Mission 8: Return to Miranda

[Deleted]

~Challenger~
"Then let's hope that there are still people stashed away on this ship, making their way to the bridge," Loken answered, looking thoughtful. In a single gesture, he wiped the blood from his chin and smiled weakly, carefully hiding his fangs.

"Don't worry," he told the clearly frightened junior officers on the bridge, "I don't plan on killing you or even feeding on you. There's plenty of enemy on this ship to get by on for a while." His smile widened somewhat when he saw the juniors relax a little.

Loken walked over to Leth, who was now sat in the centre chair. "Can we scan the ship?" he asked, "or can we somehow pick out people on the surface? Perhaps we can somehow get through to my clan." A look of yearning appeared in his eyes, but he quickly masked it. He wanted to go home but first he had to help his new friends.

~Miranda~
"Come, we must hurry," Sergeant Temkar urged, drawing the Vulcan into the nearest cave while shielding his eyes from the blizzard that had suddenly appeared.

Saryn hurried on after the Mirandan officer, completely entrusting his life into the hands of this young officer. For, Saryn mused, this sergeant was young, no more than eighteen standard years old and from his features, Saryn also reasoned that this officer was Ankar's grandson.

Shielding his own eyes, he peered into the distance. "There is someone out there!" he called over the wind. He waved, drawing the person's attention. "Over here, hurry!" he called.

The person waved back and started into their direction. Saryn was surprised when he recognised the person as Zilan, the officer whom Ankar had sent away a day earlier. Zilan's expression of relief turned to one of hate, before he charged at the Vulcan, knocking him hard against the rockface of the cave.

Air expelled from his lungs, Saryn gasped as Temkar pulled the enraged officer away. "I suppose that was deserved," Saryn gasped, "after Ankar sent you away. Temkar please brief mr Zilan on what has transpired since I went with your grandfather."

Surprised registered on the young man's features, but he nodded in consent, leading Zilan away a few paces. The rage disappeared from the other man's face, to make place for regret. "I'm sorry," he murmured, approaching the still gasping Vulcan. Then he looked a little closer, watching the Vulcan limp further into the cave. "You don't look too good, you're bleeding."

Temkar gasped, then beckoned Zilan. "I need help building a fire. He was stabbed and shot but he's holding out all right. He lost a fair amount of blood, but we can't treat his injuries. There is, however a way to close that cut, but it'll hurt him. I need help holding him down while I work. Are you the queesy sort?"

Zilan understood what the young officer was hinting at and swiftly helped him build a fire. "Saryn, we need you to lie down, so we can help," he ordered. Surprisingly, the Vulcan didn't question this time and complied without comment. Zilan handed him a patch of clean cloth. "Bite down on this, you'll be wanting to scream and we don't want an avalanche. That, and you don't want to bite off your tongue either."

Temkar, meanwhile, was holding his own knife into the fire, feeding it until his blade turned red-hot. Then he turned, tore Saryn's clothing way at his injured side and pressed the hot blade against his skin, sealing the edges of the wound together, closing the wound.

Zilan barely managed to hold their patient down, before Temkar nodded that he could let go. "That'll do it," he broke the silence, "it'll burn for a while but at least you're done bleeding. Why are you all waiting here, why not in the caves?"

"My captain is up there," Saryn answered, still gasping for breath, "finding a communications device to contact our ship. Numike is with them. I...could not go with them." Shame coloured his cheeks. "I am...sufffering from vertigo."

That drew a blank look from Zilan.

"He's afraid of heights," Temkar offered, smiling gently, "though he'll never admit to fear. You should've seen him fight the Romulans, it was amazing. They thought they were fighting a wizard, the way he danced with his sword."

"Ah yes." Zilan looked troubled. "Where's Ankar?"

"With them," Temkar answered, huddling beside the fire to warm his hands. "And we're waiting here for them to return, so that they'll know where to find us. And we'll see them coming down too."

Zilan nodded in understanding. "I'll wait with you, and I'll tell you where I've been while you all had a party." He sat down beside the fire and started to tell his tales.

