Raiding the Raider

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 8:29am by Cailus Griffin & Ensign T'Kemi & Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant Commander James Smith & Tisar Zemel
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:47pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Raider Crash Site (Sylvaxe)
Timeline: Immediately after "Falling Free”

A Mission Post by Lieutenant JG Cailus Griffin & Ensign T'Kemi & Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant James Smith & Ensign John Logann & Tisar Zemel
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Raider Crash Site (Sylvaxe)
Timeline: Immediately after "Falling Free”
Fri Nov 17th, 2017 @ 10:44am


The moment the turbolift doors closed, Cailus tapped his combadge. Time was of the essence. =/\=Griffin to Logann. Assemble a security team and meet me in Transporter Room 1, as fast as you can. Bring the Gamma-Foxtrot demolitions and ensure the team is heavily armed. We're on the clock.=/\=

Logann grinned as he listened to the CoS instructions. =/\= Aye sir. Will be enroute. =/\= Logann began barking orders before the comm channel had a chance to close.

Well, time to see how they stand someone new coming in and taking over

"Ensign T'Kemi, Smith, Trakan, go to the amory and pull out phaser rifles, compression rifles, and hand phasers. Also pull Gamma-Foxtrot demos from the storage locker and head to transporter room 1. If I am not already there, inform Griffin that I will be there momentarily."

The normally loud activity in Security Divisiom suddenly ceased at Logann's order, the various security and tactical officers frozen and silent as they listened, before the three named officers rushed to the adjoining door marked 'ARMORY'. Everyone else returned to their duties with renewed urgency, realising that if Logann was giving those orders, battle would soon be upon them.

Ensign Logann ran to his quarters and went to his closet and pulled out the foot locker that he had put there just days before. Placing it on his bed, he opened it and pulled out what appeared to be a type 3 phaser rifle. He also pulled out a monocular headset and placed it around his neck. Depressing a tab on the bottom of the rifle caused a magazine to fall out. Slamming the magazine home, he pulled a well used mek'leth out also, and secured it to the small of his back. Hefting the TR-116 prototype rifle, he slung it onto his back, and took off at a sprint out of his quarters toward transporter room 1. Stepping off the turbolift, he walked quickly to the transporter room, and stepped in, surveying who was already there.

Meanwhile, in a smaller armory elsewhere on the ship, Cailus tapped his combadge again as he tried to read a PADD and equip himself at the same time. =/\=Griffin to Smith. Lieutenant, the captain wants the crashed Raider on the planet surface destroyed and its crew captured. We could use an intelligence specialist on this one sir, if you're willing. We have forty minutes to get it done.=/\=

Smith was busy reading reports from various stations since leaving the bridge when he heard Lieutenant Griffin. Smith sighed, it had been a while since he had been on an away mission but he was thrilled to be asked to join them. Hitting his com badge he said =/\=Understood, I’ll be there shortly=/\=. Smith made his way into his office and changed into a black tactical suit. Grabbing a phaser and a rifle he looked at the wall at his assortment of swords, but decided against them. They needed to take the crew of the ship alive.

Leaving his office he looked at Lt. Ryan, who was bent over another console, Smith said, “Keep an eye on things Ryan. At any sign of trouble make sure we are gotten out of of there.”

Ryan nodded and smiled, “Aye Sir, and be careful.”

Looking over his shoulder he laughed, “Aren’t I always careful?” Smith made his way to the transporter room where the away team was assembling.

Cailus was the last to arrive, his eyes skimming over everyone automatically as he entered. Everything seemed in order and Logann had chosen good people, while Smith looked reassuringly prepared given the short notice. Still Cailus' eyes lingered on his deputy chief, and he frowned at the rifle.

"Logann," he said sternly, "is that a slug-thrower? A ballistic weapon?"

Maaayyyybbbbeeee... was the first thing that popped into his mind. "Aye sir. Due to the... technological level of these peoples, should we have to fire long distances, I would think not shooting a bright laser would be more preferable."

Cailus made an expression of distaste, but he nodded. Logann had a point, as much as it pained Cailus to admit it. "Very well. We'll have it as a reserve in case a more primitive weapon is required. For now, we're sticking to non-lethal measures. Bullets cannot be set to stun."

With that, the lieutenant turned his attention to everyone else, his expression hardening. "A few minutes ago, a small Ravager vessel crashed on Sylvaxe, identified as a Cardassian Hideki-class attack craft. Our mission is to destroy this raider and apprehend its crew before the Mendazian aircraft arrive. Sensors have only detected one Cardassian lifesign, but there could be other Ravagers who are concealing their presence from our sensors. It's night, the area is a rocky plain near a ridge and it is apparently raining hard. Be prepared for difficult conditions."

Cailus then hopped up onto the transporter pad, unslinging his own phaser rifle and gesturing for the others to do the same. "The Mendazians are a pre-warp culture, which means this a Prime Directive mission. Failure is not an option. Any questions?"

Stepping up onto the transporter pad, Logann stood there, waiting for everyone else to get ready.

Smith followed Logann onto the transporter Padd and took his position holding his phaser rifle in a relaxed yet ready position.

Satisfied, Cailus nodded curtly to the transporter operator, and in a half dozen swirls of blue lights, the heavily armed away team was gone.


=/\=
Meanwhile on the planet...

Tisar Zemel had managed to kick his way out of the wreckage of the Cardassian shuttlecraft. After a few moments of laying on the ground to catch his breath and make sure that nothing was broken, he got to his feet and looked around. As he examined the crashed shuttle he realized that the only reason he was alive at all is that the emergency system had activated shortly before he hit the ground and lessened the impact. He still felt very lucky to have come away with only a few more bruises added to the ones he already had.

Without digging through the wreckage for equipment he could tell that he was quite a ways off from the nearest people. It would be a long painful walk to find communications or be a prisoner again, but this time to these unknown people. He finally decided that maybe the best bet was to stay with the shuttle. He was a little afraid that the ravager ship would return for him, but they also didn't know he was still alive. He honestly felt that his only hope Starfleet. Maybe they wouldn't want to leave his crashed shuttle like the raider would. Maybe they would come. He hoped they would come.

Although, they wouldn't come before the rain did. It was almost as if the sky above him opened up and dumped buckets down on the planet. He found himself suddenly soaking wet, a little cold and definitely in need of somewhere to shelter. He went back to the wreckage of the shuttlecraft and crawled back into the place he had kicked out earlier. It wasn't much warmer in the shuttle, but at least it was dry for now.

A few minutes later, the Starfleeters arrived in the midst of the downpour, the pitch black of night surrounding them. Cailus’ rifle was raised in an instant, his mounted flashlight barely penetrating the gloom. Within seconds he and everyone else were soaked to the bone, the water sloughing off their uniforms, and the security chief noted sourly that if there were other pirates, the conditions for combat would be awful.

After a few moments, someone’s light found the wreckage of the Raider and Cailus immediately began bellowing orders. “Logann, T’Kemi,” he shouted, barely audible over the pounding rain, “check the shuttle interior! Everyone else, form a perimeter around it, five meter radius!”

Tisar was so relieved to hear voices speaking a language he understood that he almost jumped to his feet and rushed out to greet them, but his own combat training stopped him, made him more cautious. No sense in getting shot now. "Hello out there!" he shouted from inside. "I'm armed, but I'm throwing the weapon outside now!" He tossed the disruptor out of the open doorway. "I don't have any other weapons! I'd like to surrender!"

Logann moved to the side of the door, and began giving T'Kemi hand signals to order the individual to step outside the door. Logann also kicked the weapon out of range of anyone coming out of the door.

“Come out slowly!” T’Kemi shouted into the wreckage, the petite Vulcan woman managing an impressive volume amidst the wind and rain. “Keep your hands clearly visible!”

Tisar put his hands out so they could be seen and slowly made his way out of the wreckage. "I'm alone," he said slowly. "There was no one else with me. I'm not a Ravager." He stepped out into plain view, relief and rain washing over him. He was indeed Cardassian as the sensors had told the away team even before they left the ship. He was of average height and build for one of his species and had the same dark hair and eyes. His hair was a little longer then most Cardassian men wore it, but none of that mattered now. All that mattered to Tisar was that he felt he had been rescued. Even if they did take him prisoner and put him in a brig it wouldn't be for long. They would find out who he was and what he was doing aboard a Ravager vessel.

As his hands appeared, Logann grabbed them and forcefully shoved him to the ground, grabbing both wrists and bringing them to the small of the suspect's back before restraining him. "Cover him for a moment," Logann told T'Kemi, already moving forward into the rest of the wreckage for a quick search.

Tisar winced as he was forced down on his knees. He didn't resist, but the crash landing hadn't been so nice to him. He was very sore and covered with bruises. Nothing may have been broken, but that didn't mean it hadn't hurt to land so violently.

Finding nothing but wrecked metal and plastic, Logann came back out and gave the suspect a quick pat down before bringing the Cardassian to his feet and walking him outside. He nodded to Griffin.

Tisar winced again as he was brought to his feet, the pain in his arms making him a little dizzy. He closed his eyes and hung his head, trying his best to maintain his feet.

"Just like the scans show, one Cardassian. No others signs of anyone. Alive or otherwise," Logann said, keeping a hand on the bicep of Tisar.

Cailus considered their prisoner coldly. It was awfully tempting to take the Cardassian’s word for it, but the painful fact was that they couldn’t. The Prime Directive was simply too important; even a single Ravager out there, somehow hiding from detection, could cause unimaginable damage to Mendazian society. They had to be absolutely, unquestionably sure, and there was only one way to do it... even if it meant delaying their return to the warm and dry Pandora.

“Alright, listen up!” he bellowed. “Lieutenant Smith and I are going to climb that ridge to the west and run one more full sensor sweep of the surrounding area. We HAVE to be sure that this guy was alone! Mister Logann, the rest of the team is yours. Set your demolition charges and make certain that this wreck is disintegrated. Keep a guard on the Cardassian as well. We will all beam back to the ship simultaneously in twenty minutes, to reduce the chance of our transporter beams being detected. Am I clear?”

Tisar was totally relieved to be leaving the planet. He didn't want to be there any more then they wanted to leave him there. He stood there quietly. Telling them that they were wasting their time looking for anyone else was a moot point. He wasn't going to argue with the very upset gentleman. He also understood war and currently he was a prisoner. They couldn't just take his word for it, he might be lying to give anyone he was with a chance to escape and wreak havoc. He couldn't tell them that had he actually been with another Ravager, he would have shot them himself.

Smith looked down at the readings that he was getting from his tricorder, one Ravager on a ship didn’t make sense his own experiences with them there was usually a crew compliment of three with a vessel like this. Smith nodded to Cailus, “I’ve detected a few caves dotting the ridge, but I can’t scan beyond that something within the rock formation of those caves are distorting our scans. I would concentrate a more intense scan and search there.”

"You heard the man! Get the charges set up. If you haven't worked with them before, there is a program set up in the tricorder that will tell you where to set them up to get the most bang for your buck." He then grabbed the Cardassian by the arm, and moved him out of range of the explosives, pointing to an imaginary point on the ground. "Sit down there, and cross you legs."


Tisar let himself sink to the ground and crossed his legs. The ground was wet and now so was his backside. All he wanted was a dry place, dry clothing and a warm blanket, but he had learned during his lifetime, that sometimes patience was what was required to get what you wanted and that sometimes the waiting wasn't all that comfortable. He continued to remain silent. There was no point in arguing with the Starfleet people and he at least wanted them to be able to tell their captain, whoever he or she was, that he hadn't given them any trouble. He didn't make eye contact either, keeping his head low and his eyes on the ground. Some human males, sometimes females too, could consider eye contact to be a sign of aggression.

Concurrently on the Pandora, Nyx had just finished sending Belaia and Rapal back to the surface and he pressed his badge with urgency. =/\= Temple to the Away team? =/\= There was a short static sound and Nyx furrowed his brow; the thick rocks and heavy weather doing their best to interfere with his transmission.

Logann heard the static come through on his com badge, and could barely make out Temples voice. Stepping just out of audio range of the prisoner, but still well within visual range, Logann tapped his combadge. =/\= Go ahead Captain, but be advised I can barely hear you. =/\=

=/\= What's your situation, Ensign? Things are developing up here and we need to hasten your engagement. =/\= Temple replied.

=/\= Copy that sir. We currently have one prisoner from the downed craft and are currently making provisions to have the craft destroyed. Lt.s Griffin and Smith are making their way along the ridgeline looking for additional survivors from the craft. =/\= Logann replied, hoping that some of what he was saying was getting through.

