The Retreat : Reinforcements

Sierra and Chu had been following the half-hidden footprints for what seemed like days. In fact it had only been a couple of hours, but the terrain was rough and their progress was slowed by Chu insisting that they cover all of their tracks. They were also hampered by the fact that they weren't exactly dressed for a hike.

So far they hadn't encountered any 'hostiles', but Chu had guessed that whoever or whatever was controlling the holodecks was after the Captain and the rest of the crew. The fact that there were now two more people inside may not have fully registered, yet.

"Can you smell burning ?" Sierra asked.

Chu took a breath of air and smelt the faint aroma of burning wood. The Trill sense of smell wasn't their best of the five senses and Chu had until that moment missed it completely.

"You're right." Chu replied.

They both slowly circled trying to judge the direction of the wind and therefore where the smell was coming from.

"That way." They both said, each pointing to a path, in opposite directions.

"No you're right. It's this way." They both said again, agreeing that each other's path was the right path to take. Sierra looked around again then realised that the trees had been disrupting the wind. "This way." She announced, heading down the path Chu had originally pointed out.

Sierra started to run down the path, but Chu soon managed to catch up with her, grabbing her by the shoulder which brought her back to a stop.

"We can't go rushing this Sierra. Who knows what could be lurking ahead." Chu stated.

Just then they heard a loud wail from some distance away. Cautiously but quickly the two of them headed in the general direction of the noise.

As they drew ever closer, they could hear other sounds including the sound of metal on metal, along with the strong smell of burning wood smoke. They finally reached the source of the noise and looked down on the scene below. They had arrived at the top of a small cliff, below which was a large clearing. They could plainly see a campfire and two makeshift shelters. The camp was being overrun by strange creatures, all fighting the 'missing' crew. Chu saw a large creature heading straight for Captain Devore, running up from behind him. The Captain was too busy fighting the two creatures in front of him to realise the danger coming at him from behind.

Chu instinctively pulled out his sword and activated the EM pulse system. Holding the sword more like a rifle he fired a single shot at the creature.

Captain Devore finished off the second of the creatures when a sound from behind caught his attention. Suddenly spinning around, he saw one of the beserkers 'frozen' in mid-air, trapped in some kind of energy field and convulsing like mad. Then the holographic creature 'exploded' in a flash of light and was gone.

Devore looked around nervously, trying to find out who has 'shot' the creature, but there was no sign of anybody. Quickly recovering his composure, Devore was again back in the fight.

"Direct hit." Chu remarked, as the pulse of electro-magnetic energy hit the creature, disrupting the holographic matrix.

Sierra had meanwhile been looking around for a way down the cliff.

"Chu, this way." She motioned as she finally found a steep path down the cliff.

By the time they'd reached the bottom the battle was already over.

Captain Devore re-grouped his 'army' of followers and surveyed their current surroundings.

Devore then noticed the body of his son, lying there motionless on the ground.

"Brayden..." He yelled as he ran to his son's side and dropped to his knees.

"Brayden". Devore shook Brayden profusely, trying to get some signs of life from him, but there was nothing.

He began to cry out, "NO !.. no.." Devore's voice began to trail off as he held his only son close.

Junora ran to his side and now saw for the first time the lifeless arm of Brayden limp in the Captain's arms.

"Is he d.?" Junora asked as a sole tear began to form in her eye and fearing the worst.

Suddenly Brayden's hand twitched. Devore through tear soaked eyes pulled him away slightly to see Brayden gasping for some air. "Brayden !"

Suddenly there was a noise from the bushes behind them. Phanan and Rashad immediately sprang back to attention, the adrenaline in their blood streams still keeping them alert. They steadied their weapons ready to fend off another attack.

Then from out of the bushes came a sight, which made the two highly trained soldiers laugh briefly.

Sierra, covered in brambles came waddling out through the bushes and into the clearing. She slowly started to remove the brambles from around her legs and walked over to the Captain. It was then that she saw the body of her son in the Captain's arms.

