"Retreat"
(Previous Post was Brian's "More Worries and No Solutions")
==========
Stardate: 61015.0200
The young woman sighed as she had done countless times over the last
half hour. There had been no sound… no cries for help from the CMO who had
been taken away… and that worried the redheaded woman.
"Maybe telling Lt. Pravat to *do nothing* was not the best course of
action," the half Human, half Romulan hybrid offered in a tone that the
young woman immediately labelled as having been condescending.
"We were sent here to *investigate* the *possibility* of an outside
force influencing the government of this planet… not to come in with guns
blazing and making sure that IRRAJ would go crawling to someone else for
protection," the redheaded woman snapped back not having attempted to
hide her frustration.
[[With all due respect Captain… I think it is a little too late for
that,]] the CEO announced from the cell he had been sharing with the ANUBIS'
Hirogen Sec/Tac officer. It was clear by now that the Dominion had a solid
hold on IRRAJ as witnessed by the Jem'Hadar soldiers who had been seen training the Royal Guards leaving it very likely that one or more Founder had been present in King Tkel Holoj's entourage influencing the ruler's
decisions.
"This is not the way the mission was supposed to unfold," the redheaded
woman growled while she wished for Doctor Summers' safety and for Enaii
to find a way to get them all out of this mess quickly amongst other
things.
==========
[/\] Your attempts to save the members of your crew is commendable… but
pointless. They have been found guilty of kidnapping and will be
punished in accordance to our laws… regardless of your tricks, [/\] the
Irranjian official calmly stated before he closed the comm channel effectively
denying the Enaran Marine's request to speak to the King.
"I can't believe that guy!" Pravat exclaimed as he turned to face the
Princess and the commoner who had been in love with her.
"His level of scepticism is impressive… especially considering that the
Princess was clearly in view," the ANUBIS' Avatar stated as she turned
to look at the Enaran Marine who seemed poised to throw something at the
main screen.
"His name is Donihal… and I never liked him," Princess Adeja huffed
from the back of the Bridge.
"Since your father appointed him to the royal court, things have gone
from bad to worse… but the King seemed completely taken by his lies," Rehaw
added obviously sharing the Princess loathing for the man.
"What do we do next?" Ensign Norheim, the ANUBIS' aCEO inquired.
Although he had been on the SCARAB-Class cruiser for only a little while Mattias had discovered some of the capabilities of the ship and in the hands of the MCO he could only imagine the fireworks that would follow.
"We *must* rescue the Captain and the others," Pravat announced without
any hesitation but before the Enaran Marine could continue the Oltharian
Robotic Expert stepped forward his massive size immediately commanding
everyone's fullest attention.
"That is exactly what they are hoping you will do," Elan announced in
his usual calming voice, the giant having always been known to be both a
pacifist and a pragmatist.
"We now know for certain that there is a Dominion presence on IRRAJ.
It would be easy for this Donihal to be working for the Founders or even
be one himself. Any rescue attempt from our part would be used against us and
the Federation as proof that we do not obey our own laws… which includes
the Prime Directive," Annie explained with the coldness of a computer which
only made her reasoning that much more poignant.
"Pravat to Tes'Karka… ready the men and prep the SPHINX for a covert search and rescue mission… we leave in 5 minutes," the MCO ordered, his glare not in anyway having affected the artificial woman sitting at the ANUBIS' helm.
"The Captain left clear orders that we were *not* to act," the
Oltharian reminded the Marine, Elan knowing all too well that Pravat had been
very aware of this fact.
"I am sure that the Captain had not envisioned her and the rest of the
away team to be faced with execution… and it will be a cold day in hell when
I stand still while I let *any* harm come to them," the Enaran forcefully
explained as he made his way pass the towering Oltharian.
"Guess this means you are in charge," Mattias offered to the Oltharian,
half amused by the way the Enaran had stormed off the bridge and half
worried about the mess that they were about to dive into.
