Tarik and his two squads beamed down in a clearing about five kilometers from the mountain range to the west of the B'aku town. The area was a grassy plain, with woods closer to the baseline of the mountains. Quickly, Tarik signalled for his troops to disperse in a 'V' pattern and activated the tactical display in his helmet visor.
It seemed strange to only be leading a platoon, just a few weeks after leading an entire company into a desperate battle at Thermopylae. How I've longed for such simplicity, Tarik thought. Just me and a platoon on a low-tech world.
With the exception of the advances in equipment, the platoon didn't look much different from a similar outfit from the 20th or 21st century on Earth. The Marines covered their body armor with foliage to reduce their visibility (and activated a masking system that prevented their life signs and body heat from being detected by people who might want them dead). Signals were communicated by hand (and scrambled and encrypted transmissions). Tarik stood at the back of the 'V' formation so he could observe his troops.
"All right, Marines, let's look alive! The Son'a are believed to be in caves in that mountain range about four klicks away. We're to observe and report--avoid engaging if at all possible!" he said over the secure circuit. Uhh, yeah...like the Son'a are going to let us get away that clean this deep into the Briar Patch!
The Marines spread out, about 20 feet apart from one another, while Tarik slung his rifle, drew his Type II phaser, and activated his tricorder. Sure enough, there was a Son'a power generator in those mountains. "Bearing 330 from planetary magnetic north," Tarik said, directing his team. They shifted to the northwest.
Oh, I'd love for Kassia to see this! Tarik thought. He'd always taken a quiet pride in being good at what he did, and regretted not being able to show off his skills in the same way that other Starfleet officers could. Right now Paul was taking Kassia on an (unauthorized) scientific survey; he'd shown her some of the basics of operating a tricorder the day before, after she'd made her decision to become a brevet officer. Tarik trusted Paul implicitly--both his judgement as an officer and his intentions toward Kassia. Beautiful wilderness planet, nice sunny day...a lesser man would have been jealous. And Tarik was, to an extent: aside from the basics he really didn't know what he could teach Kassia that she'd find useful as a ship's counselor. Marines and counselors were about as opposite an extreme as one could find in Starfleet. And yet we're together...
Enough of that. If you want to come back to her alive, you'd better keep your head out of your pants and on the mission! Tarik's tricorder started to bleep. He signalled for the platoon to drop. Someone was scanning them!
Fifteen tense minutes passed as Tarik lay prone in the grass, phaser and tricorder held out in front of him. A Son'a patrol; still about three kilometers away but close enough to make a reading. The Son'a stayed in one spot for a moment, then left. Tarik signalled everyone to come back up.
Kassia and Paul had materialized a kilometer away from the caves. It was high up enough in the mountains to get good readings from the energy field emmitted by the rings around this world, but far enough away from the caves that transporter function was still good. They had beamed down with several pieces of equipment for studying this field, and as Paul set it up with her help explaining everything, she took it all in, absorbed in what she was learning. It took them a while, but once it was set up, Paul stepped back and admired it. "Zhat will tell us a lot of what we want to know," he replied. She smiled as she waited to learn more. Suddenly, she was picking up something strange around them. She was sensing a presence. As if someone were approaching.
"Paul, are any of the Ba'ku suppose to come up here?" she asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know," he replied. "What are you feeling?"
"I'm not sure . . . But I'm definitely feeling someone or several someones," she said in a whisper as she drew near him so he could hear her.
"Stay here," he told her, and he walked off into the brush. Kassia watched where he had walked off to and kept her mind focused on him. She paced a bit, as she stared at the ground. Suddenly, a shadow on the ground before her caught her attention. As she looked up, she saw the face of a Son'a. He was tall and seemed very angry. Her green eyes grew wide. He reached for her.
