Liberation

Phanan watched as numerous explosions went off in the valley to the west of their position. To the east was a ridge where Sharpe and his men would go and hide after their task was completed. Jon and his group would be heading Northeast to the POW camp where their comrades were being held. From there, to a downed escaped pod about a quarter of a mile due west from there. Finally, they'd return back to base and call in Sharpe to return. Commander Rashad and some of the Marines, along with Captain Goerl and her Nuan troops, would remain behind to guard the base and to clear out any Bariens that would stumble to close to the area.

Then, the blast came. A large orange blast rained down from the heavens upon the west valley. A Barien ship was firing. Phanan hoped that Sharpe knew what he was doing and that he would succeed. Then, Jon took that back. He didn't hope, he knew Sharpe would succeed. Crouched down in the brush, Jon took out the Marine Corps Type IIIa combat phaser rifle. It differed from the regular Type III phaser rifle in the fact that it was more compact and had a faster rate of fire compared to that of the standard Type III compression rifle. The Type IIIa also had an extendible stock to place under the arm for more stability in firing. Jon reached under the weapon and unclipped the stock, folding it back and locking it into place. He then placed it up against his shoulder, stood and fired, striking a stationary Barien sentry in the side of the head. "Charge !"

Commander Soliel ran forward with Phanan, dodging between trees to avoid any enemy fire. Lieutenant Truman ran forward with Private Stamper, while Lieutenant Gleason ran with Private Frost. Commander Soliel, the only one with a standard Starfleet Type III compression rifle, stayed right behind Phanan for the mere fact of survival. The raiding team moved forward and into the encampment swiftly, eliminating Barien guards with ease. The group was not ready for their attack. Truman ran forward with nearly thirty people behind him, mostly engineering and medical personnel.

"Thirty people present and accounted for, sir. That accounts for all of the escape pods in our area."

"Including the one on our next stop ?" Jon looked around, making sure that no other Bariens were coming.

"Aye sir." Truman replied.

"Very well then. Arm these people with whatever weapons you can find. Also, be sure to load up on whatever gear you can carry." John turned around. "Private Stamper !"

"Yes sir !" Stamper yelled back from across the camp.

"I want this area off of the map."

"Yes sir, I'm on it." Stamper then whistled over to Private Frost and motioned that they should get to work, placing explosives. Within the hour, nothing would be left but a crater fill of rubble.

"Status Boatner !" Sharpe spoke through the microphone built into his helmet.

[Nearly out of charges sir. I'm setting up the automated tripod for my Type IIIa and then I'm gonna head out.]

"Understood. Sharpe out." He then re-opened his comm channel. "Hendricks, Jorgenson ?"

[Hendricks here. Ammo for my Mark II is good. Got a few frags still. Ready to pull out when you're ready.]

[Jorgenson here sir. Ammo for Mark II is all right. Ready to head out as well.]

"Understood. Sharpe out." As Sharpe looked through the high powered scope on his Federation S-1 sniping rifle. One more Barien was running to get to a mounted weapons system. Coolly and collectively, he aimed and fired the projectile weapon. The Barien's head shot sideways and then the lifeless body slumped to the ground. The Barien ground forces were becoming more and more scarce with every round fired from the weapon of the four Marines there. Then, larger blasts of light started to rain down from a tree on the other side of the encampment.

[Sarge, Boatner. Tripod in place and firing.]

"I see it Private. Pull out and head towards waypoint Alpha."

[On my way.] Boatner then began high tailing it through the thick tree canopy towards the caves in east ridge.

"Hendricks, Jorgenson. Start pulling out. We're done." Sharpe took apart his gun, putting each piece in his backpack. He then took out his Type IIIa and repelled down a rope out of the tree he was sniping from. He quickly received affirmatives from the other two Marines and the four were on their way to their hiding spot where they would await further orders from their CO.

Phanan, along with his now small "army" began marching their way back into the woods. When they were a thousand yards away, Jon nodded to Stamper. Stamper nodded, and pressed a few buttons on his PADD. A large explosion of fire erupted from the location of the POW camp, accompanied by a rumble under their feet. With a grin, the group continued to move out.

Some time later, they were back at their hiding spot. The thirty new members of the group were busy staking their claims to sleeping places on the floor of the area they were hiding in. Jon made his way over to their jury-rigged computer station and activated the narrow beam communications system. A small communications dish had been installed in a tree nearby on a type of tripod system where they could aim the dish to open communications channel with a specific unit of people. In this case, it would be Sergeant Sharpe and his group.

There was a few moments of static and finally Sharpe's voice came through.

[Sharpe here.]

"Sharpe, Phanan. Our raid was successful. All POW's accounted for. We also 'liberated' some foodstuffs and weapons. You can bring it in now, your dinner's getting cold."

A slight chuckle was heard on the other side of the line. [Yes sir. On our way.]

With that, their operation came to a close. Now, to hold out until the USS Leviathan arrived to pick them up.