Star Trek: Starbase 777

TW: Slash injuries. When members of the away team arrived at the edge, they’d find one of the townsfolk crumpled up on the ground, two large gashes across his chest. They were still fresh, and the man was still alive, but a trail of blood led back into the woods…

6

As she ran up towards the scene, she couldn’t at first figure out what she was seeing. Finally, its eyes worked out what was going on. The man looked to her like a broken doll that was done being played with, tossed to the side. Iiani stood, frozen for a moment over him before kneeling next to him. “I NEED MEDICAL OVER HERE!” she shouted back in the direction she came from. Meanwhile, it began talking to him. “Hi, I’m Iiani- I’ve got some friends coming who can help. What’s your name? You’re from this town?” It was speaking quickly, finally pausing to take a breath.

The man grimaced at Iiani, clutching at his chest as he writhed in pain, “Lorne…ngh!” He winced, coughing heavily and weakly, “I-I am…you from- You…gah! Starfleet..?”

The smell hit him first - metallic, sickly-sweet, it's source pooling on the ground and around the downed human all too quick. The medical would arrive soon, very soon, but to try and save him the precious few seconds, Syrax still kneeled down opposite of Iiani and clamped over the wounds, using his hands and bunched up, ruined clothes, trying to staunch the bleeding. A rushed "sorry" was mumbled as he did that.

Ato bounded up shortly, hearing the call from Lt. Duaj for medical. "Med here, Lieutenant. Make way." He slid up next to the man. He didn't need a medical tricorder to start Giant-Wound-Protocol. How big were they? Could the bleeding be stopped with pressure? Would he need to tourniquet something? Was there anything in the wounds that needed to be removed in order to stabilize him?

T'She rushed over when the call for medical was made. They were medical after all, and they knew a thing or two about patching someone up. "Don't worry, we will get you healed as soon as we can" They spoke, planning to support the Lieutenant to the best of their ability.

Iiani moved away to let Ato do his job, but continued to talk to the man. “Very nice to meet you Lorne! Yes, we’re from Starfleet. These are my friends here, they’ll take care of you.”

Aoife brought up the rear to make sure the medics had space to get where there needed and so she could cover them. As she arrived the scene was one all too familiar a person wounded beyond all recognition medics doing the best, just like the Klingon war. The gashes were even reminiscent of the bathlets the Klingons liked to use in close quarters fighting. Having seen enough wounds like that in the past Aoife knew the townsmans odds weren't great, that being said she didn't vocalise that particular thought to not throw the doctors off. She stood watch over the scene trying to see where the bloody trail led, and listening and watching for whatever had attacked the man.

Syrax’s bunched-up clothing and pressure had managed to slow some of the bleeding, but a more permanent option would need to be found if the man was going to live…though, how long he’d live was up in the air. There wasn’t anything in the wounds that required removal. They looked almost animalistic; violent claw marks. Lorne let out a pained yell at the pressure, but it was nothing compared to the actual wound, “D-Damnit…” The townsfolk who had followed the away team became quite angry. One of them pointed at Aoife, “You fuckers rollin’ on in here pissed it the hell off!!”

Once more heading up the rear, just to make sure everyone was at least covered, Senang kept the group in their sights and their ears open for any suspicious sounds from other directions. The less they had to talk, the better, they could focus on keeping everyone safe. Seemed like Aoife was the one getting accosted, and they didn't envy her.

With the medics on the scene, Syrax moved away from the wounded man, giving the two working their space. He... tried not to think too much about the horror show that were his palms and arms. Distraction arrived quickly, in the form of some very angry people - the Romulan didn't even notice them trailing behind, all too focused on arriving on time. Feeling the heat build up, he stood back up, choosing to stand right besides Aoife: "Has this... thing, been attacking your town?" he asked, gaze glued to the accusatory finger trained on the Intel officer. "Is it the reason you are all banged up, and the town is half abandoned?" Please calm down, please calm down...