"NO!" she screamed and tried twisting away, as he grabbed her hard by the arm. She managed to get away, just in time to run straight into another Son'a who grabbed her by the throat. As Paul heard her yell, he rushed back to where Kassia was. He saw her dangling off the ground in the clutches of a Son'a. Reacting by nstinct, he launched himself at the two men. Though taken by surprise, they merely tossed Kassia aside like a rag doll. She was unconscious due to lack of oxygen.
The Son'a turned their attack to Paul. He removed the claw from around his neck and had it ready to defend himself and Kassia, but they were ready for him. Though Paul had gotten a couple good blows in, he was the one knocked to the ground and beaten.
"Get up!" The one Son'a who had knocked him to the ground ordered, leveling a disruptor at him. Slowly, he complied, unsure if he was a dead man or not. "Pick her up," he commanded, motioning to Kassia's limp form. He knelt beside her for a moment, checking her pulse. She was still alive and breathing. His mind went through many possibilities all at once as to what the best course of action would be. The most important thing was leaving some clue that something had gone terribly wrong. Near her was his claw necklace. Carefully, he reached for it and placed it where she had been lying as he lifted her up in his arms. "Now move!" he was commanded. As he carried her, he noticed they had not looked back to where Kassia had been lying. They hadn't seen the claw. Maybe there was a chance that someone would find it and they would be rescued.
Recon is at once stimulating and boring work. Stimulating in that the prospect of having something unpleasant always kept one on his toes; boring in that much of the work was monotonous. Tarik was feeling the effects of the planetary energy field; he found himself a little unfocused, and antsy...not unlike he was as a teenager!
He could sense the tension in his troops, too; they were all starting to feel their adolescent drives again, and for a few of them that wasn't all that long ago to begin with. "Tzil'ka, come in, please," he called on a private channel.
[Tzil'ka here,] Tarik's platoon sergeant, a veh'Khanim, responded. At sixty years old the tall catlike alien was the oldest member of the 28th MEF, but for a race whose lifespan reached two centuries he was only just reaching his prime.
"Keep an eye on your people, especially the younger ones. This energy field has been known to wind people up a bit," Tarik said. The veh'Khanim were notorious for having an almost uneventful adolescence--'puberty' was almost an unknown concept to them.
[Understood, sir.]
The prairie finally gave way to a wooded area not unlike a mangrove swamp. Tarik read the swamp with the tricorder; it was only about a meter deep at most. The bottom was gumbo mud and there were signs of some venomous reptiles lurking within. He found a shallow point in the swamp and rallied the platoon.
"All right, we go through here single-file; same dispersion. Tzil'ka, you'll take point with your squad; I'll take the middle with mine. Barrington, you get the rear. Keep moving your feet, otherwise you may get bit. If anyone gets bit, signal for a corpsman," Tarik ordered. Not that a corpsman could treat anything in all this muck...
Tzil'ka led his troops into the swamp; Tarik followed with his squad, scanning the mud and growth of the swamp. They kept their rifles high to avoid fouling the firing mechanism. About two-thirds of the way across, the man behind Tarik went down, screaming in agony. The corpsman rushed up to get him; Tarik turned and fired his phaser into the water. The water in the area vaporized, and a large, ugly, scaly creature bobbed up to the surface, boiled to death.
Tarik picked up the reptile while the corpsman hoisted the nearly-comatose man out of the water and onto his back. They did not waste any time getting to dry land.
"Can you synthesize an antivenin?" Tarik asked the corpsman, presenting the lifeless predator.
"Maybe..let's see..." The corpsman used a medical tricorder on the reptile. "I can come up with something but I don't know..."
"Well, dammit, get to work!" Tarik ordered. The stricken Marine looked to be in very bad shape. "Tarik to Arizona--come in please," he called over a secure channel.
[Arizona here,] Jo Schmitt answered.
"Ms. Schmitt, I've got a man down here with a venom bite. He needs immediate transport to Sickbay."
[Understood. Transporter room is locking on now!] The bitten man and the dead reptile immediately vanished, to reappear in Arizona's sickbay.
