Assessing the situation...
Posted on Fri Sep 12th, 2014 @ 10:33pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Arianna D'Tal & Commander Eliana Masters
Mission:
Bloodpath
Location: Taranok IV
Timeline: Shortly after "Lost Contact"
Three people sat in an armored van. Arianna peered through a hole that had been made for looking out. She saw soldiers walking the streets, shooting anyone they found alive.
"We've got to get out of here!" Denova said quickly.
"Shut your mouth, or we're all dead." The guard told the man sternly.
"I need a weapon.." Arianna said absently, as she continued to watch outside.
"No." The guard replied. "You don't need a weapon-"
Arianna turned to look at him, a serious expression showing on her face. "My phaser doesn't work anymore." She explained. "If you want someone to have your back in a fire fight, I need a weapon that works."
The guard sighed, shaking his head as he pulled a pistol from his side holster. "You know how to use one of these?"
"Show me." Arianna told him.
"What!?" Jim said. "You're giving a weapon to this young girl!?"
The guard pushed a button on the side, dropping the clip out of the gun to show it to her. "Push this button to drop your ammo clip." He explained, as he put it back in. "It holds 15 rounds. After that, you need a new clip." He handed her the gun to let her examine it.
Arianna took the gun from him, looking it over. "How do i fire it?"
"Put your finger on the trigger, aim, and then pull the trigger." No sooner did he say it, the side door slid open, and a man with a gun took aim.
Without hesitating, Arianna pointed the gun, and fired, sending a bullet through the man's head. "Now we're in business." She said as he hit the ground. "Let's get out of here!"
As they moved out of the van, neither of Arianna's companions seemed to notice that her eyes were both pitch black. Her temper had taken over, but in this situation, she was more worried about keeping the three of them alive... something her temper might very well help her with.
They moved down the street, Arianna, and the guards keeping their weapons ready, as they slipped into a nearby alley.
"What's our next move?"
Diplomats always wanted to talk things through.
The guard had taken cover behind a low wall that ran the length of one the buildings that created the alleyway. The muted sound of boots on pavement could be heard running by, but it was the metallic tink of something bouncing off the wall that caught everyone's attention.
"Flash! Get to cover!"
An innocuous, metallic cylinder exploded in the alleyway, rendering anyone who had not had the reflexes to look away blind. For the moment, everyone was deaf but as their senses started to recover, the sound of projectiles whizzing over their heads dominated the soundscape.
At the guard's urging, Arianna had covered her head, avoiding the flash, but not the bang. Her ears rang heavily for only a few seconds, before she heard the sounds of gun fire, and phasers.
Jim on the other hand hadn't been so lucky. He had both been blinded, and rendered deaf for several seconds. The first sound he heard was Arianna calling out.
"Get down!" Arianna ordered. Now she was really mad. Both herself, and the guard took turns popping off shots, each hit taking out one of their attackers, until all her gun did was click. "I'm out!" She said as she dropped the clip.
The trio were entrenched behind cover, but with their current loadout and ammunition situation, options were beginning to run out. On the opposite end of the alleyway, the sound of weapons fire ceased momentarily. A frantic shout split through the silence when the sound of additional weapons fire reverberated through the atmosphere.
Denova peered over the edge of the wall just in time to see an armed combatant gunned down in the opening of the alleyway. The sound of multiple pairs of boots echoed around, getting nearer by the second.
"Hands up where we can see them! Identify yourselves!"
The guard raised his gun, ready to fire, but Arianna pushed his arm down.
"No no! Don't shoot!" She told him. "I think they're on our side."
At the order of the group of strangers holding guns, Jim promptly put is hands in the air. "I'm a Starfleet Diplomat."
Arianna held her hands where they could be seen, a fresh clip in one hand, and the empty gun in the other. "Petty Officer D'Tal." She said to identify herself. "I'm a pilot with Starfleet. Who are you?"
