Episode 2: Burn Notice

The Federation had changed a lot since he first joined Starfleet. Once upon a time an Admiral was usually who he claimed to be, which of course had been changed by the Dominion's arrival on the scene. Wood had been subjected to far more than his fair share of identity tests - and explanations of why they were being done during the fact. Still he understood why so he nodded graciously as Lieutenant Moondark explained what she was doing.

On the subject of things wrong with him the Admiral felt more reticence. There was one thing - a piece of the past he'd rather keep there - but it wasn't something he liked to talk about, especially not to people he'd just met. There was a reason only two people knew what that 'medical problem' was.

Thankfully the Lieutenant gave him a way out.

"Nothing's bothering me right now, thank you," He replied, hoping she didn't think to do an intensive scan near his brain stem, "I've never been better."

{Moondark}

| 'Infirmary'
| Yacht

Beth glance up from her scan results and flashed him a smile “I reckon a decent meal, a shot of whatever your favoured poison is and a good night's sleep would do your body wonders but I'll take you at your word that nothing's bothering you at the moment”. Her tone was light and far from the tone she used when making her 'suggestions' an order.

“Though I'm sure that the Captain and Colonel would love to catch you up on events and vice versa” she pointed out as she looked back down at the results.

She frowned, making her forehead ridges deepen slightly, and reread the results. “Hmmmph” that was the last thing she had expected to see in someone like the Admiral. Not happy with the results she rescanned him to make sure that she was actually seeing the small device firmly embedded in his brain stem. It was wrapping around enough nerves and brain tissue that it had obviously been there a while. The device wasn't giving off any active signals, which was good, it meant it was slowly killing him by overloading his body's pain receptors.

It was such a small and harmless looking thing when seen out of the human body and if you didn't know what it did you could be forgive for thinking it looked quite cool and nothing like the sinister box of circuits it was.

Beth had come across a few of them back during the war. Mostly in those marines and other friendlies freed from the Andromedan prison camps. This was the first Admiral she had come across  with a deactivate one sitting in his head but then she figured she didn't really get many Admirals as patients.

Since he didn't mention it and it wasn't anything she had to worry about at the moment she held her tongue about what she'd discovered about the most senior man on the small ship.

She finished off looking over all the results of scans and tests she had ran and finally put her tricorder down. “All done Sir, I'll let you go know I'm sure the higher ups will be eager to find out  how you are and I'm serious about getting some rest” she moved to stick her head out the door and gestured to Tybalt “if anything does start bothering I'll be here or playing poker in the mess” she offered with one last smile.

TAG: Wood, Tybalt, any

Clarissa sat glaring at the Security personnel that were gloating over the coo. She rolled her eyes and regretted it, forgetting for a moment that she'd been knocked head first into the bench when she'd been unceremoniously thrown into the brig cell. She sat in this one alone, but saw that there were other officers in another across from her. Lieutenant Joffre from Science, an Ensign from Stellar Cartography and even two security officers were added into the mix.

Joffre had looked at her with sympathy and mouthed, "Are you okay?"

Clarissa painfully nodded and decided that she wasn't going to show any more weaknesses that could be exploited in the future. She mopped her head and looked around the cell. She could safe a life and patch on a missing limb. But she had no clue how to re-route power or do anything fancy...

*Or run a starship for that matter.* She thought to herself ruefully. Another thought came rushing towards her, making her shudder. *What if Eric and Admiral Wood were to walk into this trap? They might not make it.*

Standing mere inches from the force field, she addressed the officers outside her cell. "We have lives at risk! Let me out, I need to save them."

Two of the security officers looked at each other and laughed responding, "Better save yourself first, Doc."

"Let me out! You haven't told me of any chargers or what I can do to save myself in the first place." Clarissa tried to reason.

"Loki, stuff it. This is a mutiny, not a debate." The female Security officer stated, then turned off the light to her Brig. "Time to take a nap." She said, in a vicious tone.

The tone instantly made her think about Gracie. "Where is my daughter?" Clarissa screamed, banging her hand against the force field and cringed but fought through the pain. "So help you, if you've hurt her. You won't live to see a court marshal."

The two simply ignored her cries.

| Corridor
| Alice

With their newest passenger safely delivered to the 'tender' hands of their medico Tybalt headed the few feet required to get back up to the small bridge and relay the information he had discovered.

Of course with them being out here in the middle of no place and such there hadn't been much else for the people on the bridge to do other than watch the camera feeds so anything that the veteran marine could say had basically already been covered and seen firsthand by the folks up there.

"Admiral Wood sir" Tybalt told his Colonel, "just being checked out to confirm nothing weird" he added, "weirder" he corrected, still reckoning hat appearing out of the black all the way out here probably counted as one of the weirder things he had seen this year

As he offered this he saw that the screen was indeed still following the Admiral's progress, but that it was also split with the other half showing a shoulder held camera ported by a fleety team that had slipped around behind the Marines and gone onto the shuttle that the Admiral had vacated.. and were now going over the place for more independent verification.. or whatever else they might find

Which made a lot of sense because they were in rather a hurry and the sooner they oould get back to their mission the better...

Maybe

Because again, the main thrust of the point of finding this stranded Captain had been her utility in extracting the admiral.. but they now apparently had the admiral...However another ally might really help anyway.. providing they found a way of uplifting them...

Tybalt junked the whole thought process, it was definitely above his paygrade and not his responsibility.

"Acid dichloride, she says... Yeah right, cos that's easy to make up in a shuttle pod with... 15 minutes to live. Perfect." Lt. Hatter cursed to her self or anybody else that could hear her, which was mostly her self, even if the Com link was open...
She looked down at the bomb again. 13 minutes.
"Oh Jess you idiot. This is never gonna work you know." And Hatter started to open the locks holding the material the bomb was made off. "You know this is suicide, and you'd probably gonna die right?"
The 2nd bolt came off.
"Probably."
Then the 3rd and forth.
"Oh come on, what's gonna happen? I die of radiation posioning, if I stand around this for the next 30 mins, and after that a slow 24 hours of death? Hello! If the bomb doesn't blow up, then the shutte hull integitry will be gone in the next 20 minutes. If I'm still around long enough to worry about radiation posioning, then bully for me!"
The last bolt came loose, and Jessica removed the final bolt and facia plate in one peice reveiling the dark, almost blackened depleated dilithium crystal shards that made up part of the weapons warhead, turning it from a bomb to a dirty weapon, who's only use could be one of death and terror, and a small vile of anti matter sat to the right of the crystal, to give the weapon more... potency, Hatter assumed.
"It's all here. Good." And she began to push the weapon towards the rear ramp of the shuttle, pressing it right up to the door.
Jess quickly ran towards the front of the shuttle. "Computer, create a sheild seperating the rear 2 meters from the rest of the shuttle, then open the ramp."
Such action will result in explosive decompression of the aft of the shuttle." The computer warned.
"I know. Infact I'm counting on it. Just do it."

The shuttle did as it was ordered with out question, blew the bomb into the creatures stomach, and pushed the craft forward gently. "Close shuttle hatch, and dirvert all avaliable power to rear sheilds."
External Acid levels rising. Presure increase noted in aft quarter. 20 per cent increase and rising.
"Divert 10 percent of life support to the aft sheilds." Lt. Hatter ordered as she used the directional trusters to push the shuttle forward. "Vent warp drive plasma rearward."
External presure reaching critical levels. Hull integrity down to 78%.
"Yea yeah just hold your britches a little more."
Pressure wave in bound to rear. Impact in 5, 4, 3, 2,
Jessica missed the final part of the count down as the shuttle was pushed forwards, and ejected out the creature.
"HA HAAAAA! WOOOOOOO! Take that! Jess shouted as she could once again see the star scape infront of her.
=^=Shuttle Hawkings to Redemption. Shuttle is low on power, requesting tractor beam to shuttle bay.=^=

The Helm officer, Ensign Quinn, had vented their plasma as Doctor Loki had demanded before she'd been reprimanded into custody on charges unknown to the rest of the Bridge crew, aside from an apparent misconduct. Quinn looked at his readings to see that whatever the Doctor's hunch had been, the colour change was helping them. The large slug had moved several hundred kilometers away. Stealing a look behind him, Quinn saw the smug smile of Lieutenant Baker sitting in the Command chair.

