Time to go

Posted on Fri Mar 22nd, 2024 @ 3:55am by Commander Kevin Lance & Captain Mira Rodale & Lieutenant Commander Awal Kronnelti & Lieutenant Tracey Walker Jr & Lieutenant Betaras K'ner
Edited on on Sat Mar 30th, 2024 @ 10:48pm

Mission: Thunderdome
Location: Paarth Elion Three
Timeline: Present

on:
{Outside Grendaas stronghold}

Trace started up the vehicle and took off. They had a small window to get out of the Stronghold and get to safety. Mira was figuring the only safe place would be back on the ship.

Montgomery was tracking them as best the ship could. Mira hand squeezed Kevin's arm. When Trace took a turn with enough speed to alarm her.

The scientists looked half starved and needed medical care. The counselor looked far better then the last time she had seen her but Mira was betting the woman would not want to leave the ship again. Still she might find her inner strength as Rogar had. Mira planned to work with Rogar on that more as time went by on the ship.

{Motor Pool}

...As the vehicle disappeared out of sight, a hulking figure stepped through the compromised opening that allowed their departure. Slumped in his hand was a man wondering just what his value was now...

"Our farm. They had to have started there to look for us. They should have to return there to escape, either in a craft or with help that's waiting for them." At least he didn't explain matter translocation to the low-tech warlord, but he knew he'd better give him something positive or that value he was counting on would begin to drop.

Grendaas didn't reply to him, didn't even glance down, just smiled with the putrid hatred that suffused his being. These interlopers would pay, and he would very much enjoy it while it lasted... and he wanted it to last as long as possible. He finally turned back into the smoke, barking orders as he came across his men, those that weren't still down or dead. There were things even his toy professor didn't know...

{ Road Trip }

As the team barreled down the road, K'ner slipped between each, assessing conditions. The crew had fared pretty well, and she reminded Mira to get her boots on, with a small smile. The scientists, however, hadn't had a comfortable stay and would likely not be leaving a 5-star review for Chez Grendaas. She applied the healing herbs she had to ease the discomfort as much as possible, and waited for the next bump that Trace seemed determined to locate along their route.

Climbing upward to where Kronnelti braced on the weapon, K'ner also wondered where the next attack would come from and practically yelled down so Kevin and Mira could hear as well.

"This is the enemy's territory and they know it much better than we do. Do you think they have a way to cut us off? I haven't seen any communication gear, but there were ways of old to pass information across distances that didn't require advanced technology."

Mira grinned at K'ner she had all but forgotten her half dresses state. Her feet were sore but not bleeding. She slipped on her pants with some help to keep her from falling, then added the boots. Her weapons were a must.

Mira eyed the top, wondering if she really needed that because it meant taking the robe off. Nope, robes were fine as a top. She had flashed the crew enough skin for one day. "Good question if we didn't have to follow these darn rules we could beam out now."

"Maybe Kronnelti and Walker could rig up one of the vehicle lights to flash a message to the Norris," Kevin suggested, "They are hiding in the planet's shadow but it should be obvious to them tonight."

"The signal would be very weak," Mira reasoned then she pointed to the scientist's truck being driven by Lockhart and T'Parlik following behind,
"and we would need to stop to get tools and equipment off the other trunk. I don't think that we can risk giving Grendaas a chance to catch up." She shivered involuntarily at the thought.

Kronnelti heard what they were saying, slow down a bit he said, Mira asked why? Trust me he said.

She slowed down and Lockhart and T'Pralik caught up, Kronnelti jumped onto their truck. What are you doing Lockhart asked? Getting some tools he said.

He then jumped back, keep going he said as he climbed to the front of the truck. He ripped a spotlight off and worked on it while the vehicles were hauling ass.

It took a bit but he got it working.

I ripped apart my phaser and rifle took the two crystals and rigged them in the wires.

Tell me when to turn this thing on he yelled.

"Get back in the truck, you fool," Kevin shouted, "They are on the other side of the planet and won't be able to see it until well after dark!" He knew Kronnelti's oath was to make it home to his wife and unborn child but there were times that he just acted crazy.


{Grendaas}

"Faster you fool!" Grendaas shouted as he slapped the driver's helmeted head. The driver's foot already had the accelerator pushed to the floor and there was no higher gear left. The driver having little other option forced his hand away from the break lever and was a little less diligent about avoiding dips and bumps. Maybe Grendaas would be forced to hold on to the roll bar with both hands.

Grendaas was unconcerned about the precarious movement of the vehicle as he scanned the horizon for the fools that dared to attack his stronghold. The four wheeled Pyerons were faster that the heavy guntruck the interlopers absconded in, but had less firepower and a smaller crew capacity. Still, he had a numerical advantage as he was able to bring 38 of his best remaining warriors against the foreigners' 20 at best.

