Planet Tiaita
2374 AD
24 Hours Ago
Dale McBride of the border cutter Bluefin and Tazla Star, acting first officer of the USS Eagle had been separated from the rest of the joint Starfleet, Border Service and Marines away team when the New Light rebels had begun their assault on the local airport.
They slipped behind a tall and rusted fuel tank to avoid the incoming volley.
“Missile, missile,” one of the Marines shouted and then scrambled to get away from the vehicle behind which he and his comrades had sought cover.
It was a smart move. Not a heartbeat later a projectile launched from one of the technicals struck the government-issue van, causing it to be catapulted several feet into the air as it was ripped apart and consumed by an explosion.
Star watched on with a frustrated frown. She hit her combadge. “Major, what’s your status?”
The Marine commander’s reply came promptly. “We have one man down, attempting to regroup as we speak.”
“I need you to take them out, now.”
“We’re on it, Wasco out.”
“Look over there,” said McBride and pointed towards the burning remains of the vehicle.
Star wasn’t quite sure what the Bluefin officer was seeing at first. But then she realized that he wasn’t looking at the destroyed van but at one of the other ones.
The shockwave of the explosion had thrown this one on its side and somebody was emerging from it.
It was Teldro.
He had apparently managed to overpower his guard and now crawled out of the van. He used the confusion the attack had caused to make his getaway.
Tazla Star aimed her phaser rifle and took him into her crosshairs. It would have been an easy takedown.
But McBride pulled her rifle down. “Wait.”
“Wait for what?” she said with obvious annoyance.
“Look.”
He wasn’t heading towards the attacking rebels, instead he was making his way into the opposite direction. Not towards Star’s and McBride’s position but towards one of the jet planes rolling along the taxiway.
“The antimatter bomb is on that plane which means so is Deite and T’Ser,” he said and got up to follow Teldro, determined to go after the New Light rebel threatening to detonate a bomb over the capital city and rescue his Vulcan colleague and companion from her clutches.
But once again he was held back by Star.
He turned on her with an angry expression written all over his features. “What more proof do you need? They’re all on that plane.”
She nodded. “Fine, but what you’re doing is suicide. Those rebels might not fire on him,” she said and pointed at Teldro who was crossing the wide-open tarmac unmolested by the rebel forces, “but they sure as hell will take you down the moment they get a clear shot.”
“So what do you suggest?”
She turned to look at the plane which had noticeably slowed down, now that Teldro was approaching. For a moment Star studied the layout of the taxiways and the runway.
“Wasco to Star.”
She tapped her combadge. “Star here.”
“We’re in position for a counter-attack, however it may leave you exposed. How do you want to proceed?”
“Major, do what you have to do and don’t worry about us. Take them out.”
“Understood. But I suggest you find a new place for cover. And soon. Wasco out.”
“Follow me,” she said and began to move.
But McBride hesitated when he realized that Star was heading away from the plane he so desperately needed to stop.
She threw him a look over her shoulder. “Just trust me on this. Besides this spot is going to become very uncomfortable, very quickly.”
McBride nodded and followed the Trill commander.
Star had remained right. In order to get their enemy into the right position for an ambush, the Marines along with Nora Laas, Solly Brin and Deryx had ceased fire for the moment, leading the rebels to believe that the Starfleet team was retreating.
The rebels moved in closer and used additional missiles to soften up the enemy positions. Two went into the hangar which was quickly claimed by a series of explosions as one plane after the next caught fire in a domino effect of destruction.
Another projectile did short work of the fuel tank which Star and McBride had used for cover moments earlier, producing a sky high fireball fueled by the highly combustive jet fuel it had contained.
The Marines had retreated but not quite the way the rebels thought.
Wasco had quickly and efficiently moved his small team behind the enemy and to their right flank.
The rebels, even though outnumbering their enemy by at least two-to-one, never had a chance.
Star, confident that Wasco and the others had things firmly in hand, rushed along narrow paths in between aircraft hangars and fuel tanks, ignoring the ear shattering explosions and sounds of phasers and automatic machine guns battling for dominance.
McBride was following closely even though he was beginning to fear that the Trill was taking them into the wrong direction. That was until she came to a halt at the edge of a hanger building and pressed her back flat against the wall.
It was quite literally the end of the tunnel. Beyond lay only open tarmac.