"You got a staring problem, Ensign Quinn?" Baker said, leaning forward from his newly acquired chair.

"No sir. Just wanted to report that the slug has ceased it's dominant attack. The plasma venting did it's job."

"Very well then. Go back to scanning for the Captain's Yacht. I want to make sure we have their welcome party ready for when the traitors return."

"Uh, aye sir. But what about Lieutenant Hatter in the sl-" Quinn responded uneasily. He didn't like what was happening. He'd tried contacting others in the ship, but was shut out of the system and he couldn't figure out the bypass without letting Baker in on what he was trying to do. The last thing he needed was to end up on the wrong side of Baker's trigger happy finger.

"I don't care about her. She's one less person I don't have to consider tossing in the brig. Let her die." He responded nonchalantly.

The shock of what Baker had just said left Quinn with his mouth agape. His thoughts were brought back to the screen as suddenly the ship was rocked again. He looked up to see the slug that had ingested Lieutenant Hatter had just exploded.

"Brace for impact!" Quinn had barely uttered before the ship rocked again from the bomb's wave. "Shields are down to 53%, but holding."

"Get them back to 100% immediately. Scan the edges of the nebula to see if that got our friends' attention outside, per chance." That hadn't been the original plan, but it was still a plan. He was tired of hiding in the Nebula and wanted his just rewards from Carpathia.

Although, if I bring in the Admiral on a silver platter, I'll never have to do anything and I can live a free and rich man.* Baker thought to himself. *But for now, we don't need Hatter limping back and warning the Captain's yacht.*

"I'm trying to contact Engineering, but I'm having difficulty. It's probably from the earlier attack from the slug." Quinn said, hoping not to be on the receiving end of Baker's well known anger. "Incoming hail from Shuttle Hawkins, they're requesting medical attention."

"Doesn't matter. Arm phasers." Baker said, standing now.

"Sir?" Quinn spun around, hoping he'd misunderstood his last order. "Lieutenant Hatter needs our help! I can't just shoot her down. She's one of us!" Quinn stood up defiantly and looked around at the silent Bridge, all eyes on the two men facing each other.

Baker calmly whipped out his phaser and aimed it at the Helm officer and coldly stated, "She's not one of us, now fire the phaser!"

<tag Hatter>

====Captain's Yacht=====

'If anything starts bothering' - words that struck a nerve with the Admiral. This is why he hated physicals and went far further out of his way than most Senior Officers to avoid them. There was no way Moondark missed the parting gift the Andromedans had left him - which means he needed to talk to her at some point. Not a prospect he welcomed, he'd just met her.

Though he made a mental note to do that, he pushed the issue onto the backburner. There were bigger things to deal with now he was, sort of, back on his old ship. He smiled at Moondark and said, "Perhaps you could deal me in later, when all of this is done?"

His parting words, Wood offered the Lieutenant one last friendly gesture and marched purposefully to the flight deck. He needed to get a grasp of the situation, their location and what hazards there were here.

And get Duchene back. The Colonel stood talking to Sergeant th'Idran seemed like a good place to start.

"So how goes the quest to recover me from Earth Colonel?"

{Kaine, Tybalt}

"HOLY CRAP!" Lt. Hatter exclaimed as the distinctive orange of a federation phaser beam missed the front of the shuttle craft.
=^=Shuttle Hawkins to Redemption. Cease fire! I'm a friendly, repeat am friendly. So.. just everybody be... friendly.=^=
"Shi.." Her exclaimation was cut short by secondary explosions from the depleated starboard necelle. "Frick. Okay new plan.... New plan.... Frick. New plan?
What Plan?" Jessica at this point had began to pace up and down the shuttle craft, noting the flickering main console at the front of the craft.
"Right, computer, how well are the transporters working?"
Transporters at 15% efficency.
"And propulsion?"
Warp engines off line, impluse drive off line, manovering thrusters at 47% efficiency.
"Can we reroute life support to the life support to the transporter?
Life support currently at 25%.
"I really couldn't give a rats, just do it" The Lt said taking the seat at the virtually dead and burnt out console.
Port necelle hit. And the shuttle rocked again
"Also, take all power from comm systems, and audio warnings. 1 isn't working, and I'm not paying attention to the other." Jess shouted, "Let's see if the same trick works again twice in one day, eh.
"Computer lock on to somewhere on redemption with the transporter lock.
Please state desired location.
"I really don't care! Anywhere that's not gonna get me killed instantly, and that I can get of!" Hatter heard the satisfying buzz right behind her as the sheild she had errected met the chair she wa sat at. "Lets hope this doesn't thow me back to much. Computer lower rear access ramp."
Warning, may result in explosive decomression.
"I'm counting on it. And I thought I said to kill that audio warning!"
The ramp lowered and Lt. Hatter scrambled with the controls to line the shuttle up in the right direction, before diverting all the power to forward momentum.
Computer, as soon as I'm in range I need you to transport me to Redemption. This is gonna be hella close!" And with that Lt. Hatter pressed the button to deactive the sheild at the rear of the shuttle.

The shuttle shot forward rapidly, narrowly missing the lower side of the saucer section hull drifting off into the nebula at aproximately 200 kph.

On board redempion.
Jessica opened her eyes, and lifted her self up off the cold deck, to be faced with a selection of junior officers from different departments. "Errr... Hi?" Followed by the unmistakeable sound of a dozen phasers been armed and aimed. "Friendly?" Jessica smiled meekly, and raised her hand slightly above her head...

| 'Infirmary'
| Captain's Yacht

"Perhaps you could deal me in later, when all of this is done?"

She offered him a smile “sure, just don't listen to what the boys say about my poker skills” she watched him leaving for a moment, and only slightly admiring the view as he walked away, before she turned and started tidying up the gear she had been using.

“He seemed rather down to earth for an Admiral” T mentioned as he helped to clean things up and put them away ready for their next patient. The large man had seen the surreptitious looks Beth had been giving the Admiral.

Beth nodded “that he did, the Captain and Colonel seem to think a lot of him so he must be a decent officer” she pointed out putting away the last of her gear and rubbing her hands together. “Since we've got the Admiral back and we are still looking for that other officer lets go get some grub” she suggested to the two men.

Having grown up on a marine ship to a family of marines Beth lived by the theory that you never knew when your next hot meal or brew was going to be while off on a mission so made sure to eat when they had the time. Whether that was in the ship's mess or making a cuppa while hiding from enemy fire in a foxhole.

Billy the Kid grinned “food sounds good” and followed her out of the state room turned infirmary.

“You always think food sounds good” T teased as he followed the pair “you eat almost as much as she does” he teased.

“Hey I'm a growing lad”

“And I got hollow legs apparently” Beth retorted with a soft chuckle, at least that was what her Grandmother was forever telling her as she demolished her dinner and never failed to ask for seconds.

In the mess hall Beth set about grabbing their mugs while T started the water boiling and Kid got the tin with the tea bags from out of one cupboard. “Reckon anyone else wants a cuppa?”

TAG: any?

| Bridge
| Alice

"Sorry sir Colonel's needed" Tybalt offered , interrupting the Admiral's query to the colonel, and a moment later said colonel was called by the teal jacketed officer manning the scanners to urgently look at something on their screen. A good chunk of Tybalt's younger years, before he made his way into the more 'special' side of marine life, had been spent loitering around on bridges, ostensibly standing guard in case something happened, but in all honesty mostly just watching the processes in unending efforts to stave off pervasive boredom. Consequently he had learned to recognise some of the tells that announced an officer was about to call for the seniors' immediate attention.

"But in answer I'd say t was going rather well" he offered with a hint of a smile on his blue face, "we're fairly close to the planet where your friend from the Andromeda invasion went down" he explained, "and we're pretty sure she'll know where to find you once we get her on screen"

"Of course we're still rather bound up with the problem of uplifting her and her crew then going to wherever she says you are but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it" he finished, with no small amount of amusement leaking around his words

Wood offered the Sergeant a half-grin, "That could make things interesting the say the least, however I do see an opportunity in all this."

