Assault On Hydaransz 4

Posted on 10 Apr 2017 @ 3:05pm by Major S'arila Donovan & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd

2,757 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: S02 Episode 2: Once More Unto the Breach (Incidental Posts)
Location: Tomcat Hangar Bay/Various
Timeline: Mission Day 25+1

A JP between Major S'arila Donovan & Lt. Jg Remington Dodd

[ON]

- Bridge -

As she headed back down to the Marine deck S'arila recalled her assignment from the Captain.

"You sent for me Captain?" Donovan asked standing to attention.

"At ease Major, yes I have a task for the Chosen Men, they are in desperate need of exercise and in this I need their assault talents," Jasmine said as Donovan stood at ease and simply looked down and raised an eyebrow.

"Well take the chosen men down to Hydaransz Four and get an LZ set up so we can send down more troops, after that hold the line and await orders, by the time your troops gear up Engineering should have the cloak transferred, any questions?" Jasmine asked.

"No Captain," Donovan said and left the bridge grumbling about the impossible she missed the smile Jasmine gave her.

- Marine gear up room -

S'arila had arrived in the gearing up room to see it filled with Bravo Unit troops already gearing up one of her 1st Lieutenants looked at her and spoke

"Major what are our objectives?" he asked.

"A Simple one, we land in a cloaked shuttle and make an LZ for the rest of the marines that will follow us in after the airspace is cleared and safe for them to land, until then we are on our own" Donovan responded.

"Will there be a fleet specialist assigned to us? There is usually one to do the tasks that we have no training for" The Lieutenant asked.

"Yes, it will most likely be an engineer with a shed load of makeshift defences for the LZ" as she finished this sentence in walked Lieutenant Dodd she looked at him "ah Lieutenant, I see you are our specialist, do you know what your task will be?"

"Hello, Major. I am certain I am to establish a secure landing zone and keep pattern enhancers in working order to provide a specific set of coordinates to the Tomcat for confirmed transport to the surface. I am also to keep the cloaking device operational while on the troop transport. And to assist in defending the landing zone if the need arises." Dodd replied very firmly.

She looked at him with her head slightly cocked to the left oO Nugget, but a well smart nugget Oo she thought to herself then spoke, "partially correct about the shuttle cloak and help in defending, otherwise, you are to place makeshift automated defence turrets both Pulse Phaser and Photon Torpedo the marines have nice weapons at our disposal *smiling* and of course portable sensor units and adjust the shuttle to be used as a makeshift communications base. You see El-tee we are the spearhead we are the ones going down to establish a beachhead for the cavalry to land their troop transports and then to remain on the ground until they have their own comms up and running and can turn the LZ into an F.O.B. But first off the ships have to clear the airspace, that is why we will be going in under cloak, any questions?" Donovan asked.

"No, questions, major. I am a team player and willing to assist in this mission to spare any of my staff from having to be on the front lines so to speak." Dodd replied. "I have my gear stowed away on the transport for the surface so I can get all you stated and more taken care of once we are on the surface. The shuttle I know you are taking has all the gear stowed away in it for conversion to a communications station as I thought that was going to be needed. I am looking forward to this mission and hope to be able to learn a lot from it about the marine unit as well learn more about myself."

oO I can sense she is one tough cookie and I hope to keep on her good side. I only want to grow from this experience and working with Donovan should be a great way to gain the insights of what the Marine unit deals with on a mission. Oo Dodd thought to himself as he gave his reply to Donovan.

Donovan smiled and handed him a TR-116B rifle "ever used one of these before?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact, I have fired one before in a holodeck training simulation. I will admit that I have not fired one in real action." Dodd replied and smiled in return. "I have been cleared to use this rifle and several other sidearms."

Again simply smiling "also you might want to pick up a hand Phaser too" she added as she returned to putting her gear together along with Bravo Unit.

"I have already got my phaser ready to go, Ma'am," Dodd replied as he pointed to his gear. "I was just issued one as I was finishing the installation of the cloaking device."

oO I can sense that this mission will be a barrel of fun and I will have to be on my toes with this vixen. Just glad she can't sense my thoughts or I would be in a world of hurt. Oo Dodd thought and wondered if any other telepaths would have understood his current mindset.