"My name is Durion, from the Prepheradus Seventh Militia. I have heard of this Starfleet, but as long as you fight for Prepheradus, we can consider ourselves allies. If you are responsible for holding off the squad at the end of this alleyway, I suppose we owe you. That," Durion pointed behind them, "is a children's hospital that has yet to be evacuated."
Durion reached into his tactical vest and retrieved a map of the area. The initial level of detail on the small digital display showed the entire continent that Arianna and Jim had flown over on their way down through the atmosphere.
"This is Quaturian Parish," the militiaman pointed before swiping the screen to zoom in to the capital city. "This is Prepheradus, built around the government complex at the center. Judging by the direction of the blast, it is likely that the invaders have targeted the complex. Long range communications are down, and I fear it may be difficult to organize any troops to prepare for whatever is next."
"It was either hold them off, or die." Arianna said seriously. "From the looks of things, this appears to be some kind of invasion." Arianna explained, as she put the clip into the gun, closing the chamber to allow it to load. "If I had to take a guess, I'd say it's happening on a planetary scale." She looked at Durion, as her eyes began to slowly shift from black to crystal blue. "You wouldn't happen to have anymore ammo clips for this weapon... would you?"
"It is good you know how to fight," Durion nodded, signalling other members of his squad to rearm the guard and the duo that had arrived from Starbase 80. "We have a weapons cache located three blocks from here. We are going there now to regroup and come up with a plan. You may join us."
As they handed Jim a weapon, he shook his head. "I'm a diplomat." He explained. "I'm not trained for combat."
"Typical." Arianna said smartly, as she took the offered clips from the others, placing them in her pocket. She turned back to Durion. She realized at that point, that she was the 'leader' of the trio, which suited her just fine. "I'd say your offer is the best idea we have of staying alive right now." She glanced at the others, before looking back at him again. "I transported him from a Starbase in the Stratkas system. If I could get in contact with that base, I can get reinforcements... Does that weapons cache have communications equipment?"
"Yes, but I am uncertain of its status. I must admit, half of this mission's purpose has been to find out exactly what we have as far as personnel and equipment go," Durion explained as he peeked around the corner of the building and looked down the street. The scene had fallen into an eerie silence, no doubt the calm before the tumultuous storm that was to follow.
"The gods are watching over this one. He knows how to survive, even if he has not fought before," the Prepheradian militiaman smiled at the wide-eyed expression on the diplomat's face. Keeping calm in these circumstances was crucial - one misstep could have consequences, and Durion hated consequences.
"You said your name was D'Tal?" Durion asked.
"Yes." Arianna replied simply. Her eyes were now their normal crystal blue color, leaving her in control of her emotions for the time being.
"Alright, three blocks that way, D'Tal," the militiaman pointed. "Just a walk in the park."
"Call me Arianna." She said to Durion, then turned to Jim. "You... stay close. I don't want to have to go chasing after you to protect you." With that, she readied her gun, the guard following suit as they started moving in the direction he had pointed. "Let's go."
The group did not face much in the way of resistance as they progressed towards the cache. One thing was evident - the closer they got towards the government center of the city, the more damage there seemed to be to the buildings and infrastructure. The prescribed three blocks passed and Durion signaled for the group to follow as he approached the door.
"The electronic access is going to be useless," Durion shook his head in the general direction of the singed door. "We'll have to find our way in more creatively, any ideas?"
Gina had her own hands full. A straight forward mission had gone downhill fast. At the moment she was prepared to find a place to hide if needed but only as a last resort. Relieved to see what appeared to be a group of friendlies not too far ahead. Approaching the group carefully making it clear she happened to be one of them.
"Good to see your looking to achieve the same thing I am."
"Yes," Durion simply nodded in return. "Reestablishing communications is our main goal. Any equipment that could potentially be used is inside the cache as you know, but the electronic lock has been damaged in the explosion. Do you happen to have the manual override for it?"
"Override this!"
To the surprise of many of those gathered, Jim Denova, the Federation diplomat, had found a piece of rebar lying in the wreckage and had bludgeoned the lock. Out of either sheer, dumb luck or calculated, brute force, he had successfully broken the locking mechanism and the door sat ajar. Without any comment on the robustness of the security at the facility, Durion moved towards the building and forced the door to open further, permitting the team to walk inside.
"Our only hope," Denova continued, "is that the concrete here was thick enough to protect any electronic equipment from the resultant EMP blast."
Arianna took point, raising her gun, as she entered into the hallway beyond the door, several of the others right on her tail.
She came to another door, simply kicking it open.
As the door opened, a woman wearing a standard military outfit was checking her weapon. She looked up with a gasp as the door flew open.
"Don't move!" Arianna yelled out, along with one of the others. "Drop the weapon, and put your hands on top of your head!"
The woman hesitated, deciding whether to do as she was told, or try to fight back. Another short moment, and Arianna yelled again.
"Do it now!" She snapped, and the woman finally obeyed.
"Ok ok!" the stranger said, and she lowered her weapon to the floor, and kicked it away. "Just don't shoot!"
As the woman stood back up to place her hands on her head, Arianna's voice was a lot less demanding as she asked. "Who are you?"
"Drop your weapon, and keep your hands where I can see them." The voice was just loud enough to be heard by everyone as a man stepped into view, pointing a gun at Arianna.
Arianna put her hands up submissively, not yet moving to put down the gun. "I'm with Starfleet." She said in reply. "I'm here to help keep the peace."
Janzen looked at the woman in the strange uniform, but recognized the name Starfleet. He looked at another man who seemed to be in charge of the others. "Who are you?"
"My name is Durion, Seventh Militia. We were hoping to rendezvous with others and ascertain the status of any equipment. Do you have any more information about what has happened other than what is readily observable?" The big guard seemed to yield to Arianna's commanding posture. At the very least, he did not indicate whether or not the others in the room were familiar to him.
"No." Janzen said, putting his weapon away. "You should consider yourselves lucky that I didn't shoot you on sight."
Marsay picked her weapon back up. "The communication equipment here works, but all we can seem to get out of it is static." She explained. "There's no guarantee that any messages we send out are being received by anyone."
Arianna looked at Janzen somewhat hopefully. "If you'll let me look at it, I might be able to do something with it... I hope."
"Have at it." Janzen said, gesturing to the room he'd come from.
Arianna quickly disappeared into the room alone. The equipment here was a bit primitive compared to what she was used to, but if she was able to build a shuttle single handedly, how hard could this be? She started working on the communications equipment without hesitation, in the hopes of getting some kind of help from Starbase 80.
Janzen looked at the others. "You're all out of your jurisdiction here, but in this situation, I don't think it matters much." He told them. "Grab some weapons, and set yourselves up to defend this facility."
Durion and Denova exchanged a glance - one that conveyed more than any spoken form of communication given the circumstances they now faced - and for a brief moment,. For Durion, it felt good to have some sort of purpose again. He knew his role was to carry out orders, not come up with them. As he returned from his trip to the armory, he was certain of the fact that he would never forget the day he had met the girl and the diplomat. Whether history would remember them or not was uncertain, but in order to tell their story, they had to survive. That was the next challenge - the next thing to fight for.
The flare of a match illuminated Durion's face momentarily. Justifiable, as it was a victory to have made it this far. Cigar smoke wafted out the window and was swept away on the breeze where it mingled with the ash of a destroyed city. There would be more ash, and if Durion was lucky, more cigars as well, but it was the uncertainty of the situation that made the big guard suddenly seem very small. Just a puff of smoke on the wind.
"We can do this together."
The voice belonged to Jim Denova. A simple sentence of five words, but it was enough to stop Durion's train of thought from sinking to the depths of despair.
Yes, they would go together - to whatever end awaited them.
Petty Officer 1st Class Arianna D'Tal
XO's Yeoman
Academy Cadet
Various NPCs by
Commander Eliana Masters
