<USS Avalon> Cleaning Out the Avalon-B

Cleaning Out the Avalon-B 
 
By, Sergeant Walker Texas Ranger, Marine Captain Adrian Jackson Phillips, and 
Captain Skyler  
As the shuttles got closer to the Avalon-B, Walker extended his senses 
to scan the ship they were approaching. He toggled his headset's mike to 
active on just the local band the two shuttles and teams shared, 
stating, "Ranger here. Currently sensing four life-signs aboard the B. 
Two anomalous readings may be either androids or some form of automated 
equipment. Beginning to look like an unauthorized salvage operation." He 
didn't mention the fact he had also sensed someone being attacked and 
having to report to Sickbay. He had set that particular worry aside, so 
didn't mention it, knowing it would only distract. 

"Roger, reports from the initial scans confirmed six bio-signs so we'll 
keep our eyes open." Adrian spoke into his headset as the shuttles flew 
steadily forward. "We'll split off here, Alpha Company will drop off at 
the target's vessel location, which schematics dictate is nearby the 
lower engineering bay, seems as though they blasted a hole into the 
ship." 
 
He indicated on the map that was transferred to Walker's shuttle. 
"I'll take my company and split off to the opposite side of the ship, 
start at the bridge section and begin clearing out from that direction." 

The rumble of the shuttles began to grow as they changed course and 
began their decent pulling into their positions. "Once you have secured 
the target's vessel and taken care of any resistance, disable the vessel 
and leave a squad at your shuttle and proceed onwards, moving out to 
clear as you find suit. We will stay in contact and meet up inside the 
ship, trapping the targets within. Touchdown in 3 minutes," he noted, 
the last bit being broadcast to the Avalon-C as well. 

"Roger that, Captain." Walker's tone was cool professionalism, and as 
the shuttles got closer, he did indeed know where all six bio-signs 
were, along with six more of the weird near-bio-signs that had to be 
some form of automated equipment. "Be aware that I can help vector your 
team to achieve needed surprise, Sir. Part of my race's ability set." He 
grinned slightly, his eyes twinkling. His exec just shook his head at 
Walker's amusement. 
 
"From what I sense, our best bet is to engage from the saucer section and, as 
you noted, their vessel, Sir. As Alpha will be handling their vessel, I assume 
your team will try to reach the other group? I sense one bio-sign on their 
vessel. Possibly a guard or 
something. Their vessel also appears to have atmosphere, although the 
atmosphere scopes as rather non-Terran." Not quite poisonous to them, but he 
was glad the groups were clad in e-suits or, as he was, in an ELSS that 
provided the same life-support function. 

Walker stated over headset to his group, "Lock and load! We hit them 
hard and fast in 120 seconds!" All the time, he knew that his section CO 
could also hear him. He also suited action to words, chambering a round 
in the special weapon he carried, as well as preparing his assault-phaser rifle 
and hand-phaser for action. He was, in fact, hoping he'd catch the guard 
unawares and remove that threat without killing, but he was ready for either 
way. His unit of the RSMC had been detailed to test the newest of the Regellian 
non-lethal methods, and he intended 
to do so. 

"Listen up, you lot. Cover me; I've a test to make, and I intend on 
taking the target down first shot. Set for Stun-3." The special weapon 
he carried had no such setting; it was, as stated, non-lethal. When his 
squad as a whole called out "Oorah!", he chuckled, stating, "Alpha 
ready. Twenty-six seconds to LZ." 

As the shuttle pilot aboard Phillips' shuttle voiced the final countdown 
towards their approach, he watched coolly as his squad checked their 
final gear and got set to go. There was no need for barking orders yet, 
at least not in Adrian's mind. Walker was doing enough of that for both 
of them and he knew that his team would be ready to go when they landed; 
otherwise they wouldn't be on this mission. 

"5 . . . 4 . . ." The voice of the shuttle comm slowly became ambient 
noise in Adrian's mind as he relaxed himself, allowing for his years of 
both mental and physical training to take themselves to the foreground. 
The mission was simple enough, yes, and the amount of troops sent over 
was more likely than not an overkill by Starfleet Navy Standards, but 
regardless of that, the Marine Captain knew well enough how many times 
the undermanned approach had resulted in too many dead bodies, and one 
dead body was too many. "3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . ." 

The familiar bump and hiss as the shuttle touched down on the top 
circular section near the bridge of the Avalon-B gave Phillips the 
needed jump to be out of the shuttle and crouched not too far away, 
looking around the beat up surface for the access hatch they were to use. 

