New Friends Die Hard
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Bob Martens
Feb 7, 2011, 4:19:22 PM2/7/11
to startrek...@googlegroups.com
[Somewhere on Earth, Earth]
“They’re intercepting Jeral in a shuttle at the moment, he seemingly was somewhere in the system and now has returned back to Earth and Intelligence is trying to pick him up,” Bob said hurriedly as he guided the shuttle out of the hanger.
Tank strapped himself in after stowing all the equipment he had been able to salvage and scrounge, a small duffel with half a dozen hand phasers, quite a few explosive charges, and a light handful of grenades along with the only two operational phaser rifles he could find. It seemed that while some of their gear was state of the art, or possibly more advanced than standard issue, a great deal had been sent via a salvage operation.
“So what are we up against?” Said the burly marine xo, bringing up the display again.
“No idea, I wasn’t able to glean that from what I was reading. I’m guessing it is going to be more than one and less than ten.”
With his characteristic smile Tank reviewed the report Bob had intercepted as well as the other data associated with the incident, there wasn’t a lot to go on. “Five to one worst case. What’s our play?”
“No matter, I like the odds. They’re not going to want to draw a lot of attention to themselves, so I’m guessing this will be a small, highly trained force … so we go smaller and more highly trained,” Bob said as he smacked Tank on the shoulder.
The scout took off and Bob quickly set a heading towards the shuttle’s probably course. Intelligence had just scrambled their forces, so he was hopeful that they would be able to make it in time to make a difference. While they wanted to take him alive, that was a fate worse than death.
“How do you want to run this boss? It’s not like we can just go in and blow up our shuttle... again, to get the job done this time.”
“I have some ideas, but most of them involve the two of us splitting up and splitting their forces. I’ll provide air cover while you take on the ground forces.
To say I’m hoping they left some guys at home would be an understatement.”
“I’ll be fine down there, I’m not going to let this guy rot in some cell while the higher authorities of the world piddle away somewhere. Will you be all right in this junker, I know it was the only thing that could fly, but really; I’m surprised we’re still airborne.”
“I knew you’d come prepared. I’m just glad they had something with weapons or I was going to be throwing food rations out the hatch in a hope to blind them for a second.”
Tank just laughed, “Whatever you say boss, you’re the captain of this here ship.”
“It works in the movies, doesn’t it!”
“If you say so,” Tank said giving his friend a wink, “Okay, we’re just about in visual range of the coordinates. 30 seconds.”
Bob scanned the horizon for any activity and there was nothing, which was not surprising. They had move out over the Pacific Ocean at the moment and Martens hoped that they would make it over land soon. Suddenly, the scout’s sensors lit up with multiple ships inbound. Bob quietly counted them and ran through the scenarios in his head.
“Three intelligence shuttles, probably housing four operatives a piece,” Bob ran through the numbers. “I guess the best chance we have is to take them down before we reach land.”
Looking out over the blue ocean Tank shrugged, “A nice drop on solid ground would be excellent, I didn’t have time to prep much for a wet landing, and you know I hate working under water.”
“I’ll try to make it as easy as possible for you. The edge of Australia is only a few kilometers to the West so we will be there soon.”
“You’ll be able to hold them off up here? Not that you won’t have the easy job in this relationship but at least down there I can duck and roll.”
“That’s the plan, I’ll engage the air forces and you’ll be in charge on the ground. I’ll get you down close enough that you can get out without hurting yourself too severely.”
“I appreciate that, not another stunt like Thari Prime please, I’d like to be able to walk away from this drop.”
“Just trust me.”
Bob grinned, it felt good to be back in action again.
A little beep of a communications notification chimed, “Oh looks like our friends just picked us up on their sensors, they are transmitting a request for identification.
“Nope, I’m really not in the mood to talk anyway. When was the last time Intelligence was willing to compromise with anyone? We’re ten seconds from engaging the rear shuttle. Strap yourself in, it’s going to be a fun ride.”
The scout lurched downward to engage the rear shuttle in the set of three. Bob could now see what had to be Jeral’s shuttle in the front of the group. A surgical strike on the shuttle obviously had dire consequences as it began to lose altitude. However, Bob could see land in front of them.
He fell in right behind the last shuttle and let loose a volley of micro torpedoes. Before they could evade, fire ripped across the shuttle and it quickly lost altitude and ended up in the ocean. Shortly thereafter a life raft could be seen bobbing in the ocean as they called for transport out of their predicament.
The next shuttle split off to pursue the scout, but Bob ducked the scout down almost to sea level to make their final approach. A mayday from Jeral’s shuttle was heard over the loudspeaker and Bob knew that he was going to crash in moments and be at the mercy of whomever was after him.
The sensors marked the landing site and Bob plotted a course that would keep them as lower as possible as they made landfall. The idea was to get Tank as close to Jeral as possible and let him do the rest.
“You ready?” Bob asked as he peered behind him and saw Tank already set to go at the rear gang plank. A thumbs-up was all that was needed. “Then hang on, I have one on my tail and I’m sure he’s going to want to say hello in a second. When you think you’ve got it, just jump.”
A nod of the head and Bob was back to piloting. The shuttle was gaining, but Bob was confident they could pull it off. He brought them in low to the crash site and smoke could be seen from kilometers away.
The rear hatch opened while the scout was still at full speed, but Tank held on and waited for Bob to slow the scout down enough that he could toss out his gear and then jump himself.
Closing the hatch, Bob pulled up almost immediately and was able to get off some blasts of phaser fire at the group of intelligence officers starting to group together not far off. However, now his attention was directly on his adversary and this time he wouldn’t have the element of surprised to help him.
