<USS Avalon> "Not-So-Simple Gifts"
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:15:14 -0800 (PST)
Not-So-Simple Gifts
By Commander Javan Sierra and Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury,
with Winters, Eckstein, Hollander, and Benevente
His boot thundered out of the turbolift, Zachary Winters and Evan Benevente on
his heels. All three were equipped with compression phaser rifles and on full
alert. He'd dispatched Marksbury and a team of her covert operations people to
the other side of the deck to meet somewhere in the middle. Deck Thirteen.
There was nothing strategic about beaming a weapon of mass destruction to such
a remote location - there had to be more.
"Winters?"
"Nothing on scans, sir. Two corridors ahead, right and then left."
"It's not a person. If it was, it would've moved by now. Let Marksbury's team
know."
"I'm following you," she said, having kept the com-link open between the two
teams, Eckstein and Hollander with her. "We're cutting across section two,
approaching from the other side. Let us know when you're ready to approach the
corridor, we're almost in place."
They placed themselves at the other end of the corridor, around the side so
they were not vulnerable to attacks. "Ready to go on three, watch your fire,
don't shoot unless shot at." There was a momentary pause of hesitation.
"One...two...three!" Javan's three members flipped around the corner, rifles
poised and ready to fire, but saw nothing but a set of what looked like three
briefcases with a device humming in the center of them.
His eyes darted down the corridor at Marksbury's team, Hollander and Eckstein
flanking her as they whipped around into view. Cautiously, Javan started down
the hallway towards their target. It didn't look threatening, but his
experience and training told him that looks could often be deceiving. "Scans?"
"Unable to penetrate the cases, sir."
"Well, that's a hell of a gift."
Glancing quickly at Hollander, Marksbury asked, "What is that device and can we
deactivate it?"
Hollander looked at her, "Unknown on both fronts, Lieutenant."
Javan stood in front of the device, the humming piercing through the silence
like a drill through dilithium crystals. He knelt down, staring at the cases
and the device in the center. "Something tells me we're going to need the
person who sent this to us to deactivate it. The device in the center looks to
have organic components."
Benevente tilted his head, moving up and kneeling next to his superior,
"Interesting. Do you think that it's a weapon. Why would you want to guard
small cases with a deadly device? Unless whatever is inside them is just as
deadly - "
"If not more," Winters interjected.
"What do you say, sir?" Marksbury asked Sierra. "Contain them in a forcefield
until we can get engineering to take a look at deactivating that device? And
I?d like to know how this got through our shields."
"I concur."
"Why don't we just grab the cases and let Engineering handle the device?"
Benevente reached for the case. Before Javan could react, a blistering sound
erupted through the drone of the device. An orange field appeared just briefly
- a blink of an eye - between Evan's hand and the cases. The security officer
was catapaulted back about ten feet and slammed into the deck plating.
Winters took a step back and knelt down next to his fallen comrade, "Medical
Emergency, deck thirteen."
"Damn it," Javan said, staring at the prone body of his subordinate. "Sierra to
Engineering, please have a team sent to deck thirteen. We need their help in
deactivating the field around our mysterious packages." He looked at Marksbury,
a look of concern on his face. "What do you think?"
"Computer, generate forcefield two meters cubed around the foreign objects."
The computer chirped a response and a forced field shimmered momentarily around
the cases. "I think we need to get whoever beamed these little presents over
here off that Marauder." Looking to Eckstein and Hollander, she said, "Stand
guard while Engineering gets here. Order a medical team standing by as well and
keep us updated." Turning back to Javan, "I say we go see Ketchum. This just
got a hell of a lot more interesting."
"Let's bring Science into this as well, we could use some of their expertise.
Sierra to Science, please dispatch a scientist to my location to assist in the
deactivation of a hostile threat." Javan nodded, moving away down the corridor
with Marksbury. Calling over his shoulder, he gave further orders, "Winters,
stay with Benvente until they move him to sickbay and accompany him. Let me
know if anything changes."
The Red Alert klaxons continued to blare as the pair made their way to the
bridge.
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'
Other related posts:
- » <USS Avalon> "Not-So-Simple Gifts"
