Away Team: Chaos reigns

Posted on Thu May 2nd, 2024 @ 3:42pm by Ensign Alessandra Sheffield & Avalon [ADMIN NPC] & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Lieutenant Commander Rin & Lieutenant Anna Esquivias & Lieutenant J'airesh Mora-Heath & Lieutenant N'vok Holv & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant JG Jonathon DeLaney & Josef Forstinger & Teevs Dosivi & Lieutenant M'Tuuri Sh'iss [S'hib] & Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece]

Mission: Season 6: Episode 4: Memory Lane
Location: Various
Timeline: MD9 15h30
6872 words - 13.7 OF Standard Post Measure

As chaos erupted both within the compound and aboard the shuttle, the lives of disparate individuals intersected in unexpected ways. On the shuttle, tensions simmered as Jonathon cautiously approached Aless, seeking clarity amidst the uncertainty of their circumstances.

Meanwhile, back at the arena station, amidst the smoke and debris of the detonated plasma bomb, alliances shifted and fates intertwined. Nicholas, reeling from the blast but quick to adapt, found himself locked in a deadly dance with Gul Desek, a figure whose intentions were shrouded in mystery.

Elsewhere in the fray, Josef, driven by instinct and desperation, seized an opportunity to turn the tide against his would-be captors, his actions a testament to resilience in the face of adversity.

As the disparate threads of their stories converged, a glimmer of hope emerged amidst the chaos—a chance for survival, and perhaps even resistance, against the forces that sought to subjugate them.

In the cockpit, as alarms blared and sensors lit up with the news of the explosion, Naxea's voice cut through the tension, demanding answers in the midst of uncertainty. The stage was set for a clash of wills, where every decision could mean the difference between life and death.

Amidst the turmoil, alliances were forged, secrets unearthed, and the true test of courage and resilience began. In the crucible of conflict, they would discover what it truly meant to fight for freedom, and what sacrifices they were willing to make to ensure a future beyond the grasp of their oppressors.

And so, as the dust settled and the echoes of the explosion faded, the journey of survival and defiance continued, with each step forward fraught with peril, but also with the promise of hope.

==ARENA ==

In an instant reaction, he kicked the grenade away as he dove for cover. The stun grenade went off. He had managed to evade most of the grenade's effects as his ears were ringing but had managed to close his eyes to prevent being blinded. He was slow getting to his feet, keeping his eyes on the Lonian pretender. He was Gul Desek of the Obsidian Order and he would not die here.

Right after the grenade went off, Nicholas was up, his disguised phaser in his hand, trained on the Cardassian. "If I was your enemy, you'd already be dead, Cardassian. Now lower your weapons or I will fire." His eyes and hand were firm. If the Cardassian had even a shadow of a doubt, he would be very cautious now.

"Who are you?" he ignored the order. "I am Gul Desek and I have been here for over twenty years. If I had been certain you are an enemy, I would have shot you on the spot. But today, I am not your enemy as you are obviously not one of those filthy slavers, no matter how much you pretend to be a wannabe Lonian. Hopefully you have a way of this damned station."

Not flinching a muscle, Nicholas stared straight into Desek's eyes. From his studies, he knew who the Gul was. During the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, he had done some vile things. He knew that the Bajorans aboard Elysium would not be happy. "Very well, Gul. You are correct. I'm not Lonian. I'm Human. Starfleet. While I don't have time to explain everything now, if you drop your weapons, I give you my word of honor, as a Starfleet officer, that you will make it to my ship alive. Your choice."

"Ah, Starfleet. That explains a lot. Very well," he lowered his weapon slowly before tossing it to the man. "Lead the way, Starfleet."

Nicholas caught the disruptor with his free hand. He then started to lead the Cardassian to safety.

==

The K'illia holding Anna promptly had its head nearly blown off by a Disruptor Blast before it could respond to N'vok. Josef was so close to his stuff now he could see the display cases with his things.

"Federation ? Starfleet ? What are you talking about woman?" He replies before doing a double take of her. Being the first human woman he has seen in a bit, including in such an outfit. But his mind was focused on one thing, survival. And his things, he wasn't going to leave without them.