“They’re intercepting Jeral in a shuttle at the moment, he seemingly was somewhere in the system and now has returned back to Earth and Intelligence is trying to pick him up,” Bob said hurriedly as he guided the shuttle out of the hanger.
Tank strapped himself in after stowing all the equipment he had been able to salvage and scrounge, a small duffel with half a dozen hand phasers, quite a few explosive charges, and a light handful of grenades along with the only two operational phaser rifles he could find. It seemed that while some of their gear was state of the art, or possibly more advanced than standard issue, a great deal had been sent via a salvage operation.
“So what are we up against?” Said the burly marine xo, bringing up the display again.
“No idea, I wasn’t able to glean that from what I was reading. I’m guessing it is going to be more than one and less than ten.”
With his characteristic smile Tank reviewed the report Bob had intercepted as well as the other data associated with the incident, there wasn’t a lot to go on. “Five to one worst case. What’s our play?”
“No matter, I like the odds. They’re not going to want to draw a lot of attention to themselves, so I’m guessing this will be a small, highly trained force … so we go smaller and more highly trained,” Bob said as he smacked Tank on the shoulder.
The scout took off and Bob quickly set a heading towards the shuttle’s probably course. Intelligence had just scrambled their forces, so he was hopeful that they would be able to make it in time to make a difference. While they wanted to take him alive, that was a fate worse than death.
“How do you want to run this boss? It’s not like we can just go in and blow up our shuttle... again, to get the job done this time.”
“I have some ideas, but most of them involve the two of us splitting up and splitting their forces. I’ll provide air cover while you take on the ground forces.
To say I’m hoping they left some guys at home would be an understatement.”
“I’ll be fine down there, I’m not going to let this guy rot in some cell while the higher authorities of the world piddle away somewhere. Will you be all right in this junker, I know it was the only thing that could fly, but really; I’m surprised we’re still airborne.”
“I knew you’d come prepared. I’m just glad they had something with weapons or I was going to be throwing food rations out the hatch in a hope to blind them for a second.”
Tank just laughed, “Whatever you say boss, you’re the captain of this here ship.”
“It works in the movies, doesn’t it!”
“If you say so,” Tank said giving his friend a wink, “Okay, we’re just about in visual range of the coordinates. 30 seconds.”
Bob scanned the horizon for any activity and there was nothing, which was not surprising. They had move out over the Pacific Ocean at the moment and Martens hoped that they would make it over land soon. Suddenly, the scout’s sensors lit up with multiple ships inbound. Bob quietly counted them and ran through the scenarios in his head.
“Three intelligence shuttles, probably housing four operatives a piece,” Bob ran through the numbers. “I guess the best chance we have is to take them down before we reach land.”
Looking out over the blue ocean Tank shrugged, “A nice drop on solid ground would be excellent, I didn’t have time to prep much for a wet landing, and you know I hate working under water.”
“I’ll try to make it as easy as possible for you. The edge of Australia is only a few kilometers to the West so we will be there soon.”
“You’ll be able to hold them off up here? Not that you won’t have the easy job in this relationship but at least down there I can duck and roll.”
“That’s the plan, I’ll engage the air forces and you’ll be in charge on the ground. I’ll get you down close enough that you can get out without hurting yourself too severely.”
“I appreciate that, not another stunt like Thari Prime please, I’d like to be able to walk away from this drop.”
“Just trust me.”
Bob grinned, it felt good to be back in action again.
A little beep of a communications notification chimed, “Oh looks like our friends just picked us up on their sensors, they are transmitting a request for identification.
“Nope, I’m really not in the mood to talk anyway. When was the last time Intelligence was willing to compromise with anyone? We’re ten seconds from engaging the rear shuttle. Strap yourself in, it’s going to be a fun ride.”
The scout lurched downward to engage the rear shuttle in the set of three. Bob could now see what had to be Jeral’s shuttle in the front of the group. A surgical strike on the shuttle obviously had dire consequences as it began to lose altitude. However, Bob could see land in front of them.
He fell in right behind the last shuttle and let loose a volley of micro torpedoes. Before they could evade, fire ripped across the shuttle and it quickly lost altitude and ended up in the ocean. Shortly thereafter a life raft could be seen bobbing in the ocean as they called for transport out of their predicament.
The next shuttle split off to pursue the scout, but Bob ducked the scout down almost to sea level to make their final approach. A mayday from Jeral’s shuttle was heard over the loudspeaker and Bob knew that he was going to crash in moments and be at the mercy of whomever was after him.
The sensors marked the landing site and Bob plotted a course that would keep them as lower as possible as they made landfall. The idea was to get Tank as close to Jeral as possible and let him do the rest.
“You ready?” Bob asked as he peered behind him and saw Tank already set to go at the rear gang plank. A thumbs-up was all that was needed. “Then hang on, I have one on my tail and I’m sure he’s going to want to say hello in a second. When you think you’ve got it, just jump.”
A nod of the head and Bob was back to piloting. The shuttle was gaining, but Bob was confident they could pull it off. He brought them in low to the crash site and smoke could be seen from kilometers away.
The rear hatch opened while the scout was still at full speed, but Tank held on and waited for Bob to slow the scout down enough that he could toss out his gear and then jump himself.
Closing the hatch, Bob pulled up almost immediately and was able to get off some blasts of phaser fire at the group of intelligence officers starting to group together not far off. However, now his attention was directly on his adversary and this time he wouldn’t have the element of surprised to help him.
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