[michaelwallace]

~~~~ Miranda ~~~~

The group had talked about reaching a power plant in the mountains, Ankar had never heard of the plant before as he nodded to four of his officers to accompany them. He pushed his hand back firmly as the younger of the officers joined the group.

“Temkar, I would prefer it if you would stay with Saryn here. Make sure he is well, he is a friend.”

Temkar nodded mutely, the young officer was Ankar’s eldest grandson and he smiled at his grandfather,

“Take care General!”

General Ankar was close with his family, but when they he was on duty he had to try and keep his personal feelings separate. The truth was he did not want his grandson traveling with them, due to the possibility of coming across romulans but also Temkar was a skilled soldier and a healer and he knew Saryn would be in safe hands.

"General Ankar, I place Numike in your care for the duration of your trip. You are responsible for her safety." Saryn said as Ankar returned to the group.

“I will guard her with my life” Ankar put his arm round Numike as if to comfort her and nodded to Saryn to show he understood.

“If we’re going to go we’d better get going before it gets dark.” Kirk announced, Mike concurred with the Captain and Ankar beckoned the young Numike to lead the way.

As the group began to move up the steep incline, Mike walked over to Captain Kirk, “Sir, if the General does not know the location of this power plant it could well be another secret romulan facility. We should be prepared for conflict.”

Andy agreed, and Mike noticed one of Ankar’s men grunting. The mirandan military men were stubborn as mules and they thought they could handle anything. Much like MACOs… Mike thought, as they continued to climb.

“This way…” Numike cried out,

General Ankar struggled to keep up as the young paleskin sprinted towards a stream, “Its just over this stream.” Ankar quickly caught up with the youth, and looked at her closely kneeling to speak with her.

“Can you give us directions from here? It would be best if there was any danger that you were safe. I told Saryn I would keep you safe.”

Numike glanced up at the old General and shook her head, as the Challenger senior crew discussed things amongst themselves. Ankar turned to them, “Numike insists on coming with us, I recommend extreme caution with weapons at the ready”

Nodding to his soldiers who withdrew their weapons in synchronization as the earthlings did the same. As the group crept towards the plant the silver structure gleemed in the light, it was similar to the structure within the parliament building and yet again their was the Romulan Star Empire insignia…

“Its Romulan…” Mike said, it was obvious to all but he said it anyways.

Ankar made a couple of hand signals and his men spread out to find the entrance to the plant as he beckoned the Challenger’s senior crew and Numike to stay back… moments later all three men returned one after the other.

“The entrance is this way General, but it looks impenetrable.”

Ankar groaned for a moment, “Perhaps Kirk and his men can get us inside?”

(Tag Andy/All)

[Andrew Kirk]

“Its Romulan…” Mike said out loud, but Kirk could tell by his tone that he was simply just outwardly speaking his own personal thoughts.

The structure was indeed Romulan, the color, and the architecture gave it away at first glace. To Kirk it brought back childhood memories of the Emerald City form the near ancient story The Wizard of OZ.

The Mirandian General fanned his men out and kept behind good cover as they made the last several hundred yards up the mountainside. Kirk, Jack, and Mike stayed close by but in a much tighter group. He knew from experience that if any MACO soldier had seen them so close together they would have heard about it.

Kirk watched from behind some natural cover as three of the Generals men rushed the front entrance. He didn’t know if this was Mirandian tradition to send just three men in on a recon assignment or if these men where deemed as acceptable losses if they were to die in an ensuing fight.

“The entrance is this way General, but it looks impenetrable.” Kirk heard the solder say.

“Perhaps Kirk and his men can get us inside?” General Ankar said in such a way that meant only one thing; he was done putting out so much effort for the good of four alien beings.

The cold was starting to get to the soldiers and as far as Kirk knew the Mirandans were just as susceptible to cold weather as humans, they wouldn’t last the night if they stayed where they were.

“We need to get into that building, suggestions?” Kirk asked his officers. Out of the corner of his eye he could see General Ankar laughing at him because of his choice of leadership style. The fact was that he valued his officer’s input and above all he knew he didn’t have all the answers, a flaw that Kirk felt befell dictatorial style leadership.

<TAG ALL>

-CHALLENGER-

Marcy had pushed herself past the point of exhaustion and she didn’t know where she was getting this last burst of energy. Maybe it was because she knew that they were now under the bridge.

“We’re here.” She whispered to the man behind her, whom whispered to the man behind him and so on and so forth.

Using a small cutting torch Marcy cut the welds to the floor plating in the back of the bridge. She would only have to cut open one section so each engineer could slip onto the bridge one at a time. Once she was done cutting she passed the torch back and said a small prayer before slowly pushing the plate aside.

