Viva la Resistance! - Part 2
Posted on Monday 6 August 2018 @ 20:07 by 1st Lieutenant John Kayhill
Mission:
The New Collective
Location: Vega Xu, Tilliax Settlement
Timeline: 239507.29
604 words - 1.2 OF Standard Post Measure
“Are we fully staffed?”, John asked his Gunny, “Max the Man”, as he tightened his weapon belt.
“We are down two”, Max said. “Private Owens is in the infirmary and hasn’t been cleared and El-tee Skon rotated out yesterday, right on time. Starfleet of course hasn’t decided on a replacement. I’d take a chimp with a rock right now to have the extra fire-power.”
John nodded, looked at Max, and then waved his two other senior Sergeants, Staff Sergeant Wilson, a human male and Staff Sergeant Thigm, a Tellarite female, over.
“Ok, here’s what we are doing”, John said. “The only easy escape route we have is down into the dilithium caves.”
Wilson shook his head, “We don’t have enough gear to protect people. They haven’t started mining but the rescue team kicked a lot of dilithium dust up. If we are in there too long, we’ll get lung disease.”
“And the Borg can bring down the mountain”, Thigm chimed in.
Max said, “Not easily. They’d have to send in a scout ship close the way the mountain is shaped here. The makeup of the mountain is quite sturdy. If they bring it down, we can cut a way out.”
John interrupted, “You are all correct, but we don’t have any other egress point that we can get to in time. We only have about fifteen minutes before the Borg get here. So, the caves are the plan.”
The three Sergeants nodded their heads.
“How many projectile weapons do we have?” John asked.
“With the TR-116’s and fart guns you brought, twenty”, Max answered with a bit of a smirk.
John looked confused, “Fart guns?”
Wilson and Thigm snickered and Wilson said, “When you shoot the weapon, it sounds like one of Thig’s farts, so the team started calling them fart guns.”
“It kind of stuck”, Max interjected.
Sergeant Thigm nodded in agreement.
John shook his head. Of all the things to be talking about when the borg were on the doorstep. It did take a bit of the rage that was building in him away though.
“Ok, well Wilson, take a rifle squad to this point”, John said pointing to a spot on the holo-map. “When the borg get here, I need you to keep them contained in this area. We need time to get the civilians out. I don’t care what you need to do, keep them distracted.”
“Yes, sir”, Wilson said.
“Max, I need you to take two squads and scavenge supplies”, John said.
“Yes, sir”, Max said.
“You better put weight belts on”, John said. “Because if any of you haven’t pulled a muscle or two when you drop off the loads, I am sending you back for more. Make sure to get a water replicator.”
“Yes, sir”, Max answered.
“Thig, you me, and the rest of the apes are going to start moving people to the caves. Get one advance fire team ahead and get lights into the cave laid out and an initial camp set. We’ll probably have to go deeper in, but we need a staging area at least. Questions?”
The three Sergeants shook their heads. All four of them knew that the chances of survival were slim, but a slim chance was better than no chance. There were numerous examples of miraculous things being pulled off across the universe when there was only a slim chance.
“Alright, move out”, John said, trying to keep his absolute hatred of the Borg in check.
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1st Lieutenant John Kayhill
Marine Company Commander
USS Merlin
