Post 134 Rescuing the General

Posted on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 9:40pm by Lieutenant JG Celine Quinn & Commander Jordan Haines & Lieutenant Commander Michael McMahon & Lieutenant Jude Haines & Lieutenant Charles Andrews & Lieutenant Marty Stokes & Lieutenant T'Shas Cruz & Lieutenant V'Lar & Major Charlotte Thrace & Prime
Edited on on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 11:29pm

3,504 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Obsidian

ON:

Jordan walked into the shuttle at, the first to arrive for their rescue plan. He looked up as Jude came strolling in right behind him.

“You look the part.” Jordan grinned. “I’m a bit shocked, I didn’t think you had it in you to do anything even remotely illegal.”

Jude rolled his eyes at him. “You never let up.” He went over and sat down. Jordan was trying to get under his skin and he wasn’t about to let him.

"That's his way of caring." Charlotte said from the door of the shuttle, she come dressed pretty rough and ready, torn trousers, a red t-shirt and her black leather jacket, she had her boots on and had made sure her hair was messed up a fair bit, she knew her part in this and looking squared away was not going to help them or Jackson, "One of them anyway." she knew this was Jordan's way of keeping them on their toes and eyes on the job at hand.

Mike walked to the shuttle and hopped in. He had his medical travel bag on one shoulder and the rest of his regular equipment on the other. He was ready - for whatever at this point.

T'Shas walked into the shuttle wearing a black T-shirt, a skirt that came mid-thigh, and black knee high boots. She had her long hair in a ponytail and nodded to the others.

Marty walked into shuttle still dressed as she had been earlier. “I’m gonna need a drink after this for sure,” she said flipping into a shuttle seat.

V'Lar stepped aboard, dressed in a pair of shorts and a sleeveless top, she was securing a belt around her waist on which her equipment sat. Taking a seat she slid on a pair of what humans would consider sunglasses, these were special though, these had a computer link in them, in short wearable technology.

Celine can sauntering onto the shuttle, tossing a bag into an overhead compartment and took a seat. She was still dressed in her outfit she wore earlier, and she had to admit she liked the coat.

“You’re up Lieutenant.” Jordan looked at Charlotte. “The only stipulation I have is Jude will be attached to you.” He wasn’t losing anyone.

"I'm going to tell you what I tell my marines before we go into a situation, stay sharp, stay fluid, stay safe, stay alive." Charlotte said "This is not a breach assault, but it is not without risk. There are two groups here - those of you the pirates have seen are with me and Jude, you're there to make the trade. The rest of you" she looked at V'Lar, Mike, T'Shas and Andrews "Are team Jackson. Your job is to spread yourselves out, hide in plain sight and provide cover. If you can do that then when we get to the moment that matters your odds of grabbing Jackson and getting away increase significantly." she took a breath "They will double cross us and that will likely happen at the point that they feel they can take you all out without endangering me or the General, this is where those of you they haven't seen are important because you can double cross their double cross by identifying pirate positions and being ready to strike. No one shoots unless shot at first or unless Jude shoots first, he's the starting pistol. When all hell breaks loose, Mr McMahon and Mr Andrews will grab the General and get him back to the shuttle while everyone else provides cover. Remember the ballgame is rescuing the General it's not subduing every pirate, but that said do not give the pirates any quarter." Celine nodded.

"We know our jobs," she said, "let's get this over with."

“I won’t be shooting unless it’s the only way.” Jude supported the marine Lieutenant. “Our mission is General Jackson.”

"Agreed. I'm ready to go " Mike said powering up the shuttle.

Jordan took a seat. He wasn’t making any promises to anyone. He looked around at them all and grinned. They were quite a group, this would be interesting. Celine buckled herself in, ready for the rescue effort.

Once everyone was ready, mike set the shuttle out and they headed towards the planet.

Jude sat beside Charlotte, mentally preparing himself for the mission. He was putting his focus on her. The others would do as they were ordered the only wild card was his Uncle Jordan. One never knew what he would pull.

Mike brought the shuttle in. "I am landing us far enough from the coordinates so they won't see those of us not going with the transfer group. Those that are 'Team Jackson'" he said using air quotes, " will follow me and my lead."

Charlotte took a breath as the shuttle started its descent. This was going to come down to split second decisions, there was going to be one chance to grasp the opportunity and they couldn't afford to miss it.

“One question.” Jude said as he looked at Charlotte. “Are you going to let me do my job or are you going to act like the Commander and try to do it all yourself?”

"Rule number one Lieutenant, myself and the Commander are more alike than either of us would like to admit." Charlotte said "The difference is that unlike Long Jordan Silver over there who comes from a background where watching your back is everything, I'm a marine I usually give Okan or Joel my back, today it's you. The plan we're going with is the plan because you're here instead of the strike team I would normally want available. And I don't put people on the board unless there's a job for them to do. And you've got the tough one, making sure I don't get killed in the middle of this, so I really hope you do it."

“You won’t get even a scratch.” Jude replied confidently. He didn’t need to concern himself with Jude, he would do himself a job well. He didn’t accept failure.

“Get ready. Preparing for landing” Mike said. He landed the shuttle. “Thank you for flying McMahon air. Have a good day” he said as he opened the hatch.

Jordan was first out of the shuttle, his eyes were looking around as he moved to a defensive stance and watched for the others. Celine followed directly after, strolling down the ramp with an air of confidence she didn't feel.

Jude waited beside Charlotte. The others needed to spread out and find places to hide, before the pirates started to show in the area. He would come along with Jordan, Celine and Marty, the pirates knew them already.

"Keep hold." Charlotte said quietly putting her arm where Jude could easily hold her wrist, she was supposed to be the prisoner here after all "And keep your phaser hand free."

V'Lar slipped out of the shuttle and checked her weapons for a moment before looking around and heading off to find somewhere to hide, somewhere with high ground vantage would suit her just fine.

Mike watched as V'Lar ran off. He shook his head. He was almost positive he said follow him. He would bring that up in debriefing. He waited for the rest of this team that listened, to get out of the shuttle so that they could figure out where they were going to go and what areas. Once that was done - he addressed them. "We are heading down about 200 feet in that direction. The coordinates are about 2000 feet further. Andrews you'll go behind the boxes here... " he said pointing to the map. "T'Shas stay in this area. V'Lar went that way, so I guess I'll take the rest."

T'Shas nodded and stayed in the area, keeping her eyes moving, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Charlotte's eyes were darting everywhere, they were a little closer than she considered comfortable, just over six hundred and seventy metres put them well within what she referred to as the danger zone, which was to say the straight line range of weapons, it was an overused term especially when considering that most particle beam weapons had maximum ranges double to triple that, surface defence weaponry was greater still. But she did know that everyone knew what they were doing and she knew that it was impossible to put down in an area that was completely safe. "Time to make our move I think." she said tapping Jordan's foot with hers just in case they were being watched "Your doing the talking Mr Pirate."

Prime and his group stood there waiting. They had their prisoner under a hood. They waited for the group to show up.

Jordan moved to where Jude, Marty and Celine stood. “Let’s get this rodeo going.” He started walking towards the meeting place.

V'Lar had found her vantage point, nicely concealed near the top of a tower, she had line of sight on the meeting location, looking through her binoculars she took in the pirate party, tapping her wrist communicator she took a breath "Pirates are there." she said "No positive ID on Jackson, their person is wearing a hood."

Jordan heard his words and stopped, leaning in as if to speak to Celine, instead he spoke to V’Lar. “Understood.” Celine squared her shoulders, making sure she looked as relaxed as she had been on the call they had made earlier that day.

"I hope you got some rest," she said harshly, in character, to Charlotte, "from what I gathered, you won't be getting much once we hand you over." She laughed. She knew that she was probably heard from that distance, and she wanted anyone listening to pick up on her ease.

Marty stood with Celine as she, Jordan and Jude waited to make contact with the ones holding Jackson captive.

“We brought our prize.” Jordan said with a lazy grin. “We’re ready to make the trade but you must think me a fool. I will see what I am getting first!”

"Of course. You know how it goes - never show them where they were." Prime said taking off Jackson's hood so he could be seen by all. "Give your 'prize' to my man there and we will hand over this one." he said slapping Jackson on the back. Celine narrowed her eyes this seemed too easy. She was glad they had others in the wings ready if something went wrong.

