Ambush and Pursuit

Posted on Sun Jul 3, 2022 @ 11:10pm by Lieutenant Commander Kaedon Draesni & Lieutenant Rei Yamashi & Lieutenant Penny Mc Taggard & Captain Larisna Koralova

Mission: Mission 2 - A World With A Bluer Sun
Location: NX-05 'Atlantis'

As the Away Team rounded the corner into the corridor, they saw two Humans. One was a woman in the standard blue jumpsuit of United Earth Starfleet, with the red trim that denoted Operations in that era. The other was a man in gray camouflage fatigues, but with a red cloth tied around his left arm. Hearing footsteps, they both turned. The woman was in her mid to late 30s, her black hair tied behind her head in a single ponytail, best described as petite in stature but the two solid silver squares and one smaller over her right chest pocket said she was a Lieutenant Commander, someone of authority. The other was tall, lean, and his shoulder patch had the single stripe of a Private First Class.

They were both armed, the Commander with a phase pistol, the PFC with a particle rifle, and they both were equal parts startled, confused, and turning suddenly hostile. But before a word could be uttered, two black cylindrical objects were hurled in from the junction further down behind the Atlantis crew that the Away Team had just run into. They clattered against the bulkhead and then skittered across the deck.

Once more, before another word could be uttered, everyone’s world was one of a bright flash and a deafening explosion that left their ears ringing and their equilibrium out of balance. But aside from that, there was no heat, no shrapnel. These were nonlethal grenades.

As the ringing began to fade, the Away Team could only watch as five blurry Human forms stalked forward, particle rifles raised. The PFC was leaning, slumped against the bulkhead. One of the advancing Humans fired their weapon, a blue ball of light streaking from the muzzle into the man, causing him to twist and sprawl out on the deck. The shooter fired two more into his back. The Commander was stumbling and was tackled by two of the advancing Humans. Her phase pistol clattering away, she started to sit up and was met with a boot across the head, knocking her out.

“...the hell? Who are they?” One demanded, looking at the Away Team and raised his rifle.

“No time. Let the Reds deal with ‘em.” Another shot back. The attackers grabbed the Commander, one on each arm, and drug her back down the corridor they’d come from. They moved with practiced precision, those not carrying the officer were covering their advance and retreat.

By the time the Away Team was free of the disorienting effects of the stun grenades, the attackers were gone.

Rei was on the ground, head spinning. It was taking her a little longer of a time to shrug off the effects of the flashbangs.

Penny shook her head. There was a loud uncomfortable ringing in her ears.

“ What was that?” She asked

"Pulse screecher." Rei responded, a little louder than normal. Probably due to her ears ringing like church bells. "I'm unharmed, just recovering. Whoever threw it, they don't want us." she pointed out. "We're all here, and all unharmed. Be careful, though. Their patience might not last."

Penny clutched her head giving herself a little shake.

“ No wonder Starfleet banned their use.” Penny replied

About this point, a pair of crew, this time with teal borders to their uniforms, came across the scene. One was a man, tall and lanky with a mess of blonde hair, the other a woman with short red hair.

"...what the?!" The woman exclaimed. Both had phase pistols on them but not drawn. Their hands fell to the grips, however.

The scientist in Penny started to prod at her brain. The weapon alone was an antique let alone the uniform. She wanted to hurry forward and run a scanner across them. But Mr Common sense stopped her. So she hung back and kept silent.

"W-who are you? How did you get here?" The man stammered.

"Friendlies." Rei started. "Yamashi Rei, Lieutenant. Starfleet Engineering. Six Zetsu Niner Sha Zen One." she recited name, rank, serial number. It might have been the number from her Three, but at the moment it was the first number that came to mind. "Beamed aboard upon discovery of lifesigns aboard possibly friendly craft."

It was a simple, straight-forward answer, and exactly the approach that was needed for the situation. Now, it fell to Draesni to continue in that same spirit of levelheaded, non-anxious presence. Holding his arms away from his sides, palms open, he began to speak. "Lieutenant Rei speaks the truth," he said, "My name is Lieutenant Commander Draesni. I am in command of this away team, and I assure you we are no threat to you."

The two paused again but the thudding of boots and the exchange of weapons fire snapped them out of it, they both waved the group to follow them. "Quickly! If Engineering sees you, they'll decompress the whole deck!" The woman blurted out.