"All right people, shit happens! Let's get moving!" Tarik ordered. "Same formation as before." He tried not to betray too much concern over the first casualty of the mission. The more they think everything is okay, the better it will be.
The swamp quickly turned into a forested area, which gave way to a meadow just before the base of the mountains. That's odd, Tarik thought. He signalled the platoon to stop. "Sergeant, check this area with your tricorder. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked.
Tzil'ka scanned the area. "Yes, sir. There's recently been transporter activity in this area. It's consistent with a Federation carrier signal!"
I know where I beamed down, and I know where the Captain and his team are... Tarik switched comm channels. "Tarik to Deveraux--come in, please!"
No answer.
"Tarik to Kassia, come in please!"
No answer.
Oh, shit!
"Sir! I found this!" a private said, holding up something.
"Let's see, Banegas...bring it over here!" The private ran over and handed the object to Tarik. It was Deveraux's claw necklace.
To hell with 'observe and report' now!!!! "Okay, Marines, our mission parameters have changed. Two of our own have apparently been captured. We now have a rescue mission on our hands! Keep your phasers on stun, but look alive!"
As Kassia's consciousness returned to her, she found herself laying on the ground inside a cave. Her throat was very sore and she rubbed it as she sat up. She was still a bit shaken as she looked around for Paul and didn't see him. As she slowly got up on wobbly legs, she walked around her confines. As she drew near the opening toward another part of the cave, the hairs on her neck stood on end. She could feel the energy of a forcefield.
I have to stay calm she thought. But as she focused on Paul, she was hit with intense pain. For a moment, she dropped to the ground on her knees before she could mute the pain. Taking a few deep breaths, she was able to push the pain into third person.
Suddenly, she watched as the field dropped. Two Son'a dragged a battered form in and dropped him on the floor. It was Paul! Immediately, she rushed to him.
"Paul?" she asked, as she tried to visually assess the damage. He was clearly hurt and moaning. "Paul . . ."
His eyes opened and looked at her weakly. Half of his face was swollen and red, with streaks of blood; though she couldn't see it, she also knew several of his ribs were broken. Her mind was willing in all the blanks. Even his fingers were bloody and broken. Her breathing started becoming shallow, but she quickly started deep breathing to mute it. The last thing she needed to do was hyperventilate and pass out.
"Kassia . . ." he whispered, almost on the verge of darkness.
Suddenly, the Son'a were beside her, grabbing her by the arms.
"NO!" Paul cried weakly, but he wasn't in any position to move.
"I'll be okay," she tried to assure him, as she was dragged off, but after she had seen what they had done to Paul, she knew her chances of getting away unscathed were next to impossible.
The platoon moved into the foothills at the base of the mountains, even more tense than before. The Son'a energy signal had been traced to a cave about another three kilometers into the range, and 150 meters up. Tarik was taking the lead now; as soon as they entered the hills he split the two squads apart. Tzil'ka would take his squad to the north, while Tarik would lead from the south.
It didn't take long before Tarik's team spotted its first Son'a patrol. Two Son'a guards were scouting the hills. Tarik's squad dropped down behind a rocky outcropping. The shot was about 500 meters away. I'd love to tap these guys myself, but I don't want to screw the pooch right now--especially with Kassia at risk! Tarik thought. "Van Reisen--we need your services!"
PFC Gunther Van Reisen was one of two snipers brought along on the mission; on his back he carried a long rifle with a large detachable magazine. It was different from sniper rifles of earlier times only in that it fired a magnetically-projected duranium projectile at hypersonic velocity. The sniper immediately scrambled to a higher position in the rocks, where he could get a better look at his victims. Without a word--or even a thought--he did his murderous deed.
"Bang, bang, you're dead," Tarik whispered as the silent projectiles vaporized the heads of the Son'a. Kassia--if you can hear me, we're coming for you! And if they've hurt you, they will pay!!!!
