Ground Offensive Part 1

Posted on 21 Apr 2017 @ 9:31pm by Major S'arila Donovan & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd

3,240 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: S02 Episode 2: Once More Unto the Breach (Incidental Posts)
Location: Hydaransz IV
Timeline: Mission Day 26+1

A JP Between Major Donovan and Lt. Jg Remington Dodd

[ON]

After the shuttle had landed in an area that had a high mountain behind them, Bravo Unit fanned out and formed a defensive line, while Dodd went about establishing a make-shift defence perimeter with automated Pulse Phaser turrets and setting up a more stable communications link tot he ships in orbit. The shuttle had landed at night and no sooner had the shuttle landed and the marines stepped out they encountered an Orion patrol, one that was taken by surprise. But even though no word had gotten out, the patrol would be missed in the morning so Bravo Unit did not waste any time.

"Okay could all passengers please make sure that their seats and tray tables are in the upright positions before exiting the vehicle and thank you for flying with the Tomcatian airways" she jokingly said and looked over to Dodd "what!!!?" she asked all innocently.

"And I didn't even need a barf bag during this flight," Dodd added. "I didn't have you pegged for that sort of humor.," Dodd added with a little of a laugh in his voice.

He was starting to get his equipment ready as the marines were getting the perimeter secured. He had a lot to get done and get everything working as well.

"Major, I can use the power supply from the cloaking device to power most of the landing zone equipment, while the pulse phaser cannons will have solar cells to recharge their supply. The systems will all relay through the shuttle's computer so this will be our main communications station and computer core for now. I hope that is acceptable?" Dodd asked.

Looking back "Just do not strain the shuttle's power okay, the last thing we want to do is lose the cloak, the Captain will have my head on a pole if that cloaking device goes boom, but otherwise go ahead" she responded.

"No worries, Major. I have three supplemental power supplies.
The power supply for the cloaking device will be used merely to power the replicators and the cloaking device will be deactivated so it will not go boom. The shuttle's power supply will be a backup source as to be sure we have the power to get the shuttle off the planet if we need too. The defence perimeter will be self-charging from solar energy and even has a way to charge during lunar light as well. The landing zone will be top notch with this engineer on duty.

....As the sun began to rise.

"Okay people make the area large enough for a standard troops transport to land," Donovan said then looked to the Tech marines that had come down with Bravo Unit "You guys get to setting up a landing pad for said transports, Lieutenant Dodd start putting up defences, I will assign one of my men to guard you" Donovan said.

"Roger, Major," Dodd replied. "We will head to the location for the alpha cannon." He had the shuttle transporter set to beam the equipment to him once he arrived there. He had all the cannons stored in a transporter buffer to avoid having all that equipment on the shuttle. Dodd and his guard took off for the cannon site.

After doing so as she went up front to join her men as the Orions realised that someone had taken out their missing patrol, and they were upset as they came at them in an old fashioned charge.

"MAKE READY, WAIT FOR IT!" Donovan said loudly and when she judged the moment was correct "FIRE AT WILL!" she shouted and the charging Orions were met with a hail of Phaser fire all shots well aimed.

Dodd had already established the alpha cannon and activated just in time to start assisting the rest of Bravo Unit with the assault of the Orions. Then he and his guard had the shuttle transport them to the Beta cannon site as well as the cannon. Once they arrived at the Beta site things got a little rough and they were getting some fire, so they had to try to take a defensive position and fire at a stray Orion who was trying to come upon the flank of the rest of the group. Dodd's beaming into the location caught him off guard. They got him nullified and resumed setting up the Beta Cannon.

Once the Beta Cannon was up and working it too started to assist in the assault on the Orions. To avoid more hostilities, Dodd decided there could be a barrier to help protect the troops as well as the Bravo Unit. He had the shuttle's computer beam him and his guard back to the shuttle. Dodd then used the computer to calculate the locations for a chain of force field emitters and had the shuttles replicator create them and then beamed them into place. He activated them and this helped protect the central area where the shuttle was and to offer Bravo Unit a place for some limited protection. Once the two cannons were active this would help Bravo Unit from having to expend tonnes of phaser fire. The Orions were then under the attack of the Phaser Cannons. And Dodd could then set up the other three cannons.

The whole layout made a pentagon shape about 2 square miles in the area inside the perimeter. The force fields were programmed to allow Starfleet commbadges to pass through so the Starfleet officers could get in and out without having to lower the field. The Phaser Cannons would become the five points of the pentagon and the force fields were powered by the self-charging solar batteries in the cannons. Once he had the perimeter secured, Dodd got to work on the communications hub and the main command centre which both involved the shuttle. The main command centre would be the rear of the shuttle which Dodd had modified to resemble a sort of Captain's ready room while the pilot station would be the Comm station.

While the Chief was busy doing his job, S'arila and her team were facing off stiff resistance, the moment the Orion's realised that the enemy had boots on the ground, they attacked in force. Knowing that they would need backup, she tapped her Commbadge =/\= Donovan to Dodd =/\=

=/\= Dodd, here major, How can I help? =/\= He stated as he finished setting up the comm centre.