"And God only knows what Commander Mallory would do." The man agreed. They quickly led the way back to what looked like an observation deck, sealing the door once everyone was inside. Hanging in the distance behind the ship was the Hornet.

"We...I...I assume that's your ship. We saw it but didn't know what to make of it when the anomaly expanded and pulled it in." The man said.

"...I'm Crewman Gabriella Torres. This is Crewman Felix Raymond. Look...you came at a really bad time. And walking around in the halls, bad idea. Good way to get blown into space or shot, they'll think your the Romulan." The woman explained, her eyes darting oddly between the nonhumans of the group, not any one in particular, as if the term "Romulan" was an unknown.

Rei listened as Gabriella told the story. After she finished, the rabbitess gave a nod. "That is our ship." she confirmed, motioning to the Hornet through the observation deck view. "And, I can assure you, I'm not Romulan." she said, amused, before recalling that her viewpoint was several hundred years behind. "And I disagree. We came at the perfect time, since this anomaly that your ship is in could collapse at any time. We're here to rescue you." a pause, "All of you. Whatever schism exists between this ships factions, we need to resolve it."

"How did it start? I doubt you were shipped out with this conflict."

"It's...uh...hard to say. A year and a half ago, we were pursuing a Warbird. Blew up a colony ship doing an evacuation..." Felix said.

"...they just waited until we were in evacuation, decloaked, bam. All the colonists, dead." Gabriella interrupted.

"So Captain says we're gonna go after them. We tracked them down, blew 'em apart. They crashed on the planet. Lieutenant Kearny took a team to the surface. Then next thing you know...we're here chasing a distress call." Felix continued.

"...we brought a pod aboard. Whatever it was, it jumped out, killed one of the MACOs. Tore him to shreds, I heard! And then turns into him and runs off!" Gabriella interrupted again.

"It's been downhill since - Captain Reinhardt, MACO's Captain Martens and their Master Sergeant Powell, and of course, Doctor Sokolova...they all are dead. Commander Mallory says Commander Kinoshata did it. But Commander Kinoshata says Commander Mallory did it...we just want to figure out a way to get out of it, so Command and Engineering are shooting each other. The MACOs all split between us. Science and Medical, we just want this to stop..." Felix concluded.

"Look. Maybe you should talk to Lieutenant Rowlings and Doctor Martinez. We can get you to Sickbay and the Labs." Gabriella added.

There was a moment of silence as the team from the Hornet took in all that had been told to them. Already, the situation aboard the Atlantis was starting to make a little more sense, the paranoia, especially. It reminded him of the stories he'd heard from older officers about how afraid people were of changeling infiltrators during the Dominion War.

"Alright," he said, addressing the two crewmen, "We will go with you."

Penny nodded.

"Is there a way to arrange a safe meeting with the other divisions as well?" Rei inquired, "The objective here is to get you *all* to safety. We didn't leave people behind in the Navy, and we don't leave people behind in Starfleet."

"Not really, no." Felix shook his head as he moved to one of the maintenance access junctions, opening it up.

"Like we said, they're too busy shooting at each other. The ship is divided up like a war zone, no one is allowed to go anywhere alone. Not unless you want Mallory's people blasting you out an airlock or Kinoshata's people decompressing the section you're in. And no one's willing to listen." Gabriella added.

"Unless you've got some way to get through to them. Or send more help." Felix gestured one last time to the Hornet through the viewport.

"And make it look like we're reinforcing one particular faction? No offense, but you understand my reluctance to draft the crew. Not that you meant it, but it's how it would look to them." the rabbitess paused. "How many members of the crew are human?" she asked.

"...we only had a Vulcan advisor, and he was on the Landing Party with Lieutenant Kearny." Felix replied.

"I have an idea. Get me an EVA suit, and a large white cloth. We need to try to talk to them all, tell them of the danger and the need to evacuate, and I think I might just have an idea."

“One step at a time,” Draesni said. As much as he, too, wanted to see the conflict aboard Atlantis brought to a resolution, there was still a lot they didn’t know about what was going on. It was possible (even quite likely) these two crewmen weren’t giving them the whole story. “First, we have to get to sickbay. From there, we can try to get a better handle on our situation, both within and without.”