Aoife, certainly was not one to put on crowd control. She was, trying to lock in and cover the medical team as they tried, in her opinion, futilely. At the sound and sight of the townspeople getting antsy she swiveled her head around to face em. "Hey! You. Check your mouth right now. We've got a job to do and you're in the way. If you can't tell they're busy saving your own man's life! So get back and shut up." She bellowd at the townsman pointing at her. It would be clear from Aoifes body language and purple uniform that she was not the designated talker in the away team, and she certainly wasn't to be fucked with. She wouldn't hesitate to stun some of the townspeople if they tried to act up.

Vara'l moved as the two medics arrived on scene, rifle up and eyes keen as he moved to a position on the peremiter. Once there Vara'l visually scanned his surroundings as he one-handedly set his tricorder to continuous scan and linked his hearing impants with the tricorder. Hopefully a new lifesigns ping would be something he noticed through the voices of anyone who talked and such. "Tactical, get on perimeter security now."

“It didn’t start showin’ up ‘til them bastards started ranting about joining up with y’all! I don’t think it’s a big fan ‘a y’alls, huh?!” The man angrily spat, getting up in Syrax’s face before Aoife started yelling back! He turned to her with a particularly angry look, “He’s as good as dead! All of us are as good as dead! You ain’t got no fuckin’ idea what you’re doin’!” He suddenly pulled a phaser pistol on Aoife and Syrax!

4

T'She kept their head down and tried to work, thinking of the best way to stop the bleeding -- at least for the time being. A tourniquet would not work, since it was on the chest, but maybe a dermal regenerator would help?

Well that explained the hostility towards Starfleet, though if Vesta believed that a monster who hated the federation was actually what was happening was yet to be determined. Things became worse however when the townsfolk aimed a phaser at her fellow officers. “Hold on, I’m sure there’s a solution here that isn’t shooting people the monster doesn’t like.” Vesta signed quickly.

Aoife not being one to hesitate stepped in front of Syrax. She trained her rifle on him dead set on centre mass. "On the floor! Right now! Drop the weapon or I swear to god I'll stun you into the ground." She was ready to stun a fool. (edited)

The pressure had amped up quite a bit, very suddenly. Ato concentrated on his hands and the task at hand. T'She's hands also flurried over the man's bleeding chest. "Yes, dermal regenerator," Ato said as T'She manifested one. "I'll keep trying to staunch the bleeding while you regenerate as quickly as possible." He busied himself trying to save the guy that the townsman had just written off. If they could stop the bleeding, they could probably stabilize him and get him up to the Eventide Med Bay. Then they could start on transfusions.

Vara'l smoothly turned and aimed at whoever had yelled after the Lieutenant's comment. "Drop it or I and my fellow officer stun-drop you." The Romulan growled.

Iiani let out a short bark of a yell and stepped forward, sort of to a middle ground between the townsfolk and Aoide and Syrax. She turned to the townsfolk. “Walk me through what happens if you shoot one of us and it turns out the creature is attracted to Starfleet blood? If we shoot one of you and it comes back? So close to the town? We ALL need to put the weapons down for a second and think about this.”

"Understood. I hope this works..." They mumbled the second part to themself as they started regenerating as fast as they could, hoping to keep as much blood inside the body as they could.

He knew fear when he looked at it; these people were being hunted down by something they seemed unable to comprehend, and the only clear villain in this story seemed to be, well... Starfleet. He raised his hands in surrender, internally groaning at the building escalation, feeling his own anger bubbling up. He Did Not Want That. "Do not, unless it is absolutely necessary," he gritted out, currently not really caring that he was a mere Lieutenant. " Let me talk to them, first. Because currently, these two medics and their tools are the best chance your friend has got, and there is also clearly something happening with the company, and until we get the full picture together, that thing will continue ripping people apart, even if we fuck off back to our base! Besides! If we get hurt, or killed, or missing, you will only attract more of Starfleet! Is this really the route you want to go with? Because if so, the floor is yours."

