JDL|aCO,aXO,Chelm,CINT,CMO,CTAC/CSEC|Cmdr. Dhej, Ltcmdr. Hunter, Lt. sh'Thrass, Ltcmdr. Rinehart, Arrain tr'Verelan, Lt Quoicho|"First Steps" Part 2

Posted on 241502.11 @ 12:45am by Commander Tierney Rinehart & Lieutenant Zhyalla sh'Thrass & Arrain Maec tr'Verelan

Mission: Holy Cow
Location: Nirua Homeworld

=/\=Nirua Homeworld=/\=

After closing the com, Karim returned to the group and began sampling some of the food. He wanted to be polite, but also wanted to try to dig a bit into the issues the Nirua were facing. As he sampled a fruit cup, he tried to figure out a gentle way to bring up the news of the rebels movements.

Adrianna saw something on her screen and she cursed under her breath. Hitting her command badge she said quickly but audibly, "Hunter to Dhej, Get the hell out of there there's movem-"

Karim was about to ask what she meant when a large explosion went off just outside the meeting area. He had been standing nearby Barula, and instinctively dived towards her as the explosion hit, pushing her to the ground.

White light was all Tierney saw and the cacophonous boom sent her delicate senses reeling. With ringing ears and blinded eyes, the Starling was left with nothing more than her ability to echolocate as a means of escape. A quick series of popping clicks told her that Karim had the First Mother, Zhyalla was beside her, and... the Arrain. Her hand shot out, wrapping her slender fingers around his wrist and drug him towards and behind her. The force of her grab and pull sent her reeling, nearly to her knees as she stood to try and protect the people she'd gathered behind her, "GET DOWN AND GET TO THE CAMP!" She roared over the ringing in her ears, or at least she thought that's what she'd screamed — for all she knew it could have been complete gibberish.

Nanee senses were hit hard making her drop her to knees and cover her ears as her body absorbed the assortment of sounds and lights. She heard yelling but was unable to tell what was being said and as for sight everything was blurry or just outlines. "Wha....what happened......" She blurted out having no idea how loud she was or if anyone was actually near her.

A moment ago, there's been a mug of something in her hand that Zhyalla couldn't quite decide if it was fermented or not. Now she found herself tucked into a ball, covering her antennae. She didn't remember going from one to the other, she just found herself in the instinctively protective position, the aftershocks of the loud and bright still coursing through her from head to toe. She thought she heard Tierney say something, she tried to look, but everything still shook, vibrated, and was washed out, so she elected to stay in her little ball. Let things settle, assess the damage, then move out — moving while the damage was still happening could just lead to moving into worse danger, knowing where to go was always better than not, and then once a path had been selected, don't hesitate, just move. She couldn't assess anything right now, so things were still in the settling stage.

The bright phosphorus flash registered in Maec’s irises a millisecond before the sonic shock wave roared through him felling the Romulan to his knees. In surprise he squinted and when he opened his eyes they perceived the chaos wrapped aftermath through a lens of tachypsychia as time crawled to near standstill. He looked at Tierney whose slender pale fingers were wrapped around his forearm and then he looked towards the Captain who was prudently assaulting Barula. Beyond them his eyes registered the bright golden strands of smoldering embers reaching into the sky. It was then that time seemed to suddenly normalize and Maec found himself wrapping his free hand around Tierny’s wrist and prying her grip loose. Grabbing the collar of her uniform he shoved her behind him and stood up. The lingering sonorous tinnitus thundering in his ears caused him to feel at them where he noticed a small amount of moisture present. Examining his fingers he found a thin sheen of emerald moisture and frowned wiping his fingers against chainmail. Nearby he could see Tierney yelling but could not make out what she was saying. Not that he would have been interested in her words. With a dismissive glare he turned his eyes to the chaos as people scrambled to run away from the commotion and searched for the two other security personnel he brought with them. He found them crouching behind a table and shouted to them. Once they finally turned their gazes towards him he jerked his thumb at the crew and they nodded in response making their way towards the group. “Guard them” he said while removing his sidearm from its holster. With vivid disappointment he studied the phaser wishing at that moment that he had his disruptor. It may have lacked all the fancy features of the federation weapon but it was quite efficient where it counted with its deadly accuracy. After a grumble of lament Maec turned his attention to the source of the explosion. Priming the phaser as he had been instructed he started to slowly march in its direction.

The field before her vision swam with colors burnt and blown out of proportion. It was better than the sheet of white she’d been initially presented with in the seconds immediately after the blast – but it was hardly adequate for her to operate. Tierney felt the tug at her fingers and then the collar of her uniform. A quick ping told her it was Maec and she fought to keep her compromised footing as he stuffed her behind him and she ducked her head away to avoid something that floated down towards her face. It tickled, soft and strange… A feather? Batting it away, the Starling could feel the heat of the Romulan moving away, could feel the shift of electric impulses caused by the rustling of his chainmail. The Arrain wasn’t listening, no one was. They were racing about in complete panic – with the exception of Zhyalla that rested in a tight ball at her feet.

