Operation Homeward Bound: Shutting it Down
Posted on Thu Apr 16th, 2020 @ 12:42am by Gunnery Sergeant Flarn & Gunnery Sergeant Gaagii & Corporal Tyrigus Fry & Corporal Rairror Thoran & Corporal Adélaïde Moreau
Edited on on Thu Apr 16th, 2020 @ 1:28am
2,376 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Episode 9 - Empok's End
Location: Engineering & Security Empok Nor
Timeline: MD005 0830 hrs
Gaagii and Moreau had been leading the rest of the team by about five feet. They maintained a low visibility as both of them were RECON/SAR experts. What bugged Gaagii the most at the moment was the lack of enemy challenge. It seemed that no one had attempted to stop them and this rubbed the Sergeant the wrong way.
"Do you ever get the feeling things aren't quite right Sarg?" Adelaide asked in hushed tones as they continued forward. She could see his trepidation. For a man of very stoic qualities she could always read him quite well. As she looked away from him something flashed to the right of her peripheral vision and she raised her rifle, trailing where she had seen the movement.
"My people have a saying 'Coyote is always out there waiting, and Coyote is always hungry.' Be ready for anything. However, it does seem rather odd that they would not offer a resistance." Gaagii nodded in agreement as he spoke. He had turned off the HUD in his helmet preferring to use his steely eyes. He raised his hand in a fist to indicate that everyone should stop. He saw the faintest shadow and he knew. They were coming, and unaware. Using hand signals he indicated that Moreau should slink to the side and into an alcove to get out of sight.
Ade nodded at the signal from her superior and began to move into a better hiding place. She knew what he had in mind, spring on the enemies with the element of surprise. Hopefully if this was done quietly then it would not attract any more unwanted attention so they could keep moving forward.
Quickly Gaagii activated his comm link. "Crow to Puumbaa incoming from twelve. There are five targets and they are unaware of our presence."
"Acknowledged Crow hold fire until ordered or fired upon. Puumbaa out." He had his team drop into a knelt firing line. Whoever was coming would either surrender or be mauled by the Marines. "Fry, Pearce, Zapata hold the line, but do not fire unless fired upon or the order is given" Flarn ordered his team.
Lance Corporal Fry shook his head inside of his helmet and muttered something about following ROE's during battle but automatically moved into a cover position behind a wall brace and knelt. He brought his phaser rifle up, the targeting reticule superimposing on his HUD and he waited...
"Crow the sky is clear..." Flarn whispered into his mic. A small bead of sweat trailed down the Tellarite's face.
Gaagii knew the code meant he could fire when ready. As the two Cardassians and two humans approached Gaaggii and Moreau the latter had been undetected. Gaagii gave the signal to open fire as the back end of the group cleared the two RECONN team members. His idea was to get them in the cross fire with Flarn's fire team. Gaagii's shot hit one of the Maquis in the chest and she crumbled to the plating.
Taking in a breath, Fry held it and his finger twitched at the firing stud as he'd been trained. With his rifle set to heavy stun, he fired three rapid shots at one of the Cardassians, hitting twice. The first one hit and knocked the female into the bulkhead and the second caught her as she fell. The third smashed into the bulkhead with a snapping sound and the Corporal turned his attention to more targets.
One Cardassian down, one Human. That left one of each and Ade smiled a little. Taking a small throwing knife from her boot she launched it towards the Maquis and it struck them in the leg, just above the knee causing them to grab it and fall in agony. This caught the second Cardassian by surprise, much like when his other two comrades fell and he raised his weapon and fired it towards Ade. He missed but she did not and fired her weapon hitting him square in the chest plate of his uniform and he fell. "Targets down." she said over the comm.
Flarn chimed in "Good work everyone. Let's waste no more time. Advance to the Security Office. They probably know we are coming already."
Gaagii began to sweep his rifle from side to side on open search and destroy.
Tomas Bombino was preparing his strike force team. They were double checking their gear. They were planning on a raid on the USS Pioneer, and new that the ship had a compliment of security and marines. He was not worried about security. His team could handle them.
He was a little concerned about the marines, so they were going in loaded and hot. They needed to have the tactical edge over the Pioneer's Marines. Tomas was inspecting his rifle, when other members poured into the room. "You ready?" Tomas asked a fellow maquis member.
Vincent De Gosta had been called a big dumb ape for most of his childhood. He was tall, broad and full of muscle. As he placed a bandalier of frag grenades across his body he spoke. "You know it Tomas. I can't wait to see the look on the Fleet's a&* hole faces when we take their prized ship."
"Our primary goal, should be the blue prints. Taking the ship, should be extended goal. If we get the blue prints, then we win. We will be able to build our own carrier." Tomas said, as he looked to Vincent. "Have you worked with Joda before?" Tomas asked Vincent.
"Nah I haven't had the pleasure, but I am told he is one of da best. So he will get it done. We just have to make sure that we get this station secure." Vincent replied, despite the red alert it seemed that the station was running as normal. This made Vincent a bit jumpy to say the least.
"He has a bit of a temper, and is quick to judge. He is also very good computer hacker and programmer specialist." Tomas said, as he went on. "You will be on his team, providing assistance while he down loads the blue prints." Tomas told him the plan.
For the first time in a long time De Gosta felt at a loss. "But I just da muscle, what do I know about downloading important stuff. Doncha think it would be betta for someone else to make sure da mission is a success."
"I need someone I can trust, protecting his back. And that is you." Tomas said, as he put his hand on De Gosta's shoulder for a moment.
"Thanks, that is a big honor. I know what dis means to da Admiral." De Gosta replied. He stopped in mid speech and looked up, there was a sound and he worked a moment to place it. His eyes squinted and he got it. "Tomas we either have to get ready to fight, or get going. We got company a large group from the sound of it." He shouldered his rifle into the ready position.
"Joda we need to get out of here, now..." DeGosta spoke after a pause to listen. "...We are going to have incoming shortly."
"Agreed, it's almost time for me to work my magic. Lead the way De Gosta." Joda said, hoping this bafoon, did not fumble things up for him.
DeGosta heard the footsteps, and knew what they were. Most people thought that he was unintelligent, however, he was wise in the ways of combat. He would know those sounds anywhere, they were the booted feet of Marines wearing the EAS. In this moment Vincent DeGosta knew two things the first was that their stay aboard Empok Nor was going to be short now that the Marines were here. The other was that he was expendable, a ways to a mean, Joda was not. Vinny's objective was to make sure Joda lived at all costs.
As Fire Team 2 approached Main Engineering, Song, sent Private T'Pau and Corporal Thoran to recon the area.
"So, Serg, what do you think's waiting for us?" PFC West asked.
"Well it ain't going to be a welcoming community, that's for sure, PFC." Song replied.
Rivera, Glynn, and Marquez had been assigned two Cardassian officers while they secured Engineering. They had been informed that the station had been boarded and that they should be ready. So they managed to seal the doors. If needed the group of them would escape through the access hatches. As the moment they were working to lockout the main computer and encrypt everything. These orders came from the Admiral himself.
The two Cardassians having better hearing than humans heard footfalls outside if the door. They leveled their rifles toward the door in preparation. "You better get this done quickly..." One of them addressed the Maquis.
Thoran and T'Pau returned to Song and West. "Serg, they've sealed the doors." Thoran reported.
"In that case, Corporal, use the 'key'." Song replied.
"Aye, sir." Thoran replied as a smile crossed his lips.
Moving a little closer to the doors, he said. "Knock, knock." before firing.
His weapon blew a hole in the doors. The rest of the team joined him and began firing on the Cardassians.
The explosion caused some disorientation from the Cardassians, however, they managed to open fire. Two of the three Maquis joined them, and the third continued the work on the computer. She was halfway through the encryption. The two Cardassians and the two humans advanced toward the smoking door. They took shots at the Fire Team as it made it's way through the door. One of the Cardassians spoke in a deep booking voice. "Halt your hostilities, you are trespassing on a sovereign Cardassian station. Drop your weapons and surrender now and we will return you to your ship unharmed."
"That's true, but you're renegades, so no dice." Song said. "We have this station now, so I suggest you drop your weapons, but its up to you, we're happy if you'd like to go out in a blaze of glory."
Fire Team 2 had their weapons trained on the renegades.
The Cardassians fired their disruptors and hit Song and T'Pau in the chest. Their suit absorbed most of the blow however, it did send them sprawling on the floor. "How is that for an answer..." They taunted the Marines. "...Two members of the Order are more than a match for you."
Glynn and Rivera stepped out from behind the console with phaser rifles. They moved to out flank the incoming Marines. Who thanks to the Cardassians were being holed up at the blasted door. Marquez continued to work at the computer. He had to finish this last bit of encryption.
Rairror saw the others go down, instead of aiming at the attackers, he pushed his way though, his suit taking a beating. He then targeted the console, that the human was working on. "Move." He said and then fired turning the console to slag.
He then targeted the Cardassian in charge and said. "Your move, Creep."
Marquez smiled as he placed the last keystroke into his encryption. It was perfect, a masterpiece something that no one would be able to crack. The smile was short lived as he did not know what him. He managed to look up just in time to see the suited Orion firing at him. His last thought was that he had died for the cause as the console exploded and what was left of Leo Maquez was blown across Engineering.
The rest of the team could not take time to look at their fallen comrade. All four converged their fire on what remained of the Marines. This time it was West who got the brunt a single blast hitting him in the chest. Again the suit did its job absorbing the blow. Another shot managed to hit the Orion, this one came from a Cardassian disruptor and was a grazing blow. It did not seem to register externally on the suit. Song and T'Pau managed to get back to their feet just as West was blasted down.
Rairror turned on the Cardassian, and fired, turning him to paste.
Song addressed the remaining renegades. "Drop your weapons and surrender, there is no need for you to lose your lives today."
The remaining Cardassians simply laughed in response to Song's empty threat. The exploded in a volley of disruptor fire. Two advanced toward the group of Marines in an attempt to keep them from gaining a foothold in Engineering. The third retreated toward the main power core. He knew that the Marines would not dare fire in that area and risk destroying the entire station. "There will be no surrender unless it is yours, usurper." One of the Cardassians hissed.
"Very well. Marines, give no quarter." Song ordered.
Thoran, Song, and West fired on the advancing Cardassians, while T'Pau used her suit's targeting system to hit the third Cardassian with a phaser pulse that unaffected any of Engineering's systems.
The advancing Cardassians died in a hail of phaser fire.
"Song to Command, Fire Team 2 has secured Engineering." The Sergeant reported though his suit's comm.
A Joint Post By
Lance Corporal Rairror Thoran
Munitions Specialist, USS Pioneer
Staff Sergeant Flarn
Rifle Fire Team 1 Leader, USS Pioneer
Sergeant Gaagii
RECONN Fire Team Leader, USS Pioneer
Corporal Tyrigus Fry
Rifleman RFT 1, USS Pioneer
Lance Corporal Adélaïde Moreau
SAR Specialist, USS Pioneer
Private Aiden Pearce
Corpsman RFT 1, USS Pioneer
Commander Quinn Ó Flannagáin
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
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