Lorne’s injuries were able to be partly regenerated, but it wasn’t looking too good for him unless the away team found a way to get to Eventide. The man with the phaser’s hand shook, bouncing the weapon between Aoife, Vara’l, Iiani…and then Syrax. His nostrils flared. The scientist and the helmsman seemed to have a point, but he wasn’t lowering his weapon just yet, “Company’ll be here soon, wipe y’all and those three others and all them traitors clean off the face of this planet, y’all hear?!”

"Sounds like fighting words. Everyone who doesn't currently have their hands full, ready your phasers," Senang advised, keeping their rifle raised themself.

"Do you want that to happen?" he asked bluntly, cocking his head to the side. His breathing was steady, his chest moving up and down, the perfect target for a shot, yet the Romulan's eyes were still kind: "Do you want that, or do you want that thing to leave you all alone and let you live in peace? You don't want Starfleet here? Fine, we could leave. But not until we find our people, and help you. But a fight right besides a wounded man is not going to solve things. So... are you willing to talk things out with us?"

Oh no. It was not going as planned. The wounds were deeper than basic dermal regenerators could account for, it seemed. "Lt. Th'zhaloth to Eventide, we need an emergency medical beam out, lock onto my communicator."

Static.

5

"Wipe us out? And start a war with the federation. I'm sure that'll end great for you." She said clearly sarcastic. "Why don't you put the phaser down and start seeing the writing on the wall here."

That wasn't good... "Eventide?" He asked again, knowing they would have answered if they could have. "I think COMMS are out, everyone." He looked at T'She. "He needs the med bay. I'm going to pack his wounds, but we need more sophisticated tools."

The man’s grip on his phaser loosened for only a moment, but when the static from Ato’s badge bled out into the group, he grit his teeth, “Ain’t nobody comin’ for y’all,” He fired into Aoife’s shoulder!

6

"Starfleet officers are authorized to return fire if fired upon." Vara'l proceeded to say before he looked to Ato and what had happened previously struck him again. "I'm not sure you'll get through Lieutenant, I seemed to get no reply when I commed earlier." The ACTO then looked back to the person with the gun. Then the man fired and Vara'l fired his phaser aimed at the man as he returned fire!

Aoife yelped in pain as the phaser hit her in the shoulder, why was it always that shoulder every time she was shot she wondered. She managed to fire off a shot right after getting hit hopefully taking the lumbering fool out. "MOTHERFUCKER!" She fell to one knee as she gathered herself.

The man let out a yelp and fell to the ground at Vara’l’s shot, and a few of the others townsfolk in the small crowd that had gathered pulled weaponry as well! A brawl is surely brewing!!

Vesta was obviously aware of the shootout that was occurring, but there was a dying man here and no way back to the Eventide to save him, unless... “Doctor, this planet had a doctor, maybe they had better medical supplies.”

T'She was worried, they needed these people to see sense. There may be more sophisticated tools back in the village, so that was what they suggested. "I concur, there might be medical equipment back at the town... but it might not be safe to move this patient..."

Now down an arm Aoife was holding her rifle in a crouched position using one arm. After being shot she was done being nice and was shooting first and asking questions later. Anyone with a weapon was getting a phaser blast to the chest the second they made any kind of sudden move, as best she could aim with one arm. Thankfully this wasn't the first time she had to one hand a rifle after being shot. Weird how that happens more than once in life.

"This is not the avenue with which to vent your frustrations about the activities of others on your planet, there are civil ways to do so that don't involve violence." The Romulan proceeded to say as he raised his phaser to cover those who'd pulled weapons ready to fire. "Lieutenant commander, your hit, how bad?" He then asked, his query directed toward Aoife as he moved to better cover the medical officers and the patient.

Despite it not being him who was hit, pain still flared somewhere deep in his belly as soon as the shots began to be exchanged. Fuck. Fuck.* "Defend the medics!" *he loudly proclaimed over his shoulder to... whoever was willing to listen, as he himself took out his phaser and moved to stand between Ato and T'She. Urging for the rest of the locals to listen to him soon proved to be futile, given the trigger-happiness of his own away team.

"I'll be fine not the first time I've been shot." She called out in response to Vara'l as she held her fire position relative to the crowd, keeping the medics covered.