That was at least half-true. In the time it had taken him to be scanned and cross-examined by Lieutenant Moondark, Wood had started thinking about how his sudden removal from the Solar Sector - which was being combed at the microscopic level by Carpathia's goon squad - could be used to effect a bit of a blow against that government.

It risked sparking a civil war, though in fairness it was unlikely one could be avoided from what he'd gleaned of the situation, and that was a major drawback - but at the very least he could keep some vital non-supporters from falling into the Mad President's hands.

And the USS Incursion's holographic projection matrix would be a vital piece to pulling that off.

"Sergeant," Wood was thinking ahead now, "How much training in Snatch-and-Grab missions do they give you in the Marines?"

| Bridge
| Alice

"If you mean 'Non-Compliant primary, hostile extraction Sir?" Tybalt joked back, "then we're Force Recon sir" he supplied, "it's practically lesson two" he asserted with a smile, knowing full well that the admiral knew all of these things, but was presumably asking the question for the benefit of someone else, possibly to soften the blow for the colonel regarding whatever scheme was currently forming behind the jovial Admiral's eyes. "If however you're talking about getting you a coffee then nothing at all, wouldn't know where to begin, sounds more like a fleety thing" he finished still smiling... but also adding a meaningful look towards one of the idlers still hanging about the small bridge area.

The crewman took the hint and politely interrupted to ask if the Admiral would like anything brought from the galley, soon finding himself needing a list for all the others who suddenly decided they could use something too.

"We have a hand picked squad here sir" Tybalt offered more seriously as the conversation resumed, "if it's possible we can do it" he insisted, "if it's impossible we may have to sleep on it first"

Wood's demeanour went from being jovial to sharp and businesslike in the blink of an eye, "Then you're going to need a nap Sergeant."

He gestured for the NCO to follow him to the nearest console he could find. With a few deft commands he pulled up a schematic of Earth's planetary Defenses, positions for the Home Fleet and the known locations of Carpathia's 'enforcer' units.

"It gives me no pleasure at all to say this but our Illustrious President is turning Earth into a fortress," Wood highlighted the positions of the Home Fleet vessels, as well as the Enforcer Units, "But he's not doing it to keep enemies out. All of those ships are following geosynchronous orbits that criss-cross each other much like a search pattern. Why?"

He left that one for the Sergeant to fill in.

"There's people, good people, who did not fight and bleed in the Dominion and Andromedan conflicts to be rewarded by being made to simply vanish because they know something's wrong with Carpathia's rule. I want to give them a chance to get out, before the net closes entirely. Incursion will get us close enough to do it, but I'll need people going down there who I can rely on to keep trouble at arm's length, keep these people safe long enough to run and stay free."

{Tybalt}

====Ensign Carrie-Anne Hunter, USS Redemption======

As far as she was concerned, the whole damn ship had lost it's wits. Marines and Spacers fighting among themselves, both sides intent on accusing each other of exactly the same thing. Insanity.

And exactly what Carpathia wanted. Didn't take a genius to figure that one out. Then again it was easy to say that when you weren't caught up in the furor. So far she had managed to stay out of the conflict, instead smashing her com-badge into a thousand pieces to avoid being detected by Marines searching for starship Security personnel.

Once that was done she had simply pulled apart the wall of her quarters until she was able to squeeze through her ragged hole and get into the Jefferies tube system. There she intended to hide.

Only the Marines had other ideas. They started searching the tubes, forcing her to keep moving in order to stay out of the Brig - or worse.

After almost an hour of crawling her knees ached, her back was sore and sweat poured into her eyes. The more Marines she had to avoid in the Tubes only meant that they were winning - and her time of freedom was running out.

Despite her pride of independence, Hunter realised she needed help.

So she started crawling with purpose, moving through hundreds of metres of tunnel until she came to her destination. The Brig. After carefully extricating herself from the Tubes, she took a second to take in a deep breath, straighten her uniform and brush back her sweat slick hair.

Nothing wrong with looking good while you do awesome things.

Hunter cleared her throat and walked purposefully by the open doors that led into the Brig, noting out of the corner of her eye how many Marines were on guard there. Two knuckledraggers stood by the primary cell with weapons charged and ready.

With a grin she realised what she had to do. "Be right back," She muttered, scampering off to find the props for her little moment of theatre.

---Five minutes later----

A small stick with a white handkerchief attached poked out from behind the Brig entrance's doorframe, waving meekly to grab the guard's attention.

"Parlay? Chill? Peace man...." Hunter deliberately stammered, "Don't shoot me, please?"

The lead guard, a corporal, snickered, "Come out with hands in the air."

"Okay, um," Hunter stepped out and dropped the flag, raising her left hand high into the air while keeping her right behind her back. She started shuffling quickly toward the guards.

"Stop!" The Corporal snapped, "I want them both up!"

Hunter stopped and smiled apologetically, "I hurt my back."

The Corporal's expression was cold, "Like I care. Show me your other hand or I shoot."

Hunter sighed and shrugged, "Okay," She said, "Catch!"

As she pulled her hand from behind her back, a small silver ball leapt into the air, flying straight at the alarmed Marines. Hunter couldn't help but mutter 'please work, please work' as the Marines' gazes fixed upon the metal ball.

Then registered what it was.

"GRENADE!" They called in unison, diving in the direction the weapon was coming from to get maximum distance from the expected explosion. Without having the time to think about it, Hunter turned and kicked the Marines in the face, in turn, before they could react. One went limp, the other screamed and clasped his hands against his smashed bleeding nose.

She picked up the screaming man's weapon, kicking the other's well out of reach before moving to the Cells.

"Like my Parisees ball?" She said with a grin before shutting down the force fields,

{Tag Loki and other prisoners]

Unsurprisingly Tybalt didn't instantly reply to the mission that Wood was laying out. Although rescuing people from hostile regimes had been a part of the marine playbook for almost as long as their had been marines.. or playbooks, Wood wasn't just talking about evacuating an embassy or organising the uplift of an oppressed minority in the face of some genocidal nutcase.. he was talking about going back to Earth and orchestrating the escape of who knew how many people from right under the nose of a man with most of the power of the Federation Fleet at his disposal. The very real possibility that some of those would be needing 'escaped' from secret gulags guarded by psychotic 'gennies' every bit as bad as as Khan's augments wasn't exactly making things easier either.

Special operator pride warred with the stark reality of what was being proposed, and suddenly Tybalt found himself wondering if this was how Wood's captains had felt as the man had drawn the line against the Andromedan invasion... facing what seemed like an overwhelming force and weighing it against the utter necessity of the bare plan they were being offered to combat it.

Once again Tybalt found himself very glad that he wasn't the senior officer in green and, even if Kaine hadn't exactly said much since the Admiral arrived, therefore not the one that was going to have to tell the Admiral how crazy his plan sounded.

Instead the veteran Marine simply fell back on his century of service and nodded along with the senior fleety while silently trying to recall names of people he might be able to call on to help.

::Jeffries Tube::

Danno was crawling threw the jefferies tubes on his way to where the Chief of Security was tied up. It was not a short distances he was almost there but he had been working his way along for about 40 min now. There was sweat stains starting to show around neck of his uniform but he was almost there.

::Security Office::

“Honestly Farill, did you have to replicate duct tape for this?” Emily was not impressed, and although in future she would find the situation humourous, she was not finding it that way right now.

“Of course!” Farill grinned and tugged on the leash he’d made, “I think it adds a special bit of flare.”

=/\=Timms to Farill, we’re ready to engage the marines.=/\=A pause followed, =/\=Awaiting the order=/\=

“So you’re giving the orders?” She spat out, “Of all the people to elect, they picked you? Spineless asshat.”

“Temper, temper Em, it’s unbecoming a Vulcanoid.” He tapped his badge, =/\=Move in=/\=

“Damn it, Farill! Those are MY security officers that you are throwing into a deadly situation. Those marines are not going to take this lightly! Once this is all over, I’m the one who's going to have to clean all this up and explain why the hell it happened. Once again, I’m left with your mess. “ .

“That is why you’re tied up, Em.” He lightly touched her cheek, “ You’re excused from blame.” With a light kiss on her cheek he duct taped her mouth and left her alone in the room.


