Arrival at Mirisam V (Part Two of Two)

Lieutenant Commander Barker and the two Lieutenants' from the Taurus stepped off the Hellcat and onto the ground beside the shuttle pad. The Hellcat just sat on the reinforced concrete pad, covering it completely. The pad was on a raised area of ground about five hundred metres from the edge of the colony.

As they looked around at the area, they noticed the large mountain ahead of them. From what Chu could remember of the information he'd read about the colony, the mountain was actually an extinct volcano and there were dozens of caves and passageways craved by the once flowing magma.

The volcano wrapped around the island on three sides, enclosing the island. Beyond the shuttle pad towards the southern shore, a thick forest of tall trees stood, providing further protection from the severe weather. The colony was situated at the northern end of the island, under the shadow of the volcano. The crew could just make out the various sized domes as the light reflected off the roofs.

"Welcome to Mirisam V." A voice announced. Chu noticed three figures approaching them from the direction of the base. As they reached the three Starfleet officers, they introduced themselves.

"Commander Barker I presume." The tall, grey haired man announced. "I am Doctor Roger Cooke. This is my wife, Beverly Cooke and our Starfleet liaison officer Lieutenant Mark Jones."

"Thank you Doctor." Chu replied. "Lieutenant Commander Chu Barker and these two officers are Lieutenant M'eko J'ross and Lieutenant Rahel Kahfre."

"Welcome." Doctor Cooke said.

"Doctor, if you have any medical cases, I'd like to check them over before we start to evacuate the colony." Rahel requested.

"Evacuate." The Doctor replied. "Could you please tell me why we need to evacuate ?"

"Doctor, I think we should go back to the colony and talk there." Chu suggested.

By now Logan and the Marines had started to disembark from the Hellcat and started to unload the equipment.

"Marines." Lieutenant Jones remarked. "Are you expecting trouble ?"

"Doctor, Lieutenant, I will explain everything when we get to the colony." Chu remarked. "We are here to prepare you and your people for their temporary evacuation."

Ten minutes later, they were all sat in the largest building in the colony complex. There were nearly fifty people sat waiting to hear what the Hellcat was doing here. Doctor Cooke stood up and introduced the Commander and his colleagues. He then handed the floor over to the Commander.

"We have come here to prepare you for a temporary evacuation from the colony." Chu announced. "We have a ship enroute which will take you onboard and to safety."

"Why must we evacuate the colony ?" Someone asked.

"We have reason to believe that within the next forty-eight hours this planet will be attacked by a group of rogue Jem'Hadar. We believe that they are after the mineral that is found here and is a vital raw material in the making of Ketracel White. So far we this group has attacked at least one Federation base and kidnapped two scientists. They left the base in ruins and killed nearly fifty Federation and Starfleet staff. We also know that it has attacked several Dominion bases, looking for supplies. These Jem'Hadar are ruthless and uncaring, they will achieve their goals and leave devastation. Starfleet and the Federation does not want see what happened on Juno III to happen here. Buildings can be recreated, but your lives are more important."

"When will this ship arrive ?" Someone else asked. "How long do we have ?"

"The USS Taurus should be here in about thirty hours, around midday tomorrow." Chu replied. "If we are luck, that will give us about six to eight hours to get you all off the planet and safely on the ship."

"Will the Taurus defend our colony ?" Doctor Cooke asked. "Why not just attack them and send them away ?"

"The Taurus is a New Orleans class vessel, but is severely outgunned." Chu announced. "We do not have the fire-power to defend the colony, your best chance of surviving this is to leave."

Suddenly the Lieutenant Commander's comm badge beeped, Chu tapped his badge and said. "Barker here."

[Commander, we've tapped into the sensor arrays in orbit.] The voice of Ensign Vasquez replied. [We've just detected a vessel on slow approach to the system.]

"How long until the arrive ?" Chu enquired.

[They're travelling at warp six and definitely heading our way.] Vasquez replied. [At current speed, they'll reach Mirisam V in four hours.]

"Understood." Chu said. "Has Floten been informed ?"

[Yes. He's already preparing his Marines to defend the colony.] Vasquez replied.

"Understood, prepare to lift-off in an hour." Chu ordered. "Barker out."

Chu looked around the room at all the people sat, many with fear in their eyes. He knew that the colony was some hundred and twenty strong. Adding the Hellcat crew, that was a hundred and sixty souls. There was no way they could get everyone on the Hellcat safely.

"Doctor Cooke, is there anywhere on the island where you could all hide ?" Chu enquired.

"We have made several shelters inside the mountain. We use them sometimes when the storms get heavy." Doctor Cooke replied. "We have supplies and resources to last us about three days."

"Get as many supplies as you can and take them into the shelters." Chu ordered. "Then get all the colonist in there as well."

"Commander, I'd like to help if I can." Lieutenant Jones offered.

"I'm sure many of the males would be prepared to fight as well." Doctor Cooke suggested.

"Thank you Doctor. But I'd prefer to keep your colonists safe." Chu requested. "I will only take those who know how to fire a phaser rifle. Have them come to the shuttle pad in thirty minutes."

Thirty minutes later, the Hellcat crew were all together once more, along with Lieutenant Jones and about a dozen fit young males from the colony. Lieutenant McQueen was handing out phaser rifles, checking that each one was recorded and that the operator knew how to us it.

[Floten to Barker.] The voice of the Taurus's command Marines announced over the conn.

"Barker here." Chu replied.

[All the defences are set.] Floten replied. [We're heading back to your position.]

Whilst the Starfleet officers had been preparing the colonists to either hide in the shelters or prepare to fight, the Marines had been positioning automated phaser cannons and shield emitters around the colony.

"Barker to Shale." Chu requested, tapping his comm badge. "What's the status of our 'friends' ?"

[They're still on approach.] The voice of Shale replied. [Three and a half hours before they arrive in system.]

The Marines spent the next hour training the colonists to fire their new weapons and Floten and McQueen laid out some basic battle plans. The next hour was spent setting up the first line of defence, a couple of mobile missile launchers.

The plan was to put the Hellcat back into orbit and cloak the ship. When the Jem'Hadar arrived, they'd have to use shuttles to get down to the planet. From what they knew about the rogue vessel, it was itself incapable of atmospheric flight and with transporters unavailable, shuttles were the only choice.

When they came in range of the missile systems, they'd blast the shuttles from the sky, hopefully destroying them. If the Jem'Hadar vessel came to their aid, the Hellcat was to decloak and attack, using the orbiting phaser arrays as support. Even though it was outgunned, the hope was that the Jem'Hadar would follow the Hellcat, who would lead them away from the planet.

An hour before the Jem'Hadar were due to arrive, the Hellcat took off once more and headed for orbit.

"We're on our own now." Logan commented as he looked around at the group.

There were twenty Marines, plus First Lieutenant Floten who had split into three groups of seven. Each group, designated Alpha, Beta and Charlie also has four colonists, all of who looked nervous. The remaining colonists were split into two groups, six in one and seven in the other. These two groups were joined by Lieutenant J'ross and Lieutenant Jones in Delta and Logan and Rahel in Echo.

Alpha squad was to remain close to shuttle pad and control the missile launcher. Beta, Charlie and Echo squads were to move into the woods beyond the shuttle pad and attack the Jem'Hadar should they manage to land. Delta was to fall back to the colony, where they would defend the colony.

The hour appeared to drag on for much longer as the Marines, Starfleet officers and colonists waited for the signal. Finally it came.

[Alpha, we have three bogies heading your way.]