A Stroll On the Beach
Posted on 17 Apr 2023 @ 8:18pm by Admiral Zavareh Sepandiyar & Chief Deputy Marshal: Ridge Steiner - FMS
Edited on on 17 Apr 2023 @ 8:23pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Camp Sunrise and surroundings
Timeline: MD09. 0515hrs
2111 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure
Steiner ran from the ramp and caught up with the Marines. "There's a Pyrryx ship coming! The Arrow's going, we're staying! We'll check for survivors and they will come back for us. If the Pyrryx come here, we deal with them!" He shouted over the storm and looked to them to make sure they understood the situation. "And we're not using stun on those bastards!"
Johannes nodded, flicking the switch on his rifle to turn it to live fire, and toggling the burst fire switch at the same time. If half of what Major Finn had shared on these Pyrryx was right, and the rumors he’d heard from the 2nd Armored at Falkirk, they were going to need every ounce of firepower they could muster.
They clambered up the dune, wind, rain and sand blustered around them, in a flash of lightning the half circle of buildings could be seen, maybe a hundred and fifty meters ahead. As the flash faded, in the distance, the skyline was illuminated by an orange red glow, from the direction of where the industrial area lay. As they watched, a flicker of flames reached into the dark skies, there was a flash and a fireball bloomed upwards, seconds later the rumble of an explosion rolled over them.
Behind them came another noise, the Arrow had lifted off, turned its nose out to sea and shot off into the dark, its lights twinkled once, twice and were gone.
"Lets get closer and I'll try a scan," Steiner called to the Marines and they moved forward cautiously. After a minute when they were maybe seventy meters from the buildings Stiner knelt down in the sand behind a larger dune and pulled out the tricorder. Flipping it on, he began scanning the surroundings, the readings were not great, whatever the local minerals were they were disrupting the device. He adjusted the controls, trying to filter out some of the interference, after several tries he managed to get some semblance of accuracy. The results were disappointing, there were no Humanoid lifeforms within three hundred meters. He changed the scanning mode to the one Zahn had preprogrammed for him, he let it run for a minute or so, turning the Tricorder to the left and right, nothing!
There was also nothing showing up of the inbound Pyrryx craft either. So whatever they were up to they were not coming here, that could only mean the Arrow had been their target after all!
Steiner clipped the Tricorder back on to his belt and called to the Marines. "No Humanoid lifesigns, but we'll still check it out"
They spread out a little and moved up the first hut, as they approached it was clear this one was empty, the door was lopsided and jammed across the frame, one wall was partially collapsed.
They moved to the next, it too was dilapidated and clearly unused, so were the next three. they moved now to the larger building in the middle, this was in better shape.
“Here!” Binns called out from a hut.
Everywhere in the little ‘village’ had looked completely derelict and abandoned. Everywhere but here. It was clear that this place was still actively being lived in from the state of things. Inside the hut, there was a curtain of kelp, dividing the hut into a living and a sleeping area. There were three woven grass sleeping mats on the sleeping quarters’ floor. On the walls were baskets on pegs and a small handmade broom. Neatly folded kelp material was stacked in one corner and there were roughly crafted metal dishes in neat stacks, arrayed next to what looked like a basket tray of bone combs and small findings probably used for makeshift personal items. Two up turned pails were in the living area, as if ready for a sit and a chat as you were waiting out the storm. It was rough living, obviously, but it was neat and tidy like someone had taken great care to keep it that way.
At the same time, it was obvious they’d left in a rush. There were tools left out, a shovel leaning on the side of the hut beside an empty ration tin left open on the ground. The door of the home hadn’t been secured, and outside, there was a crudely made pot with a layer of crabmeat still in it, suspended on a chain over a fire pit that had been doused by rain, but not covered or raked clear. A stringed instrument was carelessly left out beside it.
Foster stepped back as Johannes entered the hut and looked around. “Shit,” he grunted as he looked around, shaking his head. He looked back to see Steiner joining them. “They aren’t here.”
“Looks like they left in a hurry,” Binns offered.
Steiner nodded, thankful to be out of the rain, even for a moment. The huts and rustic furniture certainly looked designed for land-based Humanoid life, rather than aquatic. “You’re sure this looks like a Corp’s style layout? It’s not some other species?” he asked, shouting over the thunder.
“Positive, Marshall,” Johnnes nodded. He had zero doubt on that.
“Could they be hiding? Staying out of harm’s way, while all this goes down?” To punctuate his words there was another rolling boom, louder than the thunder, and another flash lit up the underside of the clouds. “Would they have set up a safe point to go to? What do you guys call it, an RV?”
Both nodded, “They’d have a bug out spot. But that’d be impossible to find for us. We’d have to scan for it. It’ll be somewhere that’ll blend in, be hard to find and be very secluded. It might be a small island, but with everything else going on, we’re not likely to find it soon.
