It Begins (Part III of VII)
Posted on Mon Feb 15, 2021 @ 8:47am by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Means III & Lieutenant Yukiko Winters & Civilian Jason Haines & Charghwl'IH of the House of Soval & Civilian Hydel Turvan
2,172 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Pangaea Colony and environs
Timeline: MD04 0430
Previously in It begins
Gul Denat and his subordinate commanders poured over the maps of the colony districts. His orders were direct and simple: his regiment was to seize control of the portal complex and to secure the Pangaea Colony district. He had already dispatched the 118th Battalion consisting of three artillery batteries and two infantry companies to capture the portals from Starfleet control. The portals were over five hundred kilometers away from the colony. The unit had been dispatched several days prior under the guise of a training exercise. As he watched the initial reports coming back to him, he realized that his assumption was correct: the entrenched marines would not simply surrender.
"Sir! Glinn Aryel's unit has secured the two independent districts," an aide reported to the commanding gul. "Gul Rishku is standing by to engage the Klingon District. Their defenses should provide some difficulty, but Gul Rishku is confident they can be overwhelmed," the aide added.
And now the continuation
The Romulan quarter was closer to the woods, at their request. They liked being alone, and several of them could use the woods to walk to areas of scientific interest without running into the Cardassians, something they generally avoided.
The sound of explosions woke them. The four scientists didn't wait to find out what was going on. The only thing of importance they had was their work. They took all their data and samples and ran into the woods to seek shelter as far away as they could.
The head of the Romulan Quarter ran to his computer to report to the ambassador, but communications were down. "Find out what's going on. Get weapons," he ordered. "Send the families into the woods."
Two dozen men and women went out to defend the quarter.
***
The sound of battle stirred the small detachment of Klingons within the colony and moved into the area to see Cardassians on the attack. All attempts to contact the station had failed. Arming themselves with blade, batleth, and disruptor they joined the fight and the glory of battle.
"chegHchu djajVam djajKak!" [Today is a good day to die]
Disruptor fire from covered positions struck down several warriors as they fought their way. "You cowards!"
Glinn Madun, commander of the Light Infantry Company tasked with suppressing the Klingon compound, watched from afar as the Klingons began flooding from one of their buildings. He had anticipated some type of response from the Klingon colony. This was to be a research planet, but who had ever heard of a Klingon scientist? They were all soldiers, regardless of what they claimed otherwise. He knew they would not surrender willingly.
"Attack!" the glinn ordered as he led the charge into the thick crowd of Klingon bat'leths and shouting phrases. The immediate clash quickly devolved into hand-to-hand combat. Madun found himself engaged with a rather tall Klingon who swiped wide with his Bat'leth. Madun side-stepped the swipe and quickly drove his dagger into the Klingon's side repeatedly. The Klingon howled as he took a step back on his left foot, reaching for his wound and dropping his guard momentarily. Madun took the opportunity to drive his head into the Klingon's nose, forcing him to stagger back as he threw his head back, spurting blood. Glinn Madun took his dagger and drove it directly through the chin of the Klingon and into his brain stem.
"One down," the glinn muttered as he forcefully withdrew his dagger and searched for his next opponent on the field.
He didn't have to wait long as more armed and angry Klingons stepped from their homes to face the occupying force. They charged in from all sides, weilding gin'tak, swords and knives. They came for Madun like feral beasts.
The glinn jumped towards the first group that came within ten feet of him with his dagger, catching on of them across the eye. He used the momentum to send his boot into the face of another Klingon that had charged towards him and tried to grab at his legs. Unfortunately, it left Madun off-balance as a third Klingon swiped at his back leg with the edge of his bat'leth. Madun staggered as he tried to cover his back and strike at the advancing Klingon. Unfortunately, just as he raised his arm, the first Klingon from before grabbed it, forcefully squeezing the Cardassian's wrist.
Within moments the three Klingons seized upon the Cardassian, each grabbing a flailing limb. The glinn continued to fight with every last ounce of strength he had remaining in his body just as he saw the bat'leth rising above the older Klingon's head. The last thing the Cardassian officer would ever see was the reflection of other Cardassians locked in similarly violent struggles throughout the field.
"For Cardass--!"
A mek'leth nearly took the Cardassians head from his shoulders, and ended his tributr before he could finish. As the body fell to the ground the Klingon raised his weapon. "For the Empire!".
Looking to the Romulans who had had family members in the compound. "See to your people we will hold off the Cardassians!"
Fighters screamed over the colony trying to provide cover to this evacuating and targeting those forces assaulting the colony
Two of the five wyvern transports landed near the colony and the Marines poured out.
There was a signal to hold fire when they encountered the civilians and the platoon sergeant grabbed a one of her troops. "Get them out of here!"
"...but."
"Now Marine! You can come back for us."
The Lance Corporal swallowed hard as he watch his sergeant disappear and looked to to the frightened expressions on the faces of those around him....
An explosion went off and he moved to cover a pair for Romulan children and he slang into action. "Let's go. On the transport!"