*Jefferies Tube*

When Danno made it into position he pulled out his padd to check the security feed he saw that the Chief was not alone so he fumbled around for one of the stun grenades. ‘Don’t mess it up.’

“I won't mess it up it simple cut a small hole drop it then cut a bigger hole and get her out.” Danno placed the magnetic clamp down and held it as he cut around it. He lifted it up, dropped the grenade before he started to cut a bigger hole.

Danno removed the panel he cut and started to climb through but seeing as ‘rescue’ is not his forte he ended up falling thru the hole instead. He landed on the ground with a hard, “Son of a that hurt.” He got up slowed holding his back as he walked over the Emily. He used a hypo that was filled with adrenaline the jolt of energy should wake her up quickly enough, he stared at her as her eyes as they jolted open she was breathing heavily, Danno just small smile and said, “Wake up Vulcan we have to get going.”

“Vulcan!?” She yelled out, halted by the substance covering her lips.

Danno’s smile grew, “Temper Temper little Vulcan now I am here to save you so I am going to remove this tape from your mouth and we can climb on out of here alright.” Danno pulled the tape off of her mouth before freeing her hands.

“Call me Vulcan one more time and you’ll see exactly why I’m tied up to this damn chair,” Emily growled, as she rubbed her wrists, “Especially as your physical assumption is not only incorrect but horribly rude.”

“There’s the Vulcans I grew up knowing. Arrogant, always right, and always in control. I didn’t have to come here, now shut it before someone outside hears.” Danno growled. He bent over and turned the magnet clamps on his boots on before he walked up the side of the wall to the roof before climbing back into the hole.

Well up there Danno tied a rope around his waist clamped his boots to the ether side of the Jefferies Tube before lowing the rope down to Emily.

“Bastard,” Emily mumbled underneath her breath before ascending the rope, “We need to get to the marines. I need to stop security and the marines from tearing each other apart.”



:: Marine Barracks.::

Even with Colonel Kaine, Bethany, Tybalt and the squad away the marines were outwardly calm and sorted, happily going about their usual routines almost as if they weren’t currently engaged in a rebellion against the President of their Nation. However as with the duck on the proverbial pond there was a lot more happening beneath the surface.

For example one Sgt Reynolds had been prevented from sealing all the ducting into Marine country with sturdy mesh (electrified of course) but not quite stopped from setting up their own little generator and Life support systems from the assault kits, ‘just in case.’

Also the sergeant may or may not have been slowly trying to reorder the watch rota to make sure the people she was ‘most sure of’ were on one particular watch, ‘handy’ if you like. Fortunately perhaps for all concerned she was getting nowhere fast as one of the platoon officers was ‘keeping an eye on her’ as promised and politely keeping her head reeled in.

Likewise the other mumblers who had been less than happy with the decision to go against Carpathia were still less than entirely quiet, but before anything else they were marines and were simply not about to go shooting their brothers and sisters without a lot more provocation.

Maybe a punch or two here and there, a few harsh words, but the weapons lockers were still secure and the standby squads still waiting for an exterior call, not a silently raised fist.

Thus the counter revolt that the sec force was afraid of wasn’t actually happening.. and they had no real idea that they were supposed to be, or that the ship was currently under the control of anyone other than those who had been appointed by the missing CO.

The whooshing of doors opened and two security teams of six entered, “All of you,” The team leader bellowed, “Are to come with us to the brig where you will be secured until further notice.”

In the ready room they had just entered the lounging bootnecks, almost as one, went quiet, looked over, and then laughed, some of them so hard they were in serious danger of falling off their chairs.

In line with the ‘watch and watch’ system a full third of them were currently completely stood down, mostly in their racks, another third were off duty, in some cases having a few drinks before they turned in, and atop that the Co had taken a further squad away with him on the mission. That still left a full platoon of Force Recon marines at their ready stations and most of another able to be ready in minutes if called to stand to. Twelve rifle armed sec boys were and a pair of officers were an army short of the sort of manpower they were going to need to have to move the marines to any brig, let alone the comparatively small one on the ship.

When the faces of the goldbellies offering the threat tightened in anger at the response they had garnered the laughter did die away, but it was replaced by the unmistakable sound of innumerable power packs finishing the process of charging up, making them very much aware that they were far from the only armed people in the room. Apparently the marine fascination with constantly looking after their weapons had meant a good number of those not actually already kitted had rifles to hand anyway...

“I’ve got another idea” the senior officer in the room offered back as he stood from the crowd, his tone far less than charitable, “Why don’t you lower those weapons before you get hurt and we get the Boss Lady on the line”

While he had the attention of the suddenly outnumbered sec boys other bootnecks took the time to very slowly begin overturning tables for cover and one certain sergeant took the time to whisper her own activation code; having no immediate, obvious effect

“Computer” the officer continued, “Patch me through to Commander Loki”

Had the call gone through that might have been bad enough, even more so had it bounced back from the holding room where Starr’s second had stashed the commander, but things never got that far. At Camlann it was a snake, in the marine mess it was a bootneck coming back from the heads.

Someone twitched, someone else over reacted and suddenly shots were being fired. The brave twelve security people managed to get fourteen with their broad beam stunners before a photonic grenade and a hail of return fire threw them all to the floor in  various states of totally unconscious and more than a little bruised. The difference was that nobody then went over to them with stims to get them back up again; instead the twelve of them were cable-cuffed, searched and ditched into an empty training room.

While the marines set about finding out why the commander hadn’t answered and geared up for the next round


----------

A JP with the wonderful Danno, Loki and Tybalt!

====Captain's Yacht=====

Wood did not feel too encouraged by Tybalt's silence. He knew he was asking a lot of both the Incursion's and Redemption's crew, but he also knew his duty. Protect and uphold the people and values of the Federation - the oath he'd taken when they pinned his first gold pip upon his collar on Graduation day.

Those values were under attack and there were people just as eager to uphold those values in danger. He was honour-bound to do something.

"Think about it Sergeant. Anything you can come up with that'll help us help them, let me know."

Wood didn't have time to explain anything further as the Yacht's pilot leaned out of the cockpit with a concerned look upon his face, searching for Kaine or Dushall. He showed visible relief when he saw the recognisable features of Admiral Wood.

"Sir," The pilot reported, "I've picked up a ship, looks like one of ours - or, um not - in High orbit around the fifth planet in-system. Sensors indicate it's conducting heavy scans of the surface."

Wood glanced at Tybalt, "They're looking for something. I'd bet my family home it's Incursion. What ship Pilot?"

The Pilot double checked his instrument panel, "USS Putin. Intrepid class, Sir."

"Captain Marks' ship," Wood mused, "If they're searching for Duchene then we can assume they're not friendly to us. Sergeant - assemble all of your fellow Marines in here now. We're going to have to get clever."

{tag}

Commander Clarissa Loki lifted her wounded head from her knees, she'd been trying to will the headache away as well as silently trying to listen to all of the conversation that the rebels outside had been having. It hadn't garnered much information, aside from them annoyed that the progress information seemed to trickle down to them and they were less than pleased about being forgotten.

"Parlay? Chill? Peace man. Don't shoot me, please?"

Clarissa moved quietly to watch what was going on and got more than she bargained for as a female Security officer Clarissa tried to rack her brain on naming. She drew a blank and touched the wound that had caked blood around. It was still tender, but knew that it wasn't life threatening - so long as it was cleaned and laser sutured sooner rather than later. She ducked back from her cell opening when she saw the grenade launch in the air, then as it landed she chastised herself that she would probably not have been harmed due to the forcefield. She looked over at the other crew in the cell across from hers and got the same bewildered look she had on her face. They all watched in awe as -

*... what the frack is her name? Ensign... Ensign something...* she grimaced as a kick landed on one opponent's nasal cavity, *... good shot. Who is she? Uh... Hunter! Hunter something. Ensign something Hunter it is!* Clarissa decided not to dwell on the first name for now, but it'd come to her.

"Like my Parisees ball?"

