A Difficult Exit [Back Post]

Posted on Fri Dec 2nd, 2022 @ 10:12am by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Commander Vianola Paxidor & Xavier X-1

3,206 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: A Deserted Planet Is No Tragedy
Location: Ihhuein ei'krih: Korak’s Bar
Timeline: Following A Little Hole in the Wall

Previously on Star Trek: Triton Seabase:

Max looked around, taking stock of the bar. Already the Klingons had moved to close off the front exit. The Nausicaans were slowly moving toward him and Vi, suspiciously or purposely ignoring the Romulan. All three had their hands on their disruptors. The man in the dark corner was missing or had somehow disappeared into the dark, becoming part of it. “Keep physical contact with me and have your weapons ready, Vi. I think we’ve been disinvited from this party.”

And now the continuation

Max fixed his pants as Vi moved from the booth, extending her arm as if she was escorting him away to a place better suited for two. Pulling the four-barrelled phaser weapon, Max fired heavy stun at two of the Nausicaans, but that only slowed them down.

Returning the favor, the third Nausicaan aimed his disruptor and fired directly at Vi. The blow landed directly - against the Borg shield that kept her and Max safe from their energy weapons. Max felt the third of another disruptor on his back as the Klingons fired at them. “You’ll have to turn it past heavy stun if we’re getting out of here,” he told Vi.

Indicating his tattoo, he told her, “It’s a small gift from my mother. She’s still got implants and they weren’t sure what having a child would do to a former drone. Turns out, she gave me a shield implant.” Max kicked the table ahead of them and pulled her over. “A mother’s fear to protect her child resulted in my protection. Even Starfleet doesn’t know,” he found himself shouting over the panic of patrons and the sound of phaser fire on two fronts.

"I would try and keep that quiet!" Vi yelled, in reference to the implants, as a glass broke above them from weapons fire. "Although I am grateful to your mother!". The noise of grunting from the Nausicaans, the disruptor fire, and general mayhem filled what was once a still a pretty loud and unbearable pub.

From her waistband, she pulled out two single-barrel pistols of El-Aurian design. Yes, they weren't exactly Starfleet issue, but neither was what was happening in this bar right now and they did pack quite a wallop. Vi popped her head over the top of the table and fired hitting a Nausicaan square in the chest causing him to fall back due to the force of the hit.

Max took two more shots to the back from the Klingons while he targeted the Nausicaans. It had been a few years since he had used the implant and it wasn’t that it had gotten weaker, or that he had gotten older, just that he’d forgotten how much each blast hit - shield or not. He was going to be sore later and severely bruised without a dermal regenerator.

Dropping the disruptors he was using, Max pulled out the four-shot, rotational pistol and fired. Turning to see the Klingons drop their disruptors, Max thumbed his phaser power up. “The Klingons are onto us!” he grunted as he rejoined Vi between the tables. “They got out their mek’leths and bat’leths. They’re coming to play with our insides. No matter what I hit them with, the Nausicaans won’t be nice enough to go down.”

Vi had been keeping an eye on Max. He was taking a lot of fire, his implant taking most of the brunt, and she could tell he was feeling each one. Looking around she had moved out of the path of his protection and their attackers were unwilling to go down easily. "They must be on steroids or something." she thought to herself.

By now she had propped tables over for cover but it had gotten silent behind them. Max delightfully 6ole her they had drawn their close combat weapons. She sighed, "Well, I'll break out my Ceresana." She said simply as she put her pistols into her holsters.

From her waistband, she pulled a small 30 cm wooden-looking block. With a swift squeeze and thrust, it extended to show a large staff-like weapon. It was decorated with intricate carvings of floral design mixed with mystical shapes and astrological markings. It was a dark wood, the carvings being a bit lighter. The wood was strong, stronger than any normal wood known, and it was grown on their world of Kaitos.

