<USS Avalon> Make Ready for the Hunt!

"Again, it's not good enough!" Adrian shouted into the dim corridor on the 
holodeck training room. They had gone through this scenario four times already, 
and somebody had ended up dead, or the mission failed. It was getting way too 
frustrating. "We know nothing about these things, except they are biological 
weapons. That means they could be anything."
 
"How the hell are we supposed to know how to fight them without knowing what 
they are," Chapman muttered, but took up his weapon and began the exercise 
again.
 
"I'm betting they won't even be there. We're gonna get there and find a 
shitload of dead thieves and busted bio shit, all get contaminated, and spend 
the rest of our existence in transporter stasis." Rhodes smirked. "So, who 
wants to go first?" He waited a beat for another to take the lead, then charged 
in with a mock salute and a loud bellowing "SEMPER FI."
 
His expression wasn't any better as he watched them go through the exercise. 
They weren't getting it, but how could he articulate it with giving anything 
that he might know away.
 
Jorgens rushed in after him, all jangled nerves and adrenaline from having died 
twice already, firing at everything that moved.
 
The simulation turned for the worst as this time Rhodes lay flat on his back, 
feeling a jolt of pain used to be a minor feeling of what death was like. 
"Computer, end simulation." 
 
Adrian said calmly as the black and yellow walls came in around them, soon to 
be returned to their normal greyish color. "Have a seat." He said to the five 
members assembled there in front of him after a few moments.
 
"Jorgens, you ass," Rhodes whispered loudly. "You got me killed."
 
"What do you mean, I got you killed, cheerleader boy," Jorgens responded, her 
eyes flashing dangerously. "Semper Fi my ass, you jughead."
 
"Can it," Carlisle growled at them both. "You both act like a couple of 
sophomores gettin' ready for your first school dance. You wanna drop your cocks 
and don your jocks, please? Seems like we're way past game time here."
 
Chapman just shook his head. "Notes, sir?"
 
Adrian's dark eyes settled over each one of them as they spoke, his body 
temperature rising. Since when did they bicker like this... he pondered to 
himself simply. "It doesn't matter who got who killed, what matters is that 
someone died, and as Chapman can tell you from the Dominion days, one dead is 
not usually the only one." 
 
The body armor that they wore was starting to get uncomfortable, it always did 
after prolonged events, but that didn't matter much, the focus now was getting 
them to understand. "Were dealing with biological weapons in an edge with 
unprecedented technology. Biological, living right? What things living that we 
know of could be potentially dangerous?"
 
"Founders," Jorgens suggested. "Could be hiding as just about anything."
 
"Jemmies," Carlisle continued. "All junked up, just about any race is 
dangerous, though."
 
"I hear Lokiian's can be pretty dangerous. Healing almost as quick as you hit 
them, and able to move things around with just their minds. I hear they can get 
into your heads, too." Rhodes added.
 
"Anything can be dangerous if it thinks it's cornered," Chapman said calmly. 
"And if we go in there hot headed and guns blazing, they're gonna fight back no 
matter what they are." 
 
He took in all that they said and agreed with it all. "Exactly, and I think all 
of you are right. Now, lets combine all of the worst and most dangerous 
characters of any number of races out there, even take the seemingly calm ones 
like Vulcans and turn their good natured abilities into evil." Adrian waited a 
moment for them to think about it. "That, is what were dealing with." 
 
"Now, the question is not what it's capable of, I think we each can come up 
with our own nightmares of that. The question is, what will it look like. Let’s 
think about Vega Prime now, spill whatchya know." 
 
"Not much, besides you don't ever want to be stationed there," Jorgens 
admitted. "I've heard that you get to be test material once you're there. They 
can do whatever they want to you. Scary shit, too."
 
"I know they came out with a sonic weapon about ten years back that almost 
decimated an entire colony. " Rhodes said. "Had family there. Not a single 
survivor."
 
Chapman shrugged. "I've heard the same late night in the bar stories everyone 
else has, I think. Mad scientists, Frankenstein monsters, shit like that."
 
Carlisle shrugged. "All I really know is your not supposed to talk about what 
you know."
 
"Well, either way, were dealing with them now, and clearly what you all have 
heard, it ain't exactly daisies and dandelions." Adrian smirked at their 
comments, though a few sparked some concern. "Now, thinking about that, that 
sort of evil, and the sort of power that they could possess, what would be the 
best way to 'package,' something that carries the most destructive traits of 
every race we know, and don't know, of?" 
 
