Incision
Posted on Sun Mar 31st, 2024 @ 1:13pm by Commander Steven Greco & Lieutenant Commander Keishara Davaris & 1st Lieutenant Kes Th’relnal & Lieutenant JG Sam Matthews & Lieutenant JG Safi Mpongo & Gunnery Sergeant Matewa Natana
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Year One: Whispers in the Wind
Location: Terrorist Moon
Timeline: MD 36: 0640 hrs
Kes stood on the transporter pad and readied his rifle. They would be transporting down the instant the ship came out of warp, to avoid as much notice as possible for the targets. He glanced around the pad at everyone else checking their equipment and his antenna leaned forward.
This was his first op on this ship. Davaris was agreeable in that sense that they'd quickly developed an unspoken level of decorum and breakdown of responsibilities. Which was why he'd agreed and even encouraged Davaris and some of her security to come along on the mission. While he didn't know them as well as his own soldiers, he knew he could trust Davaris to bring her best.
As everyone gathered on the pad and readied themselves for transport, Kes spoke up. "Set to stun, tag anything that moves. Clear the LZ." His marines all took their positions, facing outward with their rifles up and readied.
"You heard the LT. Eyes on the prize boys and girls." Matewa said with a large swell of confidence. It had been a while since he'd flexed is muscles on a ground operation and finding these Whisperers was on the top of everyone's list.
Keishara had brought Sam with her and another security officer, Jash. A 3 man security team was more than enough given how many marines were already present. Setting her rifle to stun she would follow Kes's mission plan as he was in charge. She had no problems relinquishing control when the plan made sense and the leader of it was competent. Safi had also been brought along as well given her skillset. She had advanced tactical and weapons training, and also Kei thought it wise that if intelligence was spotted before it was destroyed Safi would know to pick it up.
Commander Greco followed after Keishara into the transporter room and onto the pad, taking his rifle from the marine waiting. Setting it to stun, he nodded at Kes that he was ready. Like Keishara he already agreed to follow the Andorian's lead once on the moon when the three of them devised the extraction plan. If Admiral Dorian was indeed involved then they could take no chances.
Kes nodded to the transporter chief. "The instant we're out of warp, give us mark and transport."
The chief, an older Bolian woman with distinctive honey coloured eyes nodded. A moment later, he hands darted to the console.
"Mark!" She called out as her fingers slid over the power setting and energized the transporter.
Kes and the marines tensed and put their fingers by the trigger as the lights shimmered around them and the hum of the engines stopping was the last thing they heard as the transporter room faded from view. It was a strange feeling, transporting as the ship came out of warp was tricky and seemed to impart a vector to their transport coordinates. As the room came into view, rushing in around them, Kes focused on what was in front of him. He could trust the others to hold their own so he focused.
The team had transported down in a standard formation that gave them a 360 view of their surroundings once beamed down. Kei and her security team, plus Safi and Greco were at the rear of the formation, marines making up the front.
As the light faded from their transport she chasm came into view and it was as typical a bad guy hideout as she could have imagined. Definitely lacking in comforts and colourful décor.
Steve eyed the cave walls as he helped secure the room. It was what he expected based on the information of the planet.
The room was little more than a reenforced cave. Some walls were bare rock but others had tell tale signs of construction and modifications. Bulkheads were placed to create separations and rooms within what appeared to be a larger cavern. The air was clean, but obviously recycled. There was probably minimal exits to the surface, if any.
In front of him, Kes saw the the guard reach for his side arm, and didn't give him time to get the phaser out of it's holster. A phaser blast to the chest took the human down quickly with little more than a moan escaping his lips.
As one guard fell Kei heard shuffling from a ledge about and noticed someone taking aim at the group. Raising her own weapon she noted she couldn't quite get a clean shot and she was not about to let anyone in her own team get hurt. Quickly looking at the surroundings of that guard she noted a pressurised container.
She fired. This blew the container and gas came out of it. The guard screamed and fell from the ledge with a thump. "Let's move forward." she said. "Safi, keep a lookout for any intelligence you think is appropriate to collect."
Greco glanced around the room, phaser rifle ready as he scanned the far side of the other ledge the guard was posted, looking for signs of a second sentry. When he was certain there was none, he turned his head to look back at Kes. "Standard security pattern, about what I'd expect from Starfleet personnel. We better get moving, Lieutenant."
"Expect trained and coordinated resistance." Kes said firmly as he approached the door leading on the the room. "Standard breach and clear for all rooms." He quickly pulled out a tricorder and scanned through the door. It wasn't picking up any interference from the next room, but he did detect lifesigns. Putting away the device, he motioned for Myers to approach the door.
The young Private knew his duty and And stood to one side of the door with the flashbang held tightly in his hand. Kes nodded once and motioned for the team to take their positions before punching the keypad on the door to have it slide open, moving with it as it did.
Private Myers quickly tossed the flashbang inside the room where it was met with a chorus of shouts before the blinding light filled the room.