She looks up at Dodd "what is you thinking El-tee, I may not be telepathic anymore, but I know your mind is racing through some topic!" Donovan said with a teasing smile as she hefted her gear, unlike the rest she carried the weapons she had brought with her from her nightmare reality, these were modern versions of kitbashed chemically operated and fired projectile weapons. She also carried her two fully functional replica Spartan short swords her sidearm was in a holster low down on her thigh, among these "archaic weapons" she had a standard regenerative Phaser rifle and hand Phaser, in her combat vest she carried three-photon grenades and three flashbangs.

"I have so got to learn to carry less into a combat situation!" she quipped.

"I have a lot to learn about being on the front line of a mission. I was merely thinking about all that I have to be aware of and how much I look forward to learning from you as we set out on this mission." Dodd replied as he was shocked by how much gear Donovan had for this mission. "I guess you never need to worry about the availability of an armoury as you have every weapon needed." stated in a joking fashion with a serious undertone as Dodd meant it as a compliment while trying to toss in humour.

She looked at him with a crooked smile "I have always packed way more than needed, even before I came to this reality, where I come from the Federation does not exist anymore, long story for another time" she said then looked at her team "Okay people all ready to go?"

"YES SIR" all the marines shouted as one.

She looks at Dodd "and you El-tee, you already to go?"

"Major, I am ready to get to work," Dodd replied as he stood up and lifted his duffel bag. He had a backpack with gear and tools and a duffel bag full of parts and supplies he might need on the surface. He already loaded a replicator on the shuttle when he stowed away all the communications equipment. "I hope to do you honour on this mission and not let any of you down."

Dodd had not fully experienced what was about to happen because he was always on the backside of the action. He only hoped to do justice for the Tomcat, Captain Somers and the team.

Donovan nodded and led her team out of the gear room and down into a busy flight bay it seemed phase one of the battle was over as two fighter squadrons were landing. As this would be the first time the troop transport had a cloak fitted and it was a war zone out there Donovan would make sure that a more detailed flight check was completed. As they entered the shuttle S'arila turned to Dodd.

"El-tee you are upfront with me as my co-pilot, should engineering things need to be done, well you know?" she shrugged.

"Sure thing, major," Dodd stated with a little surprise as he felt honoured for her to request him as a co-pilot. He stowed his supplies and then moved forward to the co-pilot seat with his pack and side arm.

Smiling she placed her stuff on the floor and climbed into the pilot's seat and began the prep, the fighters were launching again, obviously phase one was still going on. Then the ship alert level went to Yellow.

"Okay looks like we will be going sooner than expected, make sure you triple check the systems Lieutenant," Donovan said as she herself continued to check the flight controls.

"Roger, Ma'am. I am going through pre-launch checklists and on the third pass now." Dodd replied. He was actually sent a report of the condition of the shuttle after the prep crew had finished before he installed the cloaking device.

Ten minutes of flight checks and two squadrons land, these would be coming in for refuelling and rearming while the pilots get some rest, she finished her checks and closed the shuttle ramp and made the shuttle breathable. "How do the systems look El-tee?" she asked.

"All is clear to go and the cloaking device is charged and ready for use," Dodd replied as he set-up the control interface for his specific uses.

"Good" she looked up and saw the ship go to Red Alert as the shuttle's communications came to life.

=/\= Bridge to Major Donovan, I hope you are ready to go, we have a new wave of hostiles on route and you need to launch now =/\=

Looking a little concerned, while the alliance ships were limited it seemed the enemy was not. =/\= Acknowledged Captain, launching now, will cloak the moment we clear Tomcat's shield, Donovan out =/\= and like that the Communications went silent.

"Okay *speaking loudly* hold on to your jockey shorts this is going to be a bumpy ride *then looks to Dodd* the moment we clear the ship's defense barrier to cloak the shuttle and send these coordinates to the standard troop transports" she added sending the coordinates to his side for him to send to the waiting transports. "Welcome to hell Lieutenant, welcome to hell!" she said as the shuttle lifted up and shot out of the flight deck, shortly behind it the fighters were launching "Okay this is worse than last time" she added.

