Trek to a Different Time & Place (Part IV)

Posted on Tue Aug 21, 2018 @ 2:12am by Ensign Jessica Mayhew & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas
Edited on on Fri Aug 31, 2018 @ 2:34pm

1,967 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Victory Conditions
Location: Cardassian Territory - War Time
Timeline: MD 08 (Simultaneous with Checkmate)

OLD:

As Legate Umar began to walk away, Bretav jerked violently within his grasp. Although the boy was not strong enough completely wrestle free from the larger man, it was enough to throw Umar off balance. This opening gave Ensign Kivan the moments he needed to run directly towards the Cardassian and tackle him, trying to knock the knife away from the boy's neck.

The two fell to the ground and wrestled. Umar headbutted the younger Cardassian in the face and flipped him over, pinning him to the ground. "This is where you will die," he said as he headbutted Kivan again, causing him to lose his grip over the dagger and allowing Umar to bring it directly into his side.

“Kivan!” Jessica yelled. She squeezed the trigger, putting a hole in Umar’s chest.

"AAGHHH!" Ens. Kivan shouted as he continued to roll in pain, trying his best to cover the still open wound and ignoring Umar's now slumped body beside him.


NEW:

Jessica rushed over. “You okay?” she asked Bretav. She put the disruptor down beside her as she knelt beside Kivan. “Let me see it,” she said, picking up the dagger and cutting open his tunic and undershirt so she could see the wound and how bad it was. “Bretav, can you get the medical kit from the supplies? It’s in my pack. It has a red cross on it.” She nodded over toward where the Cardassians had put down their equipment when they stopped to attempt contact with this times Umar.

Jessica looked around. They were too open and exposed, risking timeline contamination. But she couldn’t risk moving Kivan yet.

Bretav recoiled in fear as he saw death play out in front of him. He looked towards the much older Cardassian soldier and saw that although he laid there, completely lifeless, his eyes were still open and staring upward towards the clear Cardassian sky. If he had not just seen him shot by the disruptor, Bretav would have thought the man was still alive, but just...surprised.

His attention shifted back to the two alien soldiers when he heard the part-Cardassian scream in pain. It was obvious that the man was in pain, for the way he shouted obscenities in standard Cardassian and the other language that he still did not understand. The amount of blood coming from his side was more than aBretav had ever seen outside of a Cardassian before. The grass below and around him became more and more red as it spread outward from his soaked uniform.

Bretav shook his head and muttered to himself as he began to crawl backwards and away from the alien soldiers. He knew that he had to get away from them before someone came and shot him the same way the aliens had shot the other Cardassians. He began to run. He was not completely certain where he was running, but he knew that he had to get away.

Jessica looked up. “Bretav!” she called after the boy. Damn it! She didn’t have time to chase after him. Kivan was bleeding out. “Hold on, Kivan,” she said, dashing over toward their gear and grabbing the medkit.

Ensign Kivan was semi-coherent as Jessica spoke to him and eventually reached for the medical kit. He was rolling back and forth crying out in pain, but desperately cradling his wound to try, fruitlessly, to stop the bleeding. He wasn't a medical officer, but he had taken enough battlefield medical courses to recognize that he would die soon if Jessica wasn't able to stop the bleeding.

"J-J-Just go! Get out of here," he said through clenched teeth.

“Can’t leave a Cardassian in a Starfleet uniform lying here in the middle of a war between our two sides,” Jessica reminded him. She grabbed out a vascular regenerator and a clotting agent. “This is going to hurt,” Jessica said.

The Human woman yanked the knife out and immediately dumped the clotting powder into the wound. Then she gritted her teeth and set to work with the vascular regenerator. “I’m not getting hauled before Temporal Investigations because you decided to die on me.” She gave him a grin to show she was teasing, before she grew serious again, cutely biting her lip as she focused on fixing the trauma.

Once she was able to seal the wound, Kivan groaned in slight relief. For the time being he was spared the indignity of bleeding to death. However, he was certain that the knife had gone deep enough to cause internal injuries, injuries that would turn fatal if he did not get medical treatment soon. He allowed Jessica to help him to his feet with one arm around her shoulder.

"Okay. We...We came from that direction," he groaned, trying not to take a deep breathe. "If we stick to the tree line, we should be able to make it back to where we came without being detected by any incoming Cardassians," he said as the two made their way back towards the portal site.

“Can we activate the portal?” Jessica asked. She grabbed the gear, trying to leave no trace of their presence, and handed Kivan a canteen. “Drink,” she said. All that blood loss, it was amazing he could stand. “Should we hole up so you can rest and I can clean up this mess?” They had two other bodies she needed to drag with them back at the portal site.

Kivan was struggling to maintain his balance as he was walking. Thankfully Cardassian physiology was capable of still functioning even after suffering significant injuries. It was the reptilian aspect of his physiology that allowed damaged organs to begin to regenerate, or at the very least slow down deterioration until the individual could get proper medical attention. Kivan would most certainly die from his injuries if they were not treated.

