Post by Scribe on Jul 22, 2009 7:00:06 GMT -5
BAJOR V – BAJORAN STAR SYTEM
Stardate: 30.07.2168
This was going to be close.
Bajor-B'hava'el, the star around which the planet Bajor, its five moons and its sister world Andros revolved, was being assailed by the power of the Xindi spheres. The Expanse had been encroaching on Alpha Quadrant territory for some time now but with the destruction of Ferenginar, neither Bajor nor Cardassia could ignore the enemy at the gate. They had joined the alliance and thus were able to receive the assistance needed to combat the damage to their planet.
Major Tom Merrick landed on the outermost moon orbiting Bajor itself. The small moon, slightly larger than Charon of Sol used to be, was home to more than 200 hundred thousand people. An exhaustive relief effort to evacuate the satellite to escape the solar flares lashing across it surface was being undertaken by a force comprising of humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Cardassians. The coordinate rescue attempt was racing the clock. Even now, large areas of Bajor were suffering catastrophic ecological destruction.
The rest of the alliance fleet was on its way to the Delphanic Expense, led by the Enterprise and the newest NX ships to be rolled off the assembly line. Alexandra Styles, his wife was on the NX-03 Saratoga as its Captain. A battle would be taking place in a matter of hours at Azati Prime where the central hub of the spheres existed. If the Xindi threat could be neutralized there, then the rest of galaxy, including Bajor would be safe.
However, until that final battle was fought, they could not take the chance of losing any more people and the rescue operations continued, as Tom led one of the evacuation operations from one of Bajor’s moons.
*******
The last quake (and they were coming in faster) had taken out the generators, sending everyone in the staging building into darkness. There were a handful of screams but Carys ignored them as she sealed a bandage over the newly reopened cut on her hand. There was enough blood in this shack. Satisfied the bandage would hold, she took the torch someone had passed over to her. "It's alright!" she called, voice carrying strongly over the others. "It's just the generators... " Moving through the people gathered in the building, she put a hand on an old woman's shoulder, squeezing it. "I've sent someone to check on them." Hopefully, the image Carys was projecting was more calm than she actually felt.
"Dr. Kensil!!"
Frowning, Carys turned, focusing her torch on the young man she'd sent to check on the generators. When he waved her over, she followed. "What is it?" Keeping her voice low, she figured his quick return couldn't be good and she sent quick askance to the Prophets for guidance.
"The generator's gone..." he whispered. "Sink hole opened up and it's getting wider."
So much for any help from the Prophets. Inhaling deeply, Carys took the news in stride. "Alright.. we'll handle this," she added encouragingly just as someone else appeared at her side. "Yes, Dov?"
"The evacs are back..."
And when one prayer isn't answered, another usually is. "Thank the Prophets," Carys breathed, already moving to go meet up with them.
*******
Even from the air, Tom could see that the structure wasn't going to take much more abuse. As the shuttle craft landed in the middle of the compound, Tom could see the visible shudders and shimming occurring through the formwork. Along with the seismic disturbances, the temperatures were escalating and the solar flares were playing haven with circuitry. If they didn't get off the surface, they might not get off at all. Starfleet techs had done what they could with insulate the shuttle's circuitry but the intensity was growing and Tom didn't want to risk systems failure by lingering too long.
Striding out of the shuttle, he hollered over his shoulder. "Lorio! Jazz! Move your arses, get these people evacuated within ten minutes."
Halting one of the bodies running across the place, largely because the person looked like they had a clue, Tom demanded, “who’s in charge here?"
Soldiers? Why would they send soldiers to help frightened, injured people??
She'd specified a medical team, since there were several with heavy injuries. Carys frowned at the uniforms, until a rough voice grabbed her attention.
"I am," she called out, approaching the man who had stopped the young man she'd sent to check on the generator. "Kensil Carys. Some of these people are severely injured.. they need to go first."
A woman strode up to him, a pretty piece of work with long legs and a great set of ...uhm eyes. Hey, he was married not dead, Tom told himself when he felt slightly guilty for admiring her form. He'd been a MACO for most of his life and some baser instincts just didn't go away even with a wedding band around his finger.
"Major Tom Merrick of Starfleet Marine Corps," Tom introduced himself. "Lorio, Jazz you heard the lady! Get the injured out first and don't jostle em too much."
"We're on it!" Lorio replied, jogging past him, Anderson and Jazz not far behind.
Satisfied that they were on track, Tom turned back to the woman. "I've got orders to get everyone in this complex into the shuttle for immediate departure. Get them ready to leave in five minutes."
Five?? What happened to ten? "That's not enough time," Carys replied, staring at him. She needed doctors and they send her soldiers... "I said severely injured. Where is the medical transport we requested?"
Exhausted, hot, the question wasn't very gentle. It would do good to have her patients evacuated from the planet only to die in transit.
"Luv, that's all the time you've got," Tom replied, barking orders at the rest of his men for a moment before returning to her again. "The solar flares are ionizing the atmosphere, the medical transport didn't have the shielding and if the flares increase, we're not going to be able to bloody well take off either. Its five minutes or we don't go at all."
Glancing upwards at the sky, where ion lightning was turning the sky all kinds of unnatural colors, Carys looked back to the Marine. "It's that bad?" she asked, as her patients were being brought out.
Tom shot her a look as he continued walking into the building, supervising the evacuation. "It is if you still want your technology to work." He explained. "The medical transport lost all internal power when it approached the planet. If we hadn't beamed the personnel off, they would be dead."
"Oh..." Taking a deep breath, Carys nodded as she followed him, matching his stride easily. "We'll make it as fast as possible. We need all the hands we can get, Major," she added pointedly before turning to the rest of the group. "Listen up!" Again, her voice was loud and carried over the commotion. "If you can walk and your arms aren't injured, start helping someone who needs it!" she ordered, tone firm but encouraging. "We have very little time!"
"Good girl," Tom replied, tossing her a little smile of approval. Looking over his shoulder, he shouted after the rest of his men. "Hullo ladies, are you enjoying your little stroll? We're not going to fucking tea party, move your arses! Get in there and get these people out." He growled.
The soldiers under his command knew better than to argue and Tom wished once again, that Derick wasn't leading an EVAC mission off his own on Andros. Derick knew how to keep him from shooting any lazy bugger that pissed him off.
Managing a smile back, although tight and showing her exhaustion, Carys nodded just as the building started to shake again, riding the ground waves as what dust was left in the rafters showered down on everyone. A fresh round of screams sounded out but there was one sound Carys heard about them all. The powerful crack of a support beam going. "Major!! The back wall!!" she shouted, pointing out where the ceiling was starting to buckle. "A sink hole opened up just as you arrived. Took our generator with it..."
"You two," he grabbed two soldiers running past him. "Get back to the shuttle, bring out the stuff we used to construct emergency shelters, get it here and use it to brace that wall." He ordered. Tom was realistic about their chances of success. Time was not on their side but still he had to try.
"Yes Sir!" One of them shouted and hurried back to the shuttle.
"How many people on the second level?" Tom asked, looking at the ceiling.
"None, we moved everyone down here but we've got people in the back room," Carys replied, heading for the back of the room. "Naza!" Yelling for her nurse, Carys found the woman when she stood up. "Help me with the Minister!"
"Get her to keep what she's doing," Tom said shortly, "I’ll help you get him. Where is he?" He asked.
"This way!" At this point, Carys wasn't going to refuse anyone's help, medical or not. Moving quickly down a hallway, she stopped in front of a door second from the last and opened the door... or tried to open it. "Minister Taya?" she called through the crack in the door. When there was no answer, Carys put her shoulder to the door. "The door won't open!"
"Step aside luv," he ordered the woman.
Putting his shoulder into it, Tom slammed his shoulder, duly covered with body armor. The door shuddered and Tom repeated the action, a bit more force this time and it burst open. Swimming inward in a wide arm before hitting the wall next to the door frame. "Ladies first."
Hurrying inside with a frown, Carys had no time for what the humans called chivalry. "Taya?" In here, dust floated in the air. The room was dark and the air... she sniffed. "The air...Taya?" Spotting the minister, a large man, lying on the floor, Carys hurried to him, praying to any Prophet still listening that he was alive. "Major!"
"Fuck me," Tom retorted, seeing the man on the ground. Wasting no time, Tom brushed past her and dropped on one knee to feel the man's pulse. There was one. It was thready and weak but it was there. Enough time doing these on dead comrades had made Tom an expert.
"Step back, I'll get him." Picking him up by the arm, Tom lifted the man to his feet. He was almost a dead weight but one other thing that Tom had experience in was taking a certain Gunny Sgt and best friend got home from the pub after he had knocked back one too many.
With a groan, Taya blinked at the movement, eyes settling on Carys. "Child.. what.."
"There is no time, Minister.. " Carys ordered, taking the man's other arm. "We are evacuating. Watch his side, Major, his ribs are broken."
“I got him," Tom retorted. The smell in the room was coolant. Not yet toxic but it wouldn't be long before it was. They had to get out of the building, not just because of the flares but because there was poison games roaming unchecked through the air vents. "Come on mate," he said to the man he was carrying. "One foot in front of the other."
