Heroic Sacrifice

Posted on Fri Aug 7th, 2009 @ 9:39pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Lieutenant Commander Abigail Valera

Mission: Dark Discoveries
Location: Guarded Station
Timeline: Immediately After "Strain of Command"

As the away team materialized on the transporter pad inside the station, they were met by two of Gortaal's men, both carrying a rifle each. Silently, they led them through the corridors to the chamber in which their leader would meet with the freighter crew.

The team entered a large room, dimly lit by lamps placed in the four corners. A long table rested in the room, its rich wood displayed for everyone to see. Several wooden faced men stood at equal paces against the wall, hands folded behind their backs, immaculately dressed in black. Chairs lined the table, each upholstered to expensive tastes.

At the far end of the table, a large being sat. It wore a cloak and its face was hidden in shadows, both from the cloak and from the dim lighting. It was from this being that a deep voice spoke from.

"Welcome Captain Lekrit. May I offer my congratulations on a job well done. With this final shipment, we have all that we need. Although you were not aware of it, your actions brought about the coming of a new age."

The cloaked man clapped his hands suddenly. From behind him emerged men bearing closed platters. They quickly put them at the far end of the table. It was apparent that the team was expected to sit near the guarded leader.

Another being had exited the room behind the cloaked man and hurriedly whispered something into the cloaked one's ear. The being bowed quickly, then left the room at close to a dead run.

Acle had been observing all the going-ons carefully. So far, the team had not been detected. He quickly risked a glance at the captain. Lekrit looked nervous, extremely so. This did not bode well to their secret.

The cloaked man sat still for a moment then barked a harsh laugh. "My good Captain Lekrit... It appears that I have underestimated you!"

Abigail glanced at Acle. What did this man mean? She didn't say a word knowing it would be pointless to give away anything.

"U-underestimated?" Lekrit replied. He began fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket, clearly becoming more nervous with each passing moment.

Annalyn cautiously let her shields down to see what she could find.

Acle stared sharply at the cloaked man. He was wearing a baggy jacket with lose pants. His disruptor rifle was over one shoulder. He slowly started taking steps towards the closest man against the wall.

Reynolds glanced at Acle and noticed his slight shift in posture. The shift was not much, most men would not have noticed anything, but, to those who were trained in the art of combat, Acle was readying himself. He did the same, his hand slowly straying near the holstered disruptor pistol on his waist.

The cloaked man let out another sharper laugh. "Ingenious Captain. You knew that by your own power, you could not stop me. I hadn't exactly given you enough credit to be brave enough to try even. You surprised me." The cloaked man waved a hand.

The men on the wall stepped away, revealing holstered weapons at their side. Gortaal spoke again.
"Lieutenant Commander Walex... I should be honored. Internal Affair's star agent's direct involvement in my little corner of the world is a compliment of my work I suppose."

Acle froze for just a moment, then blurred into action. A long blade suddenly appeared in his right hand, appearing from the confines of his jacket coat. "Down!" Acle shouted just before flicking his wrist, sending the blade flying across the table to impale one of the beings who was reaching for his weapon. The knife sunk into his forehead, and the being toppled.

Acle flew forward, tackling the being directly in front of him. The man had barely gotten his disruptor out only to have it knocked askew when the starfleet officer hit him. After barely a moment of wrestling, a sharp crack sounded out as the man's arm was literally bent backward. The man began a shriek only to have it ended in a rasp as Acle lashed out and closed the man's airway.

Disruptor fire began to fly across the room as the three remaining guards opened fire. Two had moved to stand beside Gortaal while one more remained across the table, slightly forward of the team's position. The crewmember that had accompanied Lekrit was the first to be hit, his form crumpling as a shot took him in the chest.

Reynolds had reacted with Acle's shout. His hand flew to his holstered disruptor, going for the quicker draw out weapon while also reaching out to the closest member of the team. He grabbed Abigail's arm and dragged her to the floor with him, seeking cover from the disruptor shots. He looked underneath the table and saw the legs of the guard standing slightly forward of the team. Using his disruptor, he aimed carefully and fired.

One of the guard's legs simply disappeared. With a howl he dropped. Another disruptor blast sounded forth from Reynolds and the howling stopped. Reynolds quickly turned to do the same to the men at the end of the table with Gortaal, but, saw to his frustration that the table end was covered with some sort of armor, presumably to protect Gortaal from such a move.

Annalyn locked onto Abigail, and translocated her behind Annalyn and Acle, leaving Reynolds open again. From the ground where she had dropped, she contacted the ship. =/= "Its gone to hell," =/= she reported.

=/=Complete the mission objectives=/= the reply came back. =/=We can't even beam you out unless the shields are taken care of.=/=

Abigail had fallen at Acle's command. How did they know! Someone had ratted them out! She whispered to Annalyn, "Someone must have ratted us out before we got here!"

Acle untangled himself from the dead guard's limbs and managed to un-sling his disruptor. Disruptor fire still flew overhead, crashing into bulk-heads behind the team. "Reynolds!" Acle shouted "Cover me!"

"I've got you covered!" Reynolds shouted, then raised his disruptor and let loose.

Acle darted forward under the cover of Reynold's fire. He moved forward about five paces then stopped. "Set!"

"Cover me!" Reynolds yelled. The two continued forward until they were nearing the end of the table. Each man rested next to the other. The disruptor fire was flinging forward with more force as another two men rushed into the room.

Reynolds dared a look over the side of the table, but, was quickly forced down from the hail of fire.
"They are protected by a forcefield of some sort... Our fire would never make it through."

Acle grunted, then said "Give me your disruptor pistol.. Set it to over-charge." Acle's face settled into its familiar expressionless visage.

Reynolds looked at Acle, then slowly withdrew his disruptor pistol. He tuned a control on it. "What are you going to do Sir?" he asked.

Acle kept his expression blank as he propped himself up. "While I have no plan for anything happening, if something does... Continue the mission Lieutenant. Hand me the weapon."

Reynolds looked at the intelligence officer and smiled wryly. "Same to you Sir." He then thrust his hand directly onto the intelligence officer's chest.

Acle's eyes widened. Although he was trained in several disciplines of martial combat, he could still be caught by complete surprise. Already over-balanced, he toppled from his crouch and fell on his fifth point of contact.

Reynolds shot forward, counting on the enemies fire to be directed at where they were, not where he was going. Running at a crouch, his head just barely coming above the table, he rapidly crossed the remaining distance. He darted his torso up and cast his disruptor towards Gortaal and the four flanking men. He had enough time to smile in triumph before his chest was hit by all four guard's disruptor bolts. A second later, the disruptor detonated in the face of Gortaal.

The explosion rocked the room, the above ceiling collapsing in on the end of the table.

One by one the guards disappeared. Later they would be found floating around the Iaspetus. Annalyn remained face down, hoping the explosion would not be followed by more.

Abigail had her hands over her head to protect herself from the explosion. She had shut her eyes tightly and grimaced as the sound erupted in front of her.

As the ceiling began to collapse, Lekrit crawled on his hands and knees from under the chair which he had taken as his hiding place, and ran full sprint for the door, without so much as a backward glance to anyone still alive.

Acle covered his head with his hands, grunting a curse as he did so. What had that fool done?! Small chunks of debris rained down upon him.

The rumbling stopped after a moment. Where Gortaal had once sat there was nothing but rubble. If anything had been below that ceiling before it collasped, it was now throughly dead. The rubble completely obscured that end of the room, blocking the doorway that had existed, or maybe even taking the doorway with it.

Acle cautionously raised his head. Rubble came two feet away from his foot. He pushed himself to his feet, putting the stock of his rifle into his shoulder and keeping a wary eye on the other door. He looked quickly enough to see the pirate captain rush out the door and muttered a soft oath. They didn't have much time.

Confident that the room was secure, for the moment at least, Acle turned to the remainder of his team. He jogged to them, going down to a knee and putting a light touch on Annalyn, the nearest to him.

"Lieutenant, are you well?" he asked. His normally impassive voice was underlinned with worry. His eyes quickly danced to the other crewmember. "Lieutenant Valera, can you hear me?"

Taking her arms off her head and looking up, "I think I am ok, what happened?"

Abigail cracked her eyes open and whispered, "Is it safe?" She sat up and shook her head. Her breath was still shaky and she saw that the rubble had missed her as well Annalyn and Acle, "Reynolds! Did he make it? Or..." she was afraid to finish the sentence. Was the man dead or alive. The last thing she saw was Reynolds throwing the device. She had been on a mission with him before and was drawn to the man. Abigail looked at Acle, "I'm ok. Just a little winded and scared."

Acle withdrew his arm and stood up, his rifle still pointed in the general direction of the door leading outside to the corridor. "Reynold's eliminated Gortaal. He gave us time to accomplish the rest of the mission." His face was stone, not yielding any emotion or conveying any thoughts. His voice was level, free of sorrow,guilt, worry, or any other emotion.

Acle paused for just a moment, but, did not allow the others to yield into any emotion of their own. "In order to capitolize on that event, we must move... Now. Lieutenants, it will be your job to locate the storage container of the energy beings. Use extreme caution whilst traveling through the station. My guess is that the hostiles think that all of us were killed in the firefight or the ensuing explosion. Avoid all detection. If you must, shoot first, ask questions later. Hostile acts have been committed. I will disable the shields and weapons and rendezvous with you later, hopefully quickly." Acle paused again. Time was a critical matter now. The longer they stayed in this room, really in this general location, the more likely it was they would be detected. However, he had to know something then.

"Are you able to continue the mission?" He asked simply.

Abigail burst out laughing, "Hah! That's a good one!" She quickly cleared her throat and went on as calmly as she could, "Yes... I am anyway." Abigail was surprised to find herself in such a good mood. She guessed she would survive that little scare.

Picking herself up off the floor, "Of course, but you realize if any of those beings who have been taken, are probably not alive. I got the impression that being confined would kill then, just like it would us. We can try, but I don't hold any hope."

Acle nodded "The thought crossed my mind... Still, we have to make sure." Acle looked to Annalyn.

"Now that's all settled can someone please tell me what happened with Reynolds? Did he die or is he still alive?" Abigail was bursting with curiosity towards the man who threw the explosive device.

"Reynolds died." Acle said flatly. "You have your orders. Avoid detection at all costs... And Godspeed."

Acle gave one last look to the lieutenants before briskly walking to the hatch and disappearing through it.

Abigail's smile dropped. She turned to Annalyn, "Poor Reynolds. He was a good man." She suddenly brightened, "We'll get his body later for his funeral. For now let's get going! We have some work to do!" She lept up and held out a hand for Annalyn.

"Lead the way, I am not sure where we are going." she stepped up to Abigail.

"I'm not sure I know either... I guess we'll know it when we see it?" Abigail looked around and pulled out a tricorder that she had brought and scanned the area, "I think we go this way." She pointed in a direction and started walking.

----------
Captain Lekrit (NPC)
Captain, SS Mosh'Tar

Gortaal (NPC)
Leader, The Guarded

Lieutenant Commander Acle Walex
Chief Intelligence Officer
Acting Executive Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Abigail Valera
Chief Science Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Annalyn LaToon
Chief Medical Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Maxwell Reynolds (NPC)
Acting Chief Tactical/Security Officer
USS Iapetus