"Not knowing what last time was like, I will take your word on that. I have the coordinates ready for transmission and the cloaking device is set to activate once the shields have been cleared." Dodd replied. He was keeping his mind closed so not to sense the thoughts of the marine unit. He was fully focused on his tasks and keeping the shuttle in one piece and to land it safely on the surface.

Without looking at the Engineer and with a smile, "trust me El-tee you think this incursion is bad, compared to the first time around it is a cake-walk, first time the Tomcat entered the system she was initially alone and we lost most of the senior staff on that one, even more, were lost as the cavalry arrived. Of course, it was only Starfleet in that battle, hope you have a strong stomach?"

Donovan asked as the moment the shuttle left the hangar and passed the ship's shields Donovan flew like she was drunk as the shuttle bobbed and weaved until she cloaked; the moment the shuttle cloaked S'arila put it to level flight and headed planetward just as more Orion ships dropped from warp.

"Damn that was a close one!" she exclaimed.

"Indeed, that was close, and the cloak appears to be functioning at 100% efficiency," Dodd stated as he got over the feeling of nausea from the rough conditions of the launch. "The coordinates have been transmitted to transport vessels. Just so you are aware, I did add a separate power supply for the cloak to maintain full power for the shuttle operations. All systems are in the clear."

The shuttle was stable and cloaked. It was sure to be smooth sailing to the surface as long and the atmospheric entry did not affect anything. The transport vessels had the coordinates and would proceed with their orders. Dodd worked to keep all the systems in the prime and to prevent anything that could go wrong.

Looking at him with some surprise "nice thinking, that will help loads" Donovan said as she headed planetward "so El-tee you have one question to ask about me, make it a good one" Donovan said, she was attempting to help ease the young man's unease.

"Only one question, well which one should I pick?" Dodd replied. "Well, since I know you came from a parallel reality I would have to ask what was it like having to learn a whole new environment?" Dodd was hoping that was not getting too personal but he was curious as he was intrigued by Donovan's past and her former reality. He once wanted to explore parallel realities and paranormal phenomenon which sort of led him to become an engineer.

She gave his question some thought "not the question I would have asked, but okay, the environment between our realities was not that much different, granted this reality has seen more peace than the one I came from. This reality there was no mushroom clouds over forty-five thousand feet high on this realities earth, so the environment was a lot cleaner and my reality was about six months ahead of this one, but as the events from whence I came were different I have no idea what will happen six months from now in this reality" Donovan answered and hoped it was the one he was looking for.

Looking at him as she took the shuttle into the atmosphere of the planet "here is a question for you, do you remember seeing images from world war three in Starfleet's archives? Well imagine those mushroom clouds but a lot taller say like 90,000 feet in height and blue in colour, if you can imagine this then you know roughly what a matter-antimatter mushroom cloud looks like, I was there when the Federation was destroyed" she finished with some pain in her voice as she clearly recalled the events.

"I had read about what Terrans and Historians call the Third World War on Earth. I have seen the documentaries and seen several old video files of recreations of those events. I know that Earth was lucky to have survived any of that. I know that when the First Contact with the Vulcans happened on Earth is when things started to progress for the better, but I could never imagine what it was like to really experience any of that horror." Dodd replied but he was really seeking more information but that can come at a later date. "I am sorry you had to witness what it was like to see the end of the Federation in your original reality. I know I would have had a hard time with that myself."

"Major, there is a glitch in the power readings for the cloaking device. It is saying that it is only using fifty percent of its power needs, yet all readings are showing the device is fully operational. I wonder if the atmosphere might have something to do with this?" Dodd added.

She nodded nodded in acknowledgement "Yes it is the atmosphere, it may be a Klingon cloaking device, but this is not a Klingon ship, it usually works best in the vaccum of space, oh look there is our LZ" Donovan responded as they closed on a nice defendable area it had mountains to it's rear and a clear front "Okay that is where we are going" she added then loud enough for the marin3es in the back to hear her.

"Okay lock 'n' load Rifles we are about to land" Donovan said as she brought the shuttle in smoothly, as the shuttle settled down, she began to do the power-down of the shuttle.

[OFF]

Major S'arila Donovan [PNPC: Somers]
Bravo Unit Commander/ Acting MCO
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Jg Remington Dodd
Chief Engineer
USS Tomcat

 

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