[Columbia] Skulking Around (Part 2)

Posted on Sat Dec 8th, 2012 @ 2:17pm by Miral Annhwi

916 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Enemy Within: Typhon is Missing!
Location: The Caves of Tiberius IV

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Deter pushed to the front of the group. "I'll take point. It's too dangerous for you Fleeties."

[NEW]

Too dangerous my Aunt Fanny, Ronnie thought. "You can take point, but don't expect me to follow you," she said. "If I find what I'm looking for, I'm going to get it without waiting for you." She wasn't going to risk losing the only chance she might have because she had to wait for the Marine to make sure it was safe. She was more than capable of keeping safe if it came down to it.

Deter opened his mouth to argue, but Miral stepped in before he could. "She is correct. We must move quickly and quietly. You are welcome to keep guard, but don't get in our way." They were spending far too much time talking. If they kept it up, the Borg would kill them before they had a chance to find anything.

Ronnie let Deter lead the way, but kept her hand on one of her data rods waiting for the right opportunity.

Miral watched everything as she again slipped into the room. This time, with a larger party, they were not as invisible. One of the Marines bumped into a console and swore. The Borg at the station turned to him and he shot it in the face.

Miral took back her thought that they were like Romulan soldiers. Romulans would know better than to bump into a Borg.

Two Borg turned and shot the Marine before anyone had a chance to react.

Miral grabbed Maria and Ronnie and pulled them between a rock outcropping and a bank of machines. She didn't need to tell them to be quiet. She made sure they got into a small crack where they were out of sight and held perfectly still. Now, if only the Borg would think the Marine was alone...

Deter and one other Marine hid as well. There was nothing they could do for their fallen comrade. Getting killed themselves would not help matters.

The fourth Marine chose to fight. He got off one shot before he, too, was killed.

Miral cursed under her breath. Fool. Did he think he was a match for a hundred Borg?

The five stayed quiet for almost an hour while the Borg disposed of the two bodies. Deter wished he could at least take their dog tags, but he knew that if any of them moved, they'd all be dead.

Finally, Miral felt it was safe enough to again venture out of her hiding place. She walked over to Deter. "We are too many. Take your soldier with you and go back to wait for the others. If they return before we do, you must warn them to stay away."

Deter wanted to argue that Miral cut him off. "That is an order," she whispered, barely audible. "Before we draw any more attention."

"I have orders..."

"And I'm countermanding them." She would not give in on this point. Two men had died because they were foolish. She wound not let the remaining two get anyone else killed.

Deter grimaced and signaled to his buddy. If they got out of this alive, he'd bring the Romulan up on charges.

When they were alone, Miral nodded to Ronnie to take the lead while she kept watch. Now that the group was half its size they were again invisible.

Maria wasn't sure what Ronnie was looking for, so she kept her eyes out for anything she could pocket and take back to the ship. She found a small electronic device she'd never seen before and grabbed it as she passed and dropped it into her pocket. She would play with it later and see if she could figure out what it was.

Ronnie was halfway around the perimeter of the cavern before she found what she was looking for: a computer console that was unoccupied and had a slot for a data rod. She quickly slipped one in the computer and looked over it to see if she could figure out how to download the data. Strangely, it looked like a computer from an old freighter. She looked at the station next to it. That one was from a mining ship. Was the whole complex filled with equipment cobbled from other ships? She didn't have time to dwell on that so she quickly downloaded the data and pulled out her data rod. She nodded to the others and turned to continue around the cavern.

Ronnie found nothing else she could use as they continued around the cavern, but Miral "recovered" a weapon and Maria slipped a sonic screwdriver into her pocket.

They all breathed a sigh of relief when they got to the far side unnoticed. "I don't think we could do that again if we tried."

Miral looked back into the cavern and noticed increased activity among the Borg. Apparently the worker at the formerly empty station had noticed something amiss. "Agreed. I think we should go now." She didn't wait for the other two, but used the wall to feel her way back into the first cavern.

They needed to find a safe place to wait until the Borg gave up the search and went back to their routine before they tried planting the explosives.

OFF

Miral Annhwi
Romulan Ambassador
Starbase Typhon

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Calypso

Ensign Maria Delgado
Science Officer
USS Calypso

Sergeant Deter
Marine
USS Calypso

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