The marine group moved in with a swift and well rehearsed movement. Their eyes focussed on anything that moved once the smoke of the flashbang would clear. "STARFLEET, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! DROP YOU WEAPONS!" Matewa shouted moving further into the room.
He saw a man eye a phaser.
"Don't be stupid." Matewa said simply.
The man reached for it anyway and Matewa raised his rifle that little bit and shot him centre mass and shook his head. "I said don't... idiot."
Outside the main room where the fighting was taking place Safi had knelt down next to a fallen terrorist. She began to search him.
As she emptied their pockets she found a Starfleet comm badge with their name and rank on the back. She placed that into an evidence bag. A little further investigation led to her finding some sort of manifesto and other loose but unrelated items. Couple of slips of latinum, a writing implement and a chocolate bar that had gone a bit bendy due to it melting in their pocket a bit.
Most of them were dazed, they hadn't been expecting this. Or at least some hadn't. Kes fired into a group that were standing near one of the tables, taking them down before they could draw their weapons. He started to look around when he felt the heat of a phaser blast fly between his antenna. He instinctively crouched down and spread a wall of fire in the area the shot had come from.
The target clutched their shoulder for a moment before falling over unconscious as their rifle clattered on the ground.
Just as he was about to turn to the next target, he caught sight of three or four people get up from behind a table and run for an exit across the room. They weren't even trying to fight back, they were fleeing. Probably had a lot to lose if they got caught. Or they were proving they were cowards. Either way...
"We have runners!" The Andorian called as he raced across the room toward the exit where the men had fled. A terrorist tried to block his way and ended up on the ground holding his bloody mouth from the brutal smash Kes had delivered with the butt of his rifle.
Steve cleared the rear elevation of two terrorists from their rear, covering the intelligence officer and the group. Once they dropped, he took in the room that seemed to be the base of operation. "Safi, download the data." He ordered the woman, pointing at the main console in the center of the room as he trotted over to the Andorian lieutenant, hearing the call the room was cleared while the marines secured the room.
Glancing down at Davaris, Greco eyed the three separate tunnels at the far wall and looked at Kes. "Which one they go down?" Pulling out his tricorder, he tried to get a reading but the walls appeared to be shielded. Steve couldn't tell where they led.
"All of them..." Kes muttered. "Clear and secure the room. I'll take the left tunnel and I need people on the other two." His antenna leaned back against his shock of white hair as Kes disappeared down the left tunnel.
Kes kept his rifle up and at the ready, keeping a brisk pace down the tunnel as it weaved and came around a few blind turns. They had left the finished part of the cavernous compound and now the tunnel took on a more natural look of an old lava tube. Ahead of him, Kes caught glimpses of a shadow and the sound of foot steps on the bare stone. He wasn't sure if he was catching up, but he was keeping pace.
He took a turn around a corner, but before he could bring his rifle around, he felt the impact as a metal pipe hit against it and knocked it out wide. He braced himself for a hit and took a step back to try and avoid it as he sized up his opponent.
Kes locked eyes with the wiry Andorian and glared as the man swung the pipe at him once again. Kes brought the rifle in front of him to block the swing and the rifle took the full brunt of the impact and there was the tell-tale blue smoke as a spark erupted from the cartridge. His opponent smiled, thinking he had the upper hand now that the rifle was broken.
Kes didn't hesitate as he dropped his rifle, pulled out his ushaan-tor and brought it to bear. Unlike the one in his office, the ceremonial one, this one was purely a tool and obviously had seen actual use. The unnamed Andorian looked at the ushaan-tor and flashed a toothy grin as he pulled out his own.
"I'll take the middle one!" Kei shouted over the noise of the cavern as she darted off after two fleeing terrorists.
The tunnel was dark and winding with only small lights illuminating the trail. They were hung up high using small bulbs, a very makeshift effort but if you're on a terrorist budget then it made sense.
As she ran dirt kicked up from her feet and dust clouds were left in her wake. This was also true of those that ran in front of her as her view became somewhat obscured as she entered a larger cavern.
There was a hum of a generator that filled the hall as well as the short scuffle of feet stopped her in her tracks as they had in theirs.
Kei looked up at the two men. "I'm giving you one chance to surrender now." she said holding up her free hand.
Both eyed each other, a twitch in their hands almost drawn to the weapons in their belt.
"Do it." Kei said with a sneer. "Can guarantee I'll get one of you before either get off a shot."
It was an invitation as they both reached and Kei shot the female square in the chest. She fell with a thud as the man swung at her knocking her phaser free from her hand with the back of his left and striking Keishara with the knuckles of his right.
Falling to one knee she expected another hit that didn't come. Instead the man stood over her like he'd won a prize. He stood admiring the hit he'd landed without realising Kei was smiling even with her burst lip.
Being low she struck the inside of his knee with her forearm, but keeping her fingers splayed and open for strength, forcing him to buckle to one side and become off balance. Kei rose up swiftly and as he stumbled she punched him square in the face forcing him backwards holding his nose in pain.
