Attack at the stream, Part 3: Ferengi Water Source

Posted on Tue Oct 17th, 2023 @ 8:35pm by Commander Chalan Kendri & Lieutenant Commander Johanna Lyngstad & Ensign Ivitha zh'Vaoreth
Edited on on Fri Nov 3rd, 2023 @ 8:34am

1,500 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Location: Grabok Settlement, Campor III
Timeline: MD C12 0930 hours

=/\= ON =/\=

Tomm gave an exasperated look to Kendri and said, “What the hell was that? Some kind of drone strike? Who is shooting at us and why? We need to find shelter in case of another attack.”

Ivitha looked a little shell-shocked as she jogged to return to the rest of her away team. Anyone in her position would've certainly been. "We need to get away from here, yeah. I think I saw a little thicket a ways back," She panted, visually scanning the surrounding area - particularly in the direction the golden disk had come from. "Someone clearly doesn't want us snooping around at all. Shame." She remarked irritably.

"There was," Sarah said. "That's where I found the peaches," she said. "But I didn't see anyone." She said. "Only plants, and some tracks. Not humanoid, though. More like a cat's." Thank goodness she had caught up to the others when she had!

Before the crew had time to plan their next move, four more disks appeared through the trees from the far side of the stream. Kendri pulled out her phaser and ran away from the group before firing. "Lyngstad, get the ensigns back to the shuttle now! That's an order. Tomm and I will try to draw them off."

Sarah didn't need to be told twice. She followed Commander Lyngstad and Ivitha in the direction from which they came. "Do you think they'll be ok? Maybe we should radio back to the Captain?" She suggested.

"Ensigns, follow me! Back to the shuttle!" Johanna could still outrun most women she knew. She made sure she ran at a pace so the Ensigns could keep up. They headed back towards the shuttle.

Kendri kept moving, ducking behind different trees and shooting from different positions each time.

Tomm led the way, signaling to Kendri whether to move, stay put, or change direction.

“They must be equipped with motion and heat sensors. This is getting on my nerves,” snapped Kobi.

The disks honed in on Kendri and Kobi, drawn to them by their fire as Kendri had hoped. "What did you do to take down the last one?" Kendri shouted.

“Misdirection, mostly. Fool it into veering off in one direction, then I change positions, fire with the opposite hand, and blow it away.” They were still taking cover when Tomm took aggressive action.

“Enough of this shit. I’m going to draw it away from you with suppression fire. When you see a shot-take it. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be in the right place at the right time. Ready?”

Kendri fired a shot, from behind a tree clearly hitting the disk, but it was able to move out of the phaser beam and start firing back. Kendri ducked and rotated around the tree, hiding from the disk. "Are they adapting? I thought you held the one in your fire once you had it." Kendri rechecked the settings.

Kendri moved to a position closer to where Kobi was taking cover. "Go ahead, but don't get too far. We may have to double team to get these last few," Kendri said. "I'm ready.

“Roger that. Watch your six, Kendri. Just maintain fire. If they are adapting it’s something I did not anticipate, Commander. A sustained beam was not necessary at the time. It’s somehow learning to adjust to our movements and actions. How long can we hold out like this?”

"They should be here soon. Aim at that one with me," Kendri said pointing her phaser at one of the disks that wasn't currently firing.

Sarah fell into the Console, and, without orders, began to fire up the motors. "Commander, we're going to need your codes," she said. She waited a moment for the CSO to do it, and then she spoke. "We're ready," she said.

Johanna typed in the command codes. She was not a pilot at all. She got into a seat as Sarah activated the shuttle. "Let's do a rescue."

Sarah nodded. "I can take the Helmsman's spot, if you'd like." She could just do her Ops stuff and autopilot it. She should ask Sar to teach her a bit. Some day. In the meantime, she focused on her task. Soon, they were airborne, and she was carefully watching the data screens for any more flying discs. *What a weird combination. Flying discs in outer space. It's like something from an old Earth movie!*

On the ground, Kendri and Kobi fired at the same drone from their different locations, easily taking that one down. There were three left. They weren't firing at the moment, but weaving through the trees as if searching for something. Neither had a good shot. They looked at one another, neither speaking a word, remaining quiet, hoping the disks wouldn't sense their presence, or if one did, that they would get the first show.

Tomm put his index finger close to his mouth to signal quiet to Kendri. He peeked around the trees to get a glimpse of his target. He mouthed to Chalan, “on my mark” and counted down from three fingers to one with his free hand.

They fired simultaneously at the first disk, taking it out after several seconds. The remaining two disks reacted by moving in pursuit of Tomm and Kendri.

“Fire at will, Kendri!” Tomm yelled. The second disk proved to be slightly more resistant to phaser fire. It finally burst into flames after prolonged fire of more than five seconds.

“Damn! One more to go! How do we pin down this last one? Ideas?” he asked Kendri.

As the shuttle reached the senior officers' location, Johanna manned the transporter. "I've got a lock on the landing party." She sent over the open communicators, "Energizing." She then worked the controls; she had had a lot of practice on both her assignments.

Kendri and Tomm materialized in the cockpit of the shuttle. Kendri noted that Sarah was at the helm. Kendri sat next to her and transferred helm control to her station, leaving Sarah in charge of ops. As she did so, she called out, "Tomm, take tactical, and knock the last one out if you can get a lock on them."

Sarah was much happier in the Ops console, carefully making sure that the shuttles' programs were running fully and optimally. She raised her head occasionally. "Ma'am, sir? All systems are still good," she said. She didn't know what else to do, but keeping quiet didn't seem right. She hoped it was coming off as more "self-starting" than "irritating kid sister" but she wasn't sure.

"Thank you, Ensign. Scan the area for people, more of those drones, anything. I want to know where they came from," Kendri responded. "I'm going to do a flyover."

Commander Tomm hit the comm button, "Tomm to Columbia. We’ve encountered some kind of disk-like drones down here. Taken phaser fire, no injuries. We're on the shuttle now. No sign of where they came from. Have you noticed any flight activity from the surface in the last hour or so? Tomm out."

=/\= This is Captain th'Zeles. Ensign th'Kaasnik is looking this up as we speak... Standby. =/\= After a few moments, the comm system rang once again. =/\= It appears they came from an area 19 miles to the Northeast, not far from where a system of caves meet a river. =/\=

"Ma'am," Sarah said, pressing a button. "I see...four previously unseen vessels. Shuttles-people-mover sized," she had forgotten the technical term. "Perhaps that is where the discs came from? Are they...weaponized?'" she asked. She hadn't encountered this during her training!!

"Romulan," Kendri said, "They must have been cloaked. If they wanted to fire on us, they would have had better luck from a shuttle. I don't think so. But let's take one of those drones back and get a better look."

"Ensign Ivitha, get us something to hold one of those drones we took out, just in case it wakes up. bet Ira, get a lock on one that looks the least damaged. I want to see what kind of tech we're dealing with," Kendri ordered. She gave a nod to Commander Lyngstad indicating for her to supervise.

While the others worked, Kendri looked over at Kobi, "Opening a channel to the Romulan shuttles." Just as she did so, they took off, leaving the area.

"Okay... Intel is going to have a field day with our reports. You guys have that drone? Let's head back," Kendri said looking over her shoulder and seeing Commander Lyngstad securing the lid on a weapons transport container.

"I think we've seen enough of this place" Kendri muttered, as she navigated the shuttle out of the area and back to the Hospital.


=/\= OFF =/\=

Commander Chalan Kendri
First Officer
USS Columbia

Lt. Commander Johanna Lyngstad
Chief Science Officer
USS Columbia

Lt. Commander Kobi Tomm
Chief Security Officer
USS Columbia

Ensign Sarah bet Ira
Operations Officer
USS Columbia

Ensign Ivitha
Science Officer
USS Columbia

Ensign Daisheliss Kerr
Nurse
USS Columbia

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