Max watched her as se pulled her Ceresana. He remembered his mother had one just like it, now hung decoratively on the wall of his home. ” My home, he thought, though he hadn’t been home for almost twenty years. For Terrans, that was almost a fifth of their lifespan, but for El Aurians, it was like months. It still felt too long all of the sudden.

He clapped the two metal bracelets he wore, which most would think as jewelry, but when he did, the bracelets formed - as if alive - into an impressive sword. It was much like the Japanese katana, except more refined. Its blade was etched with El Aurian warrior blessings, to bring good to the bearer of the sword and death to his enemies. More than a match for a bat’leth or whatever motley weapon the Nausicaans had scrounged up.

“Game on,” he said to Vi. He was about to hop the table and take the Nausicaans, but as he stood - still taking the occasional disruptor hit from the Klingons who weren’t advancing with blades drawn - the Nausicaans fell one after the other, in seconds.

The man in the dark hopped the table and pulled back his hood from the cloak he wore. Max wasn’t sure, but the cloak seemed to shift camouflage, keeping its wearer even more hidden. ‘Impressive,’ he said to himself.

“You appear to need some assistance, my young friends,” the stranger addressed them both.

The only thing Max disagreed with was calling them both young. He appeared Terran, with their charismatic attitude toward the fight and not a care about the consequences. “Who the hell are you?” Max asked.

“Jack, Fenris Ranger. Somehow you’ve made this bar go from naught to a fight to the death. And just after your Romulan friend left. Coincidence?

“Anyway, those Nausicaans were wearing hijacked K’Zin armor. You could have phasered them all day.” Displaying a belt that crossed his chest, he pulled out a small throwing knife. “Poison tipped, right to their jugular.”

Max looked at Vi and shrugged. If nothing else, they’d gained a temporary, if dangerous, new colleague. He certainly wasn’t going to turn down the offer for help.

The arrival of their would be savior gave Vi pause. She doubted anyone on this planet would just help out of the kindness of their heart. She turned to the new man, "As much as I appreciate an extra pair of hands, no one does anything for free on this planet. What do you want as a thank you?" She asked.

Jack looked at Vi. “I assume you Starfleeters have a ship to get off this rock? A friend and I need a ride and I’m sure you can accommodate,” Jack looked from one to the other to see who was in charge.

“It can be arranged, assuming you’re not asking to fly us somewhere more dangerous than this,” Max answered.

"Right now I'll settle for getting out of THIS," Vi emphasized. "Words later." She added as the Klingons got closer.

“Right!” Max shouted, hopping over the table and taking two blasts directly to his chest. They knocked him back a moment, forcing him to catch his breath. In the end, they just pissed him off.

With a sneer, he rushed the Klingon in front of him, landing a hard kick to his chest before shoving his traditional El Aurian sword through his forehead ridges with ease. Before the body hit the floor, Max was already shooting with his rapid-fire phaser set on kill.

Jack looked to Vi. “Crazy son of a bitch!” Jack exclaimed before following suit and jumping the table. He picked the two Klingons to his right and rushed them. One fell before he was within three meters. A knife stuck out his neck. The other seemed to be on to Jack’s trick, using a shield to block the incoming knives.

Jack muttered under his breath before reaching into his jacket and pulling out a machete. The Klingon wasn’t ready for the new weapon and Jack had already relieved him of the arm holding his shield. Pinkish-red blood spurted everywhere while Jack slashed the Klingon’s neck. The machete blade wasn’t as sharp as Max’s and it lodged in the warrior’s cervical bones.

Vianola was as agile and dance-like in her movements as the Elven people that Humans sometimes likened them to. She twirled, keeping on her toes as she moved, and struck the incoming Klingons. Spinning the staff in her hand she struck the man's neck and as he winced, she pulled at the back of his knee causing him to fall backwards. On the way down he hit his head off a table merely stunning him before Vi prodded him with the business end of her staff. From said end produced a charge of electricity that incapacitated the Klingon assailant.