Clarissa stood, holding the bulkhead for stability; standing brought forth the nausea she had been anticipating. "Nicely done, Ensign Hunter." Taking the proffered med kit from Lieutenant Joffre. "Thanks." She turned to face a reflective surface and failed at cleaning her wound as her hand moved unsteadily, she gladly gave up her instruments back to the Science Lieutenant who took over healing the Doctor, and looked at the hero Ensign instead.

"You have a lot of gall doing what you did. Thank you. It was stupid taking those two on by yourself," She held up a hand to avoid further miscommunication, "...let me finish before you take that as an insult. I know very little honourable people that would put their lives on the line... with a Parisees ball / grenade decoy." She looked over at Joffre who turned off the suture and wiped the dried blood from the Commander's forehead and closed the kit on the desk.

"What do we do now? These guys were low on the food chain for getting information, which leaves us at a disadvantage." Asked Ensign Dasani from Stellar Cartography.

The two security officers that had been tossed into their cell stepped up and stated that they were going to put the two Marines into separate holding cells. "You can decide what to do with them later on, sir." The one female continued, "You have other things to deal with than these two morons. Now go get back our ship, with all due respect, Sir."

Clarissa nodded and stood up, gave herself a dose of anti-nausea from the hypospray from the kit, put it back where it belonged; it bothered her immensely when she was doing her rounds and she could never find it where it should be. She looked back at Ensign Hunter, "Ensign Dasani poses a good question. We can't play the Parisees decoy on all of the rebels. And I need to get back to Lieutenant Hatter... if she hasn't been digested by the slug or blown up by that fool Lieutenant Baker." She walked towards the weapons locker and opened it with her master code. "Whatever you know, I think that these will make a good addition to the plan."

<Tag Hunter>

Lt. Hatter hummed to her self as she walked calmly out of sick bay, and fired her phaser into the back of... Somebody. She wasn't entirely sure who, but the phaser was set to stun, and, in all honesty, she firmly believed it was better to be safe than sorry.
Jess carried on walking down the empty corridors. She wasn't sure who was on what side, or even what side was what. Infact, Hatter thought, the idea gave her a head ache. Ships crew was mutinying... against a ships crew that had already mutinied... So were they un-mutinying?
"Lt?". Jessica heard a voice down the corridor shout her.
"Yes?" Hatter turned to face the female crew member.
"Aren't you Lt. Hatter?" The young NCO asked of the Lt. as Jessica made her way towards her.
"Yes. Yes I am." Lt. Hatter replyed. Paused for a second, then fired her phaser from the hip. "Nice to me you, I'm sure.".
Seconds later she heard the unmistakeable sound of boots running down the corridor towards her. "Frick." Jessica said, before taking the bottle of pills from her uniform pocket, swallowing 2 dry, and placeing the vial of tablets back into her pocket. About 6 or 7 of them, Hatter thought as she tryed to assess the situtation, before looking up at the slightly out of breath crew member infront of her "Yeah, hi." The Lt. started before remember the unconcious NCO at her feet, as more people followed up the first. "Err... yeah. This isn't how it looks okay. Well, maybe it is a little... Frick"

| Mess
| 'Alice'

From the look in Wood's eye and the determination in his voice it was very clear that the man already had a plan, literally moments after seeing the situation appear on the viewscreen, and frankly Tybalt was a little in awe of that, and suddenly very aware that the man who had appeared out here had very much earned every one of those pips on his dress uniform. He was also very aware that for all his experience there was no way in heck he would have managed that feat.

So Tybalt was more than happy to follow the order and use the ship's com to summon up the handpicked squad of elite marines, calling them up from the hold they had made their own and the various other duties they had found themselves on the small vessel.

By the time he had counted them in, simply from observing the quick searches that the admiral also asked for Tybalt had a good idea what they were about to be asked to do, and his earlier reticence was soon faded away; massive evac ops at the heart of the enemy were one thing but ship assaults were an altogether more familiar task.

Okay so the ship was one of their own and one of the more modern of the fleet, but she was still just a ship, and a straight up charge into fearsome odds was a long way difficult from a logistical juggling exercise requiring intel asset co-operation and large scale civvy herding.

"All present Sir" Tybalt offered as the corporal nodded a confirmation of his own silent headcount.

The Redemption's Yacht was far from being a large craft, as such he didn't expect rounding up the crew to take long - in fact he was counting on it. So far the USS Putin had not detected them, or been bothered to look too closely - that fortune was not likely to last long.

The Master Sergeant had, with casual efficiency, assembled the crew as requested. He met Lieutenant Moondark's gaze and held it for a second before saying, "Thank you Master Sergeant."

Wood broke eye contact with the Lieutenant and started to make his rounds of the room, "Ladies and Gentleman - We have found the USS Incursion. I know you were out here trying to find Commander Duchene and her ship to try and reach me on Earth," He spotted the spark of recognition in the eyes of several in the room and knew he'd hit the mark, "You're most likely wondering why we still seem to be working toward that goal when I've magically appeared in your midst. I know I would be - I'm still wondering just how the appearing part happened."

Wood took a second, letting them bring their doubts to the surface before plunging in, "There are many more people like me who believe in the values of Starfleet and the Federation, values we know the current President is blatantly undermining or even destroying. Those people, honest, loyal people who still want to honour the oath they took to protect the Federation and her citizens - to uphold the ideals that make this Union of worlds great - are being incarcerated or killed behind closed doors. I cannot in good conscience abandon those people. Marines aren't the only ones who never leave a man behind!"

He grinned, "Which is why we'll proceed with the mission as planned - only we'll be giving more than one person a chance at escape. The Incursion is the key, a ship with a Holographic Masking Projector installed."

"The USS Putin, an Intrepid Class ship, is currently hunting for Incursion's crew on the surface of the world we approach. This Yacht cannot stand up to a ship like that - nor outrun one - so we're going to be clever about this.

Our small size means we can approach the planet from the opposite side at Warp and remain undetected for up to five seconds - so long as we drop out of Warp right into low orbit."

A map of the planet's central continent appeared above the Admiral's left shoulder, showing the local geography and what appeared to be a primitive stone settlement built around a large stepped pyramid structure.

Once there, Lieutenant Moondark will lead an away team of Marines and our Engineer with an Emergency Transport unit - who will do an orbital Paradrop to an LZ two clicks south of what I'm guessing is an Indigenous settlement. I know Duchene - if she's holed up anywhere, it's there. She's probably got the locals worshipping her as their queen or something."

The map vanished from view, "In that same window, a second away team of two parts will hit the USS Putin. Sergeant Th'Idran will lead a group of Marines who will use explosives to put the the ship's Primary and Secondary EPS conduits out of action in the one place they both meet - Deck 8 Section 14. To make sure they don't have too much trouble - I'll provide a little diversion for the Bridge crew of my own."

Wood met the eyes of every single person in the room in turn, his tone now serious, "IF you have contact with unfriendlies - Putin crew or otherwise - you shoot to heavy stun ONLY, break a bone or two if they get too close, but under no circumstances do we kill anyone. Are we all clear on this?"

He awaited their response. Once he had it he offered them a reassuring grin.

"Saddle up and make it happen folks!"

{All on Yacht}

Hunter nodded her agreement, “I think so too. It’s going to be a tough slog though sir, those Marines are trained for stuff like this.”

Clarissa shook her head in disbelief. “What happened out there Hunter? Last thing I really comprehended was that I was trying to save Lieutenant Hatter from the slug’s digestive tract and then Baker took command and -” she paused, “Baker’s not smart enough to start a rebellion on his own.”

*I know that his promotion request had been rejected due to a mental issue and he had refused the counselling sessions... could that have been enough for him to go postal?* She asked herself but knew that wasn’t enough to overhaul her command once Dushall left. There was certainly more to the story than she was aware of.

Handing out phaser rifles to their motley crew, she made sure they were on heavy stun. “Keep them on stun. I don’t want people hurt. I just want my ship back.”

That was fine by Hunter’s book. Last thing she needed was fellow human’s blood on her hands - especially when this looked like one big insane misunderstanding to her, “Yes Ma’am. Lead the way.”

Clarissa took up the lead of their misfit band, and got the Turbolift. It was non-responsive. “The frack? I’m not climbing up 8 decks to get to the Bridge from here. Computer, code Loki-5-5-Beta-Charlie-override.” Gratefully, the doors swished open, “Bridge.”