With the taste of blood staining her tongue, and the tickle of it as it seeped in slow pink rivulets from her nostrils, Tierney knew her options were limited and quickly diminishing. Blind and deafened, she was a proverbial sitting duck. While tenacious, alone, the Arrain was nothing more than cannon fodder and captured he was worth all of their heads. His bloodlines alone would dictate a war be waged in his honor. The stupid file in her satchel had proven an interesting read, but she couldn’t have cared less about the contents as another volley of pops and clicks told her where he was headed. Fifteen feet away and gaining ground steadily, he was armed and facing the storm alone. Maec tr’Verelan was either the craziest son of a jackal she’d ever met, or the most noble – time would dictate which, but for now she knew she had to do the unthinkable and regain control of the situation. A set of pillows sent her roughly stiff legging a shuffled jog to keep from falling and if she kept her eyes closed, her head didn’t hurt nearly as badly. Each step brought with it the sounds of panic filtering through what seemed like fathoms deep water, but at least it was getting clearer.

“Arrain tr’Verelan!” She yelled with a cough as they broke through the tree line. Even her use of sonar didn’t abdicate her completely from the stinging hurt of low branches and bramble bushes on either side of their path. “Stop!” Another cry, but she knew better than to think he ever would. Up until that point, they were nothing more than posturing fools and now they were exposed from the pack, easy targets and that knowledge made her skin crawl as she took those final couple steps in the form of a leap and wrapped her arms around the Romulan’s waist in hopes of driving him off balance and into the tall weeds and young undergrowth for cover. “We have to get everyone back to camp,” Tierney yelled, “not get you killed off! You don’t get out of this that easy!” United we stand, divided we fall and all that jazz could have been the next stanza to her little pep talk, but it wasn’t meant to be. Her concern was getting the group back together, some internal sense of there being safety in numbers firmly dictated it – or maybe it was the fact she preferred not to serve the entire Enterprise to the Romulans. If he killed her now, at least it wasn’t because he’d jumped out of her closet when she least expected it. She could die relatively honorable.

He hadn't noticed her- the tinnitus was drumming so violently in Maec's ears that his eyes just tunneled through the trail ahead. It was the suddenness of the contact that caused him to jerk unevenly in surprise and twist on his heels while priming the phaser. He slid a thumb over the trigger. Aimed. Fired. It was then that Maec’s gaze met the attacker’s causing the young Romulan’s dark eyes to widen with realization. Horrified he flinched. The movement was sudden but late as a brilliant sun colored beam of hot plasma lanced out from the weapon searing through a rolling sheet of strawberry strands. He released his grip on the weapon and tumbled into the brush just as the acrid scent of burning touched his nostrils.

It seemed like slow motion; the arcing of the Romulan's body as her body reached his, the movement of the phaser, the way his thumb played over the trigger. Even with her vision swimming and the way she relied so heavy on her ability to echolocate, she could see the bright flash of the phaser's fire as it screamed the short distance between them. Tierney's sensation of falling was soon joined by the feeling of her braid coming undone, its thick titian rivulets unwinding and cascading around her like some sort of ethereal veil of gossamer -- and the searing of a glancing burn across the top of her left shoulder. While the injury itself was nothing, the surprise and shock of it conjured up the sound of a yelp, followed by a grunt and a gasp as her body succumbed to gravity and hit the ground and underlying foliage beneath them. Rolling and sliding down a steep embankment, her injured shoulder scraped along a bevy of broken branches and exposed roots before it came to a stop and rested against the coolness of his chainmail.

The entire ordeal left her breathless and stunned for a short moment while she worked to regain composure. He was breathing, she could feel the steady movement of his ribs against her tender flesh, but whether or not he'd made it down that grass and vine hidden ravine remained an unanswered question "You..." Tierney hissed and shook her head. No, she wouldn't curse him. If he'd meant to shoot her, she'd be dead and while the burn smarted something fierce, it was trivial at best. "have horrible aim." The Starling finished in a pant. Verbally jousting with him, she decided, was the perfect way to assess his condition. If he replied, he was conscious -- logic even a Vulcan would have agreed with.

After several more minuets of complete confusion and insane pounding of her senses she was finally able to hear slightly hearing Tierney yelling that they needed to get back to somewhere and yelling to get someone to come back. But what she didn't hear was the location and status of the captain, "that captain.....the captain where is the captain!" She yelled as she tried to walk and or run as she stumbled and fumbled around trying to find the captain, "captain! Captain! Where are you!" She yelled again.

Zhyalla looked up cautiously as she started to make out distinct sounds again; finding that colors were more true also and she could make out more than just blobs, she elected move to step two — assess the damage. Tierney and the hobgoblin were headed towards where the explosion had come from, and the Romulan's minions were standing near the rest of the team. Zhyalla stretched her hand out to find something solid to brace herself on and find her feer; instead she found a combadge. A quick check found hers on her chest where it belonged, and a glance around told her that the others still nearby had theirs on too — must be Tierney's or the Romulan's. Zhyalla reached out for the doctor, laying a hand on the Trill woman's arms.

