Ensign Imril - Radio Free Kydon
Chris Taylor
(( Makeshift Command Operations Building – Kobyar Capital, Galaris IV ))
Imril spared a glance at Captain MacKenzie, who had moved nearer to them. The fear of being taken captive was oddly absent, as this didn’t really seem like a situation where the enemy planned on taking anyone alive. No, this siege was about silencing the opposition, fully and forever. Instead of that familiar paranoia, and the stranglehold it had on their common sense, there was only a morose sense of calm which allowed them to keep doing their work.
Imril: The signals are still going strong, all of them. The Nausicaan transmitters are hot enough for the city to track by the heat they’re putting off now. And a lot of them aren’t moving anymore.
Were those motionless heat signatures coming from drones culled from the air firewall truck? Combat vehicles destroyed by the Kobyar or abandoned by solders who’d quit the fight? Spy devices hidden inside of buildings? All of those and more? Finding out would take more time than Imril had.
Oolwi:response
Kexxin: =/\= Kexxin to Command Center. I need an update. =/\=
Command Center: =/\= Y-Yes General. Currently a majority of us can’t see. But it seems that all of the troops have stopped firing. O-on both sides. I am getting multiple reports of an apparent armistice. =/\=
Kexxin: =/\= Keep me updated. If you hear any reports of firing from the Grunden tell them to cease fire. We are done. =/\= ::Turning to MacKenzie:: I think it worked.
Oolwi:response
MacKenzie: In that case, I’m glad to hear it, General.
Richards: You bunch of brilliant bastards.
Richards: Do you got anything in that handy little bag that might help with some nausea?
Bancroft: Let’s see… we’ve got anti-emetics, neuro-regulators, a peppermint chew – not sure how that got in there – and a deeply suppressed urge to fake my own death and move to Risa.
He offered up a hypospray.
Bancroft: I recommend the hypo. Peppermint’s more ceremonial at this point.
Another loud boom cracked through the room, startling everyone. Richards hurled the contents of her junkfood-filled stomach all over Dr. Bancroft.
Richards: I… am so sorry… ::grimacing:: I’m not nauseous anymore…
Bancroft: I… honestly should have seen that coming. ::glancing down as another glob slid from his collar:: And I’ve got to counsel you, Richards, you really need to get some– ::blop – another chunk hit the deck:: –more diversity in your diet. For the sake of the children. Would a vegetable have killed you?
Another clap of thunder. More sounds of groaning metal. Then, more voices – likely insurgents, now likely incensed after their vision returned. Someone had dragged the sedated Kobyar and Grunden insurgents away from the threshold and a voice cut through the chaos.
Grunden Insurgent: Is that your resistance? Children’s medicine and party tricks? You’ve bought yourself a few more minutes of breath. Use them well. I suggest prayer – although I’d enjoy weeping more. Something fitting for the last conscious thoughts you’ll have before I dine on your entrails while you watch.
A heavy clang followed as a makeshift pry bar was rammed into the expanding gap between the doors. At the same time, a hiss erupted from the left edge – plasma torch igniting, showering the room with orange sparks. The air filled with heat and ozone.
The door lurched again, parting just wide enough, and an assault rifle snapped into view through the gap, muzzle-first, and opened fire.
Oolwi:response
Imril ducked under their desk, arms over their head. The console they had just been using flew apart; pieces of it rained down at their feet. Bullets indented the metal that they were surrounded by but did not break through. Someone screamed. Bodies dropped, and not just the Captain who was laying down near the ensign. Her body was partially visible to the ensign, with no blood pooling underneath.
Another burst of gunfire tore up the walls. More screaming. The door shuddered wider, gears screaming, metal giving way, the magnetic brace threatened to give way.
Imril heard movement. More boots. But could only guess at what was happening. None of the guesses were particularly pleasant.
Their console was gone, but not the padd which had already been tied into the systems which it had controlled. Through it, they could still make sure that the speech was getting through, and the interference signal and virus with it. Only, they didn't have to.
