Chaotic Reunion (Part VI)

Posted on Sun Apr 18, 2021 @ 2:14am by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Captain Tam "Demon" Haican & Civilian Jason Haines

1,135 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Pangaea
Timeline: MD04 between 0800 and 0900

[PREVIOUSLY]

"Well, before anything, we are going to have to scout and look around and get a good picture of things before we set out", Jason said. "Unless we have to, we are going to leave the Cardassians alone. Obscurity is our friend until we know there are Starfleet ships around the planet taking on the Cardassians. I know was that we can keep the Cardassians from tracking us in the field, but they will fall slow us down some as you can't move too fast if you want it to be as close to fool proof as possible. But, moving at night will help. We have to keep our heads about us."

[CONTINUED]

"I agree. I've got the shuttle, but I don't think we should take it in too close. It might help with scanning, if we need it. I might also be able to tap into their communications, especially during the evacuation." She wasn't sure if that would be wise at this stage. There would be a lot of Cardassians and Xi'Cadians around. "You have a better idea of what will work than I do. I'll follow your lead."

"Hopefully I will have an idea at some point", Jason said with a smirk. "but right now we should probably try to get some rest, despite the time."

"I'm glad you said rest. I'm not sure I can sleep right now." There would be plenty of time for ideas over the next days and weeks.

"Well, get what you can get", Jason said with a smile. "It may become a commodity that we are on short supply in the next few days.

"Yes, but lately, so are you," she teased. He did have a good point. Especially as they'd need to be up at night to find people.

Sometime Later

Jason saw out the eyes of a snap owl, as he called them due to the snapping sound they made with their beaks. It glided through the peaceful night air of Pangaea. It circled a small pond once before it flapped its wings a couple of times before continuing its glide over the forest landscape. Jason didn’t know how long it was before it started to descend and land in a tree near an area where the trees had been blown over by an unknown, fiery force. The broken trees and stumps were severely charred.

Jason’s point of view changed to that of a small vermin as it scurried across the burnt ground. Over stumps, under burnt trees, around and about rocks. It stopped suddenly as the shadow of the snap owl passed over it. Luckily, it wasn’t spotted as it was partially obscured by the scorched tree above it. Once the owl was out of site, it journeyed further until it reached a place where the ground had become a large hole. The vermin scurried down in the hole.

The view got dimmer, but Jason could still see as the creature scurried down the hole that opened into a tunnel. After about thirty or forty feet, the tunnel split to the left and to the right. Jason felt the weirdest sensation as he soon found himself looking out two different sets of eyes at the same time. One continued to the left. It was hard to tell distance and time as the tunnel seemed to go on forever and ever. After some time, he stopped where the tunnel seemed to have collapsed. There was the faint sound of talking. Then a few of the rocks started to push away from the point of collapse and at first a hand and then an arm clad in green came out of the hole and continued to push away rock. The view grew dark.

From the other set of eyes, there was the right tunnel where the amount of light seemed to grow slightly. It smelt damp and a bit musty and every once and a while the sound of water dripping could be heard. It got lighter and lighter in the tunnel until it was almost too much to bear. After one blink of the eye, Jason was no longer looking out the vermin’s eyes, but his own. He brought his hand up to shield his eyes and thought he could see a figure. It was dressed in white and had red hair down to its shoulder.

“Hello”, Jason said.

“A stóirín”, came a familiar sounding, Irish accented voice. “you keep your wits about you and don’t be following your Da too soon.”

“Mom”, Jason said reaching out in the dream before his eyes snapped open.

Jason looked about the room and remembered he was at Alanna’s. She had managed to drift to sleep. He looked at her and smiled. Jason closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep, but after a few minutes he realized he wasn’t going to be able to, given the dream and other thoughts in his head. He carefully and quietly went down the stairs.

“You can go and get some sleep if you want”, Jason said to Tam.

Tam didn't move, he was staring out into space, his knuckles white around the neck of the microphone he was holding. "It's over," he whispered.

"What did you hear?" Jason asked.

"We surrendered." Tam said the words as if they were foul tasting. "Commander Ryan surrendered both the station and the planet to the damn Cardassians!" He popped up and hurled the microphone against the wall. It shattered into a dozen pieces upon impact, but Tam did not notice. He was roiling with anger. The air around him seemed charged with static electricity. "I'll kill them all," he growled fiercely.

Alanna woke to the message from the station and to Tam's explosive anger. She dressed quickly and ran downstairs to where the two men were, coming in to hear the last part of Tam's comment. "No, you won't," she said quietly. She went over to Jason and hugged him. "It's true. I heard the message upstairs. All Starfleet personnel and Marines are to be evacuated. We're off the grid here and I'm staying. There will be refugees who need our help."

She turned to Tam. "I'm sorry, but if that's your goal, you can't stay here. This place needs to stay hidden and going on a rampage is the best way to be found. But if you want to help with some covert activities later, we could use you." He could feel that she was angry and worried about the portal complex, but she was determined to do what she could.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer & Resident Archaeologist
Deep Space 5 & Pangaea

Jason Haines
Resident Beach-Bum
Deep Space 5

Captain Tam "Demon" Haican
CAG
Deep Space 5

 

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