He then turns his disruptor on N'vok. His face twitching. His eyes like they were looking right through him. For a split second he debated firing or not. "Step aside" was all that left his mouth, before blowing open the display cases nearby, and collecting his things. Old Terran things. Taking his personal belongings. Backpack, the"e rest of his uniform and weaponry, racking his rifle as a new round enters the chamber of the weapon he was familiar with it might now dawn on Anna that the man was not a part of Starfleet.

N'vok says quietly to Anna, "I am with Starfleet, come with me if you want to get off this world." He places himself between Anna and Josef and starts backing away. He keeps his arms apart, hands open, looking to Josef. "We are not your enemies."

Anna nodded quietly to N'vok. Her own wrists were still chained, connected to the chains on her ankles and the collar around her neck, but they were loose enough to walk in, for now. She looked to Josef again. "I think the only non-humans he's ever seen are the ones who abducted him and the ones he's been forced to fight. That rifle looks like it was from Korean War or something." It didn't. Anna was not an expert on historical Earth weapons. But she was confident of her larger point.

"Eugenics War," clarified N'vok.

Anna spoke to Josef. "I'm from Earth, from Texas. Starfleet and the Federation are going to take some explaining, but I have been held here for two years and I want to get home as much as you do. Trust me. Starfleet is our only way out."

"Maybe the woman isn't, but so far every bastard that hasn't looked like a human has either tried to lock me up, make me fight other things, tried to kill me or poked and prodded me LIKE A DAMNED CIRCUS ANIMAL" was the rather emotional response N'vok got. This time not getting a disruptor pointed at him but an Assault Rifle. "So why should I let YOU take HER ? Unless you're looking for some sort of-"

Though he was cut off when Anna finally spoke up. "Trusting is a bit hard. I woke up after barely surviving a gunfight-only to be shoved into a fucking Colosseum LIKE WERE IN ROME, AND HAD TO BEAT THINGS SKULLS IN THAT I DIDNT EVEN KNOW EXISTED. But fine, I will trust you on the sake of you being the only human face I have seen in god knows how long." Calming down a bit after the emotional outburst he finally lowered his weapon for a second, before nonchalantly raising and turning his weapon slightly to the right and firing a shot, nailing an approaching Guard that tried to sneak up on N'vok right in the dome, Green blood flying as the loud noise-much louder than a phaser blast or disruptor shot- rings through the area. Which might cause one to flinch-though he certainly didn't.

N'vok held his ground, the shot loud but he did not let it disrupt his focus. "You can trust us and take a chance on getting off of this world or you can stay here and fight until you die. I know what the logical choice is." He sighed. "I am now going to turn around and get this poor person out of her chains. I am trusting you not to kill me while I do so." He slowly turned to Anna producing a sonic key to unlock her chains.

Anna held her chains up to him. "Thank you," she said. It felt good to be just talking normally, but feeling like herself again wasn't just a switch. She smiled at the disguised Vulcan and then turned to look back at Josef.

The Man took a second, but simply nodded, his entire body covered in dirt and blood-and taking a closer look as he seemed to drop his tough veil was that he was not in the best of shape. "I-alright, fine. Ill cover you. Just lead the way" was the answer. Either way he will get out of this hellhole.

N'vok efficiently opened the locks and discarded the chains, kneeling to get the shackles off. He then stood and took off his garish, manyhued cloak and wrapped it around Anna. He closed his eyes for a moment and activated the pseudo-collective link at the base of his skull.

"Rin . . ." he said, winching from the feedback. "Problem and opportunity. I have two people here," he tried to broadcast images but he was not sure how successful it was. "One a Starfleet officer, the other a Terran. I know rescue was not part of our mission but I will do what I can to get them out."

Anna draped the cloak around her. "Thank you," she said. She looked down at herself, frowning. "The dress is Ardanan," she somehow felt the need to say.

"Ardannan ? Nevermind, you-Alien Guy, where do we go from here ? The longer we stay in one place the higher the risk that more of them find us, and of those freaks seemed to have it really in for me. I don't want to find out why."

"My name is N'vok," said N'vok. "Let us find some cover and I will work out how to contact the rest of my team." He casually picked up a discarded disruptor and used it to systematically destroy anything that looked like a surveillance system as they retreated.