They lead her through the caves until she was brought to a room with only a single chair. On the floor around it, she saw splatterings of blood. Paul's blood, she thought with a shudder. Roughly, she was pushed toward the chair. When she didn't immediately sit down, she was shoved into it and strapped down. Her heart was racing as she tried to calm it down. She needed to think. What could she use at her disposal that could help her and Paul out of this. But for the moment her mind was a blank.
"What is Starfleet doing here?" the same Son'a who had practically choked her asked, as he stood before her menacingly.
"Conducting scientific research," she replied quickly and keeping her eyes forward, trying not to look up at the looming figure.
She was greeted by a hard fist across her mouth. It stung badly, and felt as if a couple of her teeth had been knocked lose. She could also taste the saltiness of her blood.
"Let me ask you again, Starfleet, why are your people?" he said again.
She took a deep breath and readied herself for another blow. "We were conducting scientific reseach," she replied again.
The blow came. This time hitting her across the mouth in the oposite direction. She let out a grunt of pain, as she tasted more blood. She could feel her cheeks start to swell.
"Your friend was not much use to us either and we managed to make his stay in here quite painful. Now, tell us what we want to know, or your stay will be even more painful," the Son'a tried to reason with her.
No, she thought, she was not going to give up anything. If she wanted to know whether or not she had what it took to be an officer, this was going to be one of those moments to prove it, she thought. With determination, she met the Son'a man's gaze. "We were here conductiong scientific research," she said, as her green eyes threw daggers at her enemy.
Losing control of himself, he launched himself at her. She felt several more blows to her head and several to her ribs and stomach. The pain was excruciating . . . unlike any pain she had ever felt before. Just as her consciousness began to lapse, she heard him.
Kassia--if you can hear me, we're coming for you! And if they've hurt you, they will pay!!!!
~Tarik . . .~ she projected. As her eyes slowly opened to see her assailant, her eyes met his once more. "You won't live to see tomorrow . . ." With that she lapsed into darkness.
Hearing from Kassia urged Tarik on. It wasn't much--it may well have been his imagination, he thought--but he'd take it!
The hills started to level out just before the mountains began; boulder-filled moraines began to dominate the landscape. Tarik checked in with Tzil'ka; his team had not seen any action. The cave was only a kilometer and a half away now. But it promised to be a rough kilometer and a half.
A Son'a forward post greeted them; it was little more than a bunker constructed of stacked boulders, but the muzzle of a rather mean-looking disruptor cannon poked out of it.
"This one's mine," Tarik said as he took his rifle off his back and scrambled up the rocks. The emplacement was too impenetrable for a sniper and they hadn't brought any grenades.
Three Son'a--a gunner, a targeting officer, and a communications specialist--were inside the rock bunker. A large rock that resembled the tail of a lobster obscured him from their view. Tarik scanned the surrounding area, seeing a small skittering creature move across the rocks. The gunner opened up on the small skittering creature and made it into a burnt patch on the rocky surface. [Gutierrez to Major Tarik--what the hell was that about?]
"Nothing, corporal; just someone showing he's an idiot, that's all," Tarik commented on the secure line. His troops, at any rate, had better discipline! Hell, that thing they just slagged probably had better discipline!
Tarik trained his ears on the conversation. Sure enough, the targeting officer was pissed. "Don't waste our ammunition, you fool! We're already two weeks overdue for resupply as it is! Starfleet's out here, and they aren't going to wait for us to reload! Has the perimeter patrol reported in yet?"
"No, sir," the communications specialist replied. "They're an hour overdue."
"Probably drunk somewhere," the officer said, disgusted. "No discipline anymore!"
Tarik was, on one level, amused--he could recall several such comments he'd made, under similar circumstances.
Suddenly, his thoughts became distracted....
"Wake up, Starfleet," she heard roughly, as she was shaken. "I am not through with you yet!"