Seconds passed that felt like hours as he stopped dead in his tracks pinching his nose. Looking at her he wrought his hand down his nose as if to string it free of blood before casting that hand to the side splashing the wall with a red spackle. From behind he pulled two daggers of quite menacing length as he stood with vengeance in his eyes. "Scared girl?" he asked.
Keishara scoffed at the question. "Of your stupidity? No."
"What do you mean?" he asked with an incredulous anger.
Kei pointed behind him as he stood in front of the generator and as he looked behind him she used the distraction to roll for her phaser. As he turned back around at the noise the realisation hit him. "Oh sh--" was all he could muster as Kei fired hitting the generator and causing a minor explosion that knocked him sideways and his head off the wall of the cavern.
As the smoke cleared she went to check his pulse before tapping her comm badge. =/\= Two detained, central tunnel.=/\= she said as she slapped cuffs on the pair of them.
Tasting some iron in her mouth she spat out some of the residue from his punch to her face and then started dragging the pair of them back along the tunnel to the central chasm.
A strange mix of emotions was going through Kes as he fought against one of his own kind. The man was skilled and while the thrill of the fight was exhilarating, it was also disappointing that someone so skilled had fallen in with this lot. The blades clanged as they hit off each other in near perfect parries and deflections.
Neither of them were grinning now as the initial thoughts of an easy victory faded from their minds. The furiously lethal dance continued to the music of the clashing blades for another minute before Kes made his move.
Ushaan duels had certain rules and codes of conduct. Moves and techniques that were frowned upon. But considering they weren't even tethered, Kes didn't mind throwing the rest of the rules out as he bull rushed his opponent. He accepted a glancing blow to his right side as he knocked the man down. Without a second thought, Kes stomped hard on his his hand holding the weapon and shattered fingers and many bones in the hand.
The Andorian terrorist cried out and pulled his broken hand in close. He glared at Kes as the marine reached down to pick up his broken rifle. "That was an illegal move, where is your honour?"
Kes snapped around and swung the rifle like a baseball bat aimed right at his opponents head. There was a sharp crack as the terrorist fell over unconscious with blue blood beginning to ooze from the wound the rife had inflicted. Kes's mouth was twisted into a scowl as he spit of the unconscious man. He wasn't about to be lectured by a terrorist. He tapped his comm badge. "Got one here, might need a medic... or a coroner. Not sure."
Greco jogged down the third tunnel as fast as he dared. Not being able to see what was coming, or get a sensor read, he wasn't going to sprint head first into an ambush. He quickened his pace when he heard voices and as he rounded the corner, he saw an older human male in civilian clothes beaming away three people at a time with a site-to-site transporter. "Stop!" He shouted, lifting his rifle but was blindsided by the attack of a Trill before he could fire stumbling back into the tunnel.
Hitting the tunnel wall, Steve tried to get his bearings as he lifted his rifle, but the Trill was already there to knock his rifle away. Taking a punch to the gut, Steve ducked a second one for his jaw. He came up and rammed his elbow into the man's temple before driving his knee into the terrorist's gut, hearing the gasp of air.
The Trill had his arms locked around Steve's waist though and with a loud grunt, used all his strength to shove Greco into the rock wall. Steve saw a flash of light when his head connected with the wall. He attempted to punch the Trill's back to get him to break his hold but was only rewarded with a hard slam into the wall, leaving him dazed for a moment. The next thing he knew he was being thrown to the ground. Regaining his senses, Steve rolled towards his rifle and fired at the man's chest as he stalked over, watching Trill drop to the ground.
With a load groan, Greco lumbered to his feet and headed back out of the tunnel, noticing the lights flickering in the cavern and the sound of a distant explosion. Trotting back towards the remaining terrorists, he saw four people frantically trying to reroute power to the transporter while taking orders from the older man. It was indeed John Dorian. Steve took this hard fact and set his jaw as he raised his rifle. "Step away from the controls, Admiral." He called out, drawing the attention of the group.
The remaining terrorists drew their phasers, aimed at Steve and was about to fire when, "Put down your weapons." Dorian calmly ordered his people. He watched with a tired expression as the terrorists dropped their phasers on the ground before he stepped away from the transporter controls. His weary, grizzly face showing no resistance as he approached the commander, nodding in approval, eyeing the man's pips. "Well done, Commander." He commented about the officer's finding of their location and attack on the base.
Kei had left her prisoners with Safi as she'd jogged on to see if Greco had needed assistance. Alongside her was Sam who she indicated to move and put some cuffs on the others in the tunnel with the help of some of Kes's marines. "I think you took a wrong turn Admiral. This is nowhere near Rise." she said cuffing Dorian. Evelyn was not going to be happy on this however Kei began to read him his rights all the same.
Kes walked back into the main room with his unconscious and bloodied opponent slung over his shoulder. He looked around the room as the terrorists seemed to have given up what little resistance they had to begin with and submit to being restrained. He found an empty table and unslung the unconscious Andorian onto it. "Someone keep him breathing. I don't want him taking the easy way out of this."
Still out of breath from the fight in the tunnel and the adrenaline running through his system, Greco tapped his combadge. =A= Greco to Moore, we got them. =A=
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