As the rest of his team filed out, they located the hatch and entered 
in, securing the room they were in before signaling the shuttle off for 
the pick-up zone. "Phillips here, we have entered the XO's Ready Room on 
the Avalon-B and are proceeding to the bridge to secure. Estimate one 
life form and two machines in the area." He cut the comm at that point 
and switched it over to squad only, though he kept his receiving end on 
all channels in case they needed to contact him. 

"Alright then team, Saunders and Jacobson have point, the rest of us fan 
out and go. Sergeant Volst, take half your squad and go secure all 
turbolift and access hatches behind us to confirm that we get no more 
visitors. All right, let's make this smooth and quick. Move out Marines!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meanwhile, back at Alpha's LZ, Walker carefully panther-crawled toward 
where he could take down the guard in the scavengers' vessel. With a 
muffled thump and whistling sound as the web deployed, the being went 
down with nary a sound. Walker nearly cheered, but just signaled "all 
clear" via hand signals, then a second order to move out, covering each 
other in a leapfrog, also via hand signals. He'd stunned the disabled 
crewman with stun-3 just to be certain the being would stay down, too. 

A two-man prize crew settled in to do discovery and take the ship toward 
the Avalon-C if authorized to do so, leaving him with fourteen plus 
himself. His squad had already switched to squad-only comms, although, 
like Phillips, all of them had receivers set to all-team, with Walker's 
set to all-team and for the link to the Avalon-C. He used his 
abilities to advantage, knowing where the mechs and living intruders 
were to the fullest now that he was aboard. Within a short time, they'd 
secured Engineering, left a two-man team to man it, then worked their 
way swiftly, yet without rushing, toward the interface with the saucer 
section. Because of his superior knowledge of where the enemy was, only 
a small number of shots were fired against his team, but no significant 
trouble was faced at first. 

He toggled to where Delta and the MCO could hear his report as well and 
stated, "Those odd life signs, Sir, appear to be a weird form of 
cyborg." He was trying to keep his distress from showing, since the pain 
radiating from the units' living brains was very audible to his psionic 
abilities, even if the rest of his team was largely unaware of the 
situation. Every one they came across, Walker first tangled with the 
tangle-field webbing before disabling with Stun-3 to be certain of them. 
He was a little uncertain that he had enough webs, though, since he'd 
only brought two clips. Each held eight webs, so that was, with the 
partly used clip containing six in the unit initially, only twenty-two. 
He'd prefer to capture all of the scavengers now, if it were possible, 
and find out who or what had ordered them to the unauthorized salvage 
operation. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It had taken almost no time at all for Adrian's group to clear through 
the bridge, finding only one of the cyborg-like beings in the area with 
tracks indicating that there had been a fair bit of activity in the area 
recently. The team knew that there would be more work ahead of them. As 
he looked around, making sure all their bases were covered, Adrian 
commed in to the Avalon. "Avalon-C, this is Marine Captain Phillips. 
We have secured the bridge and have accessed the computer mainframe 
database. Is there any information we should recover or was everything 
important removed during evac?" 

While he waited for a response, he looked over towards the ladder ways 
and nodded to three of his marines, switching his comm for a moment. "Go 
ahead and secure the entrance to the deck below. We're not really sure 
where the remainder of the missing team is, but hopefully we can pick 
them off rather than face a standoff at the middle when we join up with 
Walker's unit." 

Skyler responded, "Captain, all vital information should have been 
removed upon evac. Double check for precaution's sake. Also, gather any 
and all medical supplies, weapons and anything else you think could be 
of use to us on the new ship. Once you have the B secured, a second away 
team will board in an attempt to find out why the systems failed. They 
will also recover whatever personal effects are possible. Remember, 
safety is first and foremost the most important thing. Make sure you 
come back safe. Skyler out." 

"Roger that, Avalon, we will double-check through the databases and 
finish our sweep of the ship." He nodded over to Wilco[x?] and Benson as 
he switched out his headset. "Alright then, go ahead and set up your 
generator and go through there. If any files exist on there that you 
can't access, let me know, otherwise comm me when you are through and 
we'll meet up at the evac spot. Let's move out, Delta Squad." The two 
men nodded, understanding their role perfectly. 