She spied around the corner and when she looked back at McBride she had a playful smile on her lips as if she was quite pleased with herself.
McBride ventured a look himself and was surprised at what he discovered.
A taxiway was running just a few short meters along the building and the plane they were after was coming straight towards them. What was more, the tarmac made a sharp turn here to lead the planes directly onto the runway for takeoff which meant they had to slow down significantly.
“It looks like there is an access ladder by the landing gear. That’s our way in,” said Star. “We wait until the plane gets to the turn and then make a run for it. We should be close enough that they won’t even see us coming.”
McBride gave her a nod and secured his phaser in its holster. He would have to leave the bulkier rifle behind, it would only slow him down.
Star followed his lead and placed her type-3 phaser next to McBride’s, leaning it against the hangar wall.
Then the moment came. The plane reached the turn and slowed down to align with the runway.
The Trill and the Texan took off.
The noise of the engines was nearly deafening now and they had to be careful to stay out of their wake.
When they reached the landing gear the aircraft was already speeding up again and this time it would not slow down again.
McBride reached the ladder first and quickly jumped onto it and began to climb up. Star was next. The ladder wasn’t much more than a few rungs placed along the landing gear, certainly not designed to board the plane while it was moving. Star’s foot slipped and her boot missed the massive rubber wheel by inches. At their current speed it was rotating fast enough that it could have ripped her clean off the ladder and turned her into road kill with ease.
They both managed to climb into the landing gear housing chamber.
It was then that the plane lurched forward to reach takeoff velocity.
Neither of them had been prepared for the sudden acceleration. Star tried to hold on desperately to anything but found only a loose hanging wire which immediately snapped off. She tumbled back towards the quickly spinning wheels below.
McBride caught her just as her feet went over the edge.
But he didn’t have the leverage to pull her back in and for a moment they simply hung there, suspended in place as the aircraft began to take to the skies.
USS Eagle
Now
8:00 hours until departure
Security Chief Nora Laas found Captain Michael Owens walking briskly down a corridor on deck twelve and joined him. “We have a problem, sir,” she said with little preamble.
“That’s putting it mildly,” he said without so much as acknowledging the Bajoran or slowing his pace. “This mission has been a complete disaster and neither Starfleet nor the Federation Council are going to be happy to hear of what transpired here.”
“We have another problem.”
He shot her a sidelong look. “Lieutenant, I have the entirety of Starfleet Command breathing down my neck and half a dozen councilors wanting to know exactly what the hell happened here and why Tiaita will no longer be a viable Federation ally against the Dominion. I don’t need another problem.”
Nora referred to her padd. “Commander Star left behind two phaser rifles on the surface which are still unaccounted for,” she said and looked up. “I strongly recommend she’s put on report for this gross oversight.”
Owens stepped into the turbolift and Nora followed. “Deck two,” he said and then to the security chief. “We still have people on the planet. Can they recover?”
She shook her head. “We have every able-bodied crewmember from Eagle, Bluefin and the freighter fleet helping out with dropping off five and half million tons of humanitarian supplies. And I understand we’re already running behind schedule. A rudimentary sweep of the area didn’t reveal anything. My guess is somebody took off with them. By now they could be halfway around the globe.”
The captain massaged the bridge of his nose. “I don’t need this now,” he said. “Admiral Throl was pretty clear that we have just eight hours before we are due to leave the system and not a minute longer. And I had to fight for that. As far as Command is concerned, after the disaster on the surface, they want us to break off ties with what is left of the Tiaitan government immediately.”
“If we suspend the delivery of supplies we could shift resources towards locating the weapons.”
Owens didn’t like the idea. “After all we’ve done to these people, the least we can do is ensure they’ve got all the medical and humanitarian supplies we came here to deliver in the first place, stable government or otherwise. We may have to leave the Tiaitans to their own devices from now on, but I’ll be damned if we don’t at least give them the best chance we possibly can by getting them every last crate of supplies we brought along.”
“Sensors have proven unreliable,” she said. “It’s going to be difficult trying to locate these weapons without sparing anyone to look for them.”
The lift arrived at its destination and the captain turned to the Bajoran security chief. “Make it work, Lieutenant. You’ve got eight hours and eight hours only,” he said. “Initiate Horizon Protocol,” Owens added just before he briskly stepped out of the turbolift, leaving Nora behind.