Labyrinth
Posted on Mon Dec 3rd, 2018 @ 1:09pm by Makeba Brown & Gunnery Sergeant Gaagii & Staff Sergeant Shayla Kunadt & Staff Warrant Officer Jennifer Masters - Calhoun & Major Cornelius Tremble & Sergeant Azure Thompson & Corporal Rairror Thoran
Edited on on Fri Dec 28th, 2018 @ 2:48pm
2,703 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Episode 5 - It Would Be Their Pleasure
Location: Tadian IV
Timeline: MD009 1615 hrs
Tuor ‘la Shell was irritated.
All of this ‘mission’ for Cha’ dal was taking longer than she liked. She and her team had moved in, searching the complex as he had requested to bring the arms dealing Kvatha back to him. He was too busy, so she and hers were now searching through the rats warren.
A warren it was too. Whoever had built this complex had built into an original cavern as well as excavating extra storage. With the indigenous rock providing a natural buffer to electronics, they were having to search and secure room by room. It was dark and everything was slow going. Tuor had set up a few traps and was attempting to flush their prey, but it had not happened. She knew her troops would be getting ancy. She felt it and was far more disciplined then the rest.
It was part of the reason why she led.
Her thoughts were leading her to retrace themselves. It was a spiral she did not need. After another hundred heartbeats, she adjusted the disruptor she carried and said, “Enough rest. We continue our sweep.”
Moving, she and her security team continued their fourth sweep back towards what passed for the operations center. The Ska’shash handler moved first, the creature flowing along on it’s two hundred legs, antenna and sniffers sampling the ground as it moved. They had moved maybe fifty Kas when the Ska’shash’s head section reared, it’s antennae and pincers twitching.
“Target,” the handler hissed and Tuor grinned. Her team automatically spread to the sides and began creeping forward.
* * *
Once past the door, the Marines ghosted. They covered ten meters of corridor quickly, moving to a small locker area which held environmental suits and tools: all of which hadn’t seen use in some time. The walls had been hewn from natural rock, but various area’s had been reinforced
Neil just hoped it wasn’t a gauntlet.
Makeba smiled she knew that this was more like the place that Xoica would be hiding. But to her something did seem out of place. There was someone else here she felt it in her bones. However, Makeba was a tactician and information came after it was confirmed and when it was needed. So she adhered to that school of thought and kept it all to herself.
Gaagii decided that he would take up the rear and use his scope to sweep for enemies should they show. For now the place seemed desolate. But the man knew that nothing stayed this quiet for long.
Pushing that thought from his head, he caught Wilson’s eye and nodded. She tapped Gaagii and they ghosted ahead, followed by third squad. Neil waited the prescribed amount of time, then set out with Masters, Brown, Azure and second squad.
The Gunny was taking it as slowly as she could bare, she didn't like this rats nest of a complex, but at the same time this was something that they were trained for. She gave hand signals for Gaagii to move forward and kept her eyes pealed as she pushed up.
Gaagii followed the Gunny's orders and moved to the point position. Wilson followed him, as the RECONN specialist kept his rifle at the ready and swept the area in front of him.
Recon made contact first. Moving into another, larger room they caught movement ahead and lights playing about the tunnel that would, according to the Maquis map, lead to the landing bay.
He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, but as soon as he did he turned to face the direction it came from. With his free hand Gaagii signaled Wilson of his findings and requested orders. He thought it best not to use vocal communication this close to a perspective hostile.
She signaled to slow and to move up, inching foward until they caught sight of what and who was in front of them.
As they moved in, Gaagii and Wilson picked up five humanoid shapes and something that slithered, sweeping in from the double wide tunnel they were exiting. Readouts flashed range and target information across their HUD’s. The Marines had the upper hand briefly, having reached the room first. It appeared to be a storage area: crates were scattered about in disarray.
Wilson checked her phaser, making sure it was on heavy stun. She didn't want to just start shooting right away, but she also didn't want to let potential hostiles get away to maybe run into them again later. Signalling for Gaagii to set his weapon likewise to heavy stun, And to fire at the first sigh of being spotted as she shadowed and waited.