Anna blinked once. Her own instincts had been dulled by her time here in some ways. Or she had grown timid at her treatment. She bent down to get a disruptor for herself. She smiled a little. Casting off the feel of this place.

"Theres more of you Starfleeters around here ? So you set off those Bombs then. Well, there is a nice sheltered area near the Market. Some form of shelter I guess, big blast doors and all. No clue whats inside though." Joseph responds, shouldering his rifle and ready to follow them anywhere. Taking up duty to help guard them the best he can despite his condition, seemingly dropping his more aggressive side as he stopped considering them hostile.

"No, the explosives are not our work," said N'vok to Joseph. "We are usually more subtle in our actions." He blasted a flying drone of some sort out of the air. "I fear our enemies are getting organized."

"Lieutenant," he said to Anna. "Keep an eye out for flying spies, if you see any, destroy them."

"Will do," Anna said. She fired a disruptor, knocking one from the sky. "Right on cue," she quipped.

"Keep watching," said N'vok, taking a look around the area, building a mental map.

Another burst from Josefs Rifle slays another ground attacker as the other two seemed to handle the sky just fine. "Well-so it wasn't you, but then who ? Could've been those weird guys that were staring me down like I was some sort of delicious Steak. I think one of the traders or guards called them K'illia." he comments, before letting lose a few more shots as disruptor fire impacts near him.

"There is no honor or friendship among the beings gathered here," said N'vok snapping shots off at the source of the disruptor fire. "Being slavers has corroded their morality."

"Or defined it," Anna said, not sure of the difference. "How can you..." She bit her lower lip. Philosophize later. Shoot things now. She fired at another drone. "The same group wanted me. For..." She trailed off. She let the silence speak for her. Down went another drone.

"You don't have to say anything. I've seen things that made me think I was in hell before I even came here. They discussed wanting to use me as breeding stock. I'll take it as a compliment but let's just focus on getting out of here so we can both avoid our fate." simply replied Josef. Seeming much more desensitized to such cruelty. At least on the outside.


= = = = = =

The explosion had sent the crowds into a panic, stampeding over one another to escape.

"M'Tuuri to away team, isss anyone injured!" She called out from atop a balcony, watching the crowd below. "Commander Rrrin, Colonel? can anyone hear me?"

She glanced at her wrist, trying to boost the signal over the suspected jamming equipment. "Fuck..."

As the explosion sent the whole market and arena into chaos, J'Air stopped pretending *not* to be with Rin and moved back in closer to her. She could see a few members of the team around her and noticed Josef and his intensity over the market stall that he was trying to get items from, including what looked like a backpack. She glanced away as a panic-stricken woman with blue fur and an odd scruffy, unkempt mop of hair, suddenly tripped and fell, crying out and starting to scream what appeared to be curses in an alien language, very close to the ACMO's feet.

Wrenching her attention back to the more important things that were happening, J'Air looked away from the screaming woman and searched to find Rin again within the lurching crowd streaming this way and that in their confused, frightened and angry flows, all seemingly unaware of each other until they collided and then tried to fight each other off.

It was Bedlam but J'Air knew this was the most important time to keep her head as calm and focussed as she could. Anything could happen in a melee like this.

Meanwhile, M'Tuuri continued watching the crowds from her vantage, her helmet hurriedly scanning for her team. "Come on, where are you..."

Her tone was hushed by worry, watching outlines merge into a sea of red until the subtle pings of blue grabbed her attention.

Teamwork, she hated teamwork... the more people involved the more complicated everything became.

"Fuck. Sake." She hissed in annoyance as she climbed over the balcony, preparing to climb down.

"Hey!" The small Caitian girl called out suddenly, catching M'Tuuri's attention. "This doesn't work you know!" She huffed angrily, shaking the defunct tricorder.

"Sssorry kid, I didn't get a receipt." She said with a shrug before letting go of the railing.

"W-wait!" She rushed over, concern and confusion on her small features as she threw her head over the railing to look down.

"Whoo..." She gasped, watching this strange alien fall from one balcony to the next until she landed on the market floor below. "Thats so cool!"