This didn’t seem right. It had almost been too easy, which made Hunter uneasy. Very, very uneasy. It was probably a simple Marine oversight and with that in mind she decided to turn her mind onto other matters, “How in the heck did this whole thing start?”

“I guess we’re all a little clueless. I don’t have my comm badge, so let’s oust Baker from my seat shall we? Weapons at the ready.” She nudged the Ensign away from the opening, “You’re still a little green with tactical readiness, aren’t you?” She stated with a slightly raised eyebrow, when she got a stubborn look at the nudge she’d given. “Unless you want to be the first one down at this party we’re crashing.” She emphasized. Then dug into her medical smock, grateful she’d pocketed the sphere.

“Oh.” Was the sheepish reply from the Science ensign, once the realization kicked in. “Thanks.”

The doors opened on their ragtag group, and it was then she’d tossed in the sphere off to the side, hoping that the smoke bomb would help their cause and not hinder their attempts.

Hunter raised her weapon and fired at the first shape she could find, striking her target in the shoulder. Limbs flew helplessly as the force of the blast sent the bridge occupier spinning to the deck. Unsure if the other side were as happy to be non-lethal, Hunter screamed in mixed fear and exhilaration and charged for the first bit of cover she could find, dropping to her knees to skid in behind a console.

Doctor Loki’s ‘do no harm’ personality fought with the Clarissa ‘I need to regain the ship’ personality, but only for a split second. The Clarissa side won over when she thought of her daughter; someone she hadn’t heard from in many, many hours. The thought that she could have been harmed made her blood boil. She exited the Turbolift and went in high. She had no idea where her back up was and realized too late that she might be caught in friendly fire.

*Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.* Was the simple thought that ran through her head.

“Return fire!” Was the command heard above all else. She knew that voice and she aimed for it. “Loki, surrender. You are out manned, out armed and all in all, outsmarted.” Baker laughed.

Obviously her shot hadn’t hit her intended target. “Bite me Baker. Obviously I got out. I’m here now. Give me the Redemption and I’ll see to it that your cell is padded.” She spit back.

“Give him one without padding will ya?” Hunter muttered, popping up from behind her meager cover to fire wildly at what she thought was movement behind the Engineering console to her left, “Plus a bloody length of rope!”

Baker smiled menacingly into the white smoke, “Computer activate environmental controls. Clear the air... if you will.” As the air cleared, Baker watched the crew scurry for coverage realizing where they may have been standing. “Fools.” He shook his head. “Come on out, Loki. Neither of us want to give up the Bridge. But I’m more than willing to turn you and the rest of these redcoats over to Carpathia.”

“The frack you I will, Baker. Over my dead body.” Commander Loki’s voice rang out and received a phaser shot for her troubles.

“If you insist, Doctor!” Baker laughed and fired again.

“So much for talking them down!” Hunter yelped as a Phaser blast missed her face by inches. She looked back and saw the doors of the turbolift, realizing with horror that this Baker could call in reinforcements that would make short work of their party in no time. Those doors needed to be sealed. Now. Turning up her phaser’s power settings she pointed the weapon at the divide that separated the door’s two parts and fired, using the directed energy blast as a welding torch.

Clarissa hadn’t bothered with the Turbolift, looking over to see what the concentrated beam was doing. She knew the ego Baker had, it was good thinking from who she assumed to be Hunter’s position... it must have been Security basics 101. But she was thinking the Doctor’s game now. She tossed out her phaser, waited a few moments and stood - much to the agog looks that adorned the Bridge crew that looked at her in disbelief.

“Well now, you’re a smart person after all Doctor.” Baker smiled and kicked the phaser out her reach. He yanked the Doctor by the collar and threw her into the wall with great emphasis and watched smugly as she tried to suck in air. “I don’t know how you got out, but I have a show to give you.” Baker turned and spoke to the Conn. “Activate the hailing frequency. I have a friend out there looking for us.”

“I... sir?” They stammered in response. “No. I--- I can’t.” They squinted and held up their hands in refusal.

“Do it!” Baker screamed, spittle flying from the froth in his twisted mouth.

Her task complete, Hunter gripped her phaser tight and grit her teeth. She wasn’t sure what to do. Her training didn’t cover situations like this. Did she shoot Baker? Or was that Loki’s job, somehow?

Clarissa smiled inwardly as the conn had done what she had been hoping. It had drawn Baker’s wrath and sole attention on them. She watched him scream and berate the underling for a few moments. The look of uncomfortable silence as the crew caught between the two factions watched on. She got up quietly, removed her torn medical smock and rightly fixed her tunic by giving it a good and proper Picard-esque tug. She deftly moved to cross the short expanse between herself and her foe. She tapped the now raging Baker who had the Helmsman by the throat, on the shoulder and prayed the next step would work.

“Baker, could I have a word?” When he spun around incredulously, she gave him a simple right hook. One that Eric would have been proud to see executed. The mandible cracked out of place and blood spurted from his mouth. He dropped to his knees in pain and she used both of her elbows clasped together and they landed below the scapula, effectively landing him on the ground.

“Good chat.” She turned around. “Lower your weapons now. Hunter, gather those unwilling to surrender their weapons to you and deal with them the best way you know how.”

Hunter gingerly got out from behind her shelter, straightened her uniform and started to march around the Bridge taking the crew’s weapons at gunpoint, “Hand ‘em over nice and peaceful like, come on!” She snapped as she went, “One wrong move and I’ll drop ya!”

“That’s enough, Hunter. I think they get the idea.” Commander Loki stated, hoping that the Ensign had gotten the hint not to get too overzealous. “Computer, relinquish all of the Redemption controls back to Commander Clarissa Loki, Acting Command Officer and Chief Medical Officer, Loki-5-5-Beta-Charlie.”

“Command controls accepted, Acting Commander Clarissa Loki.” The ship computer complied.

“Well now. I guess we have a ship to put in timeout.” Clarissa stated, “Helm, open a ship wide hail.”

“Aye, sir. Comms open.” The distinctive whistle rang out.

“Attention crew of the USS Redemption. This is Commander Clarissa Loki, Acting Commanding Officer of this ship. I demand that this foolishness cease and desist this moment. All personnel are to lay down their weapons. Anyone found not doing so, will be dealt with accordingly. You have five minutes to comply.”

<tag all>


The Bridge shoot out brought to you by
Commander Clarissa Loki, Ensign Hunter and his all-around-nastiness Lieutenant Baker

"You heard the Commander, weapons down." Lt. Hatter said "Drop them or I'll have you all on charges of disobaying a direct order." Slowly, one by one the weapons started to lower "I said drop it." And Jessica shot one of the male NCOs of the group. "Oh frick."
Jess quickly turned and ran down the corridor in the oposite direction to the crowd till she found the nearest turbo lift.
=^= Computer close doors. Bridge.=^= Hatter panted, out of breath for a few minutes realising how out shape she was becoming, before the turbo lift doors opened out onto the bridge, and she steps tentatively out... "Oh it is you guys." Jessica looked down at the phaser still in her hand before lowering it. "Oh.. Err... yeah, you might have a problem down on deck eight... and 2 stunned crewmen. Sorry for that..."

USS Redemption
BRIG

“Farill you son of a bitch!” Emily’s fist connected with his nose as he turned to look at her. It cracked underneath the pressure and she grinned.

“What the hell!” He squealed as he held his nose, “You can’t do that!”

“No, nooo I can’t kill you but there is nothing from beating the sh*t out of -” She stopped, hearing that quiet Vulcan voice kicking up a storm of reasons why she should be quiet, “You are lucky that all you get is a broken nose.”

“Lucky?” He spat out, spraying blood onto the floor.

“Oh hush, I’ll get a medic to come see you while you’re in the brig. You have no idea what you’ve done. The spark you started created one hell of a blaze.” Emily shook her head, “I have no idea what possessed you…”

“Now you’re defending the marines?” Farill had a genuine look of shock on his face, “I knew you’d be upset about the restraints but I didn’t think - “

“Think? You actually thought?” She pulled him towards a cell, “I don’t believe you thought of anyone but yourself. The people you got involved did you think about them? The ones who got hurt and the ones who will lose their ranks, careers….”

“No regrets -” He said quietly, “We didn’t think it was right. We did what we thought would at least show some form of resistance.”

“Some form? You showed more than just ‘some’ form. You started something that, perhaps in the beginning, wasn’t supposed to spread throughout the ship, but it did and it has your name on it!”

“Em you gotta know I wouldn’t do that. You know me,” He tucked a strand behind her ear, “You know me damn well. “

“Yeah I know you,” She stepped away from his touch, “I know what you’re capable and so do the people on this ship now.” The protective field came down as she entered the code. She nudged her head in the direction she wanted him to move in.

“You’ve got to vouch for me,” He took the hint and stepped into the small confined area.

“I’ll say you didn’t plan the fire,” She put the field back up, blocking his exit, “But I sure as hell won’t say you didn’t start it.”

OOC: Part one of Wood, Tybalt, Duchene, Moondark and Creed's Epic rescue post!

=====Yacht=======

"Saddle up and make it happen folks!"

Admiral Wood stood in silence as the Marines obediently went about preparing for the task ahead. Privately he wondered if the solution to the USS Putin problem seemed as ridiculously easy to them as it did to him. Then again, when the enemy is someone who is supposed to be your own side it gives someone whose job it was to play to all the strengths and weaknesses of each ship in his fleet an easy job working against them.

That thought alone sent a cold shiver down the Admiral’s spine. He hated this conflict already.

Sooner Tybalt and Moondark returned with their teams ready, the better.

Order given, it took little more than a nod for the superbly trained marines to hurry back off to their racks and set to putting their fighting rigs into immediate order, buckling on their harnesses, double checking pouch contents, re-sealing boots and finally slinging on their much maintained weapons. Their movements were clean and efficient, speedy but not rushed, born of long repetition and near-hardwired training.

Tybalt’s rig was much the same as those worn by the others, tight tied and regulation black until coloured, with only the occasional personalisation learned from past experience; an extra buckle here, an extra strap there, maybe a non-regulation spray can included in the pouches and the singular inclusion of an axe bladed ushan-tor in lieu of the more ubiquitous marine dagger. His own carbine got tugged tight, a rather weathered looking ‘top’ slapped down on his head and, with one last kiss of a fading holo-still for luck, he was doubling off to meet the fireteams as they assembled for the off in the same mess they had received their breifing

With the echo of their boots still fading around the short corridor, and faces now set into the familiar grim mask of battle-preparedness they stood ready for the final jump off orders.

“Carbine sir?” Tybalt offered to the admiral who had been waiting there, holding out one of the spares from the stores. Modern tech had reduced the need for individual weapons, instantly ‘sighting in’ and such, so a spare was nearly as good as a pre-issued.

“Thank you Sergeant,” Wood took the proffered weapon and hummed, “Do you mind if I borrow one of your Photon Grenades?”

“Aye aye sir” Tybalt replied, unhooking a brace from one side of his rig and offering them out, complete with the fastener that had held them there. “Coms sorted?” he added, fairly sure that the senior officer hadn’t arrived with such, but guessing the man had done something in the meantime. If not of course then they could supply him with one of the marine helmets that they used for their squad communications.

Wood thanked the Sergeant and replied, “It’s okay. You guys just get in, do your thing and get out. The less chatter that has to leave your group, the better.”

Bethany came striding over to where the pair were talking, fully geared for a fight and settling her own carbine across her chest. “Sir” she nodded to the Admiral before turning and also inclining her head towards Tybalt “Master Sergeant, my team are ready for the drop” she reported settling her feet into an ‘easy’ stance, receiving an approving nod in return.

“I just wanted to check how you wanted us to behave on the planet, whether we are to be covert or overt in looking for Captain Duchene and her people?” Bethany went on to ask the senior, knowing full well what the rules said about interacting with a pre-warp civilisation.

“Knowing Ser- Duchene, you won’t need to worry about being covert. She’s probably got the whole damn planet bowing to her every whim,” the admiral replied, his slip revealing a hint of the closer relationship he had once had with the downed senior officer.

Bethany nodded her dark head, “Good to know Sir, if there’s nothing else I’ll get my guys kicked out the airlock” she said with a broad grin as she felt her adrenaline kicking in with the excitement she was feeling. It wasn’t often that their training, dropping out of perfectly good ships, would be a crucial part of their mission.

Wood nodded to the pilot, who pushed the impulse throttle to the firewall. Diving in under the cover of the planet’s mass and heavily ionised atmosphere, the yacht passed through the shadow of the Putin’s sensors - swooping into position in low orbit with a decent line of sight to the Putin and above the target LZ. A buzzer sounded and a light changed, an announcement to Moondark’s Marines that it was now safe to jump.

“Good luck.” Wood said to his teams, moving to join Tybalt on the Transporter pad rigged into the cleared room.

“Beam me directly into the Bridge - right in front of the turbolift doors.” The Admiral took a deep breath and gripped his weapons - a Carbine in one hand and a Grenade in the other.


At the same time as the Admiral began to fade from sight the short corridor by the lock was itself sealed very thoroughly from the rest of the ship, gunmetal blast doors overlapping to protect the interior atmosphere. No sooner had they slammed home than the lights changed again and the airlock doors did the same in reverse, peeling back into their recessed housing to expose a breathtaking view of the verdant world below, and the clouds between, all painted a faint hue of blue by the retaining field that was now all that stood between Bethany’s fireteam and the immense drop to the distant surface.

With the slightly modified helmet of her environmental suit firmly in place, and checked by her second, Beth triple checked the straps holding her medical and kit bag tight to her body along with her guns. The last thing she wanted was to lose something on the trip down to the primitive planet so far beneath them. She had checked over each of her guys and as the outer airlock doors slowly slid open to reveal the beautiful world spinning slowly beneath them she signalled for the retaining field to be dropped and for her team to take that rather optimistic step out of the ship.

The helmet covering her head dampened the worst of the rushing sound as her body accelerated through the atmosphere, the inner liner of the suit protecting her body from the bone chilling cold and the jump pack on her back giving her the confidence that she wouldn’t end up nothing more than a pretty pink floral stain on the dirt.

The throat mike wrapped around her neck allowed her to talk to the rest of the team and ensure that they were all headed in the right direction for the landing zone that had been selected for them. The earpiece sitting snug in her ear allowed her to hear them and as they all reported in their positions she gave a mental nod.

In what seemed like moments but was more like minutes the small team was activating their jump packs and smoothly coming into land in a tight group. As the first of them hit the dirt they were already unslinging their guns and kneeling to cover those coming in behind.

As the last person touched down Beth called for a sound off making sure everyone was down safely. All reported back even as they started stripping out of their environmental suits and jump packs and donned their ‘war’ gear. Settling her helmet on her head she sent the short radio burst to let the yacht know they were down and signalled for her team to start the short yomp two clicks north towards the nearest village.

Ziva’s scarlet eyes took in the village as they approached, looking at their defenses while calculating to herself the amount of open area once they left the cover currently surrounding them. It was just as primitive as they had been informed, but if she had learned anything from her family, just because it was primitive didn’t mean the villagers would be defenseless. The given fact there was a cleared area completely around the village gave away they had at least guards of some form watching the perimeter.
Beth knelt within the treeline watching the village for a few moments working out what was the best tactic to take with the people within. It looked like the village had a few defences, it had a stake wall and a ditch running around the outside of the wooden palisade. However it didn’t appear to have any watchtowers within the village but something was weird about one of the trees off to the east side of the village. It looked like the foliage had been altered so she wasn’t going to rule out some sort of hide up in that tree.
She signalled to half of her team to circle around through the trees to the other side of the village and await her orders. While the rest of the team she signalled to sling their carbines so they wouldn’t look as threatening and for them to follow her toward the bridge that crossed the ditch.
As they got nearer to the village it was clear to hear shouts going up, through the open gate Beth could see women ushering their children out of sight as spear carrying warriors rushed to the gate.
Pausing by the edge of the small bridge Beth looked to her right upon hearing a splashing to see several large crocodile-type creatures thrashing in the muddy ditch. She looked to the warrior she took to be in charge, she only hoped that the amount of decoration on his scant clothing and woven into his hair meant he was the boss. “Greetings we come seeking one like us” she said in a confident tone, her steady gaze appraising the taller man.
Flanking Beth to her right, Ziva wasn’t happy about slinging her carbine anymore then she had been about strapping her rifle to her back, out of reach, all to appear non threatening to these people. However orders were orders and she trusted Voodoo’s instincts so she followed suit with the others as they approached the village. “Aww look, they have pets.” She muttered sarcastically under her breath in reference to the gator type animals as the squad came to a stop at the footbridge.
While Beth chatted with the barely dressed native, Ziva was keeping a close watch to the fort walls, having spotted a few heads popping up over the top at different locations, which meant these people had at least ladders or a possible walkway on the inside that allowed them to peer or shoot something over the wall. With a subtle glance at the squad member on Beths left, Ziva flicked her eyes to the wooden walls and nodded ever so slightly to tell what she had seen, getting the same glance and nod mere seconds later as the silent message passed between them and the others.
Turning her attention back to her boss’s conversation, Ziva kept her face as pleasant as possible without flashing a smile that would be sure to freak these villagers out on the first glance at her pearly whites.Her slightly elongated canines were very close looking to her fathers tusks and she had used them as a threatening technique before, although somehow she didn’t think it would please Voodoo all too much at the moment, nor help matters any.
With no hope of rescue in sight, Duchene had ordered all of her crew to discard their uniforms. No use continuing the segregation. They had been welcome there long enough and took part in the natives routines and traditions; when in Rome.

Men were shirtless, covered in colored paint that would depict something Duchene, as a woman, was not allowed to know; even as their idol. She just assumed it was like the ancient scout badges. For bottoms, the native men wore a loin cloth. She had asked the male crew to be a bit more modest, however and cut their cloths longer and bigger to cover up and keep some sort of decency. When the natives saw how big the cloths were, they were quite impressed, assuming that the sky people had big you-know-whats.

The women were in cloth bikinis, nothing too special and Duchene made no changes. But at that current moment, she was not wearing her top. Bottoms yes, but the top would just get in the way of the hands of the strong native man’s work.

“Harder down there. Yup. You got it.” Duchene instructed her personal masseur, then turned her attention to the woman kneeling in front of the bed she laid on. “Grape me.” The woman handed her a small purple berry. It wasn’t a grape, but Duchene liked to call it as such.

Her massage was only twenty minutes in when one of her crew barged into the tree shack. Duchene recognized him as the whiny, and always tattling, Ensign Patrick. The ship commander and planet idol sighed, lifting herself off the bed. She fastened her top and asked with heavy sarcasm, “Did Chambers throw a spider on you again? Or did Epstein threaten to feed you to a croca-gator-patomus?”

“Neither ma’am. Rescue party is here.”

Duchene’s face showed no emotion as she stared at the ensign. Surely he was joking. But her half-betazoid instincts told her he wasn’t. She looked between him and the two natives still waiting for orders or to be dismissed. The part of her that loved the princess treatment didn’t want to be rescued. It raced to find excuses to stay. But then the serious and responsible side that came from her many years of controlling a starship took over her actions. “Okay. Party is over. Let’s go welcome the away team and get our rescue underway.”

Getting nowhere with the apparent leader of this group of warriors Beth spoke quietly into her radio to see if the other team was picking up any signs of the huge ship that was supposed to be down on this planet somewhere. They replied that they were picking up something off to the East but couldn’t get an accurate fix on it.

Looking around Beth said quietly “these guys are stalling, it could all be a trap and the ship might not even be here, keep your eyes open” she warned everyone. “We’ll give them a little time then we head after that signal”. She was aware that the mission above their heads could have gone horribly wrong and at any moment an enemy squad could be heading for the surface.

Since her carbine and rifle were slung away, Ziva had folded her arms across her chest, hands tucked in to remind herself not to fidget. She took a couple steps away from the squad to get a better look at the croc like animals thrashing about in the marshy water of the moat like trench, shaking her head as she observed them while getting a better view angle into the village with her peripheral vision.

There was a flurry of activity surrounding one of the huts furthest from the entrance, she couldn't make out what, but a few people were running in that direction as more voices could be heard as some sort of message was being relayed between the natives, one they seemed excited about.

Slowly she turned back to Beth, once more taking the spot next to her and spoke quietly."Activity inside, a hut maybe forty feet into the left. It's become grand central all a sudden." She stated, keeping her expression blank.

TAG

----USS Putin-----

Admiral Wood took a deep breath as the tingling sensation of transport washed over his body. The Yacht’s interior faded into nothingness, quickly replaced by the spacious interior of an Intrepid Class starship’s bridge. All eyes turned to face the stranger who had just appeared in their midst, eyes growing wide with alarm as they registered the carbine Wood held level and ready to fire.

“Don’t move!” Wood’s voice cracked like a whip, “I’ll drop the first sucker who tries to draw a weapon!”

Captain Sonny Marks got out of his chair and faced the Admiral with a smirk, “What do you think this is Wood, an Andromedan Wedgeship? You can’t just beam in here and play the hero without consequences.”

Every member of the Bridge crew drew their sidearms as one, giving Wood no chance to react.
“Don’t you see? You can’t fight the future Wood,” Marks smiled, “Why don’t you put the Carbine down.”

Heart beating at light speed, Wood nodded with a defeated sigh. Slowly he lowered his weapon, dropping it to the deck. In that motion he let the baseball-sized grenade drop from it’s hiding place under his armpit, catching it deftly in his left hand. With the flick of his thumb the weapon was armed, which changed the Bridge’s mood from triumphant to terrified.

“Now you all drops yours.” Wood growled, hoping to God that the Sergeant would be done shortly.


Even as he hoped the very team his thoughts strayed to were finishing their part in the operation. They had waited less than a full ten count after his transport before being beamed themselves straight into the heart of the ‘loyalist’ ship.

With full access to the specifications and personal knowledge of the technology the transport beam was accurate to millimeters, delivering the veteran NCO and his fireteam right to the heart of the ship, in the middle of the crew quarters that made up most of the eighth deck.

Even before the glow that had brought them there was fully faded they had spun out to cover the corridor they were on and moments after that a shaped charge had been placed directly onto the junction of the EPS system that distributed power through the whole vessel.

That would have been that, with plenty of time to spare, had not the wrist computer attached to Tybalt’s arm flashed up an urgent warning that quickly caused him to stop the marine keying in the final activation. A few more handsignals that did nothing to explain, merely told the fellow marines to wait, and the veteran was off, moving the few paces down the corridor to the nearest door and keying it open.

Inside the off duty ensign, and her two toddling children that the scan had revealed, looked up in surprise and confusion, unaware how close they were to what was any moment due to become a plasma conduit failure.

“With me ma’am” Tybalt ordered, his voice granite and perma-ice, “bring your family” he insisted, “now” he finished with enough urgency and authority that the young science officer gave no thought at all to disobeying.

Twenty seconds later the marines and their guests were around another corner, the precise pulsed charge went off instantly building a catastrophic feedback before exploding into brilliant blue flame, and all of a sudden everything, everywhere on the ship went dark.. but for the bright burning flare of an uncontained plasma stream that cut right through a nearby wall.

The lights on the bridge winked out, plunging an inexperienced crew into screaming chaos. Wood flicked a switch on his grenade and turned toward the turbolift, tossing the weapon nonchalantly over his shoulder. A double tap of his Com-badge and the terrified screams and scrambling of the Putin’s bridge crew to escape the explosive device faded into the calm of the Yacht.

A moment later the grenade bleeped and was silent, leaving Captain Marks to tend to his and his crew’s wounded pride.

The Admiral meanwhile awaited Tybalt’s team’s return with a cheeky grin. That grin was soon rewarded by the flaring light of some equally pleased with themselves marines, the white teeth of the veteran alien leading them shining all the more for the contrast with his azure skin.

“Op complete” he reported to the admiral, “full success, no casualties” he added to round out the details, which in turn were soon being echoed by the science crewman manning the scanners and his broadcasted announcement that the Putin was now ‘dead in the water’