She was surprised at how easily and quietly the plate had in fact moved aside. She slowly stuck her head up through the hole and found that she was now behind the conference table in the back of the bridge. Perfect, she thought. This would help aid them in getting almost all of the engineers onto the bridge.

“Be ready for a fight.” She whispered. Again the word was passed down.

In her mind she counted to three and pushed herself up onto the deck of the bridge. Staying low she made room for the next engineering. Before long there was six engineers squatting in the back of the bridge with two still in the cramped tube.

Based upon the patches she could see there were only three MACO soldiers from the Cougar on board the bridge, but the problem was they were MACO soldiers. Marcy passed out orders for teams of two to take on each of the MACO soldiers on the count of three.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Th-” She cut herself off when on the main view screen two NX class ships along with two Poseidon class ships dropped out of warp.

“This is Captain Archer of the Starfleet ship Enterprise to all Romulan and Romulan allied ships. Stand down and return control of the Challenger back to her rightful Commander or prepare yourself for a fight.”

“NOW!” Marcy yelled as she rushed from behind conference table.

“No, wait!” Ensign Leth shouted as Marcy and her band of pirates charged, “They’re our guys.”

It was to late as the fight was on. Leth had to act quickly to regain order on the bridge so he fired a phase pistol set on stun at Marcy, sending her to the ground. This action caused the attack to stop in its tracks.

“Listen to me!” Leth shouted in a commanding tone, “This bridge is secure and under the control of Challenger’s officers. These MACO soldiers are our MACO soldiers they are just wearing Cougar uniforms.”

This explanation seemed to calm the masses down. Leth saw Marcy coming back around and helped her to her feet, “Take it easy General Patton.” Leth said to the stunned Engineer.

“Look!” Marcy said despite her daze as she looked at the main view screen.

Two Romulan birds of prey decloaked in front of Enterprise and Atlantis, “It seems they do want a fight after all.” Leth said, “Battle stations.”

<TAG ALL>

[leth]

"Then let's hope that there are still people stashed away on this ship, making their way to the bridge," Loken answered, looking thoughtful. In a single gesture, he wiped the blood from his chin and smiled weakly, carefully hiding his fangs.

"Don't worry," he told the clearly frightened junior officers on the bridge, "I don't plan on killing you or even feeding on you. There's plenty of enemy on this ship to get by on for a while." His smile widened somewhat when he saw the juniors relax a little.

Loken walked over to Leth, who was now sat in the centre chair. "Can we scan the ship?" he asked, "or can we somehow pick out people on the surface? Perhaps we can somehow get through to my clan." A look of yearning appeared in his eyes, but he quickly masked it. He wanted to go home but first he had to help his new friends.

"Yes we can...." Leth said, his face brightening up a little as he moved over to his station, he started pushing buttons as fast as he could, but when the scan started he was interupted by 4 ships dropping out of warp.

“This is Captain Archer of the Starfleet ship Enterprise to all Romulan and Romulan allied ships. Stand down and return control of the Challenger back to her rightful Commander or prepare yourself for a fight.”

“NOW!” Marcy yelled as she rushed from behind conference table.

“No, wait!” Ensign Leth shouted as Marcy and her band of pirates charged, “They’re our guys.”

It was to late as the fight was on. Leth had to act quickly to regain order on the bridge so he fired a phase pistol set on stun at Marcy, sending her to the ground. This action caused the attack to stop in its tracks.

“Listen to me!” Leth shouted in a commanding tone, “This bridge is secure and under the control of Challenger’s officers. These MACO soldiers are our MACO soldiers they are just wearing Cougar uniforms.”

This explanation seemed to calm the masses down. Leth saw Marcy coming back around and helped her to her feet, “Take it easy General Patton.” Leth said to the stunned Engineer.

“Look!” Marcy said despite her daze as she looked at the main view screen.

Two Romulan birds of prey decloaked in front of Enterprise and Atlantis, “It seems they do want a fight after all.” Leth said, “Battle stations.” Leth moved back to the command chair and waited for a quick report. 'Jeez, my first mission and im already sitting in the command chair, man i hope i dont screw up' Leth thought to himself as various reports came in. "Get that shield back up to 100%, we are going to need it. And get a team together to rescue the rest of our crew" He said, looking back at Mercy

[Deleted]

Sharon had been on the ship not long when she was called up to the bridge, she took the lift up to the bridge, she noticed the romulan birds of prey on the viewscreen and heard Captain Archers order for the romulans to stand down.

She walked over tp the helm and relieved the person there and took a seat, she looked over the board carefully, remembering where everything was at and placed her fingers where they would be the most useful.