Regaining consciousness, Rin dragged herself out of the ruins of a half collapsed stall. Her ears were ringing so loud as to drown out much of the chaos surrounding her. Where was she? Yes, the Arena. Data retrieval. Cause of the explosions? Unknown. How badly was she hurt? Diagnostics suggested significant head trauma, but nothing immediately life threatening. Was she alone? J'air had been with her. But now...

Rin heard N'vok's words in her head. That helped her get her bearings. She replied with two words. "Do it." It wasn't the words which struck N'vok so much as the emotion behind it: it was rage.

As she stood, she pulled her blade from its scabbard on her hip. A man ran by, dragging a manacled man with him. Even in this chaos, the slave owner couldn't bear the thought of losing his investment.

Rin almost casually reached out and slit the owner's throat. He hadn't even hit the ground when Rin looked to the slave and said, simply "Run."

Someone came at her from the side. She sidestepped his swing and ran him through. His pal was pulling a gun - She kicked it away, but he managed to knock her feet out from under her. She rolled to her feet as he grabbed for her. She swung the blade again and he went down. She picked up his pistol in her off hand and kept moving.

"I'll come to you," Rin told N'vok through their link. "Give me a landmark."

She realized she still hadn't found J'air. "Is J'air with you?"

The xBs on Tavara had picked up a nickname. They had been the murder children. Children, because they had been so incredibly naive, so easy to direct. As for the rest of the name, well, it had been something they were very good at.

It had been a long time since she had been so naive.

She turned in the direction where she guessed she could find the others. She was angry. More angry than she could remember ever being. And anyone who was going to stand between her and her team was going to have a very bad day.

N'vok's disciplined thoughts came through, "No J'air. Will look. We are here . . ." a wash of sensory impressions followed which resolved into a map-like structure complete with landmarks.

J'Airesh had been knocked down in the skirmish of frantic aliens as they all fled the arena or were pushed around by others who were fleeing blindly. J'Air realised she had hit her head as she regained consciousness with pain as a large clumsy blue hulk stood on her leg, tripping and falling onto her as a result. She cried out as his large frame crushed down on her and pushed to try to lift him off, suddenly realising that he wasn't attempting to pick himself up. She tried to lever her good leg out from underneath the bulk and felt warmth spread over it and then over her torso the more she managed to manoeuvre him aside so she could get up and avoid getting further trampled.

As she finally managed to pull her wounded leg free, J'Air realised that the warmth on her leg was blue, a darker blue than the skin on the corpse she was still trying to push away and the dead weight of the body was exactly that. Dead weight from a dead blue being with a large knife-life piece of metal extruding from his back.

"Charming" she muttered, wondering why, in all this chaos, someone would take the opportunity to stab anyone in the back. Dismissing her natural curiosity in favour of getting back to saving her own life, J'Air dragged her crushed leg with great pain out from under the arm of the fallen, whatever-he-was, instinctively checked his pulse, assuming it might be in his neck somewhere, if he were to still have one, and stood unsteadily up reaching for support towards the nearest fence, she hobbled out of the main pathway and slid down in a faint when she got to the side.

Gul Desek was with Reece when the man had stopped them next to J'Air. He glanced down at the female. More red blood for a 'Lonian'. "She is one of yours, I take it?" he asked with a gesture to the woman.

"Doc! You alright?!" For a moment, Nicholas was more concerned with J'airesh's injury, than the fact that she was Bajoran. Then it clicked in his mind. "Gul, I'd strongly suggest that you don't say anything more until you speak with my CO."

"Uh.... yes... thanks.... that is i think so. I'm a bit woozy, did I hit my head?" J'Air reached up into her hair but didn't find any injury there so she began to try to stand up. That was when she realised her leg hurt. A lot! Her mind cleared smartly in response to the stabbing of the pain and she grabbed onto the fence behind her to stop herself falling back down again. "Woah!" she said, through gritted teeth as she struggled to regain her balance, aware that she had to move, no matter how much her leg hurt.

Desek sighed. What was so sensitive about this injured Starfleet Officer? But all he cared about was getting off the station.

Rin stepped from the chaos into N'vok's view. Her hair was matted with blood, most likely hers. She sword was also covered in blood, most likely not hers. And she was angry. Angry sentient beings could do this to other sentient beings, particularly at this scale. It was grotesque and they were surrounded by it.