=/\= Contact the troop transports to land immediately, my men are good, but we have tougher enemy attacks, all you need do is send out a signal and they will head planetward =/\= Donovan said as she began shooting again.

=/\= Dodd to troop transports. Please begin to land and disembark your troops. =/\=

Dodd got the reply that Beta Transport would be landing first in about five minutes. He then got word that Gamma and Delta would be landing once Beta lifted off. He did not word from Alpha yet.

=/\= Dodd to Donovan, Beta Transport will be landing and you will have reinforcements in about five minutes. Then more approximately fifteen minutes from now. No word on Alpha Transport. Will keep trying to reach them. Dodd out. =/\=

And then Dodd preceded to signal Alpha Transport and he even tried to reach out with his mind for any stray thoughts that may help him figure out what was wrong. Finally as Beta landed, he got word from their pilot that Alpha had engine trouble and had landed on the other side of the mountain so those troops would be coming by foot as fast as they could.

=/\= Dodd to Donovan, Alpha Transport had engine trouble and landed on the other side of the mountain and are on foot to get to us. I will try to search for them to track their progress. Beta just disembarked and is lifting off for Gamma and Delta to land. Dodd out. =/\=

Taking a brief moment from the fighting she tapped the subdermal behind her ear, it was more secure than the Commbadge anyway, as the engineer signed off she returned to her fighting as some fresh troops arrived to back Bravo Unit up in the defence of the LZ. As the fight progressed she wondered how Dodd was doing so activating her sub-dermal communications =/\= Donovan to Dodd =/\=

=/\= Dodd Here, Major.=/\= Dodd replied.

=/\= El-tee how far are you along with deploying those defences? =/\= Donovan asked.

=/\= Major, the first three phaser cannons are on-line and I have a forcefield around the makeshift command centre. The other two cannons will be done in the next 30 mins. The troops from three of the four types of transport have been added to our fighting forces. I have found a signal from the troops who landed on the other side of the mountain and they are in a safe spot and will be beamed into our landing zone once I am finished with the last two cannons. Also, once the last two cannons are up they will have force field generators in them to create a strong fortification for our troops to be protected on the inside. Dodd out. =/\=

=/\= Excellent work Chief let me know when the rest are here, the sooner we move on the Orion base the sooner we can notify the ships that this planet or rather this area has been secured, Donovan out.=/\=

Dodd then set the shuttle's computer to beam him and Private Jones to the site of the delta cannon for installation. Fifteen minutes later he and his guard were at the site for epsilon cannon. Once the epsilon cannon was activated, there would be around a ten-minute window before the perimeter force field would be activated. Once that force field was in place, Dodd would use his resources to bear the troops from the Alpha transport to the landing zone.

Dodd was just about done with the Epsilon Cannon when a small team of Orions approached and caught him and Private Jones off guard. However, Dodd was able to keep calm and was able to sense the thoughts of the team leader and anticipated how to out with these five Orions. With a few facial expressions, he was able to signal Private Jones to fake some sort of pain or illness and fall to the ground over his rifle. Dodd then went to offer assistance and in doing so, was able to trigger the cannon to activate which started the Orions just enough for Dodd and Jones to stun them all.

=/\= Private Jones to Donovan =/\=

So busy in the heat of battle was she, that her sub-dermal Comms sounded, now if it had been her Commbadge, startled she would have been, but not as much as she was currently, she tapped a spot behind her ear =/\= go ahead, Jones! =/\=

=/\= Just wanted to let you know that in about ten minutes the defence perimeter force field that Dodd has set up with the phaser cannons will be activated. We just stunned a five-man team of Orions. Dodd was a huge success in this matter. What should we do with them? Prisoners or drag them to a point outside the perimeter before it activates? =/\=

She had to think quickly, deciding on a course of action =/\= put the rest outside of the defence perimeter and take their leader prisoner, I want to know what we will be facing *pause* why were your weapons on stun?! They should be on a kill setting but will let it slide as we now have a prisoner, but I want your weapons changed over to kill setting and bring me that prisoner *long pause* oh and Jones! =/\=

=/\= Yes, Major. =/\= Jones replied.

=/\= Congratulations to you and the Lieutenant, now get those other sleeping Orions outside the defences and get their leader and your asses back here, Donovan out =/\= as Donovan finished she pressed the same spot behind her ear to switch the link off and returned to firing, which suddenly stopped as the attacking Orion's pulled back.

Private Jones and Dodd dragged the four lower ranking Orions outside of what would be the perimeter. Then they picked up the leader and headed towards the command centre. Jones did not realise his weapon was only set to stun, but it worked for the situation. Dodd likely had his on stun because he does not typically use phasers or rifles and just went to the first setting. Either way, there was now a POW to use for questioning or what have you. As the two started to carry the POW away the perimeter stated to activate. The faint hum of the force field emitters powering up was heard and then you could see the field start to materialise before it became invisible.

