Under Siege (Part II of III)
Posted on Thu Mar 18, 2021 @ 8:32pm by Second Lieutenant Emily Ransom & Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Means III & Captain Tam "Demon" Haican & Second Lieutenant Sh'Zera & Master Sergeant Miranda Schultz & Master Sergeant Jian Zhao & Gunnery Sergeant Terry Henderson & Civilian Hydel Turvan
Edited on on Tue Apr 20, 2021 @ 9:37am
2,027 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Portal Complex
Timeline: MD 04 0600
Previously in Under Siege
"You strike me as being a very perceptive individual, Colonel Means." Gul Meran said, his patience running thin. "So I want you to listen very carefully to me. Run and hide. I want you to run and hide, so that when I capture your Command, I want to stand toe to toe with you and look you in the eye and tell you what a waste this effort was," the Cardassian commander said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"If I find out that you were killed in some cave in or by a disruptor blast, I'm going to be very disappointed. So please, do me this one favor," he said.
"End communication," Gul Meran said to his communications officer.
And now the continuation
Training Camp
The camp was in a bustle as the alert went out. Actual hostiles? Second Lieutenant Emily Ransom had reunited with the Marines after the portal complex brought an actual Marine contingent to Pangea. A year ago she had been working with Security as their armory officer and weapons trainer. It was good to be back in Marine country though.
Emily rolled out of her bedroll in her underwear and tank top, grabbing for her tactical dress and pulling it on. Tall, slender, leggy, and buxom, the redhead ran her fingers through her hair to remove any tangles and quickly pulled it up into a ponytail. She settled her cap on her head and grabbed up the sniper pulse phaser she carried as the unit’s sniper and hurried out of her tent. As she went, she stuffed a big wad of shredded bubble gum into her mouth, chewed it, and blew a big bubble.
Local communications were still good, so when the call for help from the portal complex came in the alert when out across the camp site.
Flight crews scrambled to their fighter or transport.
Pilots bolted from their hooches and began firing up their craft.
Marines rushed to don their combat gear, grabbing packs, kits, grenades, and their other weapons, then thundered for their post or transport.
“What’s the sitch?” Emily asked another Marine, peeling bubble gum off her freckled face and back into her mouth, her green eyes scanning the area for threats. She heard loud booms of artillery coming from the portal complex. “Oh, that isn’t good…”
"Cardassians," Captain Orele said, walking past. "Get your gear. You're going with the team to cover the evacuation, Get as many civilians as we can out. Get high, watch for the enemy, you know the drill."
Emily nodded. She ran off to the transport and tossed her kit inside, cradling her sniper rifle in her arms and blowing another large pink bubble as she settled into position at the outer hatch.
***
Skies above
1st Lieutenant Sovrak, call sign Wraith, had just shot down another Hideki starfighter when the call came in with coordinates on where to attack the Cardassian command post. "Night Stalkers," he began, using the unit's former name out of respect for Captain Haican, whom he did not know was alive or dead, "this is Wraith. Listen up. Just received new target coordinates on enemy ground control location. Form up on me and let's go knock their door down."
Hearing their old unit name, the core of Marine pilots that had served under Tam when he was ACAG, a year ago, suddenly felt a surge of energy. They started to send in their replies as they moved to firm up on Sovrak's fighter.
“Banshee acknowledged,” 2nd Lieutenant Donovan O'Callaghan’s Scottish accent came over the line.
“Cheetah here, roger that,” 2nd Lieutenant Devora Nogalla answered next, the young Bolian woman still feeling the last of anger over her earlier loss up in orbit.
“Death Dealer acknowledges, Wraith,” 2nd Lieutenant Micheal jub'Cha'kU'Un growled in his mic. Seeing the slaughter of his people, even though he was only half-Klingon, was making his warrior's blood boil.
“Satan’s Wife copies, Lead,” 2nd Lieutenant Christina Sutherland replied as she wheeled over and sped toward the gathering group of fighters.
These five veteran pilots formed up into an arrowhead formation, with Sovrak in lead position, and then they sped off towards their target, intent on getting some payback for all the pain the Cardassians had caused today.
Portal Complex
The screen went blank, and Means grabbed his weapon, turning to his reserve Marines. He had bought them some time, but was it enough? "Zhao. You stay here and be ready to drop those shields when our back up arrives."
"Sir." The Master Sergeant gave him a grim nod.
Means scanned the faces of the rest with him around the field command station. "The rest of you with me. We are heading to the river. If things go south that is our only way out. If we can't hold the river we will fall back into the caves. Let’s move!"
Peter Parhtz showed up just in time to receive the orders. He fell in line with the others, his rifle at the ready.
Outside the Portal Complex
Schultz had several injuries from rock fragments, but they were mostly surface wounds. She'd lost track of the number of Cardassians she'd taken out in the fight. More had been transported away, but the number of Cardassians wasn't slowing any.
She took out two more combatants before the rock beside her disintegrated. She rolled back into a small crevice behind her and crawled to another spot she'd scouted earlier. It wasn't as ideal as the others had been, but she might be able to find a better location from there.