He was rewarded by the visions of a dust cloud on the horizon. Based on the speed difference between the Peryons and their prey, he would close the distance in ten minutes.


{Guntruck}

"Captain!" Dana shouted, "We have a problem!"

Mira climbed over Kevin and the scientists to reach Dana at the rear of the guntruck's open passenger compartment. She looked over the edge of the truck. A dust cloud on the road behind the second truck was growing in size and getting closer.

"Son of a targ," Mira cursed as she saw the dust cloud. "I hate being out numbed and out gunned." Mira grumbled. "We picked the wrong vehicles. His are faster, and he has more."

Kronnelti seeing this jumps on the gun, he racks it getting ready to let loose a barrage of bullets.

Kronnelti signals for T'Pralik to go faster as he points behind them.


{Grendaas}

As his column approached what he judged was the extreme range of the stolen guntruck's gatling gun, Grendaas moved his hands in a outward pushing motion. The vehicles behind him spread out to a line formation with five vehicles to his left and four to his right.

"Slow down to execute a double horn attack," he shouted at the driver and he held his hand high with only his index and pinkie fingers extended. Guards in the other vehicles mimicked his hand signal. The vehicles in the center of the line began to slow allowing those on the end to extend forward as they prepared to attack the guntruck from three sides.


{Guntruck}

"Trace by any chance, can you get us anymore speed?" Mira yelled, then turned her head to look out the back window at the dust being kicked up from the vehicles. "Anything we don't need to survive needs to go. Weapons. food water, stay for now. Weapons stay or we don't survive."

Kevin shook his head. "This thing is stripped for combat," he shouted, "There is nothing to jettison besides passengers."

Kronnelti rips the bag off his back, looking inside he sees he still has a few grenades left, he takes one and arms it.

Grendaas is only a few minutes behind so he times it for 1 minute, he puts it back then ties up the bag and chucks it.

Kevin saw Kronnelti throw a bag, what the hell are you doing?

I'm buying us time he said. Just keep driving and hold on.

T'Pralik drove by the bag catching up to them.

Grendaas's vehicle came up to the bag catching up, Kronnelti thought his plan was about to fail until....

BOOM a big fireball lit up the sky creating a crater blowing one of Grendaas's vehicles into the air.


{Grendass}

Kelley sat behind Grendaas, white knuckles gripping the rollbar and seat in front of him, wondering where everything had gone wrong. If the Federation had permitted the team to take greater steps towards arresting the devolution of society. If Doctor McLaren had listened to him about allying with the powerful warlord. If Grendaas had listen to him about keeping the rest of the science team secure. If…if…if… His dreams of rescuing the Paarthians while attaining a savior’s power and privilege.

Grendaas watched as the Pyerons on the wings moved into position on either flank of the fleeing guntruck. In minutes, he would give the order to close the trap. As they closed the distance, he spied a object on the road ahead that looked out of place. They were rapidly closings on a bulky item that was a darker color than the ground itself. “Break Right!” he shouted to the driver, slapping him on the left side of his helmet.

As his vehicle swerved to the right, the vehicle to their left turned to maintain formation, driving over the mysterious object just as it exploded. The Pyeron was launched into the air, flipping into a roll to the left. Weapons, ammunition, equipment and bodies were all flung from the vehicle as it continued to roll.

Grendaas stood up to his full height as he signaled the other vehicles to close in on the guntruck and its companion. He smiled in wicked delight that the enemy was choosing to fight rather than surrender. He would kill all the males and the take the females back to the stronghold to “play” with as long as their minds and bodies would allow. He slapped the driver on the top of his helmet to make him go faster.


{Guntruck}

K'ner was keeping an eye on the scientists when the explosion occurred. She looked over at Mira, "That should tick him off even more. He didn't seem like a man easily dissuaded from the task at hand, especially if he feels he's been made a fool."

The scientists nodded in agreement to her statement. "He is prone to anger but beyond his over-aggressive tendencies he is a very intelligent individual. He is relentless. He will resume his chase and grind us into the ground with every resource he has and can take. He has mentioned something more than once that would indicate he can communicate with other outposts, not just by courier. I would make haste, but with all caution we can."

K'ner nodded. "We'll get you home. Just relax and let the Klingon run interference."

The man smiled. "I thought he might be, especially when he yells."

K'ner looked over at Mira to ensure she overheard. "I'm liking that early contact to the ship to get us outta here versus the chances of making it all the way back to the original transporter site."