Steiner was at a loss, they could not run around calling out loud and trying to search for people they did not know, on a strange island, in a storm was not going to work either. With not many options he tried the tricorder again. Setting it for maximum range, and slowly turning it in a circle. “Nothing!” he was about to switch it off when there was a faint almost inaudible beep and an indicator blinked on the screen. Then disappeared again
“Dammit” Steiner waved the tricorder in the direction indicated, still nothing. He held it out at arms length then resignedly trudged back out of the hut into the rain. He went five paces when the screen lit up again and this time stayed lit. He swung the tricorder, moving it left and right and the signal faded, bringing it back on center the light came back. “It’s weak and I can’t tell the range but it’s that way” he stuck out his left arm pointing in the direction of the signal return.
He looked up, besides the fire and burning way over to the left horizon he could not see anything in the storm swept night, then there was a series of lightning flashes and in the distance was the rocky massive of some kind of hill. In a second flash, a few seconds later, it was clearer, this was not any old hill, it was a damn great big hill and it looked like a couple of kilometers away, at least.
He moved the tricorder from side to side again, the signal kept coming back every time he pointed it at the mountain. He showed it to the Marines. “That’s the best we’ve got, how far do you think it is, two kilometers or so?”
“Give or take. We can cover it quick.” Gunny Johannes agreed.
“Great, well lets get to it” Steiner muttered. “How you want to do this, this is your area of expertise?”
“Move in quiet. Shoot and scoot,” Gunny Johannes said as they trotted towards the hill. “We find cover, move up quietly. If we’re engaged, we return fire and continue to better cover. There’s just the three of us, so we should be able to move through without being seen. I’ll take point, Binns will bring up the rear. Follow my lead,” he declared.
Steiner nodded, he had no reservations about letting the Gunnery Sergeant take the point on this, what had started as a potential rescue was becoming a military patrol into a potential civil war zone. The Marines had the training and experience for this.
“Understood” Steiner shouted over the storm ”But two things: One unless we encounter a Pyrryx, we are back on stun! We don’t want to start killing locals Ok. And Two, I’m a Marshall, I don’t go on ten kilometer runs every day before breakfast, so let’s not push the pace too much”
“Once we’re in cover, slow and steady wins the race,” Johannes nodded in understanding. The last thing he wanted to do was go sprinting through an engagement and be uncertain who was coming from where because they moved so damn fast.
Steiner pulled his cap down tighter, swung his carbine around from his shoulder on to its tactical sling, settled the butt comfortably into his arm pit, clipped the tricorder to the sling where he could see it and access it with his left hand on the barrel shroud. He gave the Marines a grim nod. “Lets go”
“Binns, you have the rear. Follow me,” Gunny Johannes said, and they set off.
Steiner followed Johannes across the clearing between the buildings, bringing back his own tactical training he let the marine get some five meters ahead and moved out a little to be on the man’s right, he checked back and saw Binns falling into a similar position behind him and to his own left.
Leaving the village they dropped down out the dunes on to a wide stretch of beach, the ocean was off to their right, the waves and surfs rolled in and crashed on the sand, out in the open now they were completely exposed to the off-shore storm and the wind tore into them. On firming footing on the packed sand Johannes increased the pace, setting off at a jog. Steiner picked up his stride and followed on, soaked completely through now, head bent to his right to keep the wind and spray out of his eyes.
After a few minutes the orange glow on the horizon became clearer, rounding a small point the beach opened up again. There was kind of some tall tower-like structure, it was well ablaze; under it was a cluster of industrial looking buildings, every now and then there were flashes of what could be weapons fire.
Steiner sprinted to catch up to Johannes. “I think we’ve found our revolt” he spat out and bent to check the tricorder.
The signal was still there, cleared and stronger now, it was still on the hill, perhaps halfway up it. He wiped the salt spray from his eyes and peered through the dark, in the flickering shadows created by the fire there was perhaps the glimpse of a structure up there. The lightning and fire glow prevented him gaining any night vision, but it definitely seemed like a building up on the hill.
He pointed it out to Johannes. “I think the signal is coming from up there!’
The gunny nodded in affirmation, “Alright. We move slower now. Careful cover. We don’t want to be caught in the open, we have nowhere to run to,” he ordered, looking past to Binns. “Be prepared to take point back the way we came.”
“Aye, aye, Gunny,” Binns said with a quick bob of his head.
While Steiner held out the tricorder another signal appeared, this one coming from their right, out to sea. It was moving fast and was above them, airborne!
Moments later there was a slash of movement through the storm clouds, something screamed down through the low clouds, barely visible between ocean and sky, it flew behind the mountain. There was a flash several seconds later a rumble rolled over them.
“Damn! I hope that wasn’t the Acamas” Steiner swore. He tapped the tricorder, replaying the signal and analyzing it for a Starfleet transponder. There was none. “Could have been the Pyrryx ship then,” he said more hopefully.
Another flash caught his eye, he groaned, now there was weapons fire up on the mountain, right where the Federation signal was coming from…