The townsfolk had shown their loyalty. These were people who had sold their souls to the company store, and they didn’t exactly have any intention of being ushered off to the non-corporate afterlife. Tension between the two groups was palpable, and it became so silent that you could hear a pin drop…until ZAP! A phaser shot rang out, slamming into Iiani’s side. All hell broke loose, and some of the townsfolk made a break for it into the forest! “GET TO THE MINE!”

5

Vara'l nodded slightly before he then proceeded to say. "Tactical, lets get a perimeter set around the doctors while they work." The Romulan added to the yelled comment by the other Romulan. When another shot rang out, Vara'l attempted to identify where the shot came from. He most certainly wanted to avoid any chance of a hit on someone who hadn't fired upon them. "Anyone see who fired that?" He first asked before he added. "Someone check on the Lieutenant."

"No idea, but at least we know where they're going. They're not being particularly careful not to leave a trail, we'll be able to follow no problem." Senang was not very hesitant to respond in kind, aiming right for one of the people still standing, aiming to stun them all one by one.

One of the townsfolk still left dropped to the ground at Senang’s shot, and a few others attempted to return fire high and wide. A phaser shot set to kill impacted a tree near the group, leaving a deep burn mark.

It took a moment for the pain to kick in. Iiani stood for a moment after being shot, as though in disbelief, before dropping to a knee and wincing. Goddamn that hurt. It completely abandoned the idea of a peaceful solution and lifted its phaser with a very shaky hand to shoot back at one of the townsfolk.

Seeing a shot set to kill whiz by Aoife redoubled her efforts to bring down the members of the crowd firing around them. "Bring them down focus fire on the ones with phasers!"

"Very true that." The moment the kill shot arced out Vara'l started to freely fire as he moved from cover to cover. He placed his shots aimed at the ones with phasers and attempted to make his way to Lieutenant Duaj.

There were only five or so still left standing, with others rushing into the forest. One who was running got shot by Iiani, falling to the ground. One turned around, weighed the options of grabbing him, and then turned and ran into the woods when Aoife and Vara’l began firing.

"Heard, Commander," Senang said, gunning for the people still firing at them.

Five became three with the INT and TAC officers’ focused aim.

T'She jumped into action to help as fearlessly as possible. They might not be using a phaser, but they could heal those who got hit with a phaser eatlier.

Once Vara'l was close enough to Lieutenant Duaj the Romulan proceeded to ask. "Lieutenant, how are you doing?" As he took a moment and fired his phaser in a targeted shot at one of the remaining three.

Ato nodded to T'She, encouraging them to go attend to the other folks who were less mortally wounded. "I'll stay over here for now." He paused and looked toward his team, fanned out with their phasers or taking cover behind trees. "Med to away team, if you've been hit and can walk, you can take cover near where I'm stationed or Lt. Cdr. T'She will come to you."

“I’m good. Great, even,” it said through gritted teeth. It was being sarcastic, but did genuinely appreciate tr’Hara’s concern. She softened her voice. “Thank you.” She gave him a slight smile before raising her own phaser again, shooting at one of the final attackers.

Three became two. The two townsfolk left standing tried to make a break for it!

Aoife was still trying to bring down the remaining shooters arm be dammed. As she saw them make a break she unleashed a rapid burst from her rifle trying to saturate the area with firepower to bring the last two down.

Vara'l nodded slightly at the thanks before he focused in on one of the people who'd broke and attempted to run. He then fired once. "You're welcome Lieutenant." The Romulan smiled slightly then before he ducked into cover and attempted to get a better look at the lieutenant's injury.

Aoife and Vara’l are able to stop the two from reaching the forest, and they thump to the ground stunned. The small clearing is quiet once more, with only the occasional grunt from a barely lucid Lorne. The others had gone, off toward the mine…where MacArthur was.

"I think that's the last of them for the moment. We should head back to the town to regroup and re-assess this clearing is a death box without any goddamn cover." Aoife began to standup from her crouched position, wincing in pain as she stood using the rifle almost like a makeshift crutch to help her stand up. (edited)

With Vara'l looking at Duaj's injury, T'She walked up to O'Reilly. "Let me treat you, Commander. It should only take a moment." They said as they readied their tools.