She noted Nicholas, J'air and M'turri were still nowhere to be seen. She had already tried coms to no effect. But she had ordered the group not to wander too far from each other. So hopefully they were nearby, just lost in the chaos. She just needed to get their attention.

She raised her stolen disrupter in the air and fired three short bursts, then three long, then three short. An old school SOS, unlikely to sound like random gunfire. Assumedly only the Starfleet officers would recognize that particular pattern's significance.

Hearing the shots, then their rhythm, Nicholas knew what it meant. In reply, he fired his disguised phaser into the air, one prolonged blast, to indicate he had heard and understood the message. "Let's go!" He physically scooped the injured doctor up into his arms, then looked at Desek. "I'm trusting you not to shoot me in the back now." He then moved with surprising speed, given he was carrying extra weight, silently thanking his Grampy for all those training sessions when he and Kyle were growing up.

J'Air was grateful not to have to try to stand or walk anymore but she was in a lot of pain, drifting in and out of consciousness as the waves flooded over her and receded only to return a short while later.

"And jeopardize my ticket out of here?" Desek asked. This Starfleet Officer was borderline paranoid.

A few moments later, the trio rounded a corner and saw both Rin and N'vok, plus two other humans, one of them, the soldier that the Thaih'ea had been parading around. He was now heavily armed and quite agitated. "Rin! N'vok! You two okay?"

N'vok was ready to grab the barrel of Josef's weapon if needed. "The woman with the sword is with us." He gestured with an open hand to Nick, the Cardassian, and J'air. "That group is also with."

Josefs Barrel was only pointed at Rin or the other arriving party for a second before he lowered it again. Moving it out of the way before N'vok could touch it. Judging by his expression he clearly didn't like it when his things were touched. "What a merry band you have here. Who’d else you bring, Saint Nicholas ?" was the reply given in a sarcastic tone. Though he'd quickly went back to scanning the horizon to look out for any threats. For he couldn't help but feel like he was being stalked...

At that moment M'Tuuri ran by the other end of the street, skidding to a stop as she caught a glance of the away team.

A sense of relief washed over her as she stopped and turned back, fighting with the pain in her barely healed rib. "Commander!" She shouted after removing her helmet, her scruffy fur all the worse for wear. "If it hasssn't already been sssaid, I think we need to leave."

"The felinoid as well," added N'vok to Anna and Josef. "That should be everyone. It seems we have gathered some other strays as well," he looked over to the Cardassian.

Rin looked around for ideas. Damn, her head was foggy. But she hadn't seen any likely extraction points once they had entered the arena. Which was undoubtedly the point. "Let's get back to the docking bay. there's going to be a crush of people there, but maybe there's a comm system we can get our hands on."

"Is that a Cat ?" Josef blurted out in surprise as the Felinoid revealed itself. This was starting to feel like a fever dream by the second. Maybe he was still on Earth, and would wake up any second now-right, wishful thinking.

M'Tuuri's eyes shot over to Josef, dilating wide as they did. Who the hell was this she thought.

"She's a friendly," Anna said to Josef, looking to M'Tuuri. At least she thought so. Federation species and all.

N'vok nodded to Rin and pointed. "That way is likely to be best, the largest streets. All will be crowded but narrow pathways are to be avoided." He set off in that direction, disruptor ready.

"The largest street is the best way to get into a bunch of Crossfire with Civilians around. Whatever bombed this station knows how to blend in and hunt. If we aren't careful we will be shot in the back or worse." Josef interjected at N'voks suggestion. "They'll probably expect us to flee to this docking bay or whatever. We might as well be walking into a minefield. And even when we get there they probably won't stop until they have what they want."

The comment earned Rin's full attention, and she brought her gaze around to stare the unknown person down. "Are you aware of who "they" are and what they want?" she asked.

"Well, whoever set off those bombs. But I can't tell you which one of those alien freaks - no offense- did it. But so far they seen to have consistently tracked our movements through all that dust and debris. If this docking station is the only way out of here that would be the first thing they'd try to secure after all."

Just as Josef finished speaking something fell to the floor behind the group, the smashed pottery drawing eyes and weapons alike towards the sound.

"You again!?" M'Tuuri hissed, spotting the young cait girl from earlier peering around the corner with a stunned expression written over her scruffy fur.

"I knew it! I knew you were like me!" The little girl shouted excitedly, stepping out from where she was hiding. "I saw your tail at the market!"

M'Tuuri's ears folded back as the young girl spoke, feeling everyone else glancing at her for an explanation.

"Keep your voice down," M'Tuuri grumbled, walking quickly towards her. "We need to get going." She said, turning back to Rin as she crouched before the Cait girl.

Rin nodded to M'tuuri. Sheltering inside the station made no sense in this scenario, even if it would give her more opportunities to teach these awful people a lesson. And she had to trust that Naxea would know something was up and try a rescue. Rin made a motion for the others to follow as she led the way toward the docking bay.

Over her shoulder, she asked, "Does anyone else feel like this violence has been following us? That we're being targeted?"

N'vok kept alert as they moved forward. "I think the violence has always been here. It had been damed up by fear of our Hosts and when the explosions went off, that dam broke and all of the violence flooded out."

==

Among the chaos, a slender felinoid, walked almost casually towards a console near the more private area of the station. He swiped a disembodied hand from a Thaih’ea and entered the passage.

The station was a key way point in the Thai’hea’s slave trade, right beside the device that allowed them to travel so effortlessly between systems and even galaxies. He was determined to put a stop to that. With all the panic outside caused by another Alien race, he had taken his chance and now, J’ier was closer to his goal than before. He found his way into their private shuttle bay, and after a moment he launched their shuttles by remote to head straight for the trans Galactic Gate and its control device which was in a synchronous orbit to the Arena. As he stood there, he felt a slight twinge of regret that he had, had to ditch those he had rescued on the planet’s surface, but it was for the greater good.

==SHUTTLE==

==
Aless looked at her. "It sounds like both races must be a bit alike for such genetic meshing to be possible." She shrugged "Sorry, medical officer."

"That's where any similarities between our species ends," Naxea said.

Sensors in the cockpit suddenly light up. There was an explosion on the arena station.

The alarms from the cockpit caught Naxea's attention. "Miraj, what's going on?"

==

"Everybody strap in!" Miraj had stripped off her shirt and waistcoat, was tugging her boots off, casting them aside so she could flex her bare feet against the cockpit floor for maximum contact with the ship. "I don't know ma'am, Mostly the chatter we could pick up was about dealing with whatever shit you pulled, and then everything went boom. Again" she added with sarcastic exasperation, "And now their security people are talking about locking down airspace." She plopped into the pilots chair, and started the engines.

"It's getting too hot here. Get us in orbit and enroute to the station," Naxea replied as she sat down into the Operations seat with Teevs in the Co-pilot seat.

Miraj pulled the steering balls toward her, the ship rising as she did so, already positioned and angled for the fast exit she'd been expecting. Then she twisted her wrist, and they shot for the atmosphere. There was half a blink of excruciating pressure as speed, gravity and inertia all fought for dominance, and then the environmental controls overruled them all and the rapid acceleration became only detectable from the flash of the landscape far below.

Alessandra had grabbed onto a chair and noted that the pink haired officer was a fair pilot. No Sulu but fair. She strapped in as ordered and was glad she had stabilized the pods before hand.

Teevs continued to monitor the communications, trying to listen for signs that they could be in imminent danger. He didn't understand Thaih'ean that well, but knew of some words to listen for. His hand braced against the console kept him from tipping out of the chair.

Being tossed about from his seated position, Jonathon grumbled under his breath, "I see they're scraping the barrel for pilots at the academy." His comment was muttered more to himself than to anyone in particular, lost amidst the commotion of the moment. As he fumbled his way back into a seat and strapped himself in, he couldn't help but express a blunt plea to no one in particular, "Don't get me killed," his tone plain and matter-of-fact.

"We will do our best, Lieutenant," Teevs answered, keeping his attention on the console in front of him.