Mira nodded she was really regretting following the rules set out by the Admiral. She would never leave again on a mission like this without a hail, Mary. Montgomery had even suggested that it could be placed under her skin. "The ship is making sure it's not seen by the people here." Mira lowered her head in thought. "What about the Elionians? Everyone seems to fear them. Would Igwa help us?"

The scientists looked surprised. "You spoke with him?" he asked her.

Mira nodded. "A few times. Why?"

The man looked shocked, "It took use nearly two years to come to a truce with Igwa and the Elionians. They would tear up Grendaas and his men."

Mira nodded, "That's what I thought." But would they be able to tell the differents between them and the Grendaas?

K'ner's brows scrunched up as she thought about something she'd heard and began scanning the horizon.

"Heads up!" Kevin shouted, "They are closing in!"

Kronnelti swung the guntruck's gatling gun to the right in the direction of one of the approach vehicles and began turning the gun's crank. The gun barked a load hammering noise as the heavy slugs departed in search of the Klingon's target.

Several slugs hit their target disabling one of the grendaas trucks, Kronnelti yelled back how much longer till it's dark?

As another truck came in view then disappeared. That's two trucks down he yelled

K'ner checked both sides of the guntruck, looking out... On one side was mostly the flat lands, some rolling hills, but the other was more broken up with taller peaks and the edges of a mountain range.

She leaned down to the cab and shouted at Tracey. "Find a path into the hills. That way..." She pointed to emphasize the direction they needed.

Trace nodded, and turned toward the mountains in a wide arc so as not to compromise the speed.

Turning back to the Captain, K'ner could tell Mira was looking for an out. Kevin leaned in as she voiced her idea. "The Elionians gave me an idea. When I was tracking them, they mentioned their outposts along the hills and keeping apprised of the captured scientists whereabouts. I didn't understand what they meant until now about those hills... it's the mountain range. Grendaas rules the lowlands, but Igwa's people command the high ground and they do not tolerate any intrusion. Even if we haven't met whatever community is closest, they know we were coming here to retrieve those captured. Either A, they see Grendaas' men chasing us and ambush them, or B, stop all of us, but that still takes care of our unwanted pursuit... Between you and the scientists, we should be able to parlay with whoever is in charge up there yes?"

The gatling gun fire was doing a good job of keeping their attackers away from the left side of the guntruck but small arms firing was starting to come in from their right. Kronnelti called for a reload and Kevin jumped up to remove the spent drum and slam a fresh one into place.

Enemy fire hit the side of the guntruck but the thick metal plates that had been slowing them down now protected the away team and scientists.

Ensign Thorne and Crewman Rogar, were alternately popping up to fire their black powder muskets and dropping down to reload. Thorne, Mira observed, was an excellent shot. Every round from her dropped an enemy off of the pursuing vehicles. Rogar’s shots, however, appeared to have no effect.

A vehicle pursuing from the rear caught up to unarmed truck carrying T’Parlik and Lockhart. One of the vehicles fired a harpoon from a cannon mounted on the back of the vehicle that pierced the truck in the side. Like a rodeo cowboy bring down a large steer, the smaller slowed the truck allowing another vehicle to pull alongside and discharge several of Grendaas’ men into T’Parlik’s vehicle.

{Grendaas}

The warlord cheered as two of the Pyerons brought down the trailing truck like a wounded boveeni and signaled the remaining five to continue the assault on the guntruck. They were closing the distance and as Grendaas’ vehicle passed the trailing truck he aimed his sniper rifle at the guntruck. With patience, he waited for a target to expose itself. Seconds passed, then a large male exposed himself as he was reloading the truck’s gatling gun. Grendaas squeezed of a shot.

{Guntruck}

Kevin had just finished loading the last drum of rounds into the gatling gun for Kronnelti when he was spun around by a heavy kick to the back of his left shoulder. Pain shot from his shoulder through the rest of his torso. His vision went dark for a moment then he opened his eye to the blue sky. Why am I lying down, he thought.

Simultaneously, a ricochet from one of the rounds from the enemy vehicles caught Geneva in the leg, and she went down with a yelp of pain.

A shout from a familiar voice behind him grabbed Trace's attention, but he forced himself to focus on the task at hand.

Mira screamed as she saw Kevin go down. She pushed through the scientists to get to him.

Dana Rogar saw Kevin and Geneva go down and was overcome with the terror that they all were going to die. Glutamate mixed with serotonin in her brain, triggering an extreme adrenaline response. The cold sensation descended upon her.

She picked up her rifle and took aim, killing the driver of the nearest vehicle. The vehicle drifted away from the guntruck in an ever tightening curve. Bodies jumped from the vehicle before it tumbled into a destructive roll. She reached for the cartridge box on her belt and found it empty. "I'm out of ammo."