"Commander Dhej was with the first mother," Zhyalla said, after making eye contact with Nanee — she hoped the doctor could read lips, as hearing couldn't be depended upon after the loud explosion. She then made a show of turning in the direction she'd last seen the two together, hoping Nanee would follow her example.

Nanee was able to make just enough out that she knew she needed to follow the lieutenant to at least find the captain. With a quick nod Nanee worked on following Zhyalla tripping every so often as her vision slowly started coming back along with her balanced.

"Captain! Captain, report!" Adrianna almost screamed into her command badge as she flicked through her PaDD. Walking out on the bridge she called for a scan to see if everyone was ok.

Coughing, Karim tried to speak, but all that came out were coughs. Clearing his throat, he realized he couldn't hear much, due to a strong ringing in his ears. Pushing himself carefully to his feet, he gently helped Barula up and hoarsely said "I'm sorry if I injured you First Mother, but I wanted to protect you from the danger."

Barula, who couldn't hear much either, but understood the gist of what he said nodded , then winced, and said "It's ok Commander. You did what you needed to do. Please see to your people as I see to mine." Pausing, she added "We may require your assistance as our resources are ... lacking."

Nodding slightly, Karim said "Of course. Let me see to my people, and then we will return." Moving away from her, he moved slowly, towards where the group was standing. Tapping his combadge with an uninjured hand he said "Dhej to Enterprise. From what I can tell the away team is all accounted for. We will return to the runabout to set up a command post. I will contact you with further orders and information then." Pausing, he coughed and added "Lieutenant Commander Hunter, please leave someone in command, and assemble an away team, including additional medical personnel. Please come down via runabout, as we don't want to expose our technology yet. Rendezvous with the Lovelace at the landing zone. Dhej out."

As he closed the com he cradled his left arm, and felt blood running down the side of his face. As he reached the group he said "Report! Is everyone accounted for? What is the extent of the injuries?"

Karim tired to keep himself upright as he waited for the report, but the pain was too intense. He sagged, and found himself leaning towards a nearby tree, barely on his feet.

By the time they made it to where the rest of the group was Nanee's hearing and vision was now almost back she pulled out her CPaDD that allowed her to look at the vitals of all away team members luckily all them where still alive. "Captain." Nanee said walking or more accurately stumbling over to him. "Are you alright?"

Not being able to keep himself upright, Karim slid to his butt, and leaned against the tree. Shaking his head, and regretting it, he replied "No I'm not alright, I think my arm is broken, and I've got some kind of head wound. Please see to the others first. Is everyone else ok?"

"Shit I've got two flat-lines," Nanee said as she slid down to her butt as well, "Arrain tr'Verelan and lieutenant commander Rinehart. They they may not be dead......they could've just lost their com badges." Nanee said running through what might cause the flat-lines.

Sighing, Karim said "I'm confident that they are still alive, we can't give up hope. How about you? Are you injured?"

Nanee got up again and brought up the scans of just Karim, "shit," Nanee said pulling a couple of things out of her bag, "let me at least close up this gash on your head." Running the dermal regenerator over the gash, "alright now let's get a sling on that arm. I can't do anymore until we get back to the runabouts." Nanee said putting the sling together.

Wincing as she worked on his head wound, he started to feel a bit lightheaded. Biting back a curse as she fashioned the sling on his arm he said "Thank you Lieutenant, I think I'm ok to stand with some help. Where were the others when you last saw them?"

"Back near the tables." Nanee said wincing slightly as she helped him up knowing that a couple of her ribs were cracked.

Getting to his feet, he said "We have to find them and regroup at the Lovelace. I've contacted the ship to have our new Executive Officer join us with a medical team via another runabout. We need to set up a command post."

"Rinehart and tr'Verelan were headed towards where the explosion occurred, it looked like," Zhyalla pointed out. She looked to the security officers that had come with the Romulan exchange officer and beckoned them over to join her, the CO, and the doctor. "Should I take the security officers to look for them? I think one of them lost their combadge." She held up the badge she'd found on the ground as proof.

Nodding, Karim said "Please do Lieutenant. Then meet us at the Lovelace. I want to get patched up quickly before I pass out." Slowly, still leaning on Quoicho for support, he began walking in the direction of the runabout.

Nanee winced as the captain put more of his weight on her which put more pressure on the broken or bruised rib closing her eyes and grinding her teeth.

Zhyalla nodded quickly, then made a beeline for the security officers. A quick terse conversation followed, and soon the three of them headed towards where the tiny intel officer and the Romuan seucurity officer.

Hunter acknowledged the orders and went about making them so.


=/\=End Log=/\=
Commander Karim Dhej
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Adrianna Hunter
Acting Executive Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Tierney Rinehart
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Nanee Quoicho
Chief Medical Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Zhyalla sh'Thrass
Chief Helm Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Arrain Maec tr'Verelan
Chief Tactical/Security Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F