Left Behind 2

Posted on Fri Mar 18, 2022 @ 7:33am by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Master Sergeant Miranda Schultz & Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Means III & Civilian Jason Haines & Second Lieutenant Sh'Zera & Second Lieutenant Emily Ransom & Master Sergeant Jian Zhao & Gunnery Sergeant Terry Henderson

3,122 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum

Earlier...

Means took a breath, looking at Zhao. "Zhao, if you don't detect our grenade, you will consider my team lost and will have to find another way out. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." The Master Sergeant gave him a nod.

Terry nodded to the orders and went off to prepare the wounded for movement. Most would be able to get out with minimal assistance, but there were a few that would definitely need help.

Schultz elected to go with the wounded and give any assistance necessary. Means had a good team with him, and there were far more wounded than the medics could deal with alone.

Now the Continuation...


Means hooked into the lines and prepared to lower himself down.

“Good luck, sir,” Emily said, cracking a few chem lights and tying them to their own thin lines, dropping them into the pit to try and illuminate the river. They illuminated a dry shelf with the river flowing swiftly by.

With a wink from his remaining eye, Means grinned. "Luck? This is nothing. When we get out of here, ask me about the Mercer op."

Emily smiled. “Yes, sir.” She chuckled.

Means dropped into the hole and landed on the currently dry area near the underground river. Lights had been set up for the transfer of personnel and gear once he and his team were on the outside. As he tossed the lines aside, he glanced around. Even though he was far from a geologist, it was obvious where the water lines were and that this cavern would be completely filled from time to time.

As a lieutenant was closing up his pockets, Means glanced at his other volunteer. "Ready, Sergeant?"

"Ready as anyone can be, sir."

The trio did a final check on each other to ensure their gear was secure, and once finished they moved into the water and stepped into the main flow. Their head lamps provided the only light in the darkness as they floated along.

The current carried them off at a decent pace for a good distance before picking up considerable speed. Means called out to the nearby spot of light, "Be ready for obstacles and rapids! We might even go over some falls!" There was a reply that sounded like an "Aye, sir," but it was hard to tell with the sound of rushing water echoing all around them. Means prepared himself by pulling his legs up into a crouch.

As the water rippled and began to churn around them, the struggle was to keep their heads above water and their lungs full of air. Means's head came up spitting and gulping in air and he saw that one of the lights in front of him had stopped moving and he was closing on it fast. Swimming hard, he glanced back at the man behind him, yelling out to him, "SWIM FOR THE SIDE!"

When he neared the forward Marine he saw he was out of the water, reaching out. Swimming harder, he made for the rock and reached up. He missed. Seconds later he felt himself falling, then plunging into the water below. His arms flailed, steadying and orienting himself. A sharp pain shot through him as he hit a rock hard, his left arm now nearly useless. The current steadied and, finding the bottom, Means found his footing and pushed up. When he broke the surface he could hear his team calling out.

"COLONEL!"

Swimming for the edge of a pool, Means pulled himself out of the water and rolled onto his back.

"COLONEL?"

"I'M OKAY! I'M OKAY! BUT I THINK MY ARM IS DISLOCATED! RIG A LINE AND SEND ONE DOWN! THE OTHER WILL NEED TO STAY AND WARN THE REST!"

"ROGER THAT!"

After a few minutes one of the Marines at the top of the falls came swinging off the top and began lowering himself down. Once at the base of the falls he dropped into the pool and swam over to his CO. After lifting himself out of the water, he moved around behind the colonel to check his arm. "Just had to show off..."

"Huh. Well, someone had to show you young...AHH!...how it's done."

"Yep, it's dislocated. See what happens when ya go off by yourself?" Positioning his CO's arm, he prepared to pop it back in, and after getting a sharp nod, he lifted and pulled. They both felt, rather than heard, the pop, but afterward Means was slowly rotating and putting his arm through it's range of motion. "Good job. Where did you learn to do that?"

Grinning, the soaked sergeant replied, "I saw it in a holoprogram once."

Means chuckled. "Smart ass." He cast his lamp around the area to see where they would need to go to continue their way out, but he didn't see any area indicating an outflow of water.

The pair jumped back into the water and reexamined the area to no avail. Meeting back at the ledge, the sergeant spoke up. "Maybe there's an underwater outlet?"

"I was thinking the same thing, but we will have to be careful." They both tightened their lamps and began to slowly search for a way out under the pool's surface.

After several unsuccessful dives, Means broke the surface, swimming back to the ledge to rest his shoulder. He was just about there when Sergeant Quinton surfaced, shouting, "I found something!"

Treading water, Means turned. "What is it?"

"Sir, looks like a cavern leading off to the east. I can go check it out and--"

"Not yet. Rest first. We've been swimming and diving for a while now and there's no telling where that cavern leads, if anywhere." Turning back to the ledge, Means pulled himself out of the water and spun, reaching out to help his Marine out of the water.

Instead of taking hold of a hand, Means' hand closed on Quinton's day pack. "Sir. We don't have time to wait."

There was no arguing that, and Means tossed the pack onto the ledge, only to see his Marine take a deep breath and plunge beneath the surface.