After a three count Gaagii stepped into the corridor that his HUD told him had the targets in it. "We have company..." He said as he engaged the enemy. With two quick blasts from his phaser rifle he stunned two of the five. As he took aim for a third this creature slithered toward him and top of him. The creature attempted to use it's pincers to pierce Gaagii's helmet. With his right hand he used his rifle to fend it off, while his left hand scrambled down to his hip and the tomahawk that lay in it's sheath.
Wilson gave the... Thing slithering across the floor and attacking Gaagii a concentrated shot from her hand phaser, waiting to see if it had any effect. Then she practically threw herself into cover as disruptor fire started to come in. She scrambled to find small Flash Grenades clipped to her belt. Pulling one off and unceremoniously chucking it down the hall in the direction of the fire.
The blasts from Wilson was exactly what Gaagii needed to wriggle his hand to his tomahawk. The creature turned it's head to see where the blast came from and no sooner did it turn then the tomahawk came down into it's head. The head split open and internal fluid gushed forth an onto the Marine's suit. He had no time to clean up though as the disruptor fire erupted. Gaagii ducked behind a group of crates and returned fire. In the chaos that followed the Gunny's flash-bang he was able to take out another member of the enemy team. He signaled that three were down now, but for how long he did not know.
Wilson was pretty pleased with the flash-bang and the head chopping, giving another few phaser blasts at least one aimed at the mostly blind and downed guard, Her phaser still on heavy stun, hopefully that kept them down a while.
Tuor shifted forward and into cover behind one of the shattered crates, her disruptor up and spitting return fire. She was not sure who these foes were, but they would pay. Touching her communication device, she shouted “Luor, we have contact with armed foes. Sweep the place. Release the remaining Ska’Shash and signal the ship. Contingency plan Nu’at.” Her disruptor caught a foe, causing the environmental suited figure to crumble. As the Ska’Shash engaged another, Tuor saw that two of her men go down and she frowned. Her equipment told her there were numbers matching her own and they were proving skilled.
However, they weren’t here to wage a pitched battle.
Tour fired several more times as her remaining guards moved to engage the enemy hand to hand. She’d hired Klingons specifically for this: cannon fodder. She backed toward the corridors they had entered through and began her retreat. As she did, her hood slipped and the Marines caught site of her.
Romulan.
Gaagii scrambled to his feet as the Klingon closed the distance. The sharpshooter had his tomahawks drawn and the Klingon charged in with his Dakhtakh blade. Gaagii swung his weapons and the Klingon was quick to meet the attack, a resounding clang echoed through the chamber as the blades collided. The Klingon lunged in twice and the Marine dodged. The Klingon guard was unfamiliar with tomahawks and as such did not know how they could be used. When he lunged, Gaagii countered by throwing one of his weapons into the Klingon's chest. Stunned at the attack the Klingon warrior stumbles back and collapses dead. It was at this point that the Marine noticed that these Klingons were being led by a Romulan.
Two more Klingons engaged from cover, while a braceas retreated back down the far corridor with the Romulan. One Marine went down to disruptor fire before being dropped by return fire. The other Klingon grew wild in the eyes, letting out a bellowing Hegh, quvHa' sub roQ" (Die, dishonorable sub creature)as he hurtled toward Gunnery Sergeant Wilson.
Mina had to admit that she was more then a little embarrassed by the sound she made when the Klingon lunged at her. She was never one for hand to hand in actual combat, but she did her best. Which was to stick her foot out and kick the oncoming Klingon, then roll backwards, actually hauling him over her then kicking, tossing him as she finally got a phaser shot into him, glad she had chosen to use the hand phaser in here.
He was out and she was on the floor, which may have been better. But she was alive and unharmed? No that last part was wrong. The lights in her helmet where making quite the racket and she suddenly felt like she was sweating a bit to much on her leg.
"Ay coarse i've bin Chibbed. it's nae a Klingon jing until some a body get's stabbed. Ah need tae patch mah suit an' i'll be back wi' ye' fowk." She stayed on the ground, shining her light on her leg. it was by the standards of 'been stabbed by a Klingon, just a scratch. She quickly used on of the suit patches to air seal the gash in the EVA Suit. But made a not that it also stuck to her skin, something that would be unpleasant later. "Some a body check it downed lad"
* * *
Along their chosen path, Neil led keeping close to the left hand side of the tunnel and they had cleared four rooms and three hundred meters of tunnel before they came to a specific interchange and the squad moved to cover positions along all the tunnels that converged.