It was that Son'a man, she realized as her consciousness came back to her slowly. Her eyes opened and then lulled to the back of her head once more as darkness almost took her again. But slowly, they righted themselves as she saw he standing above her. She readied herself for more abuse. But a memory came back to her. She had heard Tarik's voice in her mind. As she pretended to lapse back into unconsciousness, she decided to try to reach him.
~Tarik . . .~ she telepathically called out, like she had done before falling into darkness. ~Can you hear me? Or feel me?~ She put her whole heart into it.
I hear you, honey!!!! Tarik thought back. We're coming for you--the whole platoon! We've already killed two of these bastards and I've got three more in my sights now!
~They've hurt Paul pretty bad . . . ~ she said, ignoring her own pain for the moment.
Everything's okay, Tarik replied in his thoughts, hoping she could read them. We'll get to you and Paul. Just hang in there--it won't be long!!!
~I'll try . . . ~ she replied cryptically, hoping her own pain and fear hasn't transfered through her thoughts. Suddenly Tarik got an idea.
Do they know we're here yet?
~I don't think so . . they keep asking why we're here. I think they suspect others, but they don't know for sure . . .~ she said. Her head was a bit too fuzzy to probe the Son'a's mind.
Just hang in there! You're doing fine--interrogations are never any fun! As long as you keep talking they'll keep you alive, Tarik thought, his rage building at what must be happening to Kassia. No--not now! Stay on the mission! Kassia, tell them what I'm going to tell you now.... he thought back at her
~All right,~ she replied.
I've got to make good on this, now, Tarik thought. But I'll be back!!!
Tarik took careful aim at the disruptor cannon, looking for its charge cell. The Son'a communications specialist spotted him and began to yell into his communicator as the other two drew personal weapons and took aim at Tarik. With marksmanship that would have made his shooting instructor immensely proud, Tarik squeezed off a shot at full power from the phaser rifle and detonated the cell. The resulting explosion splintered the rocks of the bunker; what was left of the Son'a gun crew could have filled a shoebox.
Then all Hell broke loose.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, pretending her consciousness was returning once again. The Son's Commander looked down at her with his eerie smile.
"Good, Starfleet is back to play somemore . . ." he laughed evilly.
"I also bring you news," she said, forcing her fear down. "I have news on your men out there . . ."
There was something in her voice that caught his attention. "What news?" he demanded gruffly, going up to her form in the chair, ready to grab her by the throat again.
Quelling her response to cry, she looked him in the eye and with a hard, cold smile, replied, "Two members of your perimeter patrol are dead and have been for an hour now . . . "
Surprise went into the man's eyes as he looked toward his assistant.
"Not to mention the fact that your gun crew is about to die. It's that Mark 284 disruptor cannon in a rock bunker about a kilometer and a half southeast from the opening of the cave," she said, sensing the fear in the Son'a. " The gun has a pull to the right, and they haven't had an ammo resupply in two weeks. Their officer has a huge ugly mole on his left cheek . . . Do you know him?" she asked deliberately trying to make him more uneasy.
"Ansibar, have everyone check in."
The other Son'a at the door nodded and stepped away. As Ansibar returned, the Commander glared at Kassia.
"Patrol three has not responded and we have received a distress call from our gun crew, just as the woman has said."
"How do you know that??" he yelled, as her ready to whirl around a hit her again. "Was this planned?" he said.
"I don't know . . ." she replied, glaring back at him with a smile. "But I would say you don't have long now . . . They're coming for you . . ."
"Tarik to Tzil'ka--report!" Tarik yelled into the comm circuit. No need for silence now that a full-fledged firefight was in progress!!!!
[We're engaged with the enemy, sir! We've taken out a gun emplacement to the north of the cave.]
"Double back and join my squad on the south face! We've got the cave entrance in sight!"
[Affirmative. We're pulling back now!]
The Son'a infantry who'd come to relieve the stricken gun crew was tough and determined, but their position was horribly exposed. He almost felt sorry for them as he and his squad burned them down with their phasers. Almost, but not quite.
Kassia--we're at the cave entrance! It won't be long now! Tarik thought, hoping Kassia still had the presence of mind to detect his thoughts.
~I'm still in the interrogation room . . .~ she said. ~Paul is detained in a separate area . . .~
We've just killed at least twenty more! How many are left?
She tried to focus herself as she sought out those around her. ~The is a Commander and his assistant here . . . ~ she said, ~And I am getting the impression of at least two others still here . . .~ She was having a hard time forcing away the pain. Her head felt like it was going to split open.
Good! We've just about got this sewn up then! There are fifteen of us! Just hang in there, baby, it's almost over! Tarik could tell she was getting weaker.
~Good . . .~ she replied weakly. ~I can't wait to see you . . .~
I can't wait to see you! Whatever happens, I'll always love you! Tarik thought back as he incinerated a Son'a rifleman with his phaser.
"They're here," she said, again starring up at the Son's commander. "And you can't stop them . . . All that's left of your men is a total of four . . . and that's including you!"
"Shut up!" he yelled at her, as he frantically paced the floor.
"You won't live to see the next hour, let alone tomorrow!" she spat.
With that, he hauled off and his fist made contact with her cheek yet again. This time, she saw flashing lights as she felt the pain.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" he yelled. He could hear the commotion coming from the entrance. "What are you? Some kind of witch?"
"Yes!" she replied back, as her head lulled. "You're going to die along with the rest of your men . . ." The pain over took her and she fell into dark oblivion once more.
Tarik reached the cave entrance. The Marines let up a cheer--despite the intensity of the fighting they'd managed to get through it without a single battle casualty! I asked Hartman for the best; he picked well! Tarik thought as he bypassed the force screen circuit. An ozone smell and a loud snap accompanied the dropping of the shield.
Immediately Tarik, heedless of whatever might be awaiting him, charged in. The Son'a known as Ansibar caught his phaser rifle butt in the stomach, and then Tarik's boot to his head. Ansibar fell to the ground, unconscious.
The other Marines stormed in after him. Tarik's tricorder led him straight to the cells where Paul and Kassia were being held. And to the Son'a commander.
Tarik had never seen Kassia that badly beaten before. Her face was black and blue, her lip split, with a swollen cut above one eye. The Son'a commmander held a disruptor to her head.
"You son of a bitch! I guess you had to stay here and beat up women while the real men in your outfit did the dying! You'll pay dearly for hurting her!"
The commander picked up something immediately,and seized upon it. "Pull your men back, or your witch-whore is going to die! You don't want that--do you???"
"You kill her and I've got nothing to lose! Do you want that???" Tarik asked. "Surrender and you'll be treated fairly as a prisoner of war."
The Son'a considerd his position for a moment, and lowered the disruptor--then turned it quickly on Tarik. Tarik shot the commander from the hip, forgetting that he was supposed to take him prisoner. The selector on the phaser rifle had somehow slipped from 'stun' to 'kill'....
Another phaser blast from the other room indicated the untimely demise of Paul's interrogator. "Sir, the area is secured," Tzil'ka reported.
Kassia was completely unconscious. The corpsman couldn't revive her. As badly as she'd been hurt, though, Paul was much worse off. A corpsman checked them with a tricorder. "They're both in shock, but fortunately there's no permanent damage. I can stabilize them and start working on some of the broken bones, but for stuff like blood loss we're going to have to get them back to the ship."
"Okay, I need four men for stretcher detail! See what you can find around here to use as a litter!" Tarik ordered. Four of the Marines found two Son'a bunks and removed the mattresses.
Tarik pulled data cartridges from the Son'a computers and destroyed their power cell as the unit rallied to march out of the mountains to a place where they could transport back to the ship. Ansibar was revived and tied up. At least we got the second banana of this outfit--that ought to be worth something!
Tarik stayed with Kassia's makeshift litter as they headed back to the meadow for transport. Kassia, I think it's time you had those self-defense lessons, Tarik thought to her.