No Man's Land (Part 4 of 10)

Posted on 21 Apr 2017 @ 2:15pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Aren Ban & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Ensign Mimi
Edited on on 21 Apr 2017 @ 2:55pm

2,982 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 14 - Statecraft
Location: IKS DuJa'Q, Klingon Neutral Zone
Timeline: MD 11, 2303 hrs

Previously, on No Man's Land (Part 3)...

Abbey stood next to the Cardassian and fired her own disruptor in one hand and her phaser ready in the other at the door. The explosion of which cutting a large hole into the metal. "Again" She said with one last defiant shot and soon the door was large enough for them to pass through.

Eelim wiped the sweat off his brow and gave a nod, "Let's go. We're through!"

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 3, Forward Section - Bridge

Amaranai was watching the probe and making sure that it was keeping telemetry with the ship. A muffled sound - that Amaranai knew was phaser fire - outside the bridge was enough to put the security officer on alert. She hadn't been given a weapon, despite her request as a security officer, so instead, she looked around the bridge to see what other's reactions were to the sudden noise.

Mimi's sharp hearing easily picked up the whine of phaser fire outside. "Weapons fire in the corridor outside the bridge." Mimi called out, her hands darting over the ops console to use internal sensors. "Klingons and our crew."

The alarming report coincided with the revelation Derani had just told Saalm. Feeling a sudden rush of urgency and panic, the Orion quickly looked towards Chorag, then back to Miraj, then back to the Klingon. He held a device in his hand, a data pad of some type, and was now standing very close to her other first officer. The two of them locked eyes, and for the briefest second, exchanged knowing glances of what was about to happen. "Command--!" she started to call out to warn Ban, but her cry was suddenly interrupted by one of Chorag's own battle cries.

The young Klingon first officer tapped a command into his pad to send the signal to the rest of his loyal followers to commence their mutiny. At the same time, his other hand quickly reached for the d'k tahg in his belt and pulled the bladed weapon free. "PetaQ!," he cursed at Miraj. The distinctive metallic ring of the knife rang through the air and was followed by a battle cry as Chorag lunged at Ban, the knife aimed for his neck.

With Ensign Mimi's announcement and Lirha's sudden call to Aren had him turn his head and a portion of his body. The knife struck just above his shoulder blade. Aren sudden movement, and the impact of Chorag, caused Aren to spin and the knife not entering too far. Both him and the Veteran warrior sprawling to the floor. Aren felt something hit his shoulder blade, however he had no idea what it was. Training took over and as Aren fell he instinctively thrust his right elbow into his attackers face, connecting with the jaw. The resulting crack echoed through the bridge.

As soon as Aren hit the deck plating he felt the blade shift, tearing skin and muscles alike as he landed as the knife exited his body. The pain that ensued was like nothing that he had ever experienced, his entire left side of his torso failed to respond. Darkness threatened to over take his senses, but that little portion of his brain that was dedicated to survival, told him that if he didn't move, he would die and so would the rest the crew. Almost as if he had been given a shot of adrenaline, Aren's vision focused, only to see the Klingon first officer looking for his weapon. Aren pushed himself off the ground with his good arm, knowing that his strength was quickly leaving him, he didn't have long.

"Franklin!" Lirha yelled with urgency to her acting-chief security officer while she witnessed the horror of what Chorag was doing to Ban. She hoped Amaranai, who was closer to the Klingon than she was, could help intervene while she moved to assist. Saalm quickly snatched the d'k tahg from Miraj and scrambled to get to Chorag. He was a large warrior with a skilled combat resume who could no doubt kill several of them if left alone and given enough time. Their only hope would be to swarm him and use strength in numbers.

Chorag shook his head from the impact to his jaw which had momentarily distracted him. His knife was no longer in his hand, he realized, but lay nearby within two arms's lengths. He quickly crawled over and grasped the hilt, then rose to a crouch and began to charge Ban a second time for the kill strike.

Everything happened in a blur. The phaser fire outside the bridge. Chorag's yelling and lunging at the commander. Ban hitting the deck. Was it real? What the hell was going on? Amaranai heard her name being called and looked at the situation. Chorag was large and strong, but Amaranai was quick. She wouldn't get another chance at surprising him once she moved. But he was focused on Ban at the moment. She didn't know if it would work, but it would have to. He was certain to have heard the general call out for her, so there was a chance he would be ready.

Not having a weapon, there weren't many options, so she charged him as he went after Ban and knocked him away from his target. She had momentum and pushed him against a console. She gripped his arm and attempted to sweep his legs out from under him.

The Klingon had been hyper-focused on his lunge and was blindsided when the lithe security officer barged into him. Despite being much smaller and lighter than he was, her kinetic energy knocked him off course and into a bulkhead console. One of his legs buckled when her low strike connected, causing him to momentarily drop to one knee. Chorag let out a cry of rage then ripped his wrist free from her grip before backhanding the side of her face with a hefty blow.

Amaranai felt good about knocking Chorag down, even if it was only briefly. She heard him cry out, but not in pain, and then felt a heavy hand across her face. She saw white behind her eyes and hit the deck hard. She wasn't knocked out, but she was definitely dazed and it would take a few moments for her to recover.