Removing his own pack, Means pocketed his grenades and dove in after him. His shoulder screamed with pain, but he swam on, following the light several yards ahead. He was nearing his limits when suddenly the barren rock and clear water of the cave system gave way to murkier water and vegetation. Seeing the change, they swam upwards until their heads broke the surface to a star filled sky. With stifled gasps they looked around for any signs of Cardassian activity. Thankfully there was none.

Means looked back towards the mountains before turning back. "How are you feeling, Sergeant?"

"Fresh mountain air. No spoons shooting. Couldn't be better, sir. How's the arm, sir?"

"Been better. Can you make it back there and inform the LT?"

"No problem. Just need to catch my breath."

"Okay. You rest for a bit. Use the triox in your emergency kit if you need. I'm gonna head to that rock face and signal the others." He judged the swim and distance from the shore to the rocks. "I'll pull the pin in, say, twenty minutes."

As they parted, Means began side-stroking towards the shore to spare his bad arm. Last he'd looked, Sgt. Quinton had been floating on his back after taking the triox. By the time Means reached the shore he was gone.

The hike to the rock face was just what he had needed to warm himself. He looked about and found a good place to set off the grenade. He dropped the grenade into a crevice formed by several large slabs of rock and took cover and waited. The blast sent up debris, and small shards of rock rained down over him.

His signal sent, Means stood, dusted himself off, and headed back to the shore.

It wasn’t long before Emily came through with the next group, breaking the surface with a gasp, her red hair plastered to her face. “Whoo! Wasn’t sure I’d make it there,” she admitted as she clambered out of the water. “Cold in there, though! I think that’s runoff from the mountains. Never gets sunlight.” She chucked her rifle and pack to the ground and peeled off her outer jacket to squeeze it out, leaving her in her soaking white tank top.

Terry wasn't happy with the situation. It would be difficult getting the wounded through the water. They were damned if they did, damned if they didn't. Hypothermia and stress on their bodies could make some of the wounded here die. On the other hand, if they were found by the Cardassians, they would die or worse, become hostages.

He looked at them all and said, "Okay, getting through here is going to be tough. There is a possibility that the water could do bad things to you, the least of all is killing you. Do you think you can handle it? No heroes here."

One of the more severely wounded said, "I'd rather die in the water than become a prisoner of the spoon-heads, Gunny."

"Well then, it is settled," Terry replied. "Prepare to get wet and cold."

Emily, in her wet tank top and BDU trousers, waded into the pool to help catch the wounded and get them onto dry ground, her red hair plastered to her forehead. She shook it out of her green eyes as she worked to heave a stretcher up onto the grassy shore.

“Quite the ride, wasn’t it, Private?” she asked him. “At least now you got something to write home about, instead of sitting there polishing your gun.” She gave him a playful wink and turned to help the next team coming down the pipe.


[Nearby Caves - Haines/Wells]

The caves that Jason and Alanna had been setting up were coming along nicely. They had a few light sources set up, a water bin, and a few cots. Jason was becoming a bit hopeful about being able to keep people safe here. He worked on adjusting the newer tricorder that he had been given by Temporal to reflect sensor readings and mask their presence as they found their way into another cave. He cocked his head for a moment and looked to Alanna.

"That sounded like an explosion," he said, disturbed.

He did a scan with the other tricorder he had.

"I'm getting a variety of life signs, quite a few Humans. They are about two clicks away. Not that far," he said to Alanna. "Can you confirm that?"

He got his phaser and picked up his staff as he moved to the cave entrance.

She checked her tricorder. "They weren't there the last time I checked," she said. "Where did they come from?" It was a rhetorical question. Neither one of them had any idea. "We aren't close to anything, are we?"

"There may be more caves," Jason said, “that people may have found. Let's go check it out. I'll take point. Trace, you stay between me and Alanna, okay. You do what we tell you, okay?"

Trace nodded.

"Shall we?" Jason asked Alanna.

"Surely," she replied. "It's a worthy conundrum."

Jason made sure he had his flashlight, staff, knife, and phaser, and a first aid kit.

"Alright, let's go see what we can find." he said, and started to lead them into the caves.

The noise from the caves led them to a passage that went out what could only be a back way into a small valley with a large lake.


[Unnamed Lake]

With his arm now in a sling, Means had watched as more and more heads, intermixed with packs and other supplies, broke the surface. He had watched with pride as his people took the initiative and set up lines to pull the wounded, the exhausted to shore. Able bodied Marines pushed themselves further and further in order to do what was needed.

Now he knelt next to the bodies of those that had not survived the trip. Some had succumbed to their wounds, hypothermia, or had drowned and been unable to be resuscitated. Rising, he moved towards the end of the row where the Doc was finishing the collection of comm badges, tags, and other personal effects they may have had on them.

As he approached he heard a snap from within the treeline. He and the Marines in the area dropped instinctively, aiming their weapons in the direction of the sound.

