And we were never here

Posted on 16 May 2017 @ 3:38am by Lieutenant Colonel Cassandra Blackburn & Captain Stovvan & Commander Sierra

3,419 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Hadronus system
Timeline: ED 5

ON:

-Dark Star Cockpit-
Stovvan felt the subtle jostle of the Dark Star as she slipped out of warp in the Hadronus system. The shadow course that would take the Dark Star into a shadowing maneuver brought them in by Hadronus II. As the ship looped around under cloak a pinging began in the cockpit.

"Tempest, we are passing a distress beacon on the moon of Hadronus II." the Dark Star's feminine computer voice said as they maneuvered around the planet.

"Type and exact location." he replied moving out of the sleeping area where his wife was still resting in the bed.

"The type is common for star fleet sixth fleet shuttles, exact location is hard to pinpoint due to extreme interference that pervades the whole of the system." replied the computer. Stovvan nodded as he listened "Pull up closest possible location and begin stealth intercept course. We'll search till we find it and then stand off and observe. See if anyone responds, if not we'll head down and see if the computer core is salvageable."

"Acknowledged, plotting optimum search pattern that maximizes stealth approach."

Stovvan nodded and turned to head back into the sleeping area to get his op cloths on, and to let his wife know she might have someone to talk to other than him. He slipped into the black cloths quietly and leaned over to kiss his wife on the forehead. He couldn't bring himself to wake her so instead he left a PADD explaining what was happening and that he should be back shortly. He exited the sleeping quarters and crossed the small corridor to the armory extracting a phased compression rifle and a type II hand phaser as well as a modified type I and his knife. Each weapon went in their respective holsters the only two that were visible were the rifle and type II phaser at his side. After he had completed this he headed back to the cockpit to get a better idea of what was going on.

"Status report." he called out to the computer.

"Stealth approach vector completed, search pattern completed, target location is a shuttle craft which has taken damage to the engine and is inoperable. Further scanning shows that the damage was likely caused by compression small arms instead of space born weapon systems. We are currently standing off at 600 meters above the ground and 2 kilometers from the landing zone, monitoring all communications bands and airspace." Stovvan nodded.

"Are there any lifesigns?" he asked.

"Negative, none that scanners are showing. However if no one survived, who turned on the beacon?" replied the voice from the speakers.

Stovvan thought about it and came up with several other possible scenarios than a rouge individual out in the wild and woolly then stopped. "Let's maintain overwatch and see who comes to clean up the mess."

-Planet side of Hadronus II Moon-

Blackburn had pushed back up the side of the valley, establishing herself in a position about a kilometer from the shuttle. She had picked a defensible rocky outcrop that offered a view of every direction except from behind, where the slop continued upwards to the summit of the ridge line above. Now fed and watered and under the shelter of a large boulder that arched out above her, she had fallen into an administration routine without really thinking about it. She had replaced the power cells in her tricorder and weapons, cleaned them as well, and had even used the opportunity to look to her cuts and bruises. The small wound in her left upper arm was still causing her trouble - on removing the bandage she found it still weeping blood, and it had discoloured, albeit painlessly. She now suspected an infection, and injected an antibiotic solution from the first aid kit into the wound site before redressing it. She didn't want to use the tricorder to scan the wound, as it was busy still masking her life signature. She arranged the survival blanket from the pack into a kind of rudimentary seat, and sat waiting rifle in hand, slowly chewing on a protein bar, watching the shuttle site below. Her tired and angry mind wanted to drift back to the earlier fighting - but she prevented it. Now was not the time to dwell on such things.

-Two Hours Later Dark Star Cockpit-

A soft chiming rang out in the cockpit alerting Stovvan that there was a vessel incoming. He turned to look down at the console before him that displayed the vessels on sensors. A typical starfleet runabout was descending to the landing zone where the other shuttle had been disabled. He watched as the shuttle touched down.

"Enhance visual and try and get identification on that shuttle and occupants." he instructed the Dark Star. He wanted to get more information and if he bagged more than one source on this outing all the better, after all he had five stasis cells and could store more in the transporter memory if push came to shove. He watched as the view on the screen shifted to a close up view of the landing shuttle as the ramp lowered and five armed individuals came out of the shuttle.

"Shuttle is the USS Achilles, registered to the USS December, supposedly destroyed by six fleet actions four months ago." the computer responded "Unable to get positive vital scans of lifeforms exiting the Achilles."

He blinked "The USS December, that was a battleship that the Redemption had inspired, at least the Redemption's offensive and defensive systems had inspired that ship." Stovvan blinked as he thought and decided that he would nab one or two of the crew that had exited the shuttle. In so doing he might be able to find out what happened to the USS December which had been a mystery thus far.

"Am I able to beam down to the treeline here?" he asked pointing at a location a few meters away from the crash sight on the map.

"Affirmative, but I will not be able to pull you out without getting closer." the computer responded.

"Very well, stay within range to pull me out and target my phaser fire to pull out the people I hit. We can weed them out later." Stovvan said simply as he stood and headed to the transporter pad. He crouched on the pad and a few seconds later he was crouching in the sulfurous air of the moon. He suppressed a sneeze and instead snorted softly as he eyed the readout on his uniform. The lifescan blocking gear was working and he half grinned to himself.