"An as pretty a wrap as possible? " Rhodes asked as if trying to determine 
where this was going.
 
"You'd want it to look harmless," Carlisle agreed.
 
Adrian's head nodded in agreement as he switched the weight of his feet, glad 
to see that they are starting to go somewhere. "Exactly, so what options do we 
have?"
 
"If it breathes shoot it," Jorgens answered quickly. "I mean, if you don't know 
what it looks like, and it could be anything, what choice do you have?"
 
"And if it's near the survivors, what then?" Chapman asked calmly. "We need to 
find a way to identify it without setting it off."
 
"Why shoot it?" Adrian turned quickly over to Jorgens. "Let’s remember what 
were dealing with, something biological, which means that it’s still living. No 
one's answering my question though, what is something that looks harmless and 
can be real pretty lookin'? Come on, lets see whatchya got, no right or wrong 
answers at this point."
 
"Girls," Jorgens answered with a grin. "Tiny oriental girls with big..."
 
: "ahem.." Carlisle interrupted. "Puppies...kids...kittens...something small 
you want to protect?"
 
Rhodes eyebrows shot up. "You think so?"
 
Carlisle shrugged, "dunno...he said no right or wrong answer though, and if I 
was wanting something to look harmless maybe I'd go that way."
 
"For all we know they look like us. Could even be planted among the wounded," 
Chapman said quietly, brow furrowing. "Hell maybe it's plants, like that creepy 
Vulcan Lieutenant's keeping in the lab."
 
Again, Adrian was watching them interact with their answers. Something's not 
right. Somebody knows something else... "Well, I decided to do some research, 
and I like where Carlisle is going. However, I think what were looking for 
would be something like this." 
 
At that moment, a small girl, around from 6 to 9 materialized in front of them. 
She was almost perfect, but had a few clear features that would also make her 
hard to make out in a crowd. Overall though, she was as cute as a button. "This 
my friends, is what I believe were up against."
 
The first response was collective gasps. "You really think we're being ordered 
to ignore survivors and go in guns blazing to take out children?" Chapman asked 
incredulously. 
 
"Why not," Rhodes answered sullenly. "If they'll kill one of their own colonies 
just to test a weapon, and order us to abandon survivors, why wouldn't they 
bastardize babies too?"
"I'm not sure I buy it, sir. I mean...it's a kid. I'm supposed to just head off 
and kill a kid?" Jorgens chimed in, frowning.
 
Carlisle just sighed. "I heard a story from an ensign on Izar before I got 
posted, something about forced mutations, but I thought it was crap." she 
looked up at Jackson. "How do you want this handled, sir?" 
 
"This is a child, regardless of what potential dangers it holds. Let’s remember 
a couple of things first." He said, focusing on the situation at hand. "First, 
you need to remember that our primary objective is to recover these weapons, or 
whatever you'd like to call them. I think part of the problem is that these 
children can't control what they have inside them, otherwise I think it would 
be alot harder to just 'steal them' away. Does anyone remember what happens 
when a Lokiian baby gets scared by someone?"
 
"They wreak havoc. Throw things around with their minds, project their cries 
and feelings into your head. That's why Lokiian mother's usually make Tantori's 
be wet-nurses and nannies. So they don't have to deal with it." Carlisle 
answered.
 
"So, if you were to run up at this child, gun raised looking like you were 
about ready to blow it away, what do you think might happen?" 
 
"nothing good," Rhodes sighed. "Likely they'll panic and we'll end up with 
whatever happened to the Resurgence happening to us."
 
"You think that's what happened to the 'Surge?" Jorgens asked. "One of them got 
scared?" 
 
"I think that’s exactly what happened." Adrian said matter of factly. "I mean, 
were dealing with the same people that build weapons that can destroy entire 
colonies, and they want whatever was stolen back." He looked around and looked 
back at them. "Anyone understand what I'm trying to get at here?" 
 
"...do we really want to give them back?" Chapman asked seriously.
 
"Why, Chapman, you getting paternal feelings?" Rhodes teased. 
 
"We've got our orders," Jorgens said seriously. "It's not like we've got other 
options, is it?"
 
"Doesn't sound right, though, does it," Carlisle asked seriously.
 
