Light at the end of darkness

Posted on Mon Mar 24th, 2025 @ 4:58am by Captain Mira Rodale & Lieutenant Commander Awal Kronnelti & Lieutenant Betaras K'ner

1,902 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The days of our lives
Location: Relva Vlll
Timeline: Present

On:
{Relva Vlll, the Badlands}

Mira looked out over the landscape as she activated the lenses of her eye protection. She set the coordinates to where they needed to go and set a course. It would reach the other HUDs, they could make course corrections as they went.

Once the hunting party was secured, they headed out silently, to not give away the direction they had taken. Mira’s gut was at war with her Starfleet training. Her gut? Never leave an enemy to come back at you later. She wondered if just leaving them alive would give away who their were. People on this world wouldn’t normally do that.

It didn’t take long for the sky to open up on them. The downpour was more than she wanted to deal with. At least she was clean. Well, cleaner anyways.

It had taken a day and a half to get across that opened land. They had made good time.

She was now wet, cold and tired by the time they reached the mountain range. The area was riddled with caves. “Pick one. We dry off, rest, and see if this storm blows over. Either way we need to be off.”

K'ner signaled the far perimeter pair that they would get shelter and waved the other two to the close-in perimeter, then gathering some loose materials to sustain a shielded fire inside later.

Mira pulled the sun covering she had on over her head and started to ring the water out. Taking one of the few warmers she had found on the ship, she put it on the ground and activated it. A warm glow started to get brighter and the warmth was most welcomed. Mira hung her dress on a rock to dry and slipped on leggings and an overly large t-shirt to help with the cold.

She took a long swig of her water bottle, then she pulled out a meal bar. Looking back out in the rain, she frowned. “Wonder if we can collect some of that water?” it sure would be nice. Her own water was getting low. She should have packed more but it was heavy and she always traveled light.

K'ner nodded. "We have collection sheets for just such an occasion. Nod and Deena are setting them up outside now. We should have all we can carry when we leave."

Taking a seat, she bit into her bar. It was beef and something sweet.

Awal sat down with the same idea as Mira, "well if this rain storm didn't happen we'd be exposed in that field." Said Kronnelti

Mira nodded, “very true. And it helped with the heat of the day but is not helping with the cold. She pulled out one of her shirts and started to use it to help dry her hair.

“I want my babies.” She gave a tired sigh. “I can’t believe she just sent our families off like that and took us! It’s so not like her. Vvasshs was never that mean and the whole business about another way into the mirror universe . I probably should have listened to that but I was too mad.” Mira frowned still scrunching the water out of her hair.

K'ner sighed as she gazed out of the entrance. "She was even more out of sorts than when you knew her? Hmmmm... It has been some time since then, but I don't think she's sided with the Orions. This was all a little too obtuse if so. I presume it's no surprise that she has side goals to her side goals. I'll lay odds she was playing some of that by ear, used to keeping anyone else guessing since she herself plans and acts on the fly..." She studied the readouts in her HUD, fed in from the other Haz team squad members.

Mira started to think about them getting home. “Ideally I would like to find a small, fast ship with a cloaking device.” She gave a smirk, “but at this point I’ll take a garbage scow. Anything to get us home.”

K'ner partially turned to look back at Mira and Awal. "We have options. Between the seven of us, we can operate a wide range of star craft, converse in several languages without need of the universal translator, and enough skills to wade through a significant amount of resistance before they realize what they're dealing with."

Mira nodded. “True.” She was now feeling a little more confident they were getting off this darn planet. “Make sure everyone eats and gets a few hours sleep, then we head out again. I want to take advantage of what little light we have.” But she was worn out. She wasn’t pushing the crew any harder then she could handle.

Her eyes slipped to the cats. They had eaten as they traveled, so she didn’t need to worry about them. The cats seemed to be enjoying all of this, even the rain. Mira smirked at them. Perhaps she should think of this as an adventure instead of the disaster it felt like right now.

A few hours later, everyone had gotten the rest they could, no one wanting to be out here any longer than necessary and moving before dawn did have its advantages. Near the remains of the fire, K'ner sketched out observations from the night watch.

Mira watched the city through the scanner as she listened to K’ner.

"I'm guessing weather is keeping some vessels grounded, and the interference itself is affecting sensor readings. There was a patrol here to here, but it didn't cross our back trail, and there seemed to be a convergence of craft to a point here," she said, pointing at another spot on her laser-imaged map on the ground.