Max took a few more shots to his personal shield; his shoulder and his knee. The Klingons with energy weapons fell, one after another, as Max’s weapon vaporized them or blew large holes through their armor and bodies.

Reaching the door, he watched Vi and Jack finish off the advancing Klingons with their bladed weapons. “Let’s go!” he shouted.

Turning to the open exit, there stood a frail looking human with unusual blue eyes. His head tilted in a familiar way that Max couldn’t quite place. Max pointed his blade at the being, but it didn’t seem to present any danger.

"Whoa," the frail looking being said holding up both hands. I'm not your enemy. It looks like you could need a little help I'm pretty much impervious to those little butter knives everyone here is so fond of."

Max sighed with relief. “These are no butter knives, kid,” Max said of the sword he carried. “Vi! Jack! Let’s go…we’ve got a way out now.”

Max wiped the blood off his face and the sweat from his forehead with his shirt. At the mention of Jack, the waifish young man looked surprised and concerned. “Friend of yours?” Max asked.

"Perhaps butter knives is a bit of a stretch,” the android admitted, "but they stand little chance of doing any severe damage to me. Which of these strange creatures should I go after first?"

Max leaned against the wall outside, exhausted. “Get in there and help Jack. The woman is my security officer, Vianola. Help them against any of the remaining Klingons. They’re the species with the forehead ridges and rounded swords.

The android didn't say another word. He just gave a brief nod and moved into the bar.

Max watched as the human looking thing rushed through and into the bar. He felt himself sliding down the wall. His fingers deactivated the Borg shielding that Vi had activated. It took a lot of energy using the shields, but something else was wrong.

As his adrenaline began to wear off, he was aware of the pain in his abdomen. Looking down, the hilt of a dk’tahg stuck out of his jacket and a trail of blood was soaking his clothes down to his knee. He knew he couldn’t pull it out, but he could minimize the damage. He pulled a small med kit from his jacket and packed the wound with a coagulant dressing.

It was easy for him to spot the foes that had been described, so he approached the largest one. "You need to leave now," he said, while you still have a chance to walk away. The Klingon just laughed at him and swung his sword. Xavier dodged the swing, barely, and grabbed hold of his opponent's wrist. He wasn't quite able to lift him with just one hand but he did stop his momentum cold.

"Go away, I said," Xavier intoned. The Klingon took a hidden dagger from his belt and stabbed the android, it didn't penetrate the skin.

“They aren’t looking for a conversation, Xavier,” Jack grunted as he shoved a Klingon’s mek’leth through his chest. “They consider themselves the foremost warriors in the galaxy! They’re looking for a fight to the death…”

Xavier shrugged his shoulders but didn't say anything in response, instead, he broke the wrist holding the dagger, pulled out the blade, and thrust it into his foe's chest. As the Klingon fell to his knees, the android release his grip on the other arm. Only then, did he speak again. "Today was a good day to die."

Jack found he had little time for conversation as another Klingon approached. It seemed like they were unending in numbers. “We have to clear the young man and the woman from the bar if we have any chance of escape.” Jack blocked the blow of a bat’leth with his machete, but he was growing tired as each fresh Klingon approached.

He looked to the Starfleet woman to see how she was doing.

Vi was winded. She had been kicked in the chest from an advancing Klingon and she now bore some slices to her skin from 'close calls', one prominent one on her cheek for still bleeding as she blocked an incoming mek'leth. She too was beginning to tire. Say what you want for the beauty and grace of her fighting style with the cresana but it didn't half use up a lot of energy. "This... is... pissing... me... OFF!" she was seen to be punching something into a gadget on her upper arm and a surge of energy could be seen moving down as it entered the cresana just as she smacked its tip onto the ground. The surge of energy had targeted the Klingons nearby and they dropped... after a bit of a struggle.