As Taya moved forward, Carys hovered behind him. As they entered the hallway, she coughed in the somewhat fresher air and moved ahead of the two men. With the room practically empty now, she turned to the last nurses. "Let's go, everyone out!" she ordered, hurrying over and taking the arm of the patient Naza was helping.
The bloke was heavy but it was nothing that MACO training couldn't handle as he heard the woman yelling at everyone to get out, he looked over his shoulder. "Luv, that includes you." He ordered as they moved towards the door.
About to respond that she wanted to clear the building, Carys's voice was silenced by the roar of the shoring equipment giving way and the back wall of the building finally giving into laws of physics. "The wall!" she shouted over the noise, pushing Naza ahead of her towards the door. "Go!!" Forcing the last patient into almost a run on her injured foot, Carys staggered when the floor shook again.
Tom managed to get out ahead of her and as soon as he was clear of the building, was quickly met by Lorio and Anderson who took Taya off his hands. Turning around, he expected to see her behind him.
But she was not.
Where the fuck was she? Without thinking twice, he ran into the building.
"Come on!" He barked when he saw her still inside.
"I'm not staying here because I want to!" Carys fired back. "My foot is stuck!" More over, her boot was stuck. Struggling with the laces, her lungs were already feeling the leaking coolant seeping up from the busted floorboard.
Tom didn't waste time with the niceties, dropping to one knee when he reached her. Pulling out the field knife tucked in his kit, he brushed away her hands from her unsuccessful attempt to undo her laces.
“Let me,” he retorted before slicing the laces apart and anything else that kept her foot trapped without any further fuss. Once the laces were cut, Tom pulled the boot open, "slip your foot out luv."
Doing so, Carys coughed and scrambled to her feet, wincing as she put weight on the turned ankle. "Let's go," she said, grabbing Tom by the body armor. "You're not dying for me."
“Never going to happen,” he replied smoothly until he saw her struggling on her foot and rolled his eyes.
Women. This one reminded him of Alex, just as bloody stubborn. Giving her no opportunity to argue, he bent over and swept her off her feet. "It'll be faster if I do the walking luv."
"I can walk!" Protesting, Carys ended it in a cough that was following by the heart stopping sound of another support beam going. Maybe he had the right idea, as embarrassing as it was... if only the Prophets had made this one Bajoran. As the two exited the building, there was a deafening roar and behind them, the roof crashed inward, bringing the walls with it.
"You're welcome," he retorted sarcastically and did not move to set her down once they were out. Hurrying across the compound, he reached the open hatch of the shuttle in far quicker time than it would have taken for her to walk it. The sky was a blaze with colours, like the aurora borealis on Earth. The ionisation was getting worse. They had to lift off and soon. "Sorry luv, can't spare the hobbling time."
Making a sound of indignance, Carys frowned. "Thank you," she grumbled. Truly, she was grateful but the women of Bajor didn't make themselves what they were by allowing men to carry them.
"Carys!" On the ramp at the rear of the shuttle, Naza rushed out to meet them. "Are you alright?"
"She's fine," Tom replied hastily and set her down on one of the few inches of spare space left in the shuttle. "We're in! Close the hatch and get us the fuck out of here!"
Wincing as he shouted practically in her ear, Carys pushed him away on reflex. Underneath, the shuttle rumbled in response to his order and she gathered her bearings. She needed to see to Taya. "Naza, the minister?" Lurching to her feet, Carys grabbed the back of the nearest seat.
"He's over here," the other Bajoran replied, indicating where Taya sat, strapped in. His color had returned.. relatively.
"Oy!" Tom snapped, "get off that foot and put your arse down on that seat. The Surak is in orbit," he ordered, informing her of the medical ship that was taking on all the refugees. "He'll be right for a few more minutes."
"Carys, he's right. Sit!" Naza moved back to her seat, trying to encourage Carys to do the same. A tic appeared in Carys's jaw as she glared at her friend and back at the Major. "Stop yelling at me," she fired off before dropping into a seat with a pout, tired…but pouting.
Beside her, Naza breathed a sigh of relief and gave the Major a look of long suffering patience.
Distracted by her tone, Tom frowned and leaned forward, his voice low and steady as he spoke. “You,” he stared at her intently. “Remind me of my wife."
Confused, Carys frowned at him. "I will take that as a compliment," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"She can't shut up either." Tom snorted before going off to check on his men.
A noise came from Naza, who covered her mouth with one hand. Carys glared over at her friend. "This is not funny," she grumbled, settling into silence for the rest of the trip.
END