“This looks like the area you mentioned, Brown.” He sub-vocalized, his whisper mike picking up his speech and relaying it through the headphones the rest wore, “Lets see if your hidey hole is here."
Makeba took a look around, she knelt at the entrance to each of the tunnels at the interchange. When she was done she was laughing and shaking her head. "She went into the tunnel on the far right. That will probably lead to some sort of secure door which will most likely be trapped. If she went that far in she really does not want to be found. Does she even know that we are coming?"
Jenn shrugged. "All I know is after she relayed her location she cut off all forms of communications. We couldn't exactly tell her our exact ETA, just that we would be coming as soon as we got an extraction team."
"She picked the place. If she's went to ground in her bunker, then it's going to be what it is. Everyone stay frosty." Neil sub-vocalized, he began moving down the indicated corridor, the rest of the team moving. The first indication of trouble was a scrabbling sound and then four centipede like creatures came hurtling around a junction corner. His carbine came up, his first shot hitting the rearmost creature, with little or no effect.
Cursing in Klingon, he spat "Contact. Watch your fire, stun may not work." The first three creatures roared past him, bumping into his legs and he felt a searing pain in both legs as hard chitinous blades sliced through his suit and he went down as they jostled and knocked his legs out from under him. The last creature surged up atop of him, pincers slashing against his body armor first, then working up towards his throat. He got his carbine up, blocking it and felt the hundreds of scrabbling legs pushing at him, the creatures weight crushing at him as it crawled over his torso.
Makeba saw the creature as it attacked Tremble. She had no idea what these creatures were. Being unarmed as she was, a fact that she now regretted allowing Tremble to talk her into. She dived for cover behind an outcropping of boulders. She tried to get her bearings.
As soon as Jenn noticed stun might not work, she adjusted the setting of her phaser and started to fire at the creatures to keep em at a distant.
Neil grunted as pincers sliced into his arm and he attempted to scrabble backwards trying to get away from the creature. It was too heavy and the legs grabbed at his enviro suit and he drew his hand phaser from its chest holster and fired up into the creatures body. Unlike the carbine, the hand phaser was set to disrupt and the blast blew through the chiton, sending the smell of bunt...something wafting into the air. A marine moved up, grabbing the drag loop on the back of Neil's suit, even as he fired at one of the creatures.
Shooting another creature with his hand phaser, Neil got to his feet, grunting at the shredded mess his enviro suit was in. He moved toward Brown, seeing that she was seeking cover and he made a decision. He hit the quick release on his carbine and tossed it at Brown when she met his eyes, "It's locked on stun so no disintegration's. Don't make me regret this." He turned and fired at another creature which was weaving towards Masters, missing and he barked out over the teams net, "These things aren't native, so someone brought them here. Watch out for whoever that might be."
Jenn continued firing on the creatures as it was crawling back at them. "Some people might be disappointed about missing all this action. But I could do without." She said as she continued firing. And you know what, normally I'd be all for keeping things alive, but is it wrong to want these creatures dead?"
Azure fired at the creatures to very little effect. Then she remembered that Lance Corporal Thoran had been assigned to cover the rear. "Thoran, get your ass in here double time." She called over the comms.
The Orion heavy weapons specialist entered the room and saw the insectoid things. "Those are some big bugs." He said. "Lucky for you, I'm the Exterminator." And fired his TFL-16 Isomagnetic Disintegrator. It hit one of the creatures, turning it to little more than goo.
The last creature went down in a neon mix of phaser fire and then silence hung in the air. The marines shifted moving back into overwatch automatically following their training.
A Joint Post By
Second Lieutenant Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Warrant Officer Jennifer Masters
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Pioneer
Gunnery Sergeant Wilhelmina Wilson
First Sergeant/Rifle Fire Team 2 Leader, USS Pioneer
Lance Corporal Shayla Kunadt
EVAC Specialist, USS Pioneer
Corporal Azure Thompson
Corpsman Command Fire Team, USS Pioneer
Sergeant Gaagii
RECONN Fire Team Leader, USS Pioneer
Lance Corporal Rairror Thoran
Munitions Specialist, USS Pioneer
Makeba Brown
Maquis Tactical Officer
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