Craig slowly raised his head from behind the hump of ground that he was using for protection in order to better survey the scene below. The valley had been filled with groups of men waiting to deal out death to anyone they could find, and Craig was determined not to let that happen to the group of refugees with him. So he was walking the point for their small group, trying to weed out any attackers that may be waiting in ambush to kill the family that he'd promised salvation to. His uniform was tattered and barely resembled anything close to Starfleet issue. He'd lost his communicator a few days ago, they were dangerously short on food and drinkable water, and the only weapon they had between them was an archaic weapon that could best be described as a "shotgun." It worked, though there were only three or four shots left in it, and he still had his binoculars which he was using now to survey the group of people he saw guarding a cluster of tents. Craig felt drained, he hadn't slept but a few short naps here and there over the last three days, but despite his exhaustion he was still able to smile at Faromire and his family. "They're Starfleet," he told them. "We're safe now." A few minutes later and Craig walked into a scene of utter and absolute chaos. His uniform, or remains of it, had gotten him and his small group past the security guards and he'd been directed to take them to the medical tent. He'd been unprepared for the gore and evidence of the violence that still ran amok on the rest of the planet. A nurse took a shocked look at Craig, but recovered and directed the family of refugees to a table where she asked them to wait to be checked out by a doctor. The family was crying and hugging each other and Craig, and Faromire kissed Craig on the cheek and said something in a language Craig didn't understand and that the universal translator could digest. "He said your an angel," the nurse said standing behind him. Craig was about to ask her how she knew that when she spoke again. "They've all been saying it for the last few days. After they're brought here and they realize that they're safe." Craig nodded and he wiped the remaining tears out of his own eyes before saying his good-bye to the family telling them one more time that they would be safe. Then he turned to find the person in charge. Craig asked a number of people and was finally directed to the rear of the tent where a woman wearing a Starfleet uniform was shining a light into the eyes of a man also in uniform. "Doctor Droin?" The Doctor didn't turn away from what she was doing, Craig didn't expect her to. "Yes, can I help you?" "Yes ma'am, my name is Chief Petty Officer. I was assigned to the 25th SeaBee detachment. We were building a settlement approximately seventy kilometers north of here before the fighting started up again. I need to speak to your captain." The doctor lowered her light and turned to Craig, he was suddenly self concious about his appearance. He didn't know why, but he thought it was because hers was fairly clean and she'd probably had a bath in the last ten days. "We'd been told that settlement was wiped out." "Not wiped out ma'am. Slaughtered. The entire detachment. We scattered when we realized we were being overrun. I ended up with a group of refugees who'd heard that you were here. I managed to bring a family along. We're all that survived." Craig noticed Dr. Droin's face change, from passive to sorrow, and he felt the pain begin to well up within himself again. So much pain and death. But he had to continue. "There's more, a group of soldiers have set up a barricade a few kilometers north of here. We managed to slip through, but there won't be many others who do. You need to have an armed group destroy that barricade or the refugees that have come in the last couple of days may be the last of them. There's also been an edict issued by the warring factions for total ethnic cleansing. If you think things are bad now, there about to get a whole lot worse." Droin didn't take long to step into action. The devastation around her was drowning. "Cynan, Kieran, this cutie has got some news from the front line." She winked slightly at the soldier. While the Chief Petty Officer retold his experience Xristha ran medical tests. Clearly this soldier had down-played his activities. He was bruised and showed sign of extreme stress and fatigue. When he finished Cynan and Kieran began plotting the next course of action. "Chief, we're gonna fix you up good as new." Xristha said smiling as best she could. As she turned back over to the medical instruments she motioned for the Counselor. "Jaav, this is Craig. He recently brought a family back that experienced the genocide first hand. I can mend their bones, but I can't mend their souls." Chief Petty Officer Craig Kavan 25th SeaBee Detachment And Dr. Xristha Droin --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears ************************************************************* USS Vanguard: http://ncv80221.netfirms.com/default.htm Vanguard Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/ncv80221 Gamma Fleet: http://gammafleet.trekplayer.com/ FreeLists: //www.freelists.org *************************************************************