Viva la Resistance! - Part 3

Posted on Tuesday 7 August 2018 @ 20:10 by 1st Lieutenant John Kayhill

Mission: The New Collective
Location: Vega Xu, Tilliax Settlement
982 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

John stood at the entrance to the dilithium caves with his personal ‘fart’ gun as the unit had so lovingly called it. He was alternating between watching people get herded in to the caves and watching the sky with his ‘binoculars’.

His hand shook a little as into view came a Borg vessel. It was cube shape, not scout sized, but not on the level of most of their capital ships. He didn’t recognize the design and he was familiar with just about all of them.

‘Two seconds early’ he muttered as his chronometer was at 00:02 of its fifteen-minute countdown.

The ship came lower, which was odd. Borg usually just beam into an area and start assimilating once they have an area’s defenses down. He saw the streak of a Mark 17 missile that must have been fired from his team. There was a brief explosion and a green shimmer in the air around the Borg ship as the ship’s shields absorbed the attack.

The cube slowed down and then a wide green beam erupted out of an emitter on the cube. It was not targeted at the Marines, it was a wide scale energy beam. As the beam enveloped the settlement’s buildings, John’s jaw dropped as the buildings started to be disintegrated. He knew the team of twenty-four that he sent over there, the team of twenty-four that had trusted him, were now gone.

A few people caught sight of the event and started to scream and let out of exclamations of various religious declarations and some just out right swore. One thing was consistent though, people started to panic. Panic turned to pushing. Pushing would have turned into trampling, but his Marines were good at crowd control.

Instead of getting people’s names now, the squads started just to let people in to the caves but warning them to be careful. John shook his head as he knew that time was just about out. As he was about to go in himself, he saw a little girl running towards the cave entrance. John ran out and scooped her up and got back to the caves as the green wave approached.

Everyone was moving as fast as they could in the cramped corridors of the caves. The caves were relatively large, but being rough-hewn, it wasn’t easy going, especially for those not in appropriate footwear. In addition, the lighting was limited and there were a lot of shadows due to that which made it hard to see

The rock around them started to shake and there was rumbling all around. There was a loud crashing from the direction of the cave mouth. The energy wave had hit and the cave mouth was collapsing. A huge cloud of dust blasted through the cave corridor as the mountain shook. John tripped and fell, but he managed to turn himself, so the little girl fell on top of him. She started to cry.

“I want my momma”, she cried.

The little girl reminded him of his sister Angela when they were hiding from the Borg so twenty years ago.

‘I know what you mean kid’, John thought, a single tear forming in the corner of his eye. ‘I want my momma too.’

Getting to his feet, John picked the girl up.

“What’s your name young lady?”, John asked.

“Elizabeth”, she managed to say in-between cries.

“How old are you Elizabeth?” John asked again.

“Four”, she managed to get out.

“Wow, you are the bravest four-year-old I have ever met”, John said. “You know what?”

“What?” she whimpered.

“The Lieutenant who was my second in command went home yesterday”, John said. “He was brave like you too. Starfleet didn’t send a new Lieutenant and now I know why.”

“Why?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“They knew you were here and that you could be my new Lieutenant”, John replied.

“I can’t be a Lieutenant silly”, the girl said with a very slight hint of a giggle. “I am only four years old.”

“Well, you don’t have to be old to be a Lieutenant”, John said. “You just have to be brave and you are really brave. So, I am making you my new Lieutenant.”

John took one of his Lieutenant bars off and pinned it on the girl’s shirt. She smiled a little.

“What do I have to do?” she asked, looking worried that she might not be able to live up to being a Lieutenant, whatever that truly meant.

“You just have to help others be as brave as you are”, John answered smiling back at her.

--

In orbit above Vega Xu was a large Borg cube. The ship’s leader had a communication open with the leader of the attack vessel.

“Your objective has been obtained one of ten, return to the ship”, the leader said.

“There are still humanoid live signs on the planet”, Five replied. “They have hidden within a mountain. My ship’s weapons can not destroy the mountain in an efficient amount of time…

“We will bombard the mountain”, the leader said cutting him off. “The main weapons will be more than efficient. Return to the ship.”

“It is illogical, but let us kill them by hand”, Five said. “Destruction from a distance does not seem as satisfying given the crimes that were committed by the humans and their allies.”

The leader was about to reply when Five added, “Please” to the end of the statement.

“Our course of action is illogical in its own right”, the leader said. “We will continue to the next target while you conduct your hunt. There will be no reinforcements and you are to rendezvous in five days, no exceptions.”

“Five days, affirmative”, Five said, an evil smile growing across his face.

---

1st Lieutenant John Kayhill
Marine Company Commander
USS Merlin