Lirha had now climbed over the elevated step between the sunken command chair and the four aft bridge stations. When she saw Franklin being stuck across the face and the blood now pouring from Ban's shoulder, she launched herself towards the large Klingon with her knife in hand. Her body impacted the equivalent of a brick wall but she managed to wrap herself around him with her arms and legs. The knife in her hand plunged into his rib cage below his armor, multiple times, until he let out a cry of pain and grabbed her green wrist.

Using her arm as leverage, he pulled on her appendage and rotated his hips to the side to throw her over his shoulder and forcefully into the wall. The Orion was tossed into the bulkhead back-first with extreme force, and she let out a pained wheeze when the air was knocked out of her. Slumping to the floor with her knife still embedded in Chorag's side, she struggled to breathe and gasped for air.

Aren moved as quickly as he could towards Chorag, Franklin, and Lirha. The backhand that sent Franklin to the floor and the admiral’s sailing into the bulkhead only steeled Aren’s resolve. With his left arm limited he couldn’t go on the attack at least with the ferocity that he needed, which was dangerous when fighting a Klingon. Normally Aren would try to wear down his opponent but with his wound, he didn’t have that luxury. Instead, with his right hand, Aren stuck at the knife that was embedded into the Klingon’s chest, knowing full well that a series of stabs wouldn’t do much to him, but if he could get the knife to wiggle around it could do some serious damage. Aren did his best to move outside of Chorag’s reach after every strike.

A muffled grunt of pain escaped the Klingon commander's lips when Ban attacked his already-injured side. Chorag quickly spun around to turn his attention back towards his original target, and reached out to grab him by the throat. Both of the warrior's large hands wrapped around Ban's neck and began to squeeze and crush his fragile windpipe and esophagus.

Aren’s eyes bulged for a moment. For the briefest of moments panic began to set in. He knew he had to do something or he would be dead. He brought both his arms up and around, slamming both forearms down on Chorag’s humerus. While the left forearm strike was weaker, the blow caused Chorag's arms to buckle forward, loosing the grip slightly. It was just enough for air to return to his lungs, and to bring Chorag close enough that Aren brought his left knee to impact the head of the knife, causing it to slide further into his body.

Chorag let out another pained grunt, this time more urgent. With his grip on Ban's throat now disengaged, he widened his eyes and thrust his forehead downward into the top of Ban's face. The headbutt was strategic and calculated, impacting the Trill commander on the top of his forehead in order to disorient him. A loud crack sounded across the bridge with the force of the impact.

The impact sent his head ringing. Aren had never been head butted by a Klingon before, but now that he had it felt like he had been hit by a high speed train. Everything seemed to spin, and Aren was barely able to muster the strength to break free of Chorag's grasp, much less keep his balance. His vision turned red and blurred for a moment. Aren tried to clear his head, but realized it was blood that was trickling into his eyes. After a second longer then should have been allowed Aren was able to regain his senses, though his head felt like it was about to explode, and for the briefest of moments, Aren forgot about the damage that had been done to his back.

Amaranai was dazed and she checked her face. There was a stream of blood that was beginning to coagulate. She shook the dizziness out of her head and looked at the situation again. She saw Chorag choking Ban but then stopped until Chorag headbutted Ban. This was her opportunity. Again, Chorag was distracted, so she would only have one chance. She rushed the Klingon and plowed into him, pushing him away from the commander. Seeing the blood seeping from his side, Amaranai started to punch his side, inflicting more pain upon the mutineer.

The large Klingon doubled over at the onslaught of Franklin's fists. Her knuckles had found the exact spot where Saalm had repeatedly stabbed him, and the pain was now excruciating. But pain was nothing new to the warrior, and while it slowed him down, it did little to stop him. He flailed one of his arms, trying to get a grip on Frankllin, until he finally caught her around the throat with one of his hands. And then he squeezed, hard, attempting to crush her esophagus.

Amaranai was punching as hard as she could into Chorag's side. She could see some of the pain in Chorag's eyes, but then it disappeared and more rage appeared behind his eyes. Amaranai ducked out of the way of his arms as he reached for her. She wanted to keep hitting his side but she needed to defend herself as well. It wasn't enough, though, as Chorag pushed past her arms and grabbed her neck. She could feel air escaping her lungs and she tried to pull his hands away.

A glint of silver suddenly flashed next to Chorag's head, then a green hand jammed a knife into the side of the Klingon's neck. Lirha was weak and dazed, but somehow through sheer willpower, she'd managed to get back to her feet and lunge herself into Chorag to help Amaranai. She used two hands to bury the d'k tahg he'd used on Ban as deep as it could go into the muscular flesh in an attempt to sever an artery. Purple blood began to viciously squirt from the wound in high arcs while a gurgling sound emanated from his throat.

Aren moved carefully on shaky legs, fully aware of the Chorags plight. Anger and pain flashed into his eyes, as he reached and pulled the knife out of Chorags stomach. He so badly wanted to plunge the knife into his foes neