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Chapter 1, The Raid
Cardia Surface
So far so good, or so Rob kept telling himself after every security check in; they’d yet to have anything more severe than Landon’s incident with the disgruntled man. Rob took a moment to rest against a large rock formation, it’d been a long few days and he’d been on his feet nearly the entire time. After glancing over the most recent perimeter check sent in by one of the survey teams Rob picked his rifle back up, swung it over his shoulder and walked over to Petty Officer Jensen who was manning the security command post they’d set up next to the Yellowstone.
“Report.” Rob laid the PADD on the console in front of Jensen. “What’s the status of the evacuation?”
Marshal grabbed the PADD and looked up to Lansine, “We were getting reports of delays in the southern neighborhoods but it seems the evac teams there have cleared it up. Something about a woman adamant on bringing her cows with her.” Jensen smiled and shook his head as he read the report from his console.
“Good.” Rob said as he rubbed the fatigue from his eyes, in the past 72 hours he’d slept for five hours. “Have Beta shift relieve Alpha. They’ve been out in the traverse for four hours.”
Jensen shook his head and tapped the command into his console before frowning and repeating the action again, and again. “Sir, my interface seems to be malfunctioning.” Marshal stood up and brought his tricorder out and began scanning the once-functioning console. “It was working a minute ago.”
“I’ll get a tech to come take a look.” Rob slid his hand into his equipment belt and grabbed another PADD and jotted the problem down before sending the formal request off to their assigned engineer.
Rob tapped his comm. badge, “Lansine to Beta Leader, move to relieve Alpha shift on the northwestern perimeter, over.”
The standard courtesy time between communiqués passed before Rob tried again, “Beta team respond.”
Rob thought the transmission had failed again before a muffled and distorted sound came through. “….teams….cannot….repeat….cardas….” the transmission was barely recognizable but Rob knew it was Petty Officer Michael Jung, the leader of the Beta Scouting team.
“Did he say Cardassians?” Rob looked quizzically to Jensen who looked just as confused.
“Lansine to Teal.” Rob tapped his badge again, this time a bit more worried.
Static.
Rob looked to Jensen and quizzically motioned to the command console but Marshal only shook his head—their communications were out.
“I don’t like this.” Rob took his tricoder from his belt and held it above his head and attempted to discover the source of the communications failure.
Rob’s eyes widened as he read the scanning results—it was a low frequency EM pulse. “You, you and you.” Rob pointed to three of the stationed guards. “Rally Alpha and Beta squads: we’re mobilizing.” Rob turned to three other crewmen, “You three, you’re to report to Commander Teal. Make sure he knows the situation: a low-frequency EM pulse is jamming our communications.” The three men looked nervously at one another. “That means NOW!” Rob barked. The two separate teams scurried off, one down the ridge to the colony below and the other into the wooded area to the west.
Rob turned back around to Jensen, “Send out a wide-frequency message describing the situation.” Rob continued to monitor the skies looking for the source of the disruption. “Try and see if you can get through to the Intrepid.” Something glimmered in the sky and caught his attention before going behind a cloud. Rob’s eyes narrowed as he tried to find the object again, it was too small to make out its shape but it glimmered against the blue sky.
“Sir?” Marshal looked up to see what had attracted Rob’s gaze.
Rob’s eyes widened as he realized what he was looking at, “GET DOWN!” He jumped over the command station and tackled Jensen to the ground.
The ground suddenly shuddered with explosions, look out posts around the base were engulfed with flames as particle weapon fire began raining down on the base.
“Jensen!” Rob grabbed the Petty Officer by the shoulders. “Are you alright?” The words didn’t seem to register with the half-conscious Petty Officer as he stated blankly back at Lansine.
“Damnit.” Rob swore as he attempted to stand before another explosion pushed him to the ground. “GET TO COVER.” Rob screamed from behind the control console but his words were barely audible over the torrent of weapons fire from above and the ringing in his own ears.
The barrage of explosions seemed endless as Rob lay over Jensen, attempting to cover the already shocked Petty Officer. “We’re getting outa here.” Rob said as he final mustered enough strength to lift Marshal off the ground, the six-foot something was substantially larger than Rob. Rob could still hear explosions, but they no longer seemed to be concentrated on their position. As the haze began to clear he could make out the outline of the Yellowstone, which looked to still be in one piece. Rob slouched Jensen over his shoulder and began to make their way to the shuttle. Once he had managed to open the back hatch Rob deposited Marshal onboard before looking back at the ravaged camp. Bodies peppered the ground, some intact, some not. For a moment he thought he might vomit, but the sensation faded as soon as he saw them: Cardassian troops. While they were still a good 100 meters from the Yellowstone he could make out the troop formations. After quickly looking around for survivors again, Rob stepped back into the shuttle and closed the hatch.
“Lieutenant…” Marshal coughed, shrapnel from the debris had perforated his left side and he was bleeding, he needed medical treatment.
Rob knelt besides him and grabbed the med-kit under the seat and began scanning him. The shrapnel had entered his lungs, and while Rob was trained in emergency combat first-aid Marshal’s current ailment was beyond his training.
Rob cursed again as he folded the medical tricorder back up. “Hold tight, I’m getting us out of here.” As almost on cue the distinct sound of weapons fire began bouncing against the hull. Rob fastened Marshal to the seat and then jumped behind the conn. “Where’s Landon when you need him?” Rob muttered as he hurried through pre-flight. Just as with his medical treatment Rob was trained to pilot small craft but the art of flying had never bestowed itself upon him, as the three wrecked shuttles on Orion IV could testify.
The weapons fire was becoming louder as Rob began nursing the thrusters off the ground. A sudden kick from the starboard side brought up a warning light, “Warning, port thrusters offline.” The computer cautioned.
“Compensate!” Rob gripped the manual controls, frantically trying to keep the Yellowstone steady as he final was able to pull away from the camp.
He couldn’t tell if the computer had been able to compensate for the faulty port thrusters as the craft continued to pitch back and forth violently. Rob quick looked back to Marshal, his condition seemed to be deteriorating.
“Warning, exiting the planet’s atmosphere is inadvisable.” The monotone of the computer warned again.
“Ya think!” Rob yelled back has he continued to struggle with the commands in front of him. He was flying over the colony now, by the looks of things the same drones that had fired on the security base had began barraging the civilians and evac teams.
"Neyes to Teal! Lansine! Our teams are under fire! I need assistance! The Cardassians apparently decided they couldn't wait!" The sudden burst from the comm. caught Rob off-guard. Obviously the jamming EM pulse hadn’t yet disabled communications this far into the colony.
“Computer set a route for Lieutenant Neyes’ position.” The computer chimed as to affirm the order and the map appeared on the read out in front of him.
“Hold on Jensen, we’re heading down!”
Chapter 2, Pickup
Surface of Carida, prior to attack on Intrepid
The house just seemed to explode. In that same moment, Landon felt the heat rush over him and the rest of his group as if it were a splash of warm water. The impact in the air at first, seemed like a silent thunderclap, and the roaring flames tearing from the structure quickly swallowed the silence in deafening howls of fire. The fabric of his uniform clung to his body as the concussion knocked them all forward. A few cried out in terror as they stumbled to regain their footing. Landon bore his eyes shut and yanked his focus back into his control. He coughed as dust filled his lungs.
Helping a young woman colonist back to her feet, he heard himself yell out, "REPORT!".
"The colony is under fire! They're targeting the evacuating colonists and our teams from Intrepid!" A crewman called back as she spun around, wide-eyed and reading her tricorder as if it held the keys to life itself. He could barely see her now through the cloud of debris and dust falling over them.
Neyes knew that unless he got these people back to the runabouts in the next few minutes there was little hope they'd make it off the surface. More people were screaming and fleeing in complete horror as sounds of weapons fire began to fill the air.
"Everyone to the runabouts NOW! Go go!" He shot his left hand out in the direction of the hills a few times. -*taps*- "Neyes to Teal! Lansine! Our teams are under fire! I need assistance! The Cardassians apparently decided they couldn't wait!" He unlatched his phaser rifle and charged it. Ready to blow any Cardassian assailant into the far and beyond.
"Landon!" Rob had tapped into the Yellowstone's communications while attempting to find a suitable place to land. "I've got wounded and am inbound to your position." Below Rob could see what looked like the remains of a Federation Prefab, hopefully Landon and his team were alright.
Landon could see the Runabout closing in to land. "Affirmative!" He continued to motion for the civilians to move the nearby square where Rob could land. His eyes searched for Cardassians but couldn't see any. "Rob do you know what's attacking us? I lost comms with the ship!"
"I'll explain when we've landed." Rob looked out and searched for a place to land the Yellowstone. Seeing a what looked to have once been a tennis court, Rob gently navigated the craft to the ground. A rather loud crunch indicated their arrival as the now-landing-pad tennis court was flatted to accommodate the Yellowstone.
Immediately as the shuttle hit the surface Rob jumped from his chair and hurried back to Marshal who was still barely conscious. "Neyes!" Rob tapped his comm badge feveriously. Only static replied, the EM pulse had effectively disabled all colony communications.
"Sit tight." Rob put his hand on Marshal's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "I'll be right back."
The smell of burnt flesh hit him as he opened the exterior hatch--the place looked terrible. Arial views of the colony hadn't shown the absolute level of terror on the streets. Civilians were running madly through the streets, unable to find family and friends, Starfleet personnel's bodies littered the ground, what was left of the actual structures continued to be eaten away by plasma fires, and the sounds of explosions and weapons fire could still be heard in the distance. They sight was overwhelming.
Every second that ticked by seemed to hold another moment of death as the evac team bolted for the landing site. Neyes had to avert his eyes more than once to keep from being overtaken by the destruction happening around them. It was only another couple hundred feet, and a few people had bolted into a sprint to get to the Yellowstone. He couldn't blame them; it took a good deal of mustering his courage to look behind them.
Neyes barely heard it before it struck.
A plasmsa charge abruptly exploded in the midst of Landon's team. The orange and green fire popped outwards and instantly vaporized two people to Neyes' right. The blast took him off his feet and flung him several yards into a nearby building. People screamed out in pain as they were suddenly scattered about on the ground, some dead, others severely burned. Landon crumpled to the ground against the shattered building's wall and felt himself losing consciousness. No. He had to get out of there and get the colonists away from the Cardassians. He'd be damned if he was going to let them take him or anyone else alive.
He had to get up. "Agh... oh just great." Neyes clutched the broken wall and pulled himself to his feet. The pain rocked his entire right side, nearly bringing him back down. It was so intense he was almost afraid to look and see the extent of his injury. A large hole was seared into his uniform, exposing a charred layer of skin beneath it. Luckily, other than the burns he felt alright. Nothing was missing, at least. In an effort to see what was going on, he wiped the char from his vision, and watched through blurry eyes as the colonists that survived desperately made their way the remainder of the distance to the Yellowstone.
As the smoke began to clear Rob could begin to make out individuals from the Intrepid. Rob frantically searched the chaotic crowd for a recognizable face when he saw Landon pulling himself up from the debris. "Neyes!" Rob yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd. "We need to get out of here!"
"Damn, Lansine," Neyes wheezed, "what took so long." He tried to crack a smile, but instantly regretted it. His face was too badly burnt. He took Rob's shoulder as they made haste back to the runabout.
Landon's obvious injuries made Rob feel even more uncomfortable; he had two men to take care of now. As the two of Lieutenants made their way through the smoke and chaos to the makeshift-landing pad new screams erupted from the prefabs behind them followed by the distinct sound of disruptor fire.
"Cardassians!" Rob looked behind them and could see troops moving in on their position. "MOVE!" Rob, infused with adrenaline, grabbed Landon by his legs and flipped him over his shoulder and sprinted for the Yellowstone.
Neyes' eyes went wide as his friend effortlessly tossed him across his shoulder. "My hero."
The two reached the runabout amongst a crowd of a dozen other civilians, all of whom were scratching and grasping the hatch controls, frantically trying to evade the on coming Cardassians. "Stand back!" Rob attempted to move around the crazed innocents but in their collective panic no one seemed to be listening.
Rolling his eyes, Landon poked his phaser rifle through the croud and managed to shout over the bustle, "Move and you get a cookie. Don't move and I shoot you." The colonists reluctantly stepped a few paces back for them.
"Thank you!" Rob managed to push a young man away from the access port and pressed his credentials into the panel and opened the outer hatch. "Get in before we change our mind!" Rob set Landon down and grabbed his own rifle and began firing at the advancing troops.
"GET IN!" Rob yelled in a final attempt to shepherd the remaining civilians onboard. Pushing the last two onboard, Rob fired the last of his clip into the Cardassian lines before jumping onboard. After closing the hatch Rob quickly looked over their new crew compliment: nine colonists, three Starfleet crewmen, alongside Jensen, Landon and himself.
Rob looked to the conn; Landon had already sat down and was beginning to take the ship up.
"What did you do to this thing, Robby?" Neyes winced as he began launching without the pre-flight safeties, handing a dermal regenerator to a young man nearby. "Run this over... well, pretty much all this. Anything black." Neyes made a large sweeping, circular motion over the entire right side of his body.
Rob ignored Landon as he bent over Marshal, "Who here is a doctor." He looked to crowd who had crammed into the small compartment; the shuttle was designed for six people, it was holding 15.
A middle-aged civilian man seemed to raise his hand tentatively and a young Starfleet woman, sporting the traditional sciences-blue collar, stood up.
"This man needs medical attention." He took the medical tricorder out from the medkit and handed it to the crewman while he gave the rest of the kit to the man. "Sharpnel perforated his left lung." He racked his memory for any more information he could give the two doctors but couldn't think of anything. "Thank you." He gave the two a deep look of appreciation before jumping into the co-pilot seat next to Landon.
"They shot out the port thruster." Rob finally answered the question. "I figure my rough landing didn't help things either."
"Bullies." Landon, stern faced, brought the weapons systems online. The Cardassians were really consistent, he had to admit. Pillaging innocent people was certainly their strong point, and they took advantage of it on a regular basis. From up higher, they could see the whole state of the colony. Pillars of smoke rose from the buildings and hills of the settlement, fires erupted un-checked. He could also make out the charred remains of people, children, strewn about in the streets. It was awful. Something inside him made him bring the runabout around to face the advancing troops.
A little spark of rage flickered inside him. "Suck it." Neyes muttered.
Multiple phaser blasts lashed out from the emitters on the Yellowstone, one for each Cardassian soldier. Landon watched as they vanished. One. By. One. He had to remind himself it was inappropriate to feel joy as he saw the last few Cardassians run in unabashed fear as they realized what was about to happen to them. Unfortunately, Neyes wasn't feeling particularly forgiving today.
"You beat me to it." Rob smirked. He'd just accessed the weapon controls when Landon had begun shooting at the advancing Cardassians.
"Well then let's go." Landon whispered coldly. "We're not going to clear atmo like this though."
"That seems to be the consensus around here." Rob let out a small smile remembering the LCARs woman's earlier warning. Rob was about to suggest a course of action when another muffled transmission came across the comm.
"In....assistance....under fire....northwes...thirty...fourtytwo..." Rob's eyes shot to Landon who had heard the same thing. Rob looked down at the console and verified the transmission codes, they were Intrepid Security.
"Cardassians can't seem to jam communications to save their lives." The low-frequency EM Pulse technique, while unique, wasn't very effective.
"You'd think they'd be experts by now..."
The Yellowstone continued to pitch, though a bit more controlled now that Landon was behind the controls. Nevertheless, the craft was in bad shape and it seemed they would be making another pit stop. The engines whined in complaint at the maneuvers Neyes was asking for.
"Landon?"
Neyes (who was now burn-free thanks to the dermal regenerator-wielding young man) was driving the shuttle one-handed and slipping on a new combat tunic to replace his incinerated one. His voice was muffled as he spoke midway through putting the uniform on, talking through the shirt. "Naturally we're going after them, yes?"
"Find the closest cool spot to the coordinates and lay us down there." Rob was already attaching another phase clip to his rifle.
The Trill made a little 'yes sir' salute, and continued adjusting their course. A few cries of shock and outrage errupted from the rear cabin as the civilians began to panic they would be further subjected to the horrors they thought they'd escaped. "You can't be serious!" One man called out. "We have to get out of here!"
"There are children with us! Please!" Another cried.
The problem seemed to skip across Rob's mind before Landon pressed the issue further.
He could see Rob's concern growing as the situation seemed like it was heading for a dead end. "Rob", Landon whispered, "we have plenty of room to pick up the team, but there's no way to get them anywhere once we have them. This runabout won't break 12 kilometers into atmo before the thrusters fail. Is there any way we can rescue the team, get the civs to safety other than with our runabout?"
He still couldn't give him a good answer. The colonists seemed to take a collective deep breath as he contemplated what to do with them.
Then it hit him.
"Two of you are doctors, any chance any of you can pilot this shuttle?" Rob swiveled his chair around and faced the 12 shell-shocked colonists. "How is he?" Rob turned his attention to the man and woman keeping watch over Jensen. The young woman shook her head approvingly.
"Sir? I have piloting experience." An older man poked his head through the crowd.
"Lansine. Take a look at this..." Landon brought up the scans of the coordinates. "There's the runabout, but no evac team. They're not there anymore." The scan showed a small clearing where the runabout apparently was forced to set down, with a completely empty runabout devoid of life-signs. There were a few bodies, but Neyes couldn't differentiate between cardassians and federation with all the signal interference.
Rob leaned over Landon and examined the console; it looked like they'd found a ride.
"It looks like all the systems are intact. Their runabout should be spaceworthy." Landon added.
Rob turned back around to the colonists, now standing with rifle in hand. "You said you had piloting experience?" He nodded towards the man who'd spoken earlier.
"Yes." He didn't seem very confident of his ability, but it was ability nevertheless.
"Enough experience to handle a Starfleet shuttle? We've found a functioning shuttle to get all of you to the Intrepid. A wave of relief seemed to crash over the frightened colonists. "If you're alright with it I'll be sending all but myself and the Lieutenant up with you. Get to the Intrepid and get the wounded to Sickbay. Understood?" Rob hadn't really left any room for argument, they were doing this.
The man shook his head approvingly again.
"Good." Rob looked back to Landon. "We're a go here."
Landon tapped the controls and brought the Yellowstone down next to the abandoned runabout. The Tempest. A cold chill shot through him as he realized he'd put Lexi on the Tempest, so she could get a feel for piloting on her own. Was there a chance something had happened to her because of his decision? He knew it was ridiculous to hold himself accountable based on his duty assignments, but it still rung painfully in his mind. Worry crept up in the back of his mind, and he silently prayed for her safety.
"I'll uh... set us down to transfer the civies. I suggest we do this quick." The runabout bucked as it landed and several alarms went off, indicating overloaded systems. Neyes sighed; it was probably the last time the Yellowstone would fly for a while.
When the thud indicated they'd hit the ground Rob made his way through the crowd to the exterior hatch. "Hold tight, I'll be right back." Rob jumped off the Yellowstone, rifle ready and made his way to the Tempest. Thdie shuttle itself looked fine but the bodies that lay scattered across the ground made him feel on edge. After securing the shuttle and scanning for biosigns Rob motioned for Landon and the others to begin exiting. The 12 colonists hastily filed out of the Yellowstone, the two doctors now had Jensen supported and locked to a make shift gurney. Rob spotted the would be pilot and handed him a PADD with instructions.
"Just get them all there, alright." Rob's tone showed his exhaustion.
The man sighed and took the PADD from Rob, “I’ll do my best."
Rob cracked an uneasy smile, "You've got the easy job."
Chapter 3, Massacre
Cardia Surface - Prior to attack
The rock formations were quite extraordinary. Michael Jung, Petty Officer 3rd Class and commander of Beta Scout Team took a moment to admire a spectacular rock outcropping. The deep reds of the sandstone glimmered in the intense sunshine. The breathtaking view reminded him of home back in Arizona.
“Petty Officer, squads one and two are ready to continue.” Crewman Tomlinson, a recent addition to Jung’s usual security detail, interrupted his nostalgia.
“Ah, alright then.” Michael paused for a moment, bringing himself back to reality and turned back to his team. “We’re all ready then. Only two more spots till Alpha relieves us. You all could use a good shower.” The crewman laughed as Jung poked fun at their collective body odor. Thankfully, their four-hour shift was outside; the shuttle ride back to the Intrepid would indeed test his limits.
The team fell into formation as Jung took to the front of the ten-man group. They’d yet to find anything interesting on their survey missions. After three separate shifts in the traverse Jung was beginning to wonder if the Cardassian bases he’d been briefed about were nothing but sensor ghosts.
Twenty-minutes passed before another crewman spoke up, “Sir, I’m picking up something.”
Michael rolled his eyes, “Bryan, you’re always ‘picking up’ something.” The man was notorious for his false sensor readings. On more than one occasion his faulty information had led the entire team on a wild goose chase.
“No sir, this is, this is…” The crewman couldn’t answer; he couldn’t find the words.
Michael was growing inpatient with the young man. Maybe next time he’d leave the man back on the Intrepid. Michael turned and saw Bryan in the back of the formation, wide-eyed and holding his tricorder in front of him.
“If I have to come back there…” Bryan interrupted Michael’s threat.
“Sir.” Bryan’s voice quivered as his hand slowly moved from his tricorder and pointed down the cliff.
Then Jung saw them.
Three-dozen or so Cardassians holding position next to the Tempest runabout, the very spot they were supposed to be meeting Alpha team.
A few of the crewman in the team walked up to Jung to get a better view of the Cardassians before Michael forcefully, but quietly said, “Get back. They haven’t seen us yet.” He motioned for the team to stay behind him and out of sight of the Cardassians below. He reached for his optical-zoom viewer and pulled the device to his eyes in order to get a better view of what was going on below. It wasn’t until he saw two Cardassians dragging them did Michael see the bodies. Starfleet uniformed personnel, all gold-collared—it was Alpha.
Michael felt his insides knot up as he saw the remains of his comrades being tossed aside by the Cardassians hounds. It took all the power within him not to take his rifle out and begin firing on them. Instead he called for Crewman Nelson, the woman in charge of team logistics.
“What was Alpha’s assignment prior to them meeting us?” Jung knew the answer; he knew they were escorting the outskirt civilians to the Tempest for evac; he needed Nelson to tell him differently.
Nelson searched her PADD for the answer, “They were scheduled to escort the 20 families that live outside the main settlement to the Temp…” He stopped as she finally realized why the Cardassians were below. “My god…”
“Damnit!” Michael clenched his fist and slammed it down on the ground in frustration, in the process knocking the optical viewer down the edge of the cliff. Michael’s eyes darted to the small device and followed it as it quickly plummeted down the Cliffside, bouncing multiple times before falling a few meters from the feet of one of the Cardassians.
It happened too fast.
The Cardassian picked up the small device; confused he looked to the cliffside and followed its path up to the edge where Michael still laid. Almost instantly the entire Cardassian party began firing on their position. Disruptor bursts crashed into the rock face, flinging dirt and dust everywhere.
“FALL BACK!” Michael jumped to his feet and screamed for the rest of the team to retreat. He fired a few rounds down towards the Cardassians below, but the dust clouds prevented him from taking proper aim.
The explosions from disruptor suddenly stopped. Instead a loud whistling sound came from below. “GET DOWN!” Michael jumped and tackled two crewman to the ground as the large explosive collided with the cliffside, a loud crunching noise, followed by the sound of the rock face splintering.
Then they fell.
The cliff began falling apart. Michael was one of the first to fall. The ground under him suddenly could no longer hold the collective weight of him and the two crewmen. All three, along most of the Beta team began falling amongst various pieces of debris to the ground 50 meters below.
Then everything went black.
Chapter 4, Scheming
Cardia Surface
The Tempest was now safely out of sight. The colonists and evac crews soon would reunite with the Intrepid—assuming she was still in orbit. Rob rubbed the stress from his face as the thought of the Intrepid battling Cardassian War ships crossed his mind. The Sovereign class ship was formidable in combat but he doubted she’d be able to take the onslaught of multiple Cardassian ships.
Finally it had set in—they were at war. Or at least it looked that way. Dead civilians, Cardassian troops, each pointed to a new conflict between the Federation and the Cardassian Union; exactly what the doctor hadn’t ordered.
Neyes ran a hand through his hair, exhausted. "So', he started, "here we are... In enemy territory with a broken shuttle and no communications with our ship. I love me a good challenge." He looked around, a little blankly at the bodies of the crewmen they had yet to gather. He couldn't help but wonder if they were doomed for the same fate.
“We’re getting our people back.” Rob said plainly. He was frustrated. The Cardassians had out smarted them and tactically outwitted him personally and now ten crewmen lay dead around them because of it.
The tricorder twittered and whistled emptily as Landon ran it across the air. "Like I said. Love a challenge."
Rob stood up and looked around before answering Landon. Jung wasn’t among the dead; a good third of the team was still unaccounted for. They might still be alive. “Any signs of them?” Rob was referring to the tricorder scans Landon had been running since the Tempest left.
"I've been getting a marvelous picture of what the inside of the warpcore must look like. Within 1000 meters it's a little better, but still no sign of any more human lifesigns." Neyes' voice held its usual dry humor, but was distinctly laced with worry as the situation seemed less and less hopeful. "And I don't detect any communications from orbit, either."
“What about Cardassian patrols?” Rob bent down and examined the body of one of the dead crewmen: it was Bryan Brinkly, a crewman he’d moved from duty rotations to Beta team personally. “Damnit,” Rob cursed under his breath. It was his fault the man was dead, along with the nine others that lay around them.
Landon eyed Lansine, he wasn't taking this well. Neyes himself was particularly young to be a senior officer, but he had the benefit of 800 years previous experience to fall back on. Rob was losing subordinates for the first time en mass today, and it was taking its toll.
"Rob." Landon's voice softened. "You need a break. WE, need a break. My whole body is cussing me out right now and it's gonna get worse if I don't eat something. See if the replicator is working, I would rather eat one of these cardassians than another ration cube."
Suddenly a loud rustling of the bushes nearby startled Neyes. Without thinking he pulled one of the small knives he kept at his boot, dropped the tricorder, and hurled the knife at the sound. It made a small 'twack' sound against a tree as it impacted right where the sound originated.
The whole incident took less than 10 seconds. Landon was still posed and ready to murder anything that came into view, when he quickly realized that he might be in need of a break just as much as Rob. A small bird lay limp, impaled by the knife against the tree.
Rob looked up from Brinkly's body, dumbfounded by his colleague's amazing skill, yet shocked at the same time. "Nice throw?" Rob didn't know whether to compliment Landon or ask if something was wrong.
"Fuxja il donarih oglimana'ta!" Landon swore. His heartbeat slowed a little as he tried to calm himself. "Shitty bird!"
The bird still lay motionless against the tree. "Apparently..." Rob smiled and shrugged Landon's outburst off.
"Laugh it up, buddy." Neyes bent down and rested his hands on his knees. The last few hours had him more rattled than he'd thought. Naturally, he found the best way to deal with horrible situations was to avoid them. "I'm going inside. I suggest you do the same. I hear a plate of spaghetti calling my name."
"I suppose that's what I should..." Rob's own tricorder cut him off, whirring and buzzing frantically.
Landon visibly tensed up again. "Oh come on."
"Cardassian patrols, north, west, east--they're all over us." Rob said frantically, grabbing his rifle and arming it in the process. "Four-hundred meters!"
"Can we run south?"
"There's only cliffside. Unless you'd like to fall 500 meters to your death I propose we figure something else out." Rob examined the tricorder, looking for any other possible route for escape--they were trapped.
Landon looked from the Runabout to Rob, and then back again. Giving Rob a look like he had an idea, Neyes ran inside and reemerged with a medkit and an engineering box.
"What now?" Rob's eyes narrowed, Landon's wit-full expression made his stomach turn.
Neyes peered up to Rob and looked him sternly in the eye. "You trust me?"
"How many times have I told you not to start a sentence like that?"
Quickly Landon grabbed a hypo, injected himself, and held it out for Rob to take. Since there was nowhere to run, they were going to need something a little more creative in order to save their crewmates. Neyes knew Cardassians would love nothing more than some information they might help them in this war they'd decided to start, and who better than a Lieutenant from one of the most powerful ships in Starfleet?
"One of us is getting caught."
"Excuse me?" Rob stared at the extended hypospray.
"Inject that isotope, and once they take one of us where they took Beta team, the other can track him." He knew it was risky, given the Cardassian's natural affinity for being unpredictably cruel, but they had little choice given the circumstances. They probably had less than a minute before they were overtaken.
Rob grimaced, he didn't like the idea of letting the Cardassians take either of them, but nevertheless it was their only chance at finding Beta and getting out alive.
"Fine." Rob grabbed the hypo and injected himself. "But you don't get to play hero. I'm going, not you." Rob said plainly, there was no debate in his mind, the Cardassians would take him, not Landon.
"Well Robby, as much as I'd enjoy watching some feisty Cardassian plow your face in with a hyperspanner, there's no way I'm letting you go in there."
"You should have thought of that before you proposed such a brilliant plan." Rob said, smirking as he handed his rifle to Landon. "I don't need to remind you of Starfleet Protocol."
Landon squinted his eyes and cringed, "The one that says I am a vastly superior officer in every way?" He knew where Rob was going with this, and he knew Rob was going to win.
"The one that says I outrank you in this circumstance. Chief of Security, in any tactical situation, is given residence over officers of equal rank." Rob smiled again, putting Landon in his place, while rare, was quite satisfying. "Speaking of which hand me those." Rob pointed to the two pips on Landon's collar. "I think the Cadassian's would much rather interrogate a Lieutenant Commander--hand 'em over."
With a surrendering sigh, Neyes took off his pips and slapped them into Rob's hand. "Protocol... I should just beat you over the head now and save them the trouble."
"Thank you," Rob unpinned his hollow pip and replaced it with Landon's full, followed by refastening his hollow pip to his collar. "Never thought I'd see you as a Warrant Officer, Landon. How do I look?" Rob laughed, a few minutes ago he was reminded why he hated his job, now he remembered why he loved it.
"Handsome!" Neyes smiled evily, "you look just like Commander Teal."
"Now get the hell out of here." Rob pointed to the hatch. "And mask your bio-signature or else we're both screwed."
Landon grabbed his Tricorder and slipped inside the access hatch to the Runabout's service area. Before closing the hatch, he looked back at Rob and nodded. "Rob", he said, "don't worry."
Everything in him screamed not to let Rob be the one to get captured. It went against everything he believed a friend should do, and that was exactly why Rob was doing it. Still, Neyes was beginning to feel the true reality of the situation. He knew what they'd do to get Rob to talk, and it was killing him to think about it. He prayed that everyone else was alright, and silently asked for Rob's protection. Without another word he sealed the hatch and activated the Tricorder's scattering field. With any luck they'd simply believe the small hole in their scanning signals would be the result of the Yellowstone's power systems.
Through the starboard access window Rob could see the first of the patrols filing down the hills and into the canyon.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly exiting the Yellowstone, hands raised.
"Odo'ital."
Translated, "Surrender."
Continued in Cardassian Assult on Carida, Part II - Lansine & Neyes