OOC: Soryy for short post but will try and catch up with current events tomorrow.

[Andrew Kirk]

-COUGAR-

Captain Harper’s eyes shot wide open on the bridge of the Cougar. He couldn’t believe his eyes, both the Enterprise and the Atlantis along with two Poseidon class ships sat in front of him at battle stations. Even with his ship allied with the two Romulan birds of prey they didn’t stand a chance but there was no way he was going to be taken in as a traitor.

“Ready the weapons!” Harper shouted.

“Stand down.” Harper heard from behind him. The voice was close and familiar.

“We must fight our way out of this.”

Just as suddenly as the voice had entered his mind it had gone, and as it had the two Romulan ships that decloaked to show some force disappeared to save their own skins.

“Sir our Romulan allies have left the sector.” Announced the science officer.

Harper was now sweating, as he was the only man standing between the Starfleet ships and the planet of Miranda.

“Sir, what are your orders?” Ask the armory officer.

Harper found himself in a situation he never wanted to see himself in, he saw himself on deaths doorstep of he chose to try and fight this one out. On the other hand he was looking at treason chargers for his actions in trying to capture the Challenger and her crew.

“Sir?”

“Execute evasion maneuver Harper Omega-Three-One.”

“Aye sir.”

The commands sent several torpedoes firing from the Cougars torpedo tubes, those torpedoes exploded just in front of each of the enemy ships causing a temporary blinding effect. When the light vanished each of the ships found that the Cougar had vanished as well leaving Enterprise, Atlantis, and Challenger confused and searching for the Cougar’s warp signature.

[leth]

Leth sat in the command chair waiting, for what he wasnt entirely sure however he knew that when it happened, he was ready. He watched a young officer relieve the current helm officer, but took no note of who or why. He was about to ask for a report on the Cougar and both Romulan birds of prey, when the romulans began to leave. Moments later the Cougar launched out multiple torpedoes, only to have them explode in front of them, blinding them for a few moments. When Leth could see, his viewscreen was blank, "Where are they?" He yelled out. "I dont know sir, no sign of a warp trail." Leth continued to wait for 10 minutes until he figured that there was no way he would find the Cougar. "Ok, give me a ship wide comm link." He loked at the officer, who nodded when he was finished. "Attention NX-Challenger officers, the NX-Cougar has left, and the Challenger is now under our control. All officers of the Cougar with be arrested and taken for court martial, there is no need for any other actions, and all unnessecary actions with be dealt with accordingly." Leth nodded to the officer, who cut off the comm link. "Lets find the rest of our crew, see if the Enterprise and Atlantis will send over some help to get us back on track."

15 minutes later, Leth was glad to know that both the Atlantis and Enterprise had sent a couple teams of officers over to help fix the Challenger. As soon as he thought he had enough working sections, he contacted the Mirandan planet. "This is Ensign Leth of the NX Challenger, i believe some of my crew are down there, any chance of getting them back?"

OOC i dont really know who i would be talking to at the moment, so i hope you guys can come up with something.

[Andrew Kirk]

“Any suggestions?” Kirk asked his officers.

Mike looked as if he was about to speak up and they were suddenly surrounded by a bright blue white glow. At first Kirk thought it was a Romulan trap but there was something oddly familiar about these sensations.

When the glowing subsided Kirk found himself along with Mike and Jack crouching low on a transporter chamber. He looked around quickly and saw to his relief Starfleet uniforms and the unforgettable face of Captain Archer.

“Welcome aboard the Enterprise.” Archer said standing tall.

In near unison Kirk, Jack and Mike all stood up to greet the Captain of the Enterprise, “Thank you Captain.” Kirk replied.

He walked the short distance to shake Archers hand and when he did he identified himself and his fellow officers, “I’m Captain Kirk, this is Lt. Commander Jack Logan, Challengers Chief Communications Officer, and Lt. Mike Wallace, my Executive officer and Chief Engineer.”

“Good to meet you all.” Archer replied.

Then Kirk’s mind shifted gears, “Captain we were down there with a group of natives…”

Archer hold up hand, “Atlantis is picking them up right now. They will be treated for any injuries and sent back down to the surface.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Now our own good Doctor would like to see you.”

Kirk motioned with his hand for Mike and Jack to move along with out him, “Captain we have a man still down there.”

“We know Captain. Don’t worry we have everything under control. As we speak two MACO teams are searching the cave for Saryn. Now I want you to get checked out while we also secure you ship.” Archer said.

“Thank you Captain.” Kirk replied before he walked out of the transporter room to catch up with his officers.

<Tag All>

[Deleted]

Saryn listened to Zilan, nodding once in a while as the Mirandan progressed his story. Then he held up a hand, silencing him. "Someone is coming," he whispered, carefully rising to his feet, drawing his own blanket closer around his shoulders. His clothes were still damaged from the battle, and the medical care Zilan and Temkar had given him.

His side was still smarting but it was nothing he couldn't control for now, but he was still having trouble controlling his breathing for reasons he couldn't quite understand just now. He stopped dead in his tracks when a full squad of MACO's poured into the cave, their rifles raised.

"Hold your fire!" Saryn snapped, using the best authorative voice he could currently muster. "These two Mirandans are under my protection! Stand down!"

The lead MACO lowered his rifle and nodded. "We've come to retrieve you. Captain Archer as sent us down to look for you."

An eyebrow raised. "Archer?" The other eyebrow followed. "The Enterprise is here?"

"Yes doctor," the MACO replied, "and your collegues are rescued from the mountaintop." He smirked. "Phlox got a very anxious girl in his sickbay who won't stay put and keeps baring her teeth at us. She's a menace!"

Saryn frowned. "We have to go, at once, before she hurts anyone." He nodded towards the MACO. "Get us home corporal."

Minutes later, Saryn limped into sickbay, collapsing onto the nearest bed. A cry caught his attention and he felt someone tug at his arm. Wearily, he looked up and actually smiled. "You have done well Numike," he whispered, before he passed out altogether.

Quietly, Numike removed the sword from his belt and set it aside, then started to remove his torn clothing, shrugging off the nurse who tried to lead her away. She bared her fangs at the nurse, growling.

"Numike." The girl looked up and saw Loken stand a few paces away. "Let the nurse help. Captain Archer wishes to speak with you, and he needs Saryn well to speak later too."

~Later~

Saryn walked into the briefingroom, fully dressed and once more wearing his doctor's coat. At his side he wore the sword that Somon had gifted him, though it went hidden under his coat. "I am...pleased to be back home sir," he started, addressing Kirk, "though I have had a very busy four months, adapting to a new environment, making new friends and learning an entire new language."

He looked down at Numike and noticed the girl's anxious expression. "As such, I ask a favour. This girl is an orphan and I have grown attached to her. I have spoken with Loken and I would request your permission to officially adopt her. Loken agrees, she would die if I left her behind. I have become her caretaker during the past months."

[Andrew Kirk]

Kirk sat in his office sipping on a cup of coffee when the door chime rang.

“Come in.” Kirk said.

Saryn walked in proudly with the young Mirandian girl in front of him. Kirk stood up form his chair to greet his guests.

"I am...pleased to be back home sir," he started, addressing Kirk, "though I have had a very busy four months, adapting to a new environment, making new friends and learning an entire new language."

“We’re happy to have you back Doctor.”

Saryn looked down at Numike and noticed the girl's anxious expression. "As such, I ask a favor. This girl is an orphan and I have grown attached to her. I have spoken with Loken and I would request your permission to officially adopt her. Loken agrees, she would die if I left her behind. I have become her caretaker during the past months."

Kirk knew this was highly irregular but this entire rescue mission had been highly irregular. He knew there was no way he could say no to Saryn’s request, they had gone back and after leaving him behind on a hostile planet he owed the Vulcan doctor one.

“Request granted.” Kirk said.

Saryn nodded just slightly with his head and backed out of Kirk’s office. The former engineer sat back down in his chair and let his mind drift back to the calm salty breeze of home. He hadn’t been home in years now and it seemed that the older he got the more he missed that third rock from the sun.

LATER

Hours had passed since Saryn had come talk to Kirk in his office and he was now back on his own ship sitting in his own chair with his friends and crewmates around him.

“Captain Archer wishes to speak with you sir.” Jack said.

“Put him on the big screen.” Kirk replied. Archers image blinked onto the screen and it was Kirk who spoke up first, “Captain I can’t thank you enough for all the help you given us.”

“What are friends for?” Archer said with a smile, “We have the last of the Cougar’s officers on board and we are going to be taking them to the nearest space station for questioning. Dr. Phlox believes they were under some sort of chemically induced state that made them susceptible to suggestion. We wont know for sure until we get them back but I’ll keep you informed of what we find.”

“Thank you Captain.” Kirk replied.

“There’s one more thing.” Archer added, “Admiral Gardner would like to see you and your crew back on Earth for some R&R and so the Challenger can get the newest set of upgrades.”

“We’d be happy to fulfill the Admiral’s wishes.”

“Good, take care Captain.” Archer said before sitting down in his own chair.

“You too.”

The main view screen blinked and Kirk watched as Enterprise, Atlantis and their fleet turned around and headed out of Mirandian space. He then looked around his own bridge and saw that the scars of battle where still visible.

“Take us out Mr. Wolf.” Kirk said as he sat down in his chair.

“Destination?” She replied.

“Home.” Kirk said with the hint of a smile on his face.

THE END