"You first," she said. "Have him start walking this way."

"Together. I've done my research on you all. You don't come to a dog fight without some added precaution. Send them both the same time." Prime said.

Jude gave Charlotte a shove that was none too gentle. He didn’t say a word and had to hold himself back when Jordan spoke.

“I know you’re going to miss me.” Jordan grinned as he looked her up and down. “All you have now is the memories.”

Jude wasn’t that far behind Charlotte. “I will stay until the trade is done.” He announced to Prime. He needed to be close to her so that she didn’t get caught in the possible firefight.

Charlotte was somehow maintaining a poker face, eyes on the prize so to speak, she was however getting a very distinct impression from both Celine and Jordan's mannerisms and words as to how they'd managed to sell this and part of her mind was plotting a measure of revenge. She still had one hand behind her back as she got shoved, moving it to her side she let it hang there showing all four fingers and her thumb, this was Jude's countdown, she slowly started to walk forwards waiting for Jackson to also be sent so she could match his pace, meeting in the middle was going to be important here.

Celine watched her walk away, and managed to maintain her composure as the prisoners headed for one another. This was so much more dangerous than she wanted, and she hated the confrontation that possibly would come. She managed a sneer at Charlotte's back, and kept her hand close to her weapon.

Prime got a better look at Charlotte and nodded to his man who walked up behind Jackson. "This is the one who you say is 100% woman, satisfies men, and has a rough mouth? Interesting. " The pirates all stood around in a semi circle now, each one with their hands on their side. "Oh, and don't do anything stupid. When I slapped your man's back - I put a tiny device on him, you don't want to go boom now do you?"

There it was, Charlotte thought there was the spanner in the works, her hand now showed one finger ready to pull the trigger and unleash fire if needed. Now came the hard part.

“What is to stop you from blowing us to kingdom come once the trade is made.” Jordan growled. “Take if off now we aren’t leaving here with an explosive.” He was ready to shoot this pirate dead. On the other hand, Jordan wondered at the legitimacy of his claim. All pirates had was their word and they would he done if they didn’t keep their word.

"Keep your weapon on him," Celine barked, and marched towards Talo, Marty at her side. "Double cross us, will you?" This was the plan, they were to start moving Talo towards the other group.

"I have no plans to double cross you. I however have my doubts that you will just give up the woman. To show you I am honest... " Prime looked at his men. "Place your weapons on the ground and let the exchange happen." Prime looked back at the rest. "Now why don't you do the same. The only thing I have is the trigger for the explosive, which I will not use unless the exchange doesn't go as planned."

Jordan assessed the situation and nodded. They all had a backup weapon so it wasn’t an issue and people that the pirates didn’t even know were there. He was pretty sure the explosive was a fake because why would he go to the trouble to do that and then lay down their weapons. “Put your weapons down.”

Jude knew it was time to cause a commotion. “I’m not dropping my weapon so these scum bags can start pick us off, she’s my prisoner!”

“I oughta shoot you right between the eyes.” Jordan growled back at Jude. He could see the pirates were all watching them argue while Celine and Marty were quickly moving Talo away.

Celine glanced at Marty as the pair led Talo to the side of the conflict.

"Don't react sir," she whispered while barely moving her mouth. "We are Starfleet, and we are here to rescue you."

Talo nodded his head and said nothing. He wasn’t going to mess up their plan.

Prime looked at his pirates. "What are you all doing as one is going in the other direction. GET THE WOMAN"
The pirates all started to scramble around as they went to get the weapons they put down and try and regain control. Celine, seeing that the pirates were reaching for their weapons, pulled back her coat and withdrew her phaser. She would not let anything happen to the General.

Prime yelled. "DON'T SHOOT THE WOMAN. OR UNTIL SOMEONE SHOOTS YOU BUT GET THE WOMAN!" The pirates started to run towards Charlotte to make sure she wouldn't get away.

"I'm flattered." Charlotte whispered as she gave Jude the signal he needed, the gloves were off now they had the General now they just had to get him out safely. Right on cue a smoke grenade was thrown from on high courtesy of V'Lar.

"Quinn you've got Andrews and McMahon thirty feet to your eleven o'clock." V'Lar said spotting from her place "Thrace you've got a handful of pirates headed straight at you."