The rest of the team headed out the way the first three went, making 
their way methodically through each deck and clearing through each room 
on the deck before moving on. They met very little resistance, which was 
to be assumed, since most of the scavengers were probably still raiding 
all of the equipment on the lower decks, saving the personal belongings 
for later on. Adrian kept his eyes peeled, because he knew that this 
could only mean that a large confrontation would be forthcoming soon. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Walker reported to the Bridge, "Avalon-C, Alpha Lead here. Engineering 
secured, hostiles' vessel secured. Closing in on what we believe is 
Sickbay. Alpha standing by." 

Skyler replied to Walker's report with, "Alpha team, secure Sickbay and 
retrieve what supplies are available. Also gather all material from the 
forensics sciences department. No one else needs to know our business." 

Skyler was surprised at how fast the away team was working. She just 
hoped that they wouldn't have to destroy the B, yet, if it had to be 
done, she would do it. 

Walker responded politely, "Roger that, ma'am." His group was doing 
standard "cover and move" tactics, and had cleared deck by deck as well, 
although all of them knew that risky movement seemed to be the norm for 
Starfleet ship design. More than one of his troopers was heard to 
grumble about the problems caused by the curved corridors of the saucer. 

As they got within a section of what he thought was Sickbay, Walker 
signaled urgently for silence, then made another instructing everyone to 
stop and find cover. He dropped to the decksole and listened, one ear to 
the decking itself, but found it hard to pinpoint what was going on. 
There was certainly enough noise to be from a group larger than he knew 
had to be aboard and still active; people didn't get free of an 
activated tangle field web, due to the stun capabilities of the things 
and because of the tangling effect. He frowned as he realized he was 
down to one round more than a clip, too. He locked the last full clip 
into place, placing the empty back in the ammo pocket with its brother. 

Panther-crawling, he eased forward until he could use a sight-mirror to 
check around the curve into what he realized was the forced-open doors 
to Main Sickbay. It didn't take him long to realize there were four of 
the scavengers and at least ten of the cyborgs visible. He backed off 
before stating quietly, "Sergeant Ranger to Captain Phillips. Alpha's 
outside Sickbay, and we've four of the scavenger race, with at least ten 
of those cyborgs. They're heavily armed. Possibly more of the beings 
that I didn't see with the mirror, too." He checked with his 
life-sensing ability and sighed in relief below his mike's activation 
level. This appeared to be the final group. What he had in mind was a 
pincer-blitzkrieg, but if Phillips and Delta Squad weren't in the right 
position, they'd not manage to overwhelm. Some of the weapons looked 
like 20mm man-portable miniguns, and those could turn his personnel into 
mincemeat. Even his ELSS would be highly vulnerable to such firepower, 
since its shielding was primarily designed for energy weapons. Speed and 
surprise were their only defense. He advised, "Enemy seems alerted, but 
uncertain. They've got what looks to be 20mm, high fire-rate projectile 
weapons showing. Advise your position, sir? I've a plan that needs both 
Alpha and Delta." 

Delta team moved throughout the ship like a well-oiled machine, checking 
every area clean and removing the opposition as they saw fit, mostly 
using stealth tactics and ambushes, but occasionally brute force when 
necessary. They rounded the opposite bend and found themselves looking 
into Sickbay from the emergency access route. 

"Phillips here, Delta has just arrived at Sickbay as well." His voice 
was barely above a whisper, and by not knowing the hearing abilities of 
this race, Adrian was in no mind to find out the hard way. "We have 
settled at the opposite emergency accessway. Commence Gamma-3-Charlie on 
my mark, we'll take the lead." He waited for a few moments as the rest 
of his team set into place for the attack. Gamma-3-Charlie was in fact 
the pincer-blitzkrieg, but the terminology was more than likely 
different between Federation and Regellian. 

Setting his phaser rifle for spread fire, Adrian set himself against the 
wall and calmly counted to ten in his mind. "Mark, move out marines." 
His voice had never raised any volumes and his team moved quietly and 
efficiently into the back accessway, their presence not yet known by 
their foes. 

Walker's XO, whose callsign was Germany, chuckled softly, then explained 
to his boss in a whisper, "That's the same maneuver you suggested, Sir. 
Apparently you and Captain Phillips both had the same idea. Great minds 
thinking alike and all that." 

At the ten-second mark, Walker signaled his personnel to move fast while 
he teleported in past the 20mm weapons and wide-fired on Stun-4 before 
webbing both of the main 20mm gunners with lightning moves before the 
two could recover from the deliberate near-misses that had taken out two 
of the cyborg-mechs in the process. His people were quick to take down 
their targets; they knew that if Walker was killed, there'd be 
explaining to do, and that simply wasn't good. 