From the south of the complex
"Alright, boys and girls," Lieutenant Buck Winters said over his helmet mic. "We've got civies to evac and jarheads to reinforce. The shields will only be down for a short few seconds. Everyone stay tight and get to your assigned LZ. Let's do this job as quickly as we can, that way, our fighter cover doesn't need to loiter too long."
Several acknowledgements returned to his ears as his fellow pilots agreed with his orders.
Reaching over to his comm unit, he switched to the dedicated emergency comm channel. "Any ground forces this net, this is Angel Flight, inbound for civilians evac and friendly reinforcements. How copy, over?"
There was no response, not from the Portal Caverns of the training camp. His sensors were building a picture though. Scores of Cardassians, with heavy weaponry and vehicles, were arrayed at around the main entrance to the Portal Caverns camp, and spread out to form a perimeter, though the trap wasn't completely closed yet. The Marines there were trapped inside.
In her Stryker, Lt Sh'Zera spotted the blips incoming, and visual magnification confirmed that friendlies were inbound. "Target the Cardassian SAMs." It wouldn't relieve much of the stress on the main cavern shields, but it would give the incoming fighters a better chance.
"Aye, ma'am." The Strykers turret swiveled away from the phaser cannons aimed at the shields, and centred its own phasers on the mobile torpedo batteries. The heavy beam jumped to life, spearing into the shield around the batteries.
"Hold it steady, that shield will collapse," Sh'zera urged. "Then head for the next."
The fighting for the river had been fierce. Seems the Cardassians had been thinking the same as he, and were intent on cutting off any avenue of escape. Looking up, Means yelled out, "REINFORCEMENTS COMING IN 10 O'CLOCK HIGH! HOLD WHAT YOU GOT."
Cardassian Complex
Legate Turvan was continuing to study the tactical reports as they cascaded across his screen. He had not anticipated the battle for the Portal Complex to be going this way. The Federation had been able to resist a considerable blitz from Gul Meran's forces. Despite their losses, they still had managed to keep the shield up.
"Gul Meran, report!" Legate Turvan said as he brought up the communication link with the Field Commander.
"Legate, the Federation forces are continuing to resist our forces," Gul Meran replied. "This would be considerably more efficient if I could direct Gul Vashur to begin an orbital bombardment on their position," he said. He was going up against an evenly matched opponent. That was not how Gul Meran nor any other Cardassian was trained for combat. You always sought the advantage through overwhelming numbers and firepower. There was no honor in fighting fair. It simply meant your opponent had a fair chance of defeating you.
"Your request is denied, Denat," Legate Turvan said, using a softer tone by addressing the commander by his first name. "I need every vessel up there for the taking and holding of Deep Space 5. The key to holding this planet is holding that station. We caught them when there were no other support vessels docked, but that won't last. Eventually Starfleet will attempt to launch a counter-offensive, and if we are holding two valuable assets that will force them to reconsider their plans," the Cardassian legate said. He had thought about this for a very long time. Although battle was always a fluid situation, he knew that he had to think five to ten steps ahead of his opponents.
Gul Meran was about to respond when he received an update on his side of the communication.
"Huh...it appears the Federation are marshalling their air assets. I'm also detecting movement within the Research Complex. I assume they are preparing to retrieve civilians within the complex for some rescue attempt," Gul Meran said.
"How heroic," the two Cardassians said almost simultaneously.
"I'll redirect the 945th to begin targeting the transport shut--" Gul Meran began to say.
"No! You will do no such thing!" Legate Turvan said quickly. "If you target civilians, then that will be broadcast all across the Federation. We'll be known as butchers who slaughtered women and children," the Cardassian diplomat said.
"This is just as much about the PR battle as it is the ground battle," he said. "Defeating a belligerent Starfleet combatant force is one thing, but innocent civilians is completely different. You are not to engage any civilian or similarly marked vessel," Legate Turvan said. "I trust that you'll be able to properly defend your position and continue to press your advantage against the Portal.”.
Gul Meran sighed with frustration. However, as frustrated as he was, he knew it would not be helpful for the mission to question the wisdom of the Legate's orders.
"Very well. I will notify my troops to d--." He was interrupted as the communication link cut out. Almost instantaneously, the alarm klaxons went off, notifying the Tactical Operations Center that the complex was under attack and that the SAM sites were being bombarded.
Gul Meran brought up the tactical display and saw that the Marines were focusing their firepower on the Complex's sole anti-air assets. The Cardassian gritted his teeth at the annoyance. It meant that he was going to have to direct ground assets away from the siege on the portal and secure the Federation complex to deal with the enemy fighters.
"Communication, send word to Gil Metsah to dispatch his Fighters to deal with the Starfleet fighters that have reached the surface. Avoid any civilian carriers, but I want Lt. Col Mean's air-support eradicated. Chances are their air-support is severely limited due to the station being cut off," he said to his Communications Officer.
"Yes, Gul," the younger Cardassian said as she worked to transmit the message to the squadron leader.
The Cardassians were disadvantaged. Gul Meran had a regiment worth of troops and whatever available assets they were able to establish within the research complex without arousing much suspicion. In ordinary military operations, they would have been much more equipped with heavy artillery and vehicles. Instead, he had to rely upon the larger number of troops, a single squadron of fighters, and not much else. He had been taught to fight with overwhelming firepower, not simply an evenly match scrimmage.
To be Continued…
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