"No. We have to get out of here before their Quick Response Force arrives," he said in between gulps from the canteen. "The sooner we can get out, the better. Just grab our gear and anything else that can identify us," he said as he began to get up again. "By the time they arrive, they'll find the dead Cardassians and just assume they were killed by Jem'Hadar," he said with hope. Friendly-fire was not an uncommon occurrence between the Dominion and their Cardassian allies, so it would not be hard to believe such a thing had occurred.

“But it’s a temporal anomaly,” Jessica said. “Umar is going to find himself.” She frowned. Kivan was right, though. “I might have something.” She grabbed up their gear and scrounged around, then pulled out a plasma grenade. She tinkered a bit with the detonator and then tossed it among the bodies.

“Let’s go!”

Jessica hurried Kivan along toward the trees as the grenade exploded in a flash of fiery hot gasses behind them. She felt the heat of it on her back. Hopefully the plasma would be hot enough to atomize anything left of the Cardassians. It was the best she could do.

The two quickly made their way away from the smouldering scene, but still staying within the trees and coverage to hide them from any aerial drones that might be surveilling the area. They had made it about two kilometers from the site when Kivan groaned in pain and fell to one knee. Even Cardassian physiology had its limits.

"Let's...stop here and setup the equipment to open the portal. I think...I think we're far enough away," he said between gasps. He wasn't too confident that he'd be able to make it another several meters.

“Okay,” Jessica said. She handed him a canteen to keep hydrated and checked the bandage and the wound. She stuck him with an antibiotic from the medkit and then a painkiller. “Tell me what to do.”

Kivan assisted where he could, since he was the only surviving crew member with enough technical skill to activate the portal. He could tell by the difficulty he was having in breathing that several of his ribs were fractured, but he soldiered on regardless.

"Okay. Verteron activity is increasing," he said to Jessica as he stepped back. "Give it a few more moments and the displacement field should activate and open the portal for our particular temporal address...so to speak," he said.

Jessica nodded, holding her phaser rifle and keeping an eye on the area around, hoping the Cardassians weren’t able to detect the verteron activity. Something moved in the bushes, and she raised her rifle, but it turned out to be a Cardassian vole.

As the field began to take shape, Kivan pushed himself back up to his feet and took a deep breathe. If his calculations were correct, then they would return to Pangaea just a few hours after their departure. However, there was no way for him to properly account for the shift in chroniton displacement due to the loss of over half of the original expedition. Unfortunately, there was no other choice.

"I'll go first," he shouted over the loud din of the portal. He figured if he was scattered into a million atoms or lost in time, then he could get it over with relatively quickly.

"Sesoghoke(Let's go!)" he shouted to himself more so than anyone else as he entered the portal.

Jessica nodded, still watching their backs. It made sense. Kivan was badly injured. He needed medical attention. Once Kivan had gone, Jess turned and jumped through the portal herself.

As the blonde security officer emerged from the portal she was greeted by the weakened, but still conscious, form of a Cardassian and Bajoran hybrid engineer. "It took you long enough," he groaned as he continued to hold his ribs.

Jessica gave Kivan a look. “How long?” she asked, glancing back at the portal. “I jumped through, like, five seconds behind you.”

"From my calculations, we were gone for several, possibly four, days. However, I arrived here at least twelve hours before you did," he said as he tossed her a padd he was previously reviewing. "I've been making myself comfortable waiting for you," he mused.

“Four days!” Jessica said in amazement. “Why didn’t you call for help?” She shipped up her rifle and knelt beside him. “Lie still. You’re badly injured. Let me check your wound.” He could have sepsis by now.

"I've made contact with DS5. Unfortunately, we missed a serious incident that took place. Every ship is on alert and the station is on lockdown. It turns out that one of our ships opened fired on the Cardassians...and us!" he said, still in disbelief. "They said we were to stay put until a Marine dispatch could arrive to retrieve us and 'secure the site'," he said.

Jessica frowned. “Did you tell them you were nearly killed and needed immediate medical attention?” she scolded, pulling out the medical kit again. She ran the sterilizer over the wound and scanned it a bit for any infection.

Ensign Kivan sighed at the welcomed relief. He was still badly injured, but the assistance did help him. "I didn't have time before the signal cut out. Something about the portal prevents subspace signals from being transmitted clearly. Either way, they've got a shuttle on its way down to come get us. I'm just glad you came through before our ride got here," he said through clenched teeth.

He watched as the portal began to contract on itself and slowly phase out of existence. Ensign Kivan was grateful for the damn thing to be closed. Hopefully for a good long time.

---

Ens. Jessica Mayhew
Security officer
NPC Caleb Ryan

Ens. Kivan Ta'Gas
Engineer Officer
NPC

 

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