"Back up Celine and Marty, get the General back to the shuttle." Charlotte said answering on her hidden com as she ran in the opposite direction before climbing a metal ladder "Jordan I'm going up to the rooftops to try and lose these guys, Jude watch my back." Celine nodded, and pushing the General's head down, took off in a sprint.

"On your left," she shouted at Marty, seeing a pirate aiming a weapon at her. She fired her phaser at the man, but ducked behind a large boulder before seeing if she made contact. Talo was panting beside her, and she took a knife and quickly untied him, handing him a second phaser, just in case.

Prime ordered his pirates to stop. "Make note - they fired first." All the pirates ran back to Prime. "Starfleet lies. They double crossed us. Report this to command. We will deal with this later." Within moments they all disappeared.

Marty watched the pirates disappear from behind a bolder and smiled. “Guess they couldn’t take the heat,” she said.

Jude continued to have Charlotte’s back. He wondered about the balance of power in this pirate group as there were random shots being fired. Jude felt one close to his head and pushed forward calling to the marine commander. “We’ve got incoming!” He called out and pushed himself forward, as Charlotte cleared the rooftop with Jude right behind her.

Jordan heard what the pirate yelled and shook his head. They were holding a marine general hostage and thought they could get them in trouble. For one thing, they would never be able to prove they were Starfleet, no one was wearing anything that tied them to them.

Charlotte stopped as soon as she heard the yell kicked up dust from the roof in a little frustration it wasn't the accusation that bothered her it was the other phrase 'report this to command' that carried an implication and not one she liked. "I say we get out of here before anyone gets any bright ideas about coming back for us." she said.

“Agreed.” Jude said with a nod. He didn’t like what he was thinking as they all headed quickly towards the shuttle. The pirate knowing they were Starfleet and then mentioning command could only mean one thing, the General and their team had been set up by their own people. That didn’t sit well with him. “The commander and the others are moving quickly and the General is safe with Stokes and Quinn.”

"Good." Charlotte said she looked at Jude "You and V'Lar will need to talk to Jackson but do me a favour and let sickbay and Marty do their thing first." with that said she waited until Jordan got to the shuttle "So '100% woman, satisfies men, and has a rough mouth?'" she raised an eyebrow.

“We had to make you seem appealing.” Jordan said with a devilish grin. “And it worked so obviously it was a good plan.”

"You owe me dinner and some dancing and then I might forgive it." Charlotte said prodding Jordan's chest with her finger with a wry smile "Be thankful it's not me getting Hannah to spray paint your office." it might have seemed odd but as she'd said to Jude on the way down she and Jordan were a lot more alike than they cared to admit, neither were the settling down kind, they both had their wild sides and a focus on getting the job done.

As the General was being settled in the shuttles small med bay, Celine collapsed into a seat exhausted. She hadn't wanted a fight, and yet there had been one. She knew that Captian Pontmercy was going to be furious when he found out, but at least everyone was alive, and safe.

"Can we please go," she asked, the facade finally fading from her personality?

T'Shas sat down near the General, keeping an eye on him, knowing how it felt to be held captive.

Talo didn’t say a word he just sat back and closed his eyes. He knew that questions would come he had been on the other side of the table himself. But for the moment, he was just going to relax and enjoy the freedom.

“Everyone take seat.” Jordan ordered. He turned to Andrews. “Let’s get out of here and head for home.



OFF:

Commander Jordan Haines
Executive Officer
Starbase Obsidian

LtCmdr Mike McMahon
Chief Operations Officer
Starbase Obsidian

First Lieutenant Charlotte Thrace
Marine CO
Starbase Obsidian

Lieutenant Junior Grade V'Lar
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase Obsidian

Lieutenant Junior Grade Marty Stokes
Chief Counselor
USS Arcadia/Starbase Obsidian

Lieutenant Junior Grade Celine Quinn
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Arcadia/Starbase Obsidian

Lieutenant Junior Grade Charles Andrews
Chief Flight Officer
USS Arcadia/Starbase Obsidian

Lieutenant Jude Haines
Security Chief
Starbase Obsidian

Lieutenant jg T'Shas Cruz
Chief Science Officer
USS Arcadia/Starbase Obsidian

 

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