Blackburn had seen the second, larger shuttle roar down into the valley at speed before landing. She knew immediately that it didn't match any configuration carried by the Redemption to her knowledge - the enemy had come down first. She had already pushed her luck on the last engagement - her chances against five were virtually nil. She was sure she had not been detected in her position so she decided to sit tight, withdrawing slightly under the rocky outcrop.

The transporter beam on her flank surprised her. She saw the slight shimmer of light out of the corner of her eye and saw one individual materialise. He was close - too close - and it changed her tactical position immediately. Part of her accepted the inevitable - if the enemy beamed down in numbers then she would be caught eventually. She had spent a month at the hands of these people the previous year, and she was not willing to do that again, at any cost. It was time to fight it out to the bitter end. She changed her firing position and lined up the sights of the compression rifle onto the crouching man, slowly applying pressure to the trigger.

Something was wrong. His clothing and equipment didn't match anything she had seen before, and no one else had beamed down - he appeared to be alone. He looked to be observing the same shuttle that she was. She slowly released the pressure slightly on the trigger and moved forward carefully over the scree at a crouch, keeping the weapon trained on his back. Once she had closed down the distance a little, she found her voice and hissed out to him.

"Turn around slowly." She said menacingly, "Or by God I will shoot you in the head."

Stovvan froze as he rolled his eyes down to the display on his arm and saw no one there which meant that someone else was masking their signs. He did the mental gymnastics to come to the conclusion that the person behind him was not sixth fleet. He turned slowly and as he did he said simply.

"I'm not with the sixth and all I can say is I work for a company." he finished as he completed the turn and looked at the woman behind him, she was a marine and clearly from the Redemption. The oak leaf on her collar marked her as a major, that coupled with the fact that she was a woman and there was only two marine major women on the Redemption at that moment in time mean she was dealing with either Afton or Blackburn. Given the woman's stance and obvious training he deduced it was in fact the Marine CO. "Major Blackburn I take it? I'm not here for you but for them." he tilted his head back at the group of individuals behind them. "They represent significant intelligence opportunities that I intend to gather to help save lives. After I'm done I'll be happy to give you a lift back to the Redemption...by the way, what are you doing down here shouldn't you be on the Redemption?"

She narrowed her eyes at him aiming down the sights of the weapon. "I am having a really bad day. You're not private security. So unless you want a hole in your chest, who the hell are you and how do you know who I am?"

"I am a concerned citizen who works for a company with an interest in seeing the war ended. As such I'm privy to information on star fleet ships and crew. I'm sure Major that you have a creative enough mind to figure out who I work for. Now would you prefer if I have you beamed up to my ship while I take care of those people, or you wanna watch my back?"

~Play nice children~ A female voice floated through their minds, taking the tension from the situation. Sierra had no intention of allowing the Major to shoot her husband. The interrogator could take over her mind in a nanosecond, and wouldn't hesitate to do it.

Blackburn shook her head, dismissing the voice as a rouge thought that she wasn't sure if she'd heard or not. "You're a bloody spook." She looked at the ground briefly in angry despair, before locking eyes with him again. "I had enough of Starfleet Intelligence on Earth. Can't you leave me alone?" Her finger tightened on the trigger before she relaxed it completely and dropped the muzzle of the weapon slightly towards the ground. "Why are you here? What the hell do you want with me now?"

Stovvan's stony face didn't change expect for a slight tightening around his eyes that gave the impression of amusement. "Major, to steal a phrase from a very intelligent man, 'the universe doesn't revolve around you.' I came down to investigate the beacon, I sat on my ship and watched for several hours and saw them." he nodded to the milling officers of which one was getting a little to close for Stovvan's comfort "Our mission is classified but it does allow leniency for targets of opportunity. They are very opportune in my eyes and I would like to target them and capture them before they become aware of us. We were not even aware of your presence here on the planet. Now I personally offer you my hospitality on my ship after I collect the individuals in question." he was cut off by Sierra's voice and his eyes flicked to the readout on his arm.

~Would we're here to rescue you be too cliche?~ Sierra purred into their minds from her vantage point in the Star. ~Now, yes we're spooks, but we don't have anything to do with the imbeciles running SFI. By the way, single incoming at your 4 o'clock. Take him out silently. ~

Stovvan's movements were fluid and cat like as he melted down and twisted, his hand to the right flicking behind his back and pulling the knife he kept there for silent take downs out of it's sheath. As he move his head whipped around to his 4 o'clock, found the target and the blade sang silently through the air to implant it's self into the throat of the man who had wandered to far into the tree line. He turned to look back at Blackburn.

"Shall we dance?"

She snorted, turning to pick up the survival pack. "Don't think for a moment that I trust you." She said, trudging over to a nearby rock. She dumped the pack down on the rock which overlooked the whole river valley below. Sitting down behind the rock, she fiddled with the rifle settings before resting the barrel on the pack and cradling the pistol grip in her folded arms. She looked down the sights of the weapon briefly, before turning to him again. "And tell your telepath to stay out of my head." She said, knowing full well whoever she was already knew what Blackburn had said before she had even said it. She settled down into the position and slowed her breathing, taking up the tension in the trigger. She applied slightly more pressure and the weapon fired, her ranging shot landing hard between the two shuttles on the shingle of the river.

Keeping her exact position as to not lose her sight picture she used her free hand to turn up the power on the rifle to its highest setting. She squeezed the trigger again and the ball of plasma raced from the muzzle, smashing seconds later into the side of the second enemy shuttle several hundred meters away. Without shields, the shot detonated the fuel for the fusion plant and the shuttle exploded in a huge fireball, debris screaming into the air. The sound of the explosion reached them a few moments later.

"Silent enough?" She said aloud to the telepath, wherever she was. "Don't worry." She continued to Sotvvan, withdrawing the rifle and extracting the spent power pack from it. "You can get your precious intelligence from the computers of the first shuttle." She rammed a fresh pack into the rifle and settled back into her firing position. "They'll be on us in minutes now. Go on, I'll give you top cover."

Stovvan was not to be found by the time she started speaking. He had taken off down the hill to the edge of the tree line, his rifle held up to his eye as he moved. He could tag a person with a blast from the rifle, which was set up to resonate with a particular signature that the Star's sensors were honed to lock-on to and beam into a statis cell. He fired twice in rapid succession as he appeared out of the tree line and watched the two people, one man one woman fall to the ground stunned and then disappear into a column of blueish white light. He flinched as the second shuttle experienced a secondary explosion which made him almost grin again as this caused the other three officers to fall to the deck and turn their attention to the shuttle. Stovvan sprinted to a large rock that was in front of the first shuttle and popped his head out firing twice again, both bolts hit and the bodies were beamed up. The third officer had come to his senses in time to realize that the explosions were not an accident and that his compatriots were being picked off and he was next on the list.

Stovvan looked down at his forearm and saw the readout that showed the last man moving quickly to the first shuttle. Stovvan dipped out from behind the rock and skirted along the side of the shuttle away from the last man. As he made it to the aft of the shuttle he looked down again at his forearm and saw that the man was just inside. He was mumbling incoherently to himself and banging around at the contents of the cabin. Stovvan pulled a small reflective mirror from a leg pocket and moved it to the opening of the shuttle, he looked at the mirror and saw the officer was facing away from him. He quickly spun out into the doorway and fired again, the man tensed fell back onto the pilots console and rag-dolled onto the deck falling between the two seats. Stovvan's eyes flicked up to the console and he cursed softly to himself. The man had been attempting to set the shuttle to self destruct. He heard the soft humming of the damaged engine and knew he had precious little time to grab what he could and get the hell out. He bolted inside the cabin and pulled the covering off the wall the housed the main computer. He couldn't take the time to disconnect it properly so instead he pointed his rifle at it and fired, a large portion of the wall disappeared in a flash of white and he bolted out of the shuttle yelling at his communicator.

"Dark Star beam us up now!" He bolted at full pace away from the shuttle and felt the liquid tickle of the transporter take him. As he flew off the pad at a gate he slammed into the opposite wall of the ship due to his run while begin transported. He grumbled as he pushed himself back and shook his head to clear the slight ringing from impacting the bulkhead. He looked to the left to see Blackburn prone on the pad and then he looked right outside the window to see the shuttle going up in a mushroom cloud. He looked to his wife as he rolled his shoulders to release the harness for his rifle.

"Looks like you get to have some fun on the way back to Earth. Didn't think we'd have more than our target on the ship. You going to thaw them out or wait till you get back to HQ?" Stovvan asked as he dropped the rifle on the floor and headed to the pilots seat to plot a course for the Redemption. They had someone to hand back and he just knew the Intel Chief was going to have a field day explaining how Blackburn was dropped into her lap.

"Major, if you need any medical help down the hall, second door on the right is the little med bay. First door on the right is the mess hall, help yourself."

Blackburn steadied herself, fighting off the nausea caused by the first clean air and normal gravity she had experienced for days. After a few moments deep breathing she turned to Sierra. "Take it you're the telepath. Who are you people?"

Stovvan looked at Sierra and then back at the Major, "Well, lets just say were concerned citizens out on a weekday stroll. Other than that Major I'm afraid you don't have clearance. Just, tend to your wounds and get some food in yourself. We'll get you back to the Redemption shortly."

Blackburn pursed her lips, considering if should press the issue. She glanced at them both before turning without speaking and walking purposefully into the sickbay. As soon as the door closed she dropped the rifle and slumped to her knees, the nausea overwhelming her for a few moments. She eventually pulled herself up on the sink and looked at the bruised, dirty face in the mirror. Her black, cropped hair was unrecognisable in its matted state. She looked away in shame and sat back down on the floor, reaching into her clothing and pulling out the tags of the three dead marines.

She turned them over in her hands, glad to be alive, but feeling little else.

OFF

Stovvan
Captain
Tempest of The Company
&
Sierra
Commander
Maestro of The Company
&
Cassandra Blackburn
Major Starfleet Marines
Detachment Commander
OFF

 

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