"If they do" J'Air muttered with a sideways glance at Jonathan. "Thank you anyway, for having saved me down there. I appreciate the lift!" she told him, genuinely grateful. Her leg was a mess, she could tell that but not so bad that it couldn't be healed once they got back to the Elysium. The fact that J'Air had a chance of getting back there was down to Jonathan and she knew that. The pain had her still a bit woozy but she was aware enough to appreciate that much.

Naxea watched the sensor display as they escaped upwards out of the atmosphere when two contacts appeared on the sensor screen. "Two sensor contacts approaching on an intercept course! Looks like they're Thai’hea."

Miraj glanced at the screen and dismissed it with a snort. "Yeah, they wish." She turned back to Nax as the first zoomed closer. "I'm more worried about where we're going to dock. This thing doesn't have transporters, I'm going to have to couple or set down."

The first Thai'hean interdictor was sliding across their flightpath, head on, fulling expecting them to stop. The comms garbled some sort of warning.

There was only one word that Teevs understood in the message, which left his heart racing with a fear that was likely mutually understood. Surrender.

Miraj just twitched her controls, and The Saucy Minx shot forward with a purr of power that rolled up through the structure and buzzed across her body, a thrill of excitement across her bared skin. They dipped under the prow of the enemy vessel, and skimmed under its belly, close enough to reach out and touch.

"Oh, look at that." Miraj cooed as she got a lightening fast look at the Defiant sized ship's underside. "I don't know what that gubbins does, but makes her look half broken. All that external seamwork? I know air resistance isn't a thing in space, but that just seems pointless work for pointless works sake. Makes her ugly too."

The second ship managed to adjust its course whilst its fellow was still lumbering around. Miraj just barrel rolled around it smoothly, the two ships corkscrewing together for a moment before their courses diverged again, and Miraj moved back to her original line still thinking about the poor design choices on the other ship. "Bet it breaks up real easy too. Everything will catch on all that finwork. How on earth did the Thai'heans end up with transwarp when they do shit things like that?"

They were between the interdictors and the space station now. The enemy couldn't open fire; they'd hit their own forces.

"Anyway," Miraj caught herself as she came back to a level approach on what she hoped was a docking ring. "About that parking spot?"

"Go for it!". She then tapped her hidden communicator. "Colonel Azhul to Commander Rin."

There was only static in response --the kind of static that came with a jamming field. "Damn," she cursed. "Teevs, see if you can locate the bio signs of the Away Team."

"Understood," Teevs responded. A moment later, he spoke again, "I see them. I'm sending you the docking port that's closest to them."

Miraj flipped the Saucy Minx about and back into one of the openings on the station, lining the docking port up. The linkages sent heavy unpleasant clunks through the ship that had Miraj wincing, followed by a jagged pulse like an interrupted heartbeat. "Colonel. I don't think the station is very happy. We shouldn't stay linked for long."

As the shuttle finished the docking procedure, Naxea jumped out of her seat, grabbing a Type Two phaser that had been stored aboard for an emergency. "I'll be back," she called. She thumbed the power on, feeling the slight sensation of the weapon powering up. The docking hatches slid open with Naxea stepping through, and into chaos. A Thaih'ean guard leveled his rifle at Naxea but was a moment too slow as the orange phaser beam struck the Thaih'ean, dropping him to the deck. She fired her phaser again, this time into the air, harmlessly hitting a bulkhead in an attempt and hope that the Away Team would see it

Luckily for both the shuttle crew and away team, Josef was currently in a sort of hyper attentive state, driven by paranoia and adrenalin, immediately noting the orange beam of light fired into the sky like a flare. "Flare, 3 O Clock" he said, it almost came out instantly as if it was just a routine for him. "Or well, Orange Beam of Light. Whatever that means."

Rin's head swiveled in the direction Josef indicated as another shot rang out. The distinct color of a Starfleet standard issue phaser. Naxea was here, and she was looking for them. Rin quickly herded her team in her direction.

===

As the away team moved into the shuttle, a comm opened and a female voice crackled over the comm. The more powerful communications system from the Elysium going straight through the interference which was fading as more systems on the station were affected by the explosions.

["Elysium to Away Team, move your arses, that station is now under attack!"]

"We're moving, Commodore. We've taken on some extra baggage," came Naxea's voice as she made her way back into her seat aboard the shuttle.

And Miraj's sensors showed the larger vessel appearing above them. Protecting the Shuttle with its bigger hull.

"What are you waiting for? Get us back to the Elysium, Miraj," Naxea replied.

Miraj banged her fist on the detach control, and they zoomed away from the doomed station.

---------

Concurrent but separate.

Malred shook their head, when they had provided the nearly undetectable explosives to the K'ilia they did not expect that the K'illa would actually be foolish enough to use them. But such an opportunity was not to be wasted. The enhanced individual moved as quickly as they could without attracting undue attention, dropping a miniaturized jammer every so often along the path.

The timing was perfect, Malred had just arrived when the explosives detonated. They triggered the jammers, they would burn out quickly but should provide the cover needed. A set of small drones flew up and disabled the sensors nearby, their tech was on a hopping band that was synchonized with the jamming pattern.

"What do you think that was?" asked Malred pointing toward the plume of smoke and the noises of a panicked crowd. The guards looked and tried to get they communicators to work. Malred slipped behind them and drove monocrystal blades into the base of their skulls. The guards dropped, dead. Malred snapped the blood off the blades and returned them to their sheaths. They scooped up the keys, thankful the Thi'leans favored physical rather than electonic locks, and opened the door. Inside were rows of cells, featuring a particular type of enslaved beings, scientists, engineers, and scholars. Some of them looked up, others were lost in despair.

Malred swung a bag down off their back. "The system is in chaos, there is a window of opportunity. If you wish to escape this hideous life, follow my directions and we will get out. I cannot promise to get you back to your homes but I can get out free of this hell." Some of the enslaved people show hope. Malred opened one of those cells and handed the keys to the person who came out. "Open the other cells."

Malred pulled out cloaks with hoods from the bags, made of incredibly thin yet still opaque cloth. "Put these on before you head out. If you do not wish to trust me, you are welcome to flee on your own. Everyone else, follow me, we have a ship to catch."

===

As Miraj pulled the shuttle from the station, she found the Elysium was covering her and The ships fighters swarmed around them, deflecting incoming firepower.

The Saucy Minx slid into a maelstrom of moving ships, tumbling debris and criss crossing weapon barrages. Miraj marvelled at the number of interesting new designs that filled the view, skipping the ship easily around a stray blast that came from underneath the station, and weaving around a lump of spinning debris that crossed their path.

The Thaih'ean forces were more concerned with the huge ship of the line than the shuttle craft zooming towards it, the fighterwing drawing all their attention with their precision strikes, and fast turns. The pink-haired pilot skated nimbly through the hole in the perimeter they made, and slid them inside the welcoming embrace of Elysium's shuttle bay whilst the battle continued outside.

"Excellent flying, Miraj," Naxea complimented as she got up out of her chair.

"Flying - Was that what that was, feel like I've been rolled around in a replicator reclamation unit." He grumbled setting himself strait equally happy that they were finally away from the planet that had held him captive for so long and aboard a starship. Even the idea of being able to have his life back filled him with hope, not that he showed it.

"And what would you have herrr do..." M'Tuuri called out, standing in the middle of the narrow corridor that connected the bridge to the rest of the ship, having used the magnetic seals on her boots and pipes on the ceiling to keep her in place. "Fly in a ssstraight line?"

"Fucking idiot..." She muttered to herself as she turned and walked towards the stairs at the rear of the ship, counting the seconds until she could be away from this many people, this many smells.

===

As Malred's team members hustled the escapees aboard their shielded vessel. Malred themself watched the battle unfold above them. It was a ship of an entirely unfamiliar design, a joy in and of itself, and it was swatting slaver ships with great abandon. Malred trained all of their enhanced senses on the ship, committing it to electronic memory for later analysis.

"Ready to go?" asked Unsir.

"One last task," said Malred as the ship took a smaller craft aboard and retreated. With a coded broadcast from Malred, the explosives left behind in the slave quarters detonated tearing the building, and the corpses of the two guards, apart. The explosives used were one with the exact same chemical composition as the ones the K'illa used earlier., that should confuse things ever more. Malred stepped aboard and the hatch hissed closed behind them.


------


OFF
Ooc; my bad I mis read. Fixed

 

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