"Chu, hurry." Sierra shouted as she ran towards the two most important men in her life.

Chu quickly appeared from around the bushes. He had decided to take the long way round, even though Sierra had insisted that they could just as easily have pushed through the bushes in front of them. The scratches on Sierra's exposed arms and legs showed that he'd been right to do so. Quickly Chu removed the belt he was wearing, opened up one of the pouches and removed a medical tri-corder. Quickly, he used his emergency medical skills and the limited medical supplies to work on saving Brayden's life.

Within ten minutes, Brayden's condition had stabilised.

"Will he live ?" Sierra asked, her face covered in tears.

"I don't know." Chu replied, "He's suffered severe blood loss and his throat's been heavily damaged. He's stable for now, but he really needs to be in sickbay. The Tri-Ox will help him breathe easier, but until the damage to his larynx is repaired, he's not going to be able to breathe properly for himself. All we can do for him now is keep him warm, let him rest and keep an eye on his condition."

Chu then started to work on the other injured, starting with Dakul's exposed abdomen.

An hour later, with darkness falling the band of warrior's, battered, bruised but still alive were sat around the fire, eating the emergency rations that Chu and Sierra had brought with them.

Sierra was sat in one of the shelters, Brayden in her arms and Junora at her side. Neither of them had stopped completely crying, there were times when they were all cried out, but then one of them would start again, setting the other one off.

The Captain wanted to be with his wife and son, but knew that his place for the moment was with the rest of his crew. Brayden had his mother and that for the moment was all that he needed.

"So how did the diplomatic mission go ?" Devore asked.

The mission, which had nearly cost Chu and Rick Shale their lives, had been the last orders the Captain had given before entering the holodeck program.

"The mission was a failure from the start. No M-class planet, no supplies, no nothing. All we found was a demon class planet and a rather nasty black hole on the trip back. The Hellcat will take over a month to repair." Chu replied.

"I leave the ship in your hands for a couple of days and you start wrecking all the best toys." Devore replied sarcastically. "So did you get bored of running a ship or is this just a social call ?" Captain Devore remarked.

"Captain, it is our belief that we have a saboteur aboard ship. We've been encountering strange and unexplained malfunctions throughout the ship." Chu stated. "When we trace a malfunction, the cause seems to disappear and re-appear somewhere else. These are not random events, there's intelligence at work here, one that is always one step ahead of us. By the way, are you aware that the holodeck safeties are off-line. ?"

"We had gathered as much." Rashad replied. "Now can we get out of this hell-hole. I presume that's why you're here."

"The answer to your first question is no and to your second is yes." Chu said. "We need to shut the holodeck down from the main control console. It's the only way that we'll be able to get out of here. Transporter's are out and the holodeck is sealed off with some kind of energy field, voice commands are also off-line."

"So where do we start ?" Dukal asked, his abdomen still hurting.

"With some rest." Captain Devore replied. "John, Chu do you feel up to taking the first watch ?"

"Fine." John replied.

"Sure." Chu confirmed.

"Then the rest of us will try and get some sleep." The Captain stated. "Rashad, we'll take the next watch in four hours." Rashad just nodded her approval.

"What about Morriden ?" Phanan asked.

"We'll have to start a search in the morning. It's far too dangerous to be searching for him in the dark and if we lit any torches, we'd make ourselves open to attack and we're in no fit state for another battle." The Captain replied. "OK everybody, get some sleep. I've got a feeling that tomorrow will be a long and tiring day."

Everybody bar Chu and John moved into the shelters. Marc moved close to his wife and put a strong arm around her before falling into a light sleep on her shoulder.

Four hours later, He and Rashad relieved the two sentries and waited for dawn to arrive.

*Why did I ever think of bringing him along ?* Devore thought, feeling guilty that his foolishness and trust in all this modern technology had now left his son close to death.

He'd seen others die, he'd even killed quite a few himself. But this was personal now he was going to find the person responsible for all this. And when he did, he'd squeeze the life out of them, just like the Berserker had tried to do to Brayden.