As Dodd and Jones were getting the POW to the shuttle, Dodd was looking around. He could see that the force field was now almost fully functional. Once he could get back to the command area, they would have to figure out what to do with the POW and he could do a full diagnostic on the defence system. For now, he felt he has fulfilled the primary target of his assignment. Jones was ready to rejoin the other marines and stop playing babysitter to an engineer. Dodd appreciated Jones' assistance and looked forward to maybe being involved in more missions like this.

While she waited for the defences to become active "okay people some of you remain on guard, the rest tend to the wounded and dead take them back to the command shuttle" Donovan added and was greeted with acknowledgements, she herself decided to stand guard and looked to her right to see Dodd and Jones carrying an unconscious Orion, assigning another marine to take her place she walked over to them "tie him up, then Mr Dodd send a message to the Tomcat and tell them we have a secured LZ" Donovan added.

"Yes, Major, I will get on that," Dodd stated in reply as he helped Private Jones secure the Orion POW. "I can help construct a brig with some of the supplies I have in transporter buff file for storage, once I sent the message.

Dodd then entered the shuttle to send a secured message to the Tomcat to declare the LZ was secure and to report in for the first time since landing.

=/\= Landing Party to Tomcat. Landing Zone is secure. =/\= Dodd transmitted to the ship.

S'arila was more interested in the prisoner so she turned to Dodd "will you take that El-tee, please?" she said without looking at him, she moved in closer "we are going to have a little chat when the time is right" Donovan said to the tied up Orion who just looked at her in a defiant manner, which only earned him a palm slap off her "I lost a lot of good friends to you people even more to your slaving ships, I will eventually knock the defiance out of you and you will tell me what I want to know" she finished and walked over to the shuttle where Dodd was on the Comms.

=/\= Tomcat here. =/\= a young ensign on the communications team responded to Dodd's hail.

=/\= Lieutenant Dodd here, who is this? =/\=

=/\= Ensign Tsars =/\= the ensign responded =/\= Thank you for reporting in. Great to hear from you. I will let the captain know you checked in. She is occupied at the moment so she will reach out when she can. Ensign Tsars out. =/\= the ensign was a part of the communications team and would see the captain got the news of our secured landing zone.

Donovan was standing in front of the trussed up Orion and she crouched down and this was one of the times she wishes she still had her telepathic ability, but she had lost that, so now it was the old fashioned way. "Okay you will tell me what you know sooner or later, now what is your name and current position in the Orion military?" she started by asking.

Zlur was bound to a makeshift bench to contain him for interrogation by Major Donovan. He was a larger male than the standard terran. He was about seven feet tall and green. He wore the uniform of the Orion militia and so that meant he was an officer as the Orions only let officers where official uniforms.

"I will answer nothing you have to ask. I demand third party mediation and as a skum of the Federation, you must comply." Zlur stated after Donovan asked him for his name and current position in the Orion military.

Dodd was sensing thoughts from the Orion but was not sure how to address this with Major Donovan. He did not want to interfere with her interrogation but he also didn't want to do anything to hurt his current working relationship with Donovan.

Looking at the Orion in a condesending manner "this proves you are not true military and are note even worthy of being classed as a warrior, do you know why! Most captured enemy combatants will be adamant and will initially only give their name, rank and number. So if you are unwilling to tell me two of those things, you are not a proper officer or soldier, you have courage in fighting I will not deny, but you are nothing, so I will ask again Orion, what is your name and rank?" Donovan asked and paused.

After a pause she laughed quite hard and when she finally stopped she removed her combat visor and pinned the Orion with her solid red eyes that seemed to brighten as her temper flared. "You forget Orion, we are at war and I do not know if you know of this saying but Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" she paused.

The Orion looked puzzled, she looked over at Dodd and gave him a wink, her solid red eyes were clearly on display, then she returned her attention back to the Orion "with that phrase Orion there will be no third party meditation, but I will translate for the uninformed; that saying roughly translated into basic is In times of war, the Law falls silent. You see these eyes?" Donovan asked pointing to them "Well when I am wearing special eyewear I see like you do, in monochrome with a hint of red, without them I see things in varying degrees of yellows and reds, you would know this as infrared and I will tell you what that makes me a lie detector, so answer my initial questions Orion" Donovan finished.

Dodd had a spooky feeling run down his spine from what Zlur feel when he saw Donovan's eyes and then had a second spooky feeling after she had turned to him and he saw them himself. He didn't let that get to him and he stepped closer to Donovan. He was setting up some equipment to record the session so that they had record what might be said but would delete it if necessary for protection of the situation.

"I will tell you nothing you Federation scum." Zlur stated and then closed his eyes to avoid the stare of Donovan. "I will never tell you anything fact or fiction. You can waste your words but you can't make me talk no matter what you try."

[OFF]

Major S'arila Donovan[PNPC:Somers]
Bravo Unit Commander 95th Rifles/Acting MCO
USS Tomcat

Lt. Jg Remington Dodd
Chief Engineer
USS Tomcat

 

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