SD241810.04 || Joint Duty Log || CO & CEO || "Charge"
Posted on Mon Nov 12th, 2018 @ 9:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Ky'La De'Lenn & Brigadier General Jonathan Grey
1,911 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Tremor Trouble
Location: YaDalla
Timeline: Current
=^= Mount Silver =^=
A fair journey north from the capital city of YaDalla, a large mountain range stretched off into the distance. Locals called it either the Great Range or the Iron Range, depending on who you asked. It was known to be heavy in rare metals and gems, which made it utterly useless to those with access to a good replicator, but extremely valuable to the jewellery industry.
Natural gems fetched a high price, legally obtained or otherwise. A fact that mercenary company "Blue Dawn" knew well.
"Move up!" shouted a man in thick blue body armour, leading a half-dozen mercenaries across the rocky plain to take cover behind a large boulder. The guards in the gem mine up ahead were few in number, but the mine's entrance was hardened, and covered in both armour plating and automated weaponry. A pair of turrets tracked the mercenary squad and pulsed out a few rounds of energy fire, nipping at their heels and taking a few chunks out of their cover.
"Frag out!" cried the leader, who tossed a grenade over the boulder to land between the emplaced turrets two dozen meters away. The turrets tracked the motion of the object, only to be reduced to slag as a billowing cloud of plasma exploded out from the small device. What seemed like a sudden blue cloud was deceptive in its beauty, containing enough heat to turn those turrets into a rapidly spreading puddle, and melting a hole in the middle of the doors they guarded.
"Charge!" shouted the lead mercenary. His squad followed him in a sprint to the door, and the squad behind him moved up as well. Altogether, there were around thirty mercenaries here, though most were not as well armoured as the assault squads, and simply hung back to let them take the objective.
Inside the door, five guards stared nervously at the gap in their defences, gripping their rifles nervously. Their new employer, having bought the mine and their service contract in one swoop, had offered them triple pay to stay on despite the quakes. Choosing to stay had proven the wrong decision, and now all they could do was hope to get lucky.
The mercenaries not involved in the attack were busy suborning the AA tower that had shot down their dropship on approach, turning it to their advantage. The blue craft that had brought them here still smoked on the ground not too far away, a smear of dirt and rock marking the sudden "landing" after the AA had brought them crashing to the ground.
The gun on top of the turret suddenly jerked out of standby mode and rose into the ready position. From the way the two closest engineers high-fived each other, it was reasonable to assume that this AA gun was now hostile to anything flying; regardless of affiliation.
Ky'La, with Jonathan close on her heels, suddenly came to a stop and hugged the ground. "Shhhh.....stay low.....guards AA gun and mercenaries at the entrance", she hissed at him. The entrance to this place was under siege and they ad to find a way to get in there. That is where Charles had said that if they could get inside, the possibility of finding evidence of wrong doing, it would be possible to get them access to the rest of the restricted places. Question was how, with what, and not getting killed.
Looking over her shoulder at her entourage of armed engineers, she motioned for a third of them to head to the left and a third to the right and the rest to follow her. In her mind a good pincer move with the main charge straight down the middle would catch them way off guard and completely by surprise. Once everyone was in place, she led the charge, the two teams on each side waiting three minutes, came charging down the sides, all firing phasers and phase rifles. They made enough noise to simulate a battalion of soldiers.
The engineers around the AA gun were the first to get the good news, quickly cut down by a furious wave of weapons fire. The AA gun itself took a few hits and swivelled around, its tracking system frantically searching for an enemy. Calibrated only for arial attackers though, it scanned in vain until another series of hits struck an exposed circuit and shut it down for good.
The Blue Dawn mercenaries sprinting for the gap in the mine's armoured door heard the attack behind them. The lead team took cover behind the twisted remnants of the mine's defensive turrets, while the others scrambled to duck behind the boulders that littered the area.
After the initial shock wore off, the mercenaries started firing back. A few shots found their mark, but further return fire was interrupted by the sudden arrival of two more enemy groups attacking from both sides. Hunkering down against their rocks, the mercenaries learned fast that leaving cover got you shot, but that staying put was suicide as well.
"Into the mine! Into the mine!" shouted the leader from near the mine, who turned to take cover inside their original objective, only to be shot dead by a wave of red pulse fire from inside the mine. The guards, taking advantage of the delay in the enemy's attack, had rallied and counter-attacked through the melted hole. Blue Dawn troops turned quickly to face this new threat, but were no match for the close-range weapons employed by the guards.
In a matter of moments, the mine's entrance was clear. The only surviving Blue Dawn mercenaries were those who had sheltered between a cluster of rocks that had protected them from all sides. Seeing their leader fall, and eyeing the royally-cheesed bunch of guards fast-approaching from the direction of the mine, the group's sergeant made a quick decision.
"We surrender, we surrender!" he shouted to the Starfleet forces, holding his weapon above his head. It took a few kicks, but his men eventually did the same, keeping their heads down low in case the less scrupulous guards got a clear shot.
Ky'La was relieved to hear those words of 'We surrender' and ordered the people to stand down and the mine guards as well. Taking these mercenaries into custody, she ordered her remaing people to enter the mine and look for anything suspicious. She had no idea what she was looking for but either she would stumble over it or it would find her. She walked into the dimly lit mine and started her search.
At the back of the entrance, there was a piece of machinery that resembled a type of transporter device. Upon further examination, De'Lenn determined that it was a scattering device that was used to distort the transporter beam. Being as how this was a gem mine she figured that the owners didn't want to get caught transporting in and out of the mine. Knowing how people can get greedy with money and power she figured that there was more going on here than met the eye. She continued to look for what Charles had told her and it wasn't long before she stumbled over what looked like a box that had a strange locking device on it. Taking her tricorder out she scanned it and using the tricorder she found the frequency that un did the lock and opened the box. Not sure of what these computer chips were, she decided that this is what Charles was talking about. Taking the box of chips, she moved out of the mine and met up with Johnathan and beamed back to the ship to call the General.
=/\= Baron, this is Lt. Cmdr. De Lenn two to beam back to the ship. =/\=
Looking back over her shoulder, "Thomas make sure these nice prisioners are taken care of before you beam up."
"Yes Commander", Thomas said and he marched off back to the group of engineers keeping the prisioners covered.
Ky'La waited patiently for the transporter to activate, smiling to herself, that she actually had good news for the General and had found what Charles hinted to her in their coversations.
=/\= Aye Commander =/\= replied the comm badge, followed by the faint beeping of someone pushing buttons on the other end of the open channel. The air was suddenly abuzz with swirling points of light as two Starfleet officers were plucked from the surface of YaDalla, leaving a number of men behind to secure the area.
=^= USS Baron =^=
A matching pair of lights lit up in transporter room one, depositing two officers onto the glowing platform.
"Welcome back Commander." said the crewman riding the controls. The lighting on the platform dimmed as she thumbed a few buttons on the console, putting the transporter back into standby mode.
"Glad to be back on sure footing. The place is shaking bad. Come on Johnathan. We got work to do", she said as she grabbed him by the tunic dragged him back to engineering.
Once in her office, they examined the chips and found the evidence to support what Charles indicated.
The mines had indeed been illegally mining and in doing so, it caused the plates to shift in an unusual way.
"Oh my god!!! JOHNATHAN!!!!", she yelled, nearly fainting. Johnathan came flying into the office, "What the bleeding...Oh my lord!!!!!!! Get the general on the horn now!", he shouted.
=/\=Baron to General Grey, Ky'La and I need to see you urgently. Its about what we found, sir!",=/\= Johnathan said nearly shouting.
"Yes Commander?" said the General, his face appearing on the wall monitor.
"We need to see you now! We have the evidence!", Ky'La exclaimed in a nervous voice.
"Good work. Figure out what's on those chips, and verify they came from the sunken base owners. Once you get the green light from the lawyers, you are go for the rescue mission. Good luck
"But Sir!...the lawyers can't help if the planet is going...Sir please...what we found...you must see for yourself! With all the unsecured channels around....", De Len's face showed the fact how scared she was and terrified of its out come. "Please sir....", she said with tears forming.
"Get a grip on yourself, Commander." stated the General, firmly. "Your people are looking to you to set an example, and flapping like this will only drive the situation further into chaos. I sent Captain Bleetman to manage the YaDalla situation *because* matters on the station require my personal attention. If you truly feel things have wildly deviated from your brief, do speak with her, or one of the other senior officers present."
The General was about to add a biting comment about her composure on duty, but decided not to. If a Starfleet Commander was driven to tears, getting yelled at was unlikely to resolve the matter. Instead, he made a note, and elected to follow up through other channels.
"Speaking of matters on the station, I have a meeting to attend in short order. I trust you will address the situation to the best of your ability, and update me when the matter is resolved. Good luck, Commander." he added, closing the comm channel.
"Johnathan we must speak to Commander Bleetman as fast as we can. He must begin the evacuations as soon as possible", she said anxiously.
=^= End of Log =^=
Brigadier General Jonathan Grey
Commanding Officer
Versailles
&&
Lt. Cmdr. Ky'La De Lenn
Chief Engineering Officer
Versailles
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