Those civilians nearby didn't have to think twice, running for the transports while the sournd of fighting could be heard from the Klingon section only a few streets away
The lance corporal was herding the group onto the transport while he lingered behind providing cover. As the last boarded a group of Cardassians burst from the treeline and he shouted back to the crew. "Get them out of here!"
Dropping to a knee he bagan to lay down cover fire as the transport lifted off. He felt the rush of the thruster exhaust as he tried to give them as much time as possible. He would never know if they made it to safety of not as he took blast after blast and being thrown into his back his open eye starring up at the stars.
***
Silk had come down just the evening before. She was going to do what she had been recruited before to do. Peer into others, screw things up, fight like hell, or just throw a wrench into things. She was already up and ready when things started. "Crap in a bucket," she muttered, and threw on the sexy dress she had brought with her. She wanted to grab a weapon, but that would do no good. Luckily she was already at the port district, so while that would be a priority for the Cardassians, she should be able to blend in with the assorted various types that were in the place. Her original goal was to mess up communications, and depending on how things went with the station, which she had no doubt was a priority target, her next would be to just make life a miserable hell. That meant sabotage, screwing things up as much as possible, and collecting as much data as possible if she could hook up with another counter group.
It did not take too long before the Cardassian forces entered the area and started going through. “Nothing here but a bunch of leftover civilians. Mostly workers, traders, sex workers,” one of the Cardassians said as he had rounded all of them up. Silk just cowered with the rest, pretending to be frightened and blending in as much as possible.
“Don't take chances. Check them all out. I do not trust that some of the so-called workers and traders may be spies.”
“What about the girls? None of them look like they could bowl over a bowl of soup. Some of the troops might be wanting to have some reward anyway.”
There was a long pause. “Check them over, and if they are alright, have them escorted over.”
“Yes, sir,” the one Cardassian, said and then waved the muzzle of his weapon at her and the rest. "Alright, over this way; the rest of you, that way."
Once separated, he started going through each and asking questions. He got to Silk and asked, "Human?"
"N-n-n-nooo," Silk stammered. "Angosian," she said finally. The Cardassian looked her over and then shrugged. “Alright all you pretties, you are to go with those soldiers. Anything funny and they will not hesitate to remove those pretty faces of yours, understand?"
She nodded with the rest of girls, keeping up the fright and exuding waves of non-threat, which should help smooth things for now. It was exactly as she wanted, to get to the main quarters. So far, so good, she thought as she and the others were marched toward the main Cardassian quarters here.
All along the way, she began to muck about a bit with sending thoughts that she was special and perhaps might be a special prize for one of the higher up officers. Finally getting to the area the guards there started sorting them and one was looking at her when one of the escorts spoke up. "Think the Gul might really like this one. Looks a bit fresher than the rest."
There was a bit of discussion and finally there was agreement and the guard pushed at her. "Alright pretty you go this way,"
Silk kept her act up as being slightly frightened and compliant.
While she walked she looked at the various positions of things, especially anything that looked like communication equipment. She finally spotted what looked like temporary extra relay areas set up and smile slightly. They would be target one.
***
Jason had fallen asleep in the cavern before being able to explore and map the cave more. He had been in the water one way or the other for hours yesterday. On top of that, the burn on his leg had made him a bit weaker. Given how worn out he was, his sleep was deep, and for the first time in over a month, he had not dreamt about the station. The only thing that had even remotely disturbed his sleep were the bugs and a couple of small snakes that crawled over the new obstacle in their environment.
As his mind wandered in and out of various random dreams, he started to hear people calling his name. Some softly, some loud. Some strangers, others he knew. Lastly he heard his mother's voice whisper sharply, "Jason!"
With that Jason's eyes snapped open and bolted into a sitting position. He looked around, shaken by the experience, his heart was beating rapidly. He stood up and winced and let out a hiss. His leg hurt much more than it did yesterday. He flipped his light on and looked at it. It was quite red and there were some odd looking green lines in he skin. He didn't really want to know or think about it right now.
He picked his staff up to use as support and flashed his light around the cave.
'Something's wrong', he thought as he looked about.
He was worried. He needed to get out of here. He needed to find Alanna. The question was, waste time looking around down here to try and find any way out or just go back the way he came? He wasn't sure how far inland, if at all, the passage had gone, nor where any exits might put him. He did know where he was in relation to, 'Haines Cove' as he had grown to call it in his head and the pitfalls he faced ahead of him, and roughly how long it would take him to get back.
After eating some of his nutrient bars, he did his best to make things look how they did when he came in. If anyone did find this place, he didn't want them to know someone had been here recently. He would be back, he couldn't afford not to be. This place was way too important and way too dangerous not to come back. If this were indeed a map like he thought, he couldn't let the wrong hands get a hold of it. Perhaps the universe would be better off if he didn't let anyone get a hold of it. That would be a decision he would have to make later. He put his scuba gear back on and slipped into the water.
To be Continued…
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