=/-\= Romulan Station - Just outside the energy core =/-\=
Cortez took the right side of the entrance, while Rivers took the
left. The rest of the men lined up behind them and readied their
weapons for the breach. It had been relatively easy to get this far
and hopefully any Romulans behind this door would be caught off guard
and unarmed.
Andrus was finally starting to control the relentless drumming of his
heart. He was getting accustomed to the situation and found that
accepting his fate, his current position was really helping him in
relaxing. So far they had been lucky, lucky until either side would
shoot or an overeager romulan officer perform a lignsign sensor sweep
and realize they have visitors not fulfilling the romulan genetic
markers. He stopped thinking and focused on the door ahead of them.
Pushing the button Richard switched the door open and he and Rivers
swiftly moved inside. It was a large area with what looked like two
main exits/entrances. The Energy core was in the center of the bay
and several Romulans were scattered throughout. Luckily, it was only
one level except for a set of stairs leading up to a scaffolding
surrounding the core.
Cortez was spotted almost instantly by the Rommie that was closest to
the door, he began to scream alerting the rest of the room. The Major
was on him fast though and slammed the butt of his rifle directly into
the bridge of his nose instantly breaking it and sending him to the
ground knocked out cold. Moving to the next threat Cortez pointed
the muzzle of his rifle at the next closest Romulan. "GET DOWN ON THE
GROUND", his scream directed at all the Rommies in the room.
Seeing his comrade go down, one Romulan complied with Cortez' order
and dove to the ground, except instead of giving up he scurried behind
a console and attempted to sound an alarm.
As soon as his head popped back up for him to see what he was facing.
Andrus instinctively reached for his knife and flicked it at the
rommie. The inertia loaded weapon flew head-over-end making the
distance in a fraction of a second. The last thing the romulan thought
of was reaching for his comm unit, which never happened as he instead
grab futilely at the handle sticking out of his throat. In a matter of
seconds he choked on his blood as his lungs filled with the green
color liquid.
Honestly, Andrus was shocked. He had killed for the first time in his
life. He was frozen in place, arm still intended finger poised in
releasing the deadly knife, eyes unblinking, staring at death taking
the romulan away. Nothing matter for the moment, not in fellow
officers or the possible other Romulans in the room. He was now a
combatant. What scared him the most is that killing had come to him by
instinct.
Rivers and Jones quietly took down three more Romulans while Barnes
attempted to stop the last one from fleeing through the exit on the
opposite side of the room. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough and
the last Rommie managed to escape before Barnes could stop him.
"Dammit", Barnes said aiming down the hallway towards the running
Romulan, but decided against firing as it would only sound the alarm
sooner. "One got away", Barnes warned turning back towards the rest
of the team.
Cortez was already unloading the explosives. "Jam the doors", he
yelled towards Elbrum who's face seemed to be very pale now. "You
know what to do", he said tossing a couple charges to Rivers and
Jones.
Andrus snapped out of it at the sound of the major. He moved to the
door and shut it. Once the metal frame came close before him, he fired
a few shots in the control panel. No use being stealthy at this point.
He then ran for the other door, it was still wide open. He leaned out
of it, to peek outside. It was clear for now, but alarms where
ringing. He closed it and gave it the same treatment as the first
door.
"Lets hurry it up", Richard yelled, "we'll have company soon".
It didn't take long for the two men to plant the explosives and
seconds later they both confirmed they were done.
"Ready to Go", Rivers said running back down the scaffolding that he
had climbed up to place an explosive.
"Same Here", Jones added.
"Doors are jammed sir." Andrus replied as he made his way to the
Major. No doubt at this point they where getting out by one mean
alone.
"Ok, then", Cortez said pulling out his communicator.
"Bravo Team to Eagle", he said with a grin. This wasn't too bad.
No Answer.
"Bravo Team to Eagle", he said again.
No Answer.
Jones began to get anxious. "Whats going on".
Cortez ignored him and tried one more time.
"Eagle, this is Bravo Team, do you copy".
Nothing but static.
Tossing the device to Elbrum, "Fix It".
Just then a loud bang went off blowing both doors leading into the
engineering bay open, followed by a hail of phaser fire.
Barnes was hit automatically and Richard watched as his arm dissolved
into nothing and he fell to the ground screaming. "TAKE COVER", he
yelled, instincts taking over. Ducking behind a computer console he
pulled Barnes with him and began to return fire towards the East
entrance. Jones and Rivers followed and after taking cover began
firing towards the West entrance.
Andrus ducked behind a console and crawled towards Richard. He aimed
down the corridor and fired, but he had no targets the hallway and
access point to their section was still filled with smoke. Two shots
barely missed him as he ducked behind his cover. Then he saw the major
was raining a hail of phaser fire on the romulans, he looked down at
the communicator he had caught a moment ago. With his tricorder he ran
a diagnostic of the thing. It worked perfectly, at least the way it
was meant to work.
He leaned to the major to yell at him his findings but was thrown back
as another volley missed him by too short a distance. "Major, nothing
wrong with your communicator." He yelled anyway, as he aimed his
tricorder and tapped for a visual image of what lay ahead with thermal
imaging to see through the smoke. The humanoid shapes popped up like a
single beacon in total darkness. "Two on the right side, behind cover.
Three on the other side, also behind cover, at corridor intersection."
He reported his findings.
They where in a stand of for now. Andrus did his best to aim and
shoot, seeing where his shots landed with the heat of his phaser shot
on the bulkhead.
"Damn", Richard said, shifting to the side to look at Elbrums and
reloading his rifle at the same time, "see if you can contact the
Chimera", he added knowing the chances of that happeneing were slim,
at best. There was no time to wonder why the Eagle didn't respond,
only that they hadn't and now they might be left stranded. Reaching
down he flipped off the stealth generator that had hidden him and his
team from the Romulans sensors so well, he then reached into the bag
by his side and pulled out the remote detonator for the explosives and
armed them. Holding it in his left hand he peeked back up from his
cover and fired back at the Romulans who would soon no doubt overrun
their position. "This is it Men, hold your ground", he yelled while
sending a volley of deadly energy towards the enemy. Cortez' aim had
never been more precise than at this moment and he took down four more
Romulans before he finally got hit himself, the blast sending him
flying to the ground. His armor took the brunt of it, but underneath
was left a scorching and severely burned chest.
Rivers turned just as the Major fell and moved to cover his position.
Richard opened his eyes after a few seconds, it took a few more to
regain his bearings. It was then that he realized that he was laying
on the ground, to his left Elbrums was ducking screaming into a
communicator while Rivers was firing madly at the nearby Romulans. To
his right, Jones was single handedly covering the opposite entrance
while Barnes lay lifeless next to him. Straining, Richard pushed
himself up, but fell back down under the sting of the intense pain
shooting through his body. Blinking he grinned, he knew exactly what
his duty was, his entire starfleet career culminating up to this very
moment in time. Everything he'd gone through, all the training all
the blood sweat and tears, everything had prepared him for this very
moment. Pulling his hand up in front of him he opened it to reveal
the detonator still locked in his grip. Flipping open the plastic
casing over the button he counted from three.
Three.....Two.....
=/-\= End Log =/-\=
Major Richard Cortez
CSEC
USS Chimera
+
Cadet Andrus Elbrum
Security Officer
USS Chimera
