Pursuit and Escape

Posted on Sat Oct 28th, 2023 @ 8:11pm by Commander Kevin Lance

Mission: The Q Effect
Location: Risa
Timeline: Current

:on
{Risan Jungle}


“OW! Cochrane damn it,” Kevin cursed. He was running barefooted and stepped on another nettle that tried to pierce his flesh. He could tell that the targs were close but he couldn’t run faster. Trace Walker was just ahead of him. Trace had been running slower than he needed to despite Kevin’s demand that he be left behind. The security officer’s loyalty in the face of a vicious enemy was estimable. Still, there was no way Kevin would be able to out run the targs.

If he couldn’t out run them, perhaps he could out climb the targs. The trees in the jungle had knobs and low branches to could provide hand and foot holds. Kevin angled towards a tree and started climbing. Trace slowed and looked back at Kevin.

“You go,” Kevin shouted, “I’ll climb out of their reach.” I hope, he thought.

Trace nodded, turned and continue to run at full speed.

Climbing the tree barefooted was less painful than running on the jungle floor had been. Kevin didn’t know how big primitive targs were or how high they could jump but he hoped that 30 feet would be high enough to be safe.

Four targs trotted into the clearing that he has just climbed out of, smelling the ground and pawing at the tree that Kevin was hiding in. The targs were larger than ones that he had seen images of and their spikes were longer. Fortunately, they weren’t able to reach much above six feet up the tree.

Catching his breath, Kevin looked at the branches and canopy of the trees in the jungle. They were stout and the canopy thick with vines. Slowly it occurred to him that it might be possible to travel faster from tree to tree along the branches than on the ground. It shouldn’t be much harder than the balancing and swinging exercises that he performed in parkour. He examined the trees as a climber would a rock wall, looking for handholds and branches that would support his weight.

Selecting the route that would work best Kevin stood and moved forward, leaping to grab hold of a branch on one tree and swing himself onto the branch of another. He wobbled briefly before regaining his balance. Looking back at the targs, they hunting around the tree Kevin had been in trying to catch his scent. Suddenly the looked up in the direction that Trace had run off as if they were being called. Almost immediately, they began trotting after him.

Thunder rolled in the distance and rain started to fall. Kevin swore silently and began picking his route to the next tree.

-------------

It took about fifteen minutes for Kevin to catchup to Trace and the targs. By now the raindrops had turned into a downpour. That made it difficult to keep his footing on the branches especially with the cuts and bruises he was collecting.

The four targs had surround the security officer who had climbed up on some rocks. He was keeping them at bay with his bullwhip. Kevin analyzed the scene, considering how he could help Trace. With nothing but a pair of swimming trunks, his options were limited but he grabbed a smaller branch that extend from the tree, breaking of a four-foot length of it.

Kevin carefully move out on the branch until he was over one of the targs. He planned to leap from the branch onto the targ and pierce it with his makeshift weapon. He had performed a similar maneuver during parkour simulations in the holodeck but this time there were no safety interlocks. He steeled himself for the leap.

Then he hear a steady crack. Looking back towards the trunk of the tree, where the branch he was crouched on began to break away from the trunk. Too late he realized that he had moved too far out on the branch and before he had time to grab onto another, he was falling.

Kevin and the branch landed square on the targ that he had been aiming for and the branch that he was gripping in both hands pierced the side of the animal more by luck than design. It screamed in pain and surprise as it fled with the tree branch extending from its flank. Pain radiated from Kevin’s left arm and blood flowed freely from a gash received from one of the targ’s spikes. He rolled to his feet, gripping his left arm, facing the three targs that now turned in his direction.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed close to them and there was almost immediate crash of thunder flowing. Kevin and Trace both reflexively crouch but the targs, alarmed by both the expected attack and the proximity of the lightning, scattered into the jungle.

Trace climbed down off of the rocks and approached Kevin. “Thanks for the assist,” he commented drily, “but I had things under control.”

“Yeah, that didn’t go quite as I planned,” replied Kevin.

Tearing strips of cloth from his shirt, Trace wrapped Kevin’s arm to cover the gash and staunch the flow of blood. “The storm can’t be natural,” he observed, “Must be the work of our mutual friend.”

Kevin nodded and winced as Trace tighten the bandages with a knot.

“I think I saw a cave up the hill,” Trace declared, “We can take refuge there.”

“Hopefully the rain will wash away our scent,” Kevin commented as the two officers began climbing the hill for the supposed safety of the cave.

:off

Kevin Lance
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant JG Tracey Walker
Security Officer
USS Chuck Norris