"That would be the city you wanted to head for, so your nav skills are relatively spot on Captain, as well as it being an aero hub. Given the amount of traffic we've seen, there should be a number of choices to pick from."

K'ner glanced up at Mira. "Is entry controlled into the city proper from what you remember? We can assume the port will be manned with some kind of security normally but it would be nice to be able to get in and move around before we have to get creative..."

"It wasn't the last time I was here but that was a few years ago." Mira frowned. "Ok Awal and I will go in first. If nothing happens, go in small groups. We meet up once inside. Vaytoc will stay with you so you can find us."

K'ner nodded. "Deena can get the pictures, so that should work."

"We will take Spike. They might be looking for a group but not a couple coming in from bad weather. I want that bird of prey. Let's see what house is working with the Orions. We take that ship as soon as we can." Mira handed the scanner back to Awal. The weather was bad but she knew how to handle that ship. It would fly in this weather.

Mira stood up, wiping the wet sand from her dress and bare legs. She was wet, dirty, tired and she had muscles hurting that she had forgotten she had. She needed to get this over with before she lost her nerves. She would be walking into an Orion city. By all that was holy, would she be able to deal with this?

“If everything goes as plan, follow us. If things go bad?” Mira gave a little shrug. “Try to get us out. I would like to do this quietly but if we need to blow the whole thing up…”

Nod laughed. "Well, that would a signal."

She smirked. “That will work too. There is a small, hole in the wall bar two streets down from the main entrance, called the Rusty Nail. We will meet there.“ She dug into her backpack pulling out some local currency and handed some to K’ner. “It isn’t much, pass it out. It will get a few drinks to blend in. I need to access the main financial archives. If we are lucky, house Rasmehlier will have something stored here.”

K'ner handed the funds to Korra to disperse and discussed routes of approach...


{ a few moments later... new vantage point... }

“Nausicaans” Nod told her.

Mira narrowed her eyes. “So not Klingons in the bird of prey? Interesting. They either took it, killing the crew, or just stole it. Either way, that just went to the top of the list of ways off this rock.”

“Seems they have a few prisoners, too.”

That brought a frown to Mira’s face. “I hate slavers.” She told them. Still, if they were getting off this world, they needed to do it quietly and quickly. "Women?”

“No, two males.”

Mira sighed, they could easily be criminals. She is sticking to the FU plan and getting her people off this world. Start a few bar fights on the way home to get her kids. Then see what else got tossed her way. They had been gone 2 weeks now! 3 days my ass, she thought. Whoever got her into this was going to pay, dearly.

“The weather is bad, but…. That bird can take off in it.” She watched as a small group came from the ship. “That ship normally carries 6 to 12 crew with maybe 4 possible prisoners.”

“Yeah, and that group has 6 in it.“ Nod told her.

“This would be the perfect time to take it but without intel?” Mira thought out loud weighting their chances.

K'ner looked around. "And just what they wouldn't expect. They can guesstimate our travel time to various locations and given normal SF disciplines and training for rules of engagement, they would expect us to take an additional period to reconnoiter and plan..."

K'ner smiled slightly. "But... right now they're vulnerable and likely unprepared, according to what Korra's heard on their comm net. I can say we tend to be rather unconventional when it comes down to it, which should work to our advantage as well, and the sooner we're away, the less time for other forces to converge and increase the challenges for our exit."

They all looked at the Captain...

Mira bit her lip. Decisions, Decisions. Mira tapped her fingers on her leg as she looked up at the sky. It was raining so hard it just might cover their entrance and exit of the city. She gave a nod.

“Change of plans. We go in quick and head directly for that ship. Deal with whoever is on that ship and toss them out. Awal and I head to the bridge. The rest of you, secure the ship. Let’s lock and load!” Mira nodded as she took off for the hanger.

K'ner started checking her gear as she calmly gave brief commands to Bravo, assigning targets and fields of fire, preferring no firing but prepared, just the same.

She turned to the Captain with a nod. "Bravo is ready to engage... We'll keep 'em off you, then start securing sections of the ship once we're airborne."

Awal smiles, finally some damn action


OFF:

Lt Betaras K'ner
Hazard Team Combat Medic TL-B / CMO
USS Chuck Norris

&

Captain Mira Rodale
CO USS Chuck Norris

&

Lieutenant Commander Awal Kronnelti
Chief of security and tactical
USS Chuck Norris

 

RSS Feed