==========
Doctor Summers had been relieved beyond words to discover that the
Irranjian soldier and would-be torture who had taken her out of the cell had been none other than the ANUBIS' own ILO… but this had left her with several
unanswered questions. The CMO had been just about to unleash a barrage
of questions again the ILO when Enaii raised a single finger which plunged
Summers to complete silence.
"I need your help," Enaii announced which by itself had been a revelation that had taken the CMO by complete surprise. Taking into account what the ILO had done to the guard whose broken body had been left in the corner of this room, Doctor Summers could hardly imagine that Enaii needed any sort of help to do *anything*.
"What do you need me to do?" the CMO inquired not wanting to disappoint
the ILO and hoping that the task that would be requested of her would be
something simple which would lead to the rescue of their fellow
shipmates.
==========
The call from the ANUBIS which had reached them through a secured
channel had arrived just as Derek and Susan had completed their sharing of
thoughts. The ANUBIS' FCO had been quick to take the call and give the Cns some time to recuperate from what she had experienced.
"I have made contact with a man called Delph Knorr… an ex-Commander of
the Royal Guards whose knowledge might help us get the away team out,"
Derek announced to the Enaran Marine on the other end of the comm channel.
[/\] We will rendezvous with you in 15 minutes. The SPHINX is currently disguised as a Irrajian cargo ship and is taking the *long* way to get to the capital so as to not attract any unneeded attention… but I suspect
that the illusion will not fool the authority for long… we might need some
sort of diversion to cover our landing and assault on the palace. [/\]
The half Human, half Vulcan FCO gave the situation some thought and
eventually nodded his head as he acknowledged the request before the
channel was closed. Obviously there would not be enough time to wait for
Delph's return if they were to rescue the Captain and the other members of the
away team who had been captured.
"I'll go and get Delph… we will need his help if this rescue is to
work," the ANUBIS' Cns offered. The look in her eyes had made it clear that
she had required more time to assimilate all that the FCO had shared with
her, but the situation had not granted them that time.
"Very well… in the meantime I will see what I can come up with the
shift the focus of the authorities onto something else… hopefully something other than ourselves."
==========
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Lea ever so softly quietly
inquired as she pulled up the Irrajian uniform she had dawned to stop it from
sliding off her small frame. Obviously the CMO had been lacking in the way of
body mass to fill the outfit but the Doctor had not dared to go against the
order given by the ILO.
"Go!" Enaii silently mouthed while she pointed in a commanding manner to a couple of guards who had been standing at the end of the corridor. The
attention of the two soldiers had been focussed away from the approaching CMO which had made it easier for her to approach while continuously pulling the uniform up so that it did not cause her to trip.
As Doctor Summers continued to move closer to the two guards she suddenly came to realise that the only footsteps she heard had been her own. Scared that something might have happened to Enaii, although the idea had been very unlikely, Lea had turned to see if the ILO had still been there behind
her… instead the CMO found nothing but an empty corridor stretching into the
darkness of the dungeon. Gathering whatever courage she could, the CMO
resumed her trek only to discover that the focus of the two guards had
shifted onto her.
"Well… looks like we have a little mouse who is trying to escape," of
the soldiers said obviously amused by the sight of the woman wearing a
uniform several sizes too large for her.
"I was just going to the kitchen…" the Doctor offered in as a masculine
voice as she could fake. The laughter which the announcement had
triggered from the two guards had made it clear that Lea had required a great
deal more practice in the dramatic arts of impersonating a man.
"How about we escort you back to your cell and figure out how you got
out," the second guard announced as he shoved the disguised woman back
several meters with a single push. Had the Doctor not been wearing the
oversized uniform she might have had a chance to keep her balance, but the baggy clothes had made this to be impossible.
Trying her best to remain ahead of the guards and of their repeated
kicks, Doctor Summers scampered back to the cell where Maya had been left in.
To the CMO's surprise she found the cell's door open once she arrived
there and the body of the guard which had been dispatched by the ILO right there in the middle of the corridor.
"How in the name of the King was she able to do that?" One of the
guards demanded out of sheer stupor… his amazement having quickly turned into
a rage which the CMO became the sole focus of.
"GUARDS!" the second soldier called out as he summoned all other soldiers present in the underground dungeon… which numbered over 10. Within seconds the CMO had been surrounded by four guards while the others checked on the status of the other prisoners and the condition of their fallen comrade.
"She killed him!" the soldier who had knelt to check on the half naked
Irrajian man announced in complete astonishment unable to visualise the
small woman doing anything to cause all of the physical damage he had
observed on the corpse.
"You are *not* going to make it to the execution," one of the soldiers
hissed as he shot a powerful kick into the woman's midsection which
caused her to scream out in pain and spew some of her life's blood onto the
rocky floor of the corridor.
"Pick on someone your own size!" The ANUBIS' CEO screamed as he tried
with all of his might to pull the door out of its hinges… which to his
surprise he did.
"How did you get the door open?" Another guard demanded, never having though to verify that the door had been in fact still locked when he had looked inside to insure that the prisoners had still been where they should have been.
"I opened them," Enaii calmly announced from the other end of the
corridor as she reached up and crushed the nearest guard's windpipe with a
single viper strike.
Before any of the guards could fully understand what had happened, all of the doors swung open and the members of the away team stormed out to engage their captors. Although outnumbered, the away team found that the lack of training displayed by the Irrajian soldiers quickly proved to be the deciding factor in the outcome. Despite this though several solid blows had been landed by the soldiers sending the ANUBIS' CEO and ExO down with severe injuries.
"How is Lea?" the redheaded woman inquired as Enaii walked pass the Cmo
who had remained on the floor for the entire duration of the brawl.
"She'll live," the ILO announced without as much as glancing down as
the woman who had obviously still been in pain.
"David needs immediate medical attention," Uxtar announced as he
kneeled next to the downed CEO. Because of their sizes the Hirogen and
Engineer had drawn the majority of the fight but by the end the Hunter had faired much better than his cell mate.
"Serenna is also in a bad shape… we are going to need help to bring
them out of here," the young woman announced as she suspected that the Shillian also would require help although she had not taken part in the brawl.
"Guess that's where we come in," Pravat grinned as he and the members
of Charlie Platoon quickly moved in and took defensive positions around
the away team.
"How did you get down here?" Sabrina asked not at all saddened by the
impeccable timing of the Marine's arrival.
"They had some help from the local resistance," the Cns announced
before she noticed the state the Doctor had been in and rushed to her side.
"You could say that we sort of started a civil war," Derek added as he
quickly joined the others and helped wherever he could.
"Princess Adeja and her beloved have officially taken charge of the resistance and they are at this very moment engaged against the palace's guards who are being helped by the Jem'Hadar," Ensign Mei continued as she tried her best to hold back her tears as the sight of the ANUBIS' CMO.
"We need to get you and the others out… NOW! The Federation cannot be associated with this conflict in anyway, shape or form," The Enaran Marine stated as he motioned for his men to head down the corridor they had used to insure that their escape route had still been clear. The rest of the platoon helped whoever they could leaving Pravat to go into the open cell and retreive the limp body of the sleeping Shillian.
"What's going on?" Maya inquired in a half sleeping voice.
"We're going home," Pravat replied with a smile which was slowly returned by the weakened scientist who used all of her remaining strength to lovingly wrap her arms around the Enaran's neck.
==========
"We are Grey, we stand between the Candle and the Star, between the
Darkness and the Light" 2006 post #211
Setting: IRRAJ, Royal Palace, Underground Dungeon
Stardate: 61015.0200
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Stardate: 61015.0210
Setting: IRRAJ, Royal Palace, Underground Dungeon
Stardate: 61015.0215
Setting: IRRAJ, Market Place, Inside the USS DRAGONSEYE
Stardate: 61015.0230
Setting: IRRAJ, Royal Palace, Underground Dungeon
Sabrina Jones {sabrina_sweet@hotmail.com}
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501
-Entilza Delenn, Babylon 5