Nyx had stopped in his walk, =/\= I can't explain right now but the Prime Directive has already been nullified. The Mendaz know we're here. But I want that Ravager in our hands, not theirs. Contact the others and get back to the Pandora immediately. =/\=

Nullified? Can that even be...... oh no.

=/\= Copy that boss. Have them ready to beam us out on my signal. =/\=

Logann waved for T'Kemi to come over to his location. "Lemme see your phaser rifle." Logann took the rifle, and setting it to a wide dispersal pattern, fired three long blasts, followed by three short blasts, followed by three more long blasts.

Logann waited about 10 seconds and then repeated it. Turning to T'Kemi, he began speaking in a clipped, precise pattern. “Take the remaining explosives, dump them in the middle of the wreckage, then set them off when everyone is clear. Now."

The small Vulcan ensign acknowledged with a curt ‘Yes sir” and, true to Logann’s order, simply picked up the half empty bag of explosives and deposited it in the center of the wreckage.

After that was completed, and the team was gathered, he gave directions for them to head in the direction that Griffin and Smith headed off in. "T'Kemi, I need you on point with a tricorder. Try to get a reading on them, and take us to them."

Logann scooped up the Cardassian by his arm, and hauled him to his feet. "Let's go!"

Tisar rose without protest as quickly as he could. It made him a little dizzy, but he managed, stumbling slightly against Logann. "Sorry..." he muttered softly without any attitude.

Up on the ridge, the two lieutenants were thoroughly drenched and now exposed to the biting wind. The climb had been brief but treacherous, the rocks being slippery in the dark, but they nevertheless now had a perfect position to run their scans for any more pirates. Cailus stood guard, trusting Smith to handle the rest, and he scowled as he saw the bright orange phaser pulses shoot straight up into the clouds.

Moving closer to Smith, he said loudly, “Something has gone wrong, Logann and the others are coming to us.” Cailus tapped his combadge, but the little device made a sound that made his scowl deepen. “Comms are out. Have you found any more Ravagers on your scan?”

Smith had been running scans since they had reached the ridge. Every once in a while an odd reading would come through and he was spending time adjusting his sensor reading to filter out the anomalies.

He had noticed the the phaser fire as well, frowning he went back to work until Cailus interrupted what he was doing. Looking up and trying to cover his eyes some from the bitter rain he said, “I’ve detected some odd life form readings near the caves the run along side the ridge to the north of hear. But something is interfering with my scans. Not sure what it is but I can tell you I don’t think it’s native to this planet.”

Smith’s own intel training was telling him not to leave the planet until he had answers but that would depend on what the rest of the away team had. They had a reason for coming to them. Smith readjusted his tricorder frowning at what he was seeing. Looking back up he said, “Someone is trying to mask their life form readings.”

The rest of the away team made a pretty good pace, with Logann tailing at the back of the group, keeping hands on the prisoner. After a short trip, Logann and the others caught up with Griffin and Smith. Depositing their Cardassian prisoner on the ground with a guard, Logann jogged up to the Lt.s.

Tisar hit the ground again with a little umph. He was grateful to be sitting again, standing was making his head swim and he was certain that the crash landing had given him a concussion. He sat still on the wet ground and didn't even attempt to run away. For one, he knew he couldn't successfully get away with a concussion and two, the starfleet vessel was where he wanted to go.

"Per Captain Temple, the Prime Directive is nullified. We need to get off this planet. How are things going here? Find anything?" Logann explained in his typical curt manner.

Thinking hard, Cailus answered, “Maybe. It’s hard to tell.” Peering out into the thick black gloom, he scowled. “We’ve got fifteen minutes until the Mendazian aircraft arrive and thirteen minutes until we’re beamed back up. Sir, can we get to that sensor contact and neutralise it in that time? Prime Directive or not, I want to get this last Ravager.”

Smith nodded, “We can definitely accomplish that, but unlike the Ravager that surrendered without a fight Don’t expect his friend to be someday to apprehend. I would like to catch him alive but if we are unable to eliminate him.” Looking back at there prisoner Smith continued, “Get him back to the Pandora and a small search party will stay behind to flush out this Ravager before anyone else shows up. Time is of the essence.”