Checkmate, Part II of IV
Posted on Wed Aug 1, 2018 @ 3:06am by Captain Maritza Soran & Civilian 'Key Holder' Dorian Gabriel & Commander Caleb Ryan & Commander Amia Telamon M.D. & Lieutenant Liam Reynolds & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant JG Lucius & Lieutenant Alanna Wells
1,385 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Victory Conditions
Location: DS5 Local Space
Timeline: MD08 1335
Previously on End Game
"Thank you for stating the obvious," Lieutenant Robert Aldrich responded from the Tactical station. "I'll dispatch a team to head them off. You keep working on getting our damn engines back online, or at least a way to knock out the Ararat," he said as he grabbed his weapon and proceeded to the access hatch on the far side of the bridge.
Ensign Nicholas Bolero stepped through the hatch after Aldrich. “You think we can really pull this off, Lieutenant?” the security officer asked, running a hand through his disheveled dirty blonde hair, his blue eyes checking the setting of his phaser. “They outnumber and outgun us.”
And Now the Continuation
The Ararat boarding party materialized in a corridor intersection several decks below the bridge. It seemed eerily deserted, though the slow pulse of the red alert lights showed the ship was at full battle stations. And then there could be heard the sound of running feet towards their location
As soon as the security team materialized in the other ship's corridors, they fanned out a little and raised their rifles. The second group beamed in right behind and followed suit. Annora had hoped for the element of surprise, even a few seconds could make a difference. However, the sound of others heading their direction told Annora that wasn't the case. At this point there were two options, head towards the sound, or let the others come to them.
Sending the second group the opposite direction, Annora took a kneeling position and motioned for the others to do the same.
Liam knelt down and pushed his emotional gift out. "They’re coming. They are very pissed off and intend on hurting us as much as they can," he informed Annora. His hands tightened over his own rifle.
Then he sensed something interesting. "One of them's looking for something additional to us. They know we are here, but one’s frantically searching. Keeping something from the others."
The security chief nodded, grateful for the counselor's presence and telepathic ability. "Good to know, Lieutenant."
With that information, she turned to the others. "As soon as they're within visual range, we'll challenge them. Give them one chance to surrender peacefully. If they refuse, we stun them and keep moving."
Ensign Bolero kept low, hugging the wall. He double checked his rifle was on stun as he followed behind Aldrich. He pulled out his tricorder and tuned it. “Just up ahead, sir,” he said.
And then the two groups ran out of corridor, each turning onto the main corridor at the same time, less than thirty meters apart. As one, the Svikiri crew opened fire, phasers lancing out, mostly in adrenalin-fueled snapshots than careful aim. But sometimes that was enough. The ensign to Annora's left was struck mid thigh in a burning line that cut deep into the thigh. He yelled and fell back.
Ensign Bolero hung at the back of the Svikari defenders, anchoring the rear. He watched the firefight with a keen eye, tucked into a door well. He watched the boarders from the Ararat going down one by one. Remarkably they were holding their own.
Nick couldn’t have that. He changed the setting on his rifle to wide dispersal stun and stepped out, pulling the trigger. The shotgun blast of the phaser energy caught most of the Svikari defenders in the back. They cried out and collapsed.
Nick ducked back into his cover before anyone could shoot him.
There wasn't time to issue a challenge to the mutineers. They came around the corner guns a blazin'. They were doing surprisingly well in holding off the boarding party. Annora instructed a crewman in the rear to call the second team for reinforcement, while she kept up the pressure by returning fire. She was sure they could eventually gain the upper hand, but this was a time sensitive mission. Without warning, she saw a wide phaser blast take out a majority of the opposition from behind. The few that remained standing were just as shocked as she was. Taking advantage of the opening she rose up and charged forward. Those who were able followed suite, while a few remained to assist the wounded.
"Surrender now, and you won't be harmed!" she cried out to their mysterious benefactor.
The response was two phasers streaking out in her direction, burning a line out of the bulkhead a thumbs width from face. Another, unseen to Annora, shot towards Nick. The shooter was lucky, catching him across the belly, in drooping arc, the injured mutineer unable to get his phaser high enough for a instantly killing blow.
“Ungh!” Nick grunted as he got caught by the blast. He managed a hip shot from his phaser, killing the other mutineer. “Son of a bitch! That’s gonna leave a mark!” He sagged down the wall. Once the firing stopped, he tossed his phaser rifle out into the middle of the corridor. “Little help?”
Liam could sense no one was close enough to shoot in the time it would take to get to the injured colleague and ran over to Nick, kicking the rifle back as he did so. He slammed down his first aid kit. "They are regrouping for a moment. They didn't expect one of their party to get killed," he said quietly, pulling out a medical tricorder and pushing a pain killer from a hypospray into the other man’s neck. He scanned the wound, realizing quickly he could cauterize it to treat properly when they got back to the station. He had picked up some medical knowledge from his years helping out in sickbay and being around Amia and other CMOs, but he didn't trust his knowledge to fix this man completely up right now.
"This is going to sting," he told him, handing the rifle back. "You might want to keep hold of that, as you'll be able to use it again," he suggested, trying to get the other man's mind off the wound as he then used a laser scalpel on his belly. He did something he rarely did, but any advantage was an advantage, and caught some stray but very authoritative thoughts, then projected his voice into Annora's mind, hoping she wouldn't freak out. "They are planning to leapfrog us. A secondary team is moving up through corridor J,"
Hearing Liam inside her head briefly threw Annora for a loop. It was a new and unexpected experience, but she would analyze it later.
“Stretlun, head towards Corridor J. Another welcome party is there. Eiadia will take a team from the other way and try to box them in. Failing that, fall back and work on delaying them. Just need to keep them busy,” Annora said over comms.
“Aye, Lieutenant, we're on our way.”
Thankfully Eiadia was close enough to hear the conversation and was already gathering their own team from those still in the fight. Including Liam and Ash, Annora had five under her. The goal was to keep her team small and mobile. "We're to get to the bridge as fast as possible. Don't stop unless we have to."
Ensign Nick Bolero grunted as Liam worked on his wound. “Don’t worry about me, Liam. I’ve been worse.” He flashed the counselor a familiar, handsome smile the Betazoid hadn’t seen for a few years, since back on the Illustrious.
The man Liam knew as Ash Danrisa forced himself up and gripped his rifle. “C’mon. We have to stop Hayashi.”
"Yeah," Liam said, stunned. "And after that, a beer and an explanation as to why you’re...not you," he stated confused. There wasn't time to process it now so he just followed the other man.
To Be Continued
Commander Maritza Soran
CO
DS5
Lt (JG) Leonora Dell
Operations officer
DS5
Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five
Ensign Brianthe Oaxaca
Assistant Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five
Cmdr Amia Telamon
CMO - DS5
Lieutenant JG Lucus
Chief Engineer
Deep Space Five
Lieutenant JG Annora Tessaro
Asst Chief Security Officer
DS5
Lieutenant Liam Reynolds
Chief Counselor
DS5
The Mutineers
NPCs by Thom
RSS Feed