Walker took out two of the cyborg-mechs, now able to see what the units 
were designed for. He caught himself thinking, 'Heavy lifting and carry. 
Crude, but effective,' as the battle intensified. He was beginning to 
regret having left four of his personnel behind to guard Engineering and 
the enemy ship, too! 

As Walker's unit burst through to try to keep up with him, assuming that 
he had moved faster than the speed of light, two got tackled and injured 
as two more of the creatures ran from one of the offices and opened fire 
at the doorway. Both of them were alive but wounded and were dragged to 
safety as the team returned fire. 

Rounding the bend, Adrian surveyed the situation before him. Walker's 
unit was in a good spot, but the enemy had finally found some cover and 
was duking it out in a shoot out, something that would only end badly. 
Signaling his unit forward to support from the side, Adrian took two men 
from his unit and went through the side entrance into the offices. 

With the support of Delta squad coming in, the remaining enemies and 
mechs soon became pinned down, with only Delta suffering another small 
casualty. "Gillard and Jameston will be all right, sir, but we'll need 
to get them to sickbay once were finished here," came the voice of 
Frederick, Alpha's medic. 

"Hold your fire, Marines. We're moving in from behind them to force a 
surrender." Adrian tried not to cut the medic short, but timing was also 
of the essence, and he sounded finished anyway. 

Bursting through the main entrance to the offices, Adrian and two 
marines gunned down the remaining two mechs and turned to the three 
beings, rifles raised and speaking out in the open. "Lower your weapons 
now and surrender or we open fire! Now!!" 

One of the aliens tried to raise his 20mm in reaction, but soon found 
three different laser wounds in his body and crumpled over, with the 
other two quickly throwing down their weapons and putting their hands up. 

Walker raised an eyebrow, then mentally kicked himself for not having 
warned his men of the teleport-and-takedown as he saw that two of his 
personnel were being tended by his team's medic. They'd apparently been 
hit by one of the scavenger-team's weapons after being tackled, although 
not either of the 20mm cannons. He thought nearly dispassionately, with 
his shields raised, 'Pits below, that's going to get me a dressing-down.' 

As the order to surrender was taken seriously, his team switched to 
covering Delta as they made the necessary preparations to take the group 
of scavengers into custody. He winced as he noticed the one scavenger 
with serious phaser burns was apparently in the final stage of death 
throes. He nearly glared at his boss, but decided not to; their orders 
had been pretty clear, but if that was the leader of the group, they'd 
just lost some serious intelligence information. 

One of the Delta team squad came and cuffed up the remaining prisoners, 
Adrian quickly surveyed the scene. "Alright, Alpha Squad head to the 
pickup zone with Baker and Williams bringing the prisoners with you 
along with the wounded. Move as fast as the wounded can, there's no rush 
now since none are critical." He looked over at Walker for a moment, a 
look that showed a need of an explanation later.

He moved over towards the sickbay inventory space. "Avalon, this is 
Phillips. Avalon-B has been secured and all hostiles have been taken 
care of. We have several wounded with us as well on both sides so have a 
medical team or two awaiting the shuttles to arrive, Alpha Squad will be 
heading back in a few minutes." He looked in and noticed the mess. 
Obviously, the looters had taken some, but hadn't gotten very far with it.

"Also, Avalon, the ship is clear and stable for a second party to be 
launched over. We will leave six marines from Delta here at the key 
areas; Bridge, Engineering, and Sickbay to make sure that we haven't 
missed anyone. Once the second away team arrives to pick up whatever 
they wish from the ship I will return with the remainder of Delta 
squad." He moved out and nodded to the squads in front of him and waited 
for them to move out.

Walker stepped over to his CO and asked reasonably, but off-comm, "Shall 
we bring the looters' ship with us, Sir? Or strip and scuttle it?"

Listening to the report Skyler was glad it was almost over. "Roger that  
Captain Phillips. I will begin preparing the second away team immediately. What 
is the enviroment like over there? I assume we are going to need EVA suits 
correct?"  She wasn't sure if taking Tavi back aboard was a good idea but she 
had made a promise and they had a pact. 
 
Adrian nodded, more so to himself  then to his team who was finishing clearing 
out the surrounding area for a double check. "Correct ma'am, EVA suits are 
needed. The situation is clear and so its safe for any members of the ship to 
pick up whatever nick nacks they need. Mission Complete. Phillips out." 
 
 
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL.  Most comprehensive set of free safety and security 
tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free 
AOL Mail and more.

Other related posts: