Paul beamed back onto the Discovery battered, bleeding and thouroughly exhausted. He stepped off the transporter pad and threw his weapons and tricorder on the floor. He slumped down against the bulhead and sat on the floor.
"It was a tough assignment Paul... Thats why you got it" said John pulling Paul up. "We couldnt hold them off from here, they had ground troops on the surface before we could disable their ship. How many did you loose?"
"I lost Quimby, Jones, Qu'tan and Ralitor. Zere waz nosing I could do. Zey were on us before we ad a chance! Zey just kept shooting and shooting..."
"Paul, Paul, I know... take a rest. Have the rest of the day off. I know there's not much around here with the holodeck offline and replicator rations, but try and relax as best you can. You need it after that. Any man would."
Paul headed for his quarters, and collapsed on his bed. There wasnt much left of his belongings or quarters for that matter, his quarters having being pillaged by the Proktolans on a previous raid. He lay back and shut his eyes.
Planet Surface....
"Lieutenant, look over here, I found the dilithium storage facility." Paul and the rest of the group crawled up to the cliff face where Jones had discovered the Dilithium storage facility.
"Ow many guards?"
"I'm detecting two on the main entrance, another two inside that, and another five scattered throughout the building."
"I like zose odds. Qu'tan, can you get a clear line of sight on those two main guards?"
"Can I? Just watch me!" The Andorian moved slightly down the cliff face and took up position behind a rock. He aimed the sniper rifle, adjusted the scope and took careful aim. The other four officers watched as the first guards head was blown off and his body fell limp to the ground. The second guard followed shortly.
"Everybody down zere now!" ordered Deveraux as he got up and ran down the hillside towards the compound. He came to a stop by the side of the main entrance. He signalled for Quimby and Jones to strafe the door. They ran past firing a volley of phaser fire through the door way. Too devilish screams could be heard from inside the door way. Paul walked in and looked down at the two burning corpses. He spat on them and carried on into the compound. "Ok people, hunt down and kill zese bastards so we can get zis dilithium ready for transport for ze next transporter window. The team spread out and headed into different parts of the compound. Paul drew his tricorder and scanned for the dilithium.
Paul headed towards the room where the Dilithium was stored. There was one guard inside. Paul walked through the archway and located the guard with his back towards him. He quickly popped a hot in the back of his head and the slithering slimey body fell to the ground.
"Deveraux to Discovery. We ave ze dilithium secure. Awaiting beam out."
[I'm affraid youre going to have company Paul. A troop carrier has just entered orbit and is sending some troops down. We can't lower our shields to beam you back.]
"How many on ze surface?"
[50 and their closing on your position]
"Ohh shit! Deveraux out." Deveraux began to panic. he looked at his tricorder and brought up the schematics of the building. If he could get Qu'tan on the roof, then he could take out a lot of the enemy before they had a chance to get close. The Proktolans had a rapid fire plasma cannon stored in the compund. If Quimby and Jones could get that just through inside hte main entrance, then it would give the proktolans a difficult time getting in. Deveraux and Ralitor would take position in the open windows above the main entrance. If all went well, they would only be able to get in throught the main entrance and with that plasma cannon there wasnt much chance of that. Deveraux gathered the away team and issued the orders.
The away team setup pretty quickly and lay in wait for the oncoming Proktolan force.
[Discovery to Deveraux come in!]
"Go ahead Discovery"
[Paul, the enemy ship has been disabled. We can beam you out, but there wont be another transport oppurtunity for another seven minutes. Can you hold out until then?]
"I ope so John"
[Good Luck Paul]
Paul looked back up above the hill... the proktolan troops could be seen on the ridge. A few of them dropped down as they were sniped, which lead to a bit of a panic and they all charged down hill. Paul heard the massive plasma cannon open fire from down below. It mowed through the ranks until one of the Proktolans took out a photon grenade launcher and fired it into the main entrance.
"Everybody Out!" cried Paul as the plasma cannon below exploded. Quimby and Johnson didn't survive, but Paul and Ralitor escaped. They took up a new position behind some crates as the Proktolans poured through the door. They immediately started firing and the Proktoalns began dropping again. Suicide runs were not uncommonamong Proktolans. They have no value for life and will sacrifice themselves willingly for just about anything. However, Paul and Ralitor couldn't hold them off fast enough. Ralitor took out his Mek'leth and in true Klingon fasion ran screaming at the Proktolans as he began slicing away at them. Paul turned his rifle around and startes slamming the but into the oncmoing Prokotlans.
"Ralitor! fall back!" cried Paul as he realised they couldnt win. Ralitor turned, but one of the large armoured tails of the Proktolans impaled him through the back. He fell to the floor in a pool of blood. The Proktolans focused tehir attention on Paul now who ran for the dilithium warehouse. Qu'tan joined him and they both headed for the upper levels of the store room. One of the Proktolans aimed at Paul and fired directly at him. Qu'tan dived in the way and was hit in the chest. Paul fell back with Qu'tan on top of him and dragged him up the stairs to a safer position.
"You fool!"
"No... I have nothing to live for... you.. you live your life and live it well... you have a lot going for.. you..."
"DAMN IT!" Paul stood up and fired a rain of shots down into the army below. As thye took fire at Paul, a blue light engulfed him and he was beamed aboard to safety.
SB901... Present Day...
Paul woke up sweating profusely and bolted up off the biobed.
"Paul, great to have you back. You've been gone for 9 hours. Right, I've incresed the strength of the neural inhibitor. You shouldn't doze off anymore."
As Alistair spoke those words, Paul fell back onto the bed and was unconscious once more.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," he said looking up at Garek.