Jack struggled over dropped Klingons, broken furniture and over the blood covered floor. He grabbed Vi and nodded. “Time to leave, I think.” Jack turned to look at their exit, but the phaser fire outside seemed to have gone quiet.

“Xavier!” He shouted across the room. “Go check on the man outside. We’ll be right behind you…”

TAG Xavier

Jack grunted as he grabbed the last grenade he carried. Pulling the pin, he tossed it at the back door before the next wave of Klingons could enter. He found the least littered path behind the bar and practically pulled Vi from the bar, she was so exhausted.

Just before they climbed their way outside, another group of Klingons advanced through the back entrance just as the grenade exploded, sending them to Sto-Vo-Kor, no doubt. They had all died an honorable, if useless death, in battle.

Once outside, Jack could see Xavier holding Max’s unconscious body, a dk’tagh stuck out of his gut and a blood trail running down to his shoes.

“Xavier, plan the quickest route to the landing pad. Vi and I will keep our eyes open for any more Klingons,” Jack knelt down and picked up Max’s multi-shot phasers and confirmed they were set to kill.

“I hope that ship of yours has a medical hologram, Vi. Either that, or the fastest engines a small ship ever had.” Jack looked at the young woman with concern. Max was almost as pale as Xavier.

"The Black Pearl is the quickest ship on that landing pad." Vi promised, and she wasn't wrong. That was mainly due to it being the only ship on the landing pad but that was beside the point. "Our EMH... well they are a little 'eccentric', but they are programmed with all the knowledge we need... and access to rum..." she thought that last part out loud.

“After tonight,” Jack responded, “We’re going to need a cup or two of that!”

Jack turned and began firing as the Klingons realized what had happened. The four way, repeating phaser was like nothing Jack had ever seen before and intended to keep both. Eight rounds fired from his hands in seconds and Klingons dropped in piles behind them.

tags in between

They entered the rear of the craft, a small frigate of unusual design and shape and ushered up the ramp. "Computer, initiate Dr. Hawk."

A little fizzing noise filled the air and a man appeared dressed in an almost pirate like costume with a white medical coat on. He had long unkempt dreadlock like hair, a beard with two thin bits adorned with some beads and a red headband (Think Capt. Jack Sparrow in both design and some personality). "I am Dr. Jacques Hawk, what has he done now?" they asked.

Emergency Helmsman Ektor Barbed appeared and, in a French accent, replied, “It appears has has gotten himself stabbed, stupid! Mon Dieu, who made him ze doctor?” In his dark and tattered clothes, he made way to his console.

Jack looked at Vi. “I guess they’re all eccentric! You do what you have to and get us out of here. Xavier will stay with your EMH and I’ll get on tactical, or do you have a weirdo for that too?”

“I rather resent that remark,” a beautiful young woman answered as she shoved Jack out of the way. He couldn’t help but notice her Queen’s English accent and the formal hair and dress of the eighteenth century, if he had to guess.

“I think it might be best if I just find a placed to sit and belt myself in.” Jack moved to an open chair and followed his own advice.

“Best decision you’ve made so far,” another young emergency hologram walked past. He was tall with long dark hair and even darker eyes. He appeared to be dressed in something of peasant clothing from the same time as the woman.

“Mon capitan, ze Romulans say we can not leave. Zey won’t clear us for take off,” Barbed shouted to Vi from his console.

Vi sighed and rolled her eyes as she sat in the centre chair. She brought up holo displays to see exactly what was going on and right enough Barbed was correct. "Engage cloak and take off anyway. They don't have the tech to stop us right now and we need to get Max to safety since he's decided to bleed all over the place. Let's go!" She raised her voice.

“As ze Captain wishes!” Barbed agreed. He phasered away the lock down clamps and alit from the launch pad, cloaked and headed off, back to rendezvous with their Intelligence based starship, the USS Ian Fleming. ’What a stupid name for a starship,’ the hologram thought.

 

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