Well...that escalated quickly.

Posted on Tue Apr 13th, 2021 @ 2:16pm by Commander Ryan Blake & Doctor Samantha Blake, Ph.D (Geology) & Lieutenant Steve O'Carroll

Mission: The Thorion Conundrum Mission Brief
Location: Thorion III
Timeline: TBD

Ryan contacted the shuttlecraft and informed the crewmembers there that the ground team was about to make contact with what appeared to be a small settlement. He set up a schedule of checking in every quarter hour and what to do if they failed to check in.

Ryan pulled up short about a hundred meters away from the settlement. He spotted a tower near the center of the settlement and a series of posts surrounding the settlement. There was no movement in the settlement, but it did not appear to be abandoned either.

"Mr. Blake the interference is strongest from this point to about a hundred meters to the opposite side of the compound, its like something is intentionally jamming the signal. the source of the interference however is not in the compound." Steve said.

Steve peered out. He could see some Andorian's and Tellarite's.

"Looks like those in the compound are Andorian's and Tellarite's though. Probably from the Mining Consortium." Steve added.

Ryan was thoughtful for a moment. "Will this interference affect our equipment?"

"It already is lieutenant, at least tricorders, scanners and recording equipment, Sir".

Ryan stared at the settlement for a moment, his lower lip tucked under his upper in thought. Something didn't feel right about this. He turned to Jamie and his sister. "Deploy your drones. Have them hover at 50 meters, recording everything in the settlement, but outside the interference zone. They can be data linked and transmit back to the shuttle."

"Fifty meters, got it," Jamie said as she tapped the controls as quickly as she could. "They should be good to help increase sensor resolution to cut through some of this interference. I'd be worried about our comm badges though."

Samantha dug her own drones out and began the quick programming process that Ryan had called for. She glanced at Jamie and nodded when she was ready to deploy her own drones.

Ryan turned to Steve, "We're going down to make contact."

"I figured we were, Lieutenant," Steve said.

There was an explosion and Steve turned around to see a small attack shuttle strafing the compound they were going to make contact with. The ground shook beneath there feet, but from there vantage point they had an excellent view. The shuttle made several passes blasting away with some sort of disruptor type weapons. Then five Orions materialized on the ground and started shooting miners. The miners fought back with laser rifles and old style hand phasers, but with aerial support the Orion's were quickly gaining ground.

"What do you think Commander?" Steve asked.

Ryan pulled his phaser pistol as the away team took cover behind a group of boulders. "We'll flank around the compound to the East and try and come up behind the assault team. Dougherty, you maintain position here and provide cover for O'Carroll and me once we get into position." Ryan kept low as he started down a small draw that would take them to the east side of the compound. They needed to get into position quickly before the Orion's took the compound.

" Got it. We'll need someone to stay and make sure the shuttle doesn't get blown to bits," Jamie said as she unholstered her phaser and checked its charge.

"At least we have the element of surprise lets go!!" Steve said grabbing his phaser pistol and setting it to level 16.

Whomever it was that was attacking the miners were effective in a brutal kind of way, they caused a lot of damage, it seemed they were truing to create terror and panic. but the miners fought back bravely taking down two of the thuggish green Orion males. If they were actually military they would have attacked with more precision limiting damage so that they could take equipment and personnel. the shuttle pilot made what seemed like lazy strafing runs. Most of the settlement was reduced to rubble in a matter of minutes.

Steve and Ryan ran down to get a closer and more tactical position.

"Do you think we could take out that attack shuttle Mr. Hunter?" Steve asked.

Ryan glanced at the assault shuttle making passes overhead. Their phaser pistols wouldn't be able to do much against a shielded shuttlecraft. Thankfully things were going their way after the last pass as a Starfleet shuttlecraft came over a rise and targeted the Orion's assault shuttle. "Looks like Tanner and Avie are taking care of these guys Air support. Let's hit the ground team. Ryan aimed his phaser and began firing.

Steve jumped down and started running but was taking carefully aimed shots and the startled Orion's who were now being flanked.

Using her drones out of sight, Jamie checked her arm display, larger than the tricorder, and with a 3D image display, she saw the two Orions who were hiding behind the rock. "Frack," she said as her pulse quickened and her blood began to boil. "Fracking Orions...aren't going to take me hostage again...or kill me today."

She waited till they began to come up, and she shot, nearly hitting both of them, definitely singeing hairs. She had much quicker reaction times than most regular humans, but she didn't like to show off too much.

The Orion's ducked behind cover and sent a few wild shots at the Starfleet officers. Pinned down between the miners and an armed Starfleet ground team should have made the Orion's realize their best option was surrender.

Less than a minute passed when the fortunes of battle changed again. A second assault shuttle came racing across the sky, a heavy volley of fire damaged the Starfleet shuttle, causing it to break off. Moments later a dozen more Orion's materialized in position to fire on both pairs from the Leto.

"Surrender or we kill you and all the miners of the compound!"

Ryan glanced at the heavily armed and armored troops. He took a deep breath and nodded at Steve before tossing his phaser to the ground.

Steve threw his phaser to the ground as well placing his hands on his head.

Jamie growled to herself and curled her full lips as she reluctantly dropped her phaser, but ordered her drones to keep their distance just in case. She followed their lead since she wasn't the senior officer just yet. But she'd be damned if the Orions would experiment on her again.

The miners saw the fresh enemy troops and started throwing their weapons to the ground as well.

Brax strode down as six more Orion's thugs materialized. He looked at his crewmates and grunted, they were brave but dumb.

Several Orions brought Jamie and Samantha down from the hillside to join Steve and Ryan in the quad between the now ruined buildings. All of them being shoved roughly to their knees.

"Well well well what do we have here, Fleeters?" Brax asked.

Ryan looked up at Brax with a nonplussed expression. "Must have been the uniforms that gave us away."

Brax back-handed Ryan hard, knocking him for a loop. Almost breaking his jaw. Brax was a giant brute of a Orion male. He was also very, very strong.

Ryan's head snapped to the side. He blinked before spitting out a little blood and glancing back up at Brax. "I suppose I should consider myself lucky. My sister would have hit me harder than that."

Samantha couldn't help but let a short laugh escape. Her expression changed once she saw Brax's face.

Brax looked at Samantha with utter contempt. She was nothing but a little doll or merchandise to him. He regarded her not as a person but as a toy. He lifted her up with one arm by her shirt. She was off her feet and dangling in the air as he looked her over trying to ascertain her value.

"Mark her as my property and fit her with a neural device. I will take her as a slave for now." Brax said to his henchmen.

"Fit them all and then have them transferred to my ship", Brax ordered.

One by one the landing party was fitted with neural paralyzers. The last thing they saw was the miners being executed and the Orions stealing the processed Pergium ore that the miners had taken out of the ground.

Ryan felt a seething rage take him, not just for what Brax had said and done to Samantha, but for the fate of the miners as well. Slaughtering the miners served no purpose other than terrifying the away team. He vowed there would be a reckoning.

Samantha figured she was in store for an intensely abusive captivity. Beatings were definitely coming and there was a strong likelihood of other abuses. She would do her best to get through it.

When the neural paralyzer was fit onto him, Steve felt his will to resist drain right out of him.

She struggled a bit and using her head, Jamie knocked back, busting the nose of the Orion trying to fit her with the neural device.

"Oh, you've got a lot of fight in you!" said the lead Orion as his crewman's nose bled profusely. "I see she's already seen some of our work. Maybe I'll admire our handiwork a little more personally on our ship!"

The device clamped on her and she was unable to move on her own. She felt panic but her pulse remained calm. She hated technology sometimes.

The captives were taken aboard the shuttle and soon they were off the planet. The walls of the shuttle shimmered. That was a sure sign of a cloaking device. The shuttle did not go to warp.

About an hour later they were docked aboard another ship or station.

Even though she was unable to act, Jamie was able to observe. So she watched and listened to see if she could find out their location, destination, and how many they were up against. Maybe there would be a way to rig a communication signal back to the Leto. They hadn't removed her arm controller yet. And they hadn't taken her drones with them...the drones that constantly reported her position and reported that back to the ship. Maybe the Leto would find those drones.

The away team was led to two different shuttles. They were each roughly in-processed and sent to a security hold on two different ships. All total there were 22 prisoners. The wounded were vaporized, as were the dead. the away teams were in there indiviual holding tank for a good 40 minutes before they launched. It seemed to all the witnesses that they were trying to erase the evidence and steal whatever pergium they could get there hands on.

The prisoners could feel the launch despite the inertial dampeners an the walls seemed to shimmer as the shuttle cloaked.

About 40 minutes later though you could feel the shuttle swerve as if they had engaged were either in pursuit or were trying to evade a pursuer.

Suddenly there was an explosion that rocked the shuttle then another and another.

Then the walls seemed to shimmer again the cloak was disengaged. the shuttle suddenly stopped moving as if locked in a tractor beam.

There was the sound of disruptor fire then the hatch to the entrance of the holding tank exploded open.

Several orions came in wielding weapons and the leader announced..

"I am Tricero Nornian of the Thorion space defense agency. Is there a Lieutenant Blake here? "

Ryan nodded his head with a bit of effort. The collar was inhibiting most of motor functions, but he was able to perform that slight movement.

"Medic!" the Tricero ordered. Soon the medic arrived to remove the neural paralyzer from each captive.

Ryan looked about as the neural paralyzers were taken off him and Jamie. He stepped over and placed a reassuring hand on her upper arm, a look of concern on his face. "Are you alright?"

She rubbed her neck where the device had been wrapped, giving a death stare at the Orions before turning to Blake. "I'll be better when I get my hands on those damned hobgoblins. Same kind of pirates kidnapped me, turned me into this," she gestured to herself, "giving me loads of identity issues, and a load of anger to work out on someone. Maybe you'd be kind enough to look away for five minutes boss?" Her last sentence, whispered, had a bitter sarcasm to it. But Blake knew she was an officer and could control her emotions if needed.

Ryan wanted justice for all those killed at the miners settlement too. "You may get your chance Lieutenant Dougherty."

Once the NP's were removed from the prisoners. The pirates were cuffed and incarcerated and the Starfleet personnel were escorted to the Thorion Ballista. The shuttles memory banks navigational coordinates were downloaded and the shuttle was then deactivated and destroyed.

"Where would you like to go Mr Ryan?" Tricero Nornian asked.

Ryan desperately wanted to pursue the other shuttle, but trying to mount a second hasty rescue was not feasible at best. He sighed. "Take us to the Leto please."