Emily, still wet and cold from her dips in the icy mountain runoff helping Marines out of the water, grabbed her rifle with the others. She pushed her red hair from her face and stood in cover behind a tree to aim her phaser at the sound in the brush. It was probably just an animal; no way the spoonheads could have tracked them yet. But just in case--.

---

It had taken them a while to move through the caves and out the back, but Jason had caught sight of the Marines through the tree lines. Jason quietly pointed them out to Alanna. They weren't detecting them because of the tricorder Jason had rigged. Trace moved a bit and stepped on a branch and it made a loud crack.

Good thing they weren't Cardassians, Jason thought.

Not wanting to give the Marines a reason to start taking random shots, Jason called out, "Marines, we are coming out of the tree line. We are from the colony and the station."

Emily heard the voice. Federation Standard. No accent. Human? “Come out slowly, hands out where we can see them,” she called back. “No sudden movements. No funny business.”

"What does she expect? A song and dance routine?" Alanna muttered. "I'm Lieutenant Alanna Wells, Starfleet," she called out loud as they slowly emerged from the trees.

Emily eyed the woman. Well, she wasn't a Cardassian or Xi’Cadian. The redhead lowered her rifle and blew a pink bubble with the gum she chewed. “Where’d you all come from, Fleeters?” she asked. “You’re a long way from anywhere.”

"I'm the only Fleeter," Alanna said. She nodded to Jason. "He's civilian. I've been working on Pangaea for several months. I work with the portal complex -- or I did."

Jason didn't bother to correct Alanna. She'd kill him if he actually admitted he was working with Temporal.

"I'm the resident beach bum and thought I would come inland given all the explosions," Jason replied. "I thought it would be safer closer to everyone. Didn't expect we would blow it, both here and on the station."

That was blunt. Alanna hoped the Marine didn't take exception to it, although she agreed with him.

“We were all surprised,” Emily said, motioning them to follow her back to the makeshift camp the others were establishing. “We were on training maneuvers when we got hit. We hold up in the portal caverns, then blew out a back way into an underground river and came out here. We’re regrouping now.”

"Has the portal complex fallen?" Alanna asked, half-afraid to hear the answer.

Emily nodded. “We got overrun,” she said. “They had light artillery and air support. We blew the entrance, so they won’t be able to access the portals, at least not without a lot of work and equipment.”

"At least for now." Alyssa sighed. "I'm glad you got out. Is there anything we can do to help, or should we talk to the Colonel?"

“I’ll bring you to him,” Emily said. “We have some wounded, others with a touch of hypothermia. That mountain runoff was cold. But no extra dead yet. I don’t suppose you science type have created a field guide on what’s good to eat on this planet. I’ll be heading out for some hunting soon. Rations only last so long.”

"No field guide, but I am familiar with many of the edible plants," Alanna replied. "There are caves nearby that are suitable for habitation, too."

"There are some fruit trees in the area," Jason added. "And from experience, Lieutenant, there are still many things on the planet that would like to eat us, so be mindful of that, as not all of them show up on sensors."

“They have some cloak or something?” Emily asked. “That’s fine, though. We learn the old fashioned way, too, in the Marines. It’s not all tricorders and phasers.”

"Glad to hear it," Jason said. "Something tells me that we are going to be doing things the old fashioned way for a little bit. At least until Starfleet and the Federation decide how they are going to react. So, why don't we go speak with the colonel so we can get people undercover. Don't want the Cardassians pinging in on our location."

Alanna nodded her head in agreement.

Emily nodded. “This way.”

The science officer looked around, taking mental notes of the Marines and the area. If the Marines didn't set up here, she was considering its use for refugees.

Jason looked about and then followed the lieutenant. He wondered what sort of individual Colonel Means was. He knew of him as those who had time travelled in anyway and were in the current time had been required reading in his extended TI training, but it didn't always indicate what sort of person they were. It would be interesting, to say the least.

Alanna worried about the portal complex. If the Cardassians had control of DS5, did that mean the portals would respond to Cardassian command? Or did they still consider Soran the one in charge? She would have to talk to Jason about it later. Maybe he could turn off the portals until the Federation got the planet back. Or until they could talk to Captain Soran.

“Colonel Means,” Emily said, approaching the man and giving off a salute. “Found some Fleeters wandering the perimeter,” she reported.

'Wandering the perimeter?' Jason thought as he raised his eyebrows a little. He looked at Alanna and rolled his eyes.

Alanna grinned back at Jason, then she turned to Means. "Hello again, Colonel. Welcome to the neighborhood. If you'll give us a few minutes to clear out the cave, you can move in."

____
OFF

Jason Haines
DS5 Resident Beach Bum

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer and Rabble Rouser
Deep Space 5

Master Sergeant Miranda Schultz
Infantryman
Deep Space 5 and Pangaea

Master Sergeant Jian Zhao
Infantryman
Deep Space 5

Gunnery Sergeant Terry Henderson
Combat Medic
Deep Space 5

Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Means III
Marine CO
Deep Space 5

Second Lieutenant Emily Ransom
Infantryman
Deep Space 5

Second Lieutenant Sh'Zera
Acting Commander
Deep Space 5 and Pangaea

 

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