Adrian shook his head. "This is the dilemma I'm dealing with at the moment, but 
for right now let us plan on trying to at least locate them and see if we can 
extract them safely. 
This brings me to my second point. I don't give a fuck about orders." Adrian's 
eyes burned with intensity with his words. "Our first priority is to find those 
survivors. At the very least, they may be able to give us some hints about how 
we should approach dealing with it."
 
"We have a starting point - the point where the 'Surge went down - right? So 
what do we know of their angles and trajectories at impact? Anything that'll 
give us a clue where to look?" Chapman asked, pulling info up on his PADD as he 
did so.
 
"How about beacons and COMs. Do we know if there's any atmospheric 
interference? Any reason we shouldn't read them going in?" Carlisle asked, 
peering over Chapman's shoulder.
 
"Computer, activate program B3-4692-A." Adrian's voice rang out as an image of 
the space where the Resurgence had gone down appeared all around them. "Based 
on the situation, both the shuttle and the escape pods would most likely have 
headed. It's a basic class M planet with little other issues." He walked over 
to the planet in question and it grew larger towards them. 
 
"I've spoken with Engineering and were going to have outfitted shuttles for our 
purposes of searching. We've also got a basic idea of the trajectory of the 
escape pods." Adrian pointed to a few dots that now lined the planet. "The 
atmosphere is normal, so we shouldn't face any problems finding the survivors."
 
"What's our ETA?" Rhodes asked, studying the projected trajectories carefully.
 
Adrian pondered for a moment. "A few hours I hope. It's already been 2 full 
days since we got the information, so the concern is already there. Just 
waiting to hear from Ketchum. Anything else?" 
 
"How well provisioned and safe do we assume the survivors are?" Carlisle asked. 
"I mean...given how they bailed, should we have medics on hand with us?"
 
"Absolutely. Based on what I've been informed, the destruction of the ship was 
quick and unexpected. Based on that and the supplies available, I would bet the 
number of wounded is pretty extensive. We'll do a landing as best as possible." 
Adrian responded without really pondering it.
 
"I'll make sure we've got extra water and K's on hand." Carlisle nodded, making 
notes on her own PADD.
 
"How many do we think got off?" Jorgens asked.
 
Adrian's brow furrowed. "Only a few escape pods ejected from the data we have, 
so my guess is under thirty. This of course, is all based on how many were in 
those pods when they went off. The Avalon will deal with locating where the 
shuttle went off to while were doing this, so people don't start wondering why 
were taking our sweet time."
 
"Nothing on indigenous life on the planet? Anything that we can prepare for?" 
Rhodes asked.
 
"Waiting for the full report from science, but anything goes and I doubt that 
the people onboard did their homework either." Adrian said in response. "Though 
the initial findings have nothing regarding intelligent life, that doesn't rule 
out carnivorous life either."
 
"So we should err on the side of caution. Take extra medical supplies. Of 
course, if the indigenous life is unidentified, that could make identifying the 
weapons harder too." 
 
Chapman's frown deepened. "No help for it. Scan as we go, then. Make note of 
what we're seeing on the way in and stay on our toes."
 
Jorgens nodded. "Who from medical are we gonna have with us? We might want to 
make sure whoever it is has some combat experience, just in case."
 
"Still waiting on that also, though I think it'll be marines for the first bit, 
probably better that, not dealing with too much outside influence just yet." 
Adrian stated, chuckling to himself at that last comment. "Judging by the 
situation though, I would not be surprised if Dr. Mahler joins us."
 
"Doc Mahler? Can he handle a weapon?" Jorgens asked, genuinely surprised.
 
"Don't know, but I'll make sure that if he can't that he'll be learned by the 
time he's on that shuttle." Adrian said, trying to quell any concerns regarding 
the medical staff.
 
"I'll help with that if you want," Chapman offered, setting his PADD aside. "I 
can fit him, arm him and train him, at least well enough to shoot if he has to 
and stay behind me otherwise."
 
"Okay, then," Carlisle nodded, putting away her notes and taking up her gun. 
Let's do this thing."
 
Rhodes and Jorgens grabbed their weapons and followed her to the edge of the 
holodeck. "Run it again, sir," she called out to Phillips. "I think we're 
ready."
 
"Computer, restart simulation." Adrian said simply as the room returned back to 
a forested area, with a compound in front of them. "Good hunting."

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