacles were a few hanging vines and lianas. They he fell back again and kept his eyes open for any wildlife. He remembered his own trek through Risa’s thick jungles, and his leg ached in sympathy. He’d been carrying Aleczandra, had just buried his wife, and had a piece of shrapnel in his thigh that he didn’t dare remove. He was running a fever from infection and nearly delusional from blood loss.

“This don’t bring up pleasant memories,” Caleb murmured as he hacked at a vine.

Upon reaching the jungle, Annora swapped her rifle for a combat knife. A large blade would work better, but wasn't available.

"As a MACO, we did our jungle training in India. Didn't particularly enjoy it. From a strategic standpoint, it's a double edged sword. You're less exposed than, say, the savannah, but there's also more places for the other side to ambush you."

“Had some great-grandfather fight in Vietnam in the way back,” Caleb said. “His journals said it was the worst thing ever. The VC were experts at ambushes an’ traps like that,” he agreed. “Punji sticks an’ all that.”

They found a stream and paused for a rest. Caleb drank thirstily and refilled his canteen. “An’ this is all bringin’ back a lot of bad memories,” he admitted quietly. He kept expecting to break through into a clearing with a crashed shuttle in it.

But it wasn't the clearing with the crashed shuttle. It was the edge of the clearing with the portal circle. On the far side, some two thousand meters, there was clearly a fight going on, two figures moving together, and between them and the away team, another cluster of Vulcan soldiers was moving in

Caleb held up his fist to the others to stop. He looked at Annora. “We have the drop on them,” he said, indicating the second cluster of Vulcans, keeping his voice low to avoid their excellent hearing. “Stun first. Kill if you must,” he told the rest of the away team. “Keep in cover.”

Caleb put his rifle to his shoulder and looked down the sights. His first beam, nearly silent in the sound of the melee, caught the rearmost Vulcan, who barely made a sound as he slumped to the grass.

The team dropped their packs before moving to a kneeling position. It didn't take long for five phaser beams to join that of Commander Ryan in weeding out the second group of Vulcans closing in on the clearing.

---

The Vulcans had Jason and Alanna surrounded and covered with their long arms; despite Sovok's death there was nowhere left to run.

Flushed and covered in sweat, and weaker than a half drowned kitten, Tarik couldn't have done anything to Jason personally. But he didn't need to. He gave them one last glare and said, "Kill them."

But there was no killing blow. The back rank of Vulcans fell suddenly, felled where they stood by phaser rifles. Tarik and the survivors spun around, suddenly finding themselves attacked from behind. They scrambled for cover, but they were caught out in the open, and the Starfleet members had the cover of the jungle. They dropped prone to minimize exposure.

“Fish in a barrel,” Caleb said with a grim smile. “Cover me,” he told Annora. Then he yanked one of the grenades off his vest and stood, throwing it into the center of the group of prone Vulcans.

To Be Continued…

Lieutenant Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
Deep Space Five

Lieutenant (jg) Erich Hartmann
Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space Five

Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer
Deep Space Five

 

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