Vara'l glanced to the others and proceeded to say. "Someone relieve the townsfolk of their weapons before any of them get back up." The Romulan advised before he looked back to Duaj.

Iiani stood up with a grunt, remembering what Ato had said earlier. She began to hobble over to where he was. “I… was shot.” it informed him very helpfully. She turned so that he could see her side.

"Go on Commander." Aoife said to T'She as she went to help with the burn. "It doesn't feel too bad, high stun from a hand phaser if I had to guess. Not as bad as a disrputer but still not great." She said as she took off her uniform jacket so T'She could treat the burn.

Ato had done everything he could to attend to the townsman who'd been attacked by The Thing In The Pines. He turned to Lt. Duaj as she approached, assessing her injury. "Ah, another phaser burn. Seems T'She and I will be treating quite a few of these before this away mission is over. Sorry you got caught in the crossfire, Lieutenant. We can get you fixed up here shortly." He reached for a hypospray, applying it to numb the pain and then switched to a dermal regenerator to start fixing them right up.

Lorne was as stabilized as he was going to be for now, but unless the away team could reach Eventide or find medical supplies in town, the other man from earlier was right; he’s good as dead. The pines loomed around the group, the sun beginning to set over the town and the forest. The wind rustled pine needles about throughout the woods, and somewhere…somewhere deep within…a twig snapped under the weight of some manner of beast racing between the trees.

T'She did their best to treat the wound. "We should go back to town until sun rises..." They suggested. It was their best bet for supplies.

“It’s alright. I put myself in the middle, I knew what I was getting into. I just wish it could have turned out differently.” She winced briefly before the hypospray kicked in. It relaxed slightly in the aftermath of the fight, for a brief moment forgetting what was going on.

Senang kept their rifle raised, tracking the sound with their ears when their eyes weren't sufficient. "Don't let your guards down too far, we're still not in the clear," they advised, standing over the group on high alert.

The Romulan, when the Lieutenant headed off, moved over to the first of the townsfolk. Once he reached them he commenced the process of ensuring all of their presently stunned assailants had been relieved of their weapons.

"This should have you all good for now, Lieutenant." Ato said with one more pass over Duaj's wound. "Whatever comes, I will do my best to keep everyone in good health. And Commander T'She is a great Nurse. They've been doing this a long time. We've got your backs." He nodded determinedly. "If we go into town, I'm going to bring this man with us, even if I have to carry him. If not, I can try to make him a shelter or some cover. But I can't do anything for him until we get onboard the Eventide or to a real medbay."

The fight started as quickly as it ended, leaving the tall Command officer rattled; two of their own were hit, and the stunned people were lying about like broken marionettes. He took the ringing silence that followed as an opportunity to close his eyes and breathe out something shaky, the sensation of his grandiose failure washing over him like cold water. "They were too scared to listen..." he uttered out eventually. "And now they ran off to the mines, where MacArthur is. If the thing doesn't snatch them up first, of course. And we don't have any additional information... like I hoped we could get." He didn't lower his phaser - similarly to Senang, the sound of the snapped twig did grab his attention, penetrating the hazy mind like a bullet. Syrax looked at Ato, then: "If the townsfolk accept us, that is."

“Yeah, to say that wasn’t a warm welcome would be an understatement.” He nodded at Syrax. He was right, and it was unlikely they’d be welcome back. “In the mean time, I could heal their wounds while they’re unconscious. No need to leave them hurt.” He nodded to his team and walked to each stunned person, making sure they were alright, vitals were clear, they were just stunned. If they had any major scrapes or burns from the firefight, he attended to those and would ask for T’She’s help if he ran into anything nasty.

Done being healed, Iiani stood up and turned to Syrax. “I.. uh… I appreciated you trying to talk them down from fighting. It would have been worked if things had been just a little bit different.” It was being genuine— it truly did think it was both brave and smart. She gave him a sympathetic smile, trying to make her expression match her feelings.