Mira yelled back, "Check my bag." She tossed the bag and Dana snatched it out of the air. Inside were three grenades, two of which had not been modified. She activated both and tossed them into another of Grendaas' vehicles. The grenades exploded, shredding the occupants.

Dana saw the truck with T'Parlik and Lockhart falling behind and being swarmed with Grendaas' troops. "We have to go back for the others!" she shouted.

Trace seemed to know what she meant and cut the wheel of the guntruck hard to the left. Kronnelti's aim was thrown off but it mattered little. Trace accelerated and the guntruck rammed into one of Grendaas' smaller vehicles, smashing the lighter vehicle into tiny bits. One of the occupants ended up on the hood of the guntruck. Trace quickly dispatched him with a blast from his shotgun.


{Grendaas}

The warlord screamed in fury. In a matter of minutes, the interlopers had destroyed five of his Pyerons. He would make them PAY!


{Scientist truck}

T'Parlik was paralyzed with fear. Lockhart had stopped trying to keep the truck moving. The drag created by the vehicle that had harpooned the truck had made trying to keep up with the guntruck impossible. Instead, he was fighting off the three soldiers that had jumped on to the truck. Protecting the ship's counsellor was his only mission now.


{Guntruck}

Trace's maneuver turned them in the direction of the unarmored truck containing T'Parlik and Lockhart. Dana saw her fellow security guard fight several of Grendaas' men. With cartridges recovered from Mira's bag, she did her best to assist him with suppressive fire.

Kronnelti, out of ammo for the gatling gun, was defending the guntruck from soldiers who had jumped from the remaining vehicles.

Mira watched as the remaining members of the away team frantically fended off the overwhelming number of attackers who were swarming the guntruck. Kevin pulled a pistol from his bandolier and extended his arm across Mira shoulder then shot an attacker that was coming up from behind her.

"This has to end," Mira thought as she observed the approach of Grendaas on his vehicle. She leapt over the side of the guntruck and sprinted towards the warlord.


{Grendaas}

Grendaas smiled as his men closed in for the kill. Suddenly he saw a female in a familiar blue robe leap to the ground and begin running towards him. He recognized her as the sexy creature that he had found in Kelley's quarters adjacent to his headquarters. The one that he had made his fourth.

One of his guards took aim at Mira as she ran but Grendaas knocked the male's aim away as he shot. "NO!" he shouted, "This one is mine!"

He drew his long blade and jumped out of his vehicle.


{Guntruck}


Mira pulled her sword from her side and a knife from her belt.

"Ah, my little 4th pet," Grendaas told her. "Come here to your master."

"I am not your pet. This ends now!" Mira told him, as a cold filled her nerves. She let years of training take over. As she swung her sword, Grendaas just barely met the sword she used on him. She was fighting him?

How? His mind couldn't grasp such a little thing would even try, but here she was. Meeting him swing for swing and faster than he could keep up. Mira sword slipped through his defenses and pierced this heart. She pulled her blade out and whirled away as he fell to his knees, looking up at her

Out of nowhere, the ground started to shake. "By all that is holy what now!"

Elionians came out of the mountains on huge beasts. Mira placed a hand over her heart as a sign of peace as a few Elionians rode by them. The remainder of Grendaas' men, the ones that Kronnelti hadn't dispatched, turned tail and ran as they saw the approach of the Elionians.

Once the urgency of flight was over, Trace vacated the driver's seat and went immediately to Geneva's side. He looked toward K'ner as if to say 'fix her'.

Mira held out her arms, palm out, then touched her heart as the Elionians surrounded them.

"K'ner, how bad is he?" Mira asked about Kevin as her eye met what she assumed was the leader of the Elionians group here.

"His shoulder pauldron prevented the bullet from penetrating," K'ner said, "but the impact shattered his scapula. I can repair it back on the ship but he is going to be in alot of pain once the shock wears off."

Mira nodded.

The male Elionian followed the moves Mira had made and then slid off his ride. Whatever that huge creature was. In his language, she started a conversation with him.

"Ish," he pointed to himself

"Mira," she pointed to herself. "I thank you for your assistance."

"He is our enemy. You are not, but we want all their weapons." Ish told her.

"Of course," Mira nodded. Then, she let him walk away before she went to check on her people in the other trunk and bringing them back to the weapon trunk.

With Grendaas dead, it left an opening for a new leader to be possibly even worse then Grendaas. As soon as they could travel Mira was moving them out.

Mira climbed into the truck to take Kevin's hand.

:off

Captain Mira Rodale
CO
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lt Betaras K'ner
Haz Team Combat Medic TL-A / Acting CMO
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant Awal Kronnelti
Chief of security and tactical
USS Chuck Norris

and

Lieutenant Tracey Walker
Chief Engineer
USS Chuck Norris