Imril: I’m reading multiple buildings throughout the city relaying the speech. The remains of the capitol building. Military checkpoints. Libraries. Drone power stations. Private homes. There’s no killing the signal now.
Imril: .oO(Save for an orbital strike. But let’s not go there.)Oo.
Oolwi:response
Kexxin/Richards: Response
The door groaned again. Then, in the hallway outside the mangled door, an explosion. The entire wall vibrated, rattling shelves and sending dust falling from the ceiling. The sound of shattered glass tinkled from the hallway.
Bancroft: That doesn’t sound promising.
Imril tentatively reached upwards and reclaimed their phaser. It was covered in the remains of a console, but otherwise undamaged. They didn’t need to watch the transmitters anymore, that job had been taken up by others, so they could do their part to defend the position. Carefully, quietly, they came out from under the desk. Raising their head just enough to look around, phaser ready. A landscape of devastation awaited their eyes. The floor was covered in glass, debris, dead and dying bodies. They leveled their weapon at the door.
Richards: Response
Oolwi:response
Kexxin: response.
Outside in the hallway, there was more gunfire. This time, controlled bursts. A burst of light spilled through the gap in the door. A flashbang? Then, the sound of more boots. And voices speaking precise military jargon.
Suddenly, there was silence.
MacKenzie: Starfleet, sound off.
Her voice was low. Controlled. The command was explicit.
Imril’s reply was immediate and boldly spoken.
Imril: Imril!
Bancroft/Richards/Kexxin/: Response
Captain Grexl: General Kexxin!
Kexxin: Response
Indeethl looked to the General to gauge his reaction to the voice. The stranger sounded friendly, but it could be a ruse. Kexxin seemed glad to see time though, and that meant a great deal. Her apprehensions faded entirely when she saw Captain Meera enter the room. She didn’t know the solider all that well, but Hui’Jel had vouched for her many a time. Surely this was someone who would never have been roped in by whatever promises Vef-Lai had made to his followers. She reset the gun’s safety and holstered it.
Oolwi:response
MacKenzie: Captain, am I glad to see you. Your timing leaves a little to be desired, but we can work on that.
Imril stood up, put their phaser back on their belt, and took a better look around. Precious little of the facility was left intact after the barrage of bullets. Those who could were getting up off the floor. Members of Meera’s team split off to start first aid and triage on their fellow Kobyar. The Grundens fanned out to secure the blasted-open window and other key positions. Imril’s own team-mates were all alive, if not unharmed, a very welcome miracle.
Bancroft/Richards: Responses
Oolwi:response
MacKenzie: Are we able to get a transmission to the Artemis?
Imril thought back to the Holodeck and their study of the interplanetary communication grid. They raised their padd.
Imril: This room’s command consoles are junked, but we still have control of the planetary satellite network. The bigger ones in higher orbit have a… ::pausing to find a word kinder than ‘primitive’ … viable form of subspace transmitters. So does the local space telescope. I just have to point them towards Galaris VI. Major, permission to do so?
Oolwi:response
Bancroft/Richards/Oolwi/Kexxin: response
A bit of hacking from their padd was all it took to track down and commandeer the appropriate piece of the building’s computer core. The necessary satellites didn’t have as broad a transmission cone as similar satellites around Earth and other Federation locales, which meant less of a margin of error for aiming them. Not for the first time, Imril found themself glad they’d opted to take a few extra Space Science courses than was strictly needed to graduate the Academy with an Engineering degree. The extra knowledge enhanced their ability to chart directions.
Imril: Transmitters aimed and ready to transmit, Captain.
Oolwi:response
Bancroft/Richards/Kexxin/MacKenzie: response
(OOC: I am assuming subspace communication capacity from the sim where Vef-Lai tried to set off the Bloodcurse from Moric and received an immediate notification that he couldn’t. Interplanetary communication over conventional radio would have invoked a time delay.)
Tag, and TBC!
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Ensign Imril
Engineering Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240110I12