1

Now with the worst of her burn taken care of Aoifes mind shifted to next steps. The rest of the townsfolk seemed to have gone to the mine. Presumably the rest of the town would be hostile to them and shoot on sight, and not to mention the mine would be effectively a fortress without support from the Eventide. There was also the question of whatever was wandering in the forest trying to kill people for sport? For food? She had no idea what was hunting them. She stood up and addressed the group, her arm less painful but definitely stiff and it probably would be for a while. "Any ideas what to do next? We're really in a bad spot while we're out of contact with the Eventide. Any idea what could be cutting us off? A dampening field or localised dome shield maybe?"

"I was thinking of getting something on that. We should head back to the town to regroup anyways, right? An open clearing would be the best spot for me to test things out on that front." Allan said, already taking out his tricorder though, but the best place to test why a connection would be blocked would be, well, in a more open space.

“We could scope out the town. Check if it’s safe. I mean surely it would be a good spot to test if the signal is blocked? And,” she looked at Ato and the man next to him, “we could see if they had any medical supplies.” After saying that, though, she looked instead at the scene around the man. Were there any clues about the creature? Some tracks that would give a rough estimation of its size and foot layout? (edited)

Within the blood trail leading away from Lorne and into the forest, there was something that looked like tracks, though it was hard to determine. It looked somewhat humanoid, but with the frenzy that had erupted, a lot of dust had been kicked up and wiped the rest of the tracks away. (edited)

"Maybe if we're lucky the source of the comms blackout is in the town. Failing that high ground could give us a better signal strength if we climb onto a building." Aoife eyed the blood trail and faded tracks heading deeper into the forest. "And, I don't know about you lot but I think trying to hunt whatevers in the forest isn't a great idea, maybe the town will have some info on it or scanning records so we can track it's life signs."

"If that's the case, it'd be too easy," Allan laughed a little, not very much believing that'd be the case, but hey, it could be, and they'd be a lot better off if it was. "Would be nice, though. And like you said, there could be medical supplies." He nodded towards Iiani, "It'll be a good spot to just touch base for a moment if anything, yeah. Let's go, then?"

Off to #highsplint-town-center !

Iiani was offered a tentative sort of smile: "Thanks, really, I just..." briefly his dark brown gaze was lowered to look at the bloodied palms of his hands, dark red coating them like paint. "I wish I could make it all go a bit different. But... it is what it is." He might've said something else, but with the whole group leaving for the town, Syrax followed suit - albeit with quite a bit of reluctance, unsure what would happen if they returned back there.

1

Seeing as she was trained in moving injuried people out of danger, the away team was heading back to town, and that there was safety in numbers, Vesta very carefully picked up Lorne. It was far from ideal, but she was careful to hold him steady so he would not bleed out or be further injured on the jouney.

The trail of blood from Lorne’s body is indeed still here, as are Ato and a few other townsfolk getting the unconscious loyalists back into town. Helpful!

T'She was here! In the pines! Ready to follow the blood trail after grabbing a flashlight from their medical bag.

The pine trees loom before T’She and the rest of the away team. The blood trail leads deeper within…

"Okay, yeah, trail's still here, I say we follow it? I'll also get a scan running," Allan flipped his tricorder open again and ran a scan first that basically was searching for computers, excluding less neurally complex systems like their own tricorders.

"We want to be able to hear them coming too, so try to talk quietly," Senang advised, once more taking up the rear so as to keep everyone in her sights.

Following the trail and Allan’s scanning would lead the away team to the #forest-clearing

3

T'She followed the trail of blood, heeding Senang's advice and talking as little as possible -- keeping completely quiet.

He shined his light onto the blood trail, catching reflections in the half-dried redness. "I mean, we don't have many other options, do we?" he uttered, looking into the darkness. "Keep closer to me, and let's go." He liked to think that he had better chances at surviving an encounter than the more squishy human. Also, Saren would rip his spine out with his bare hands if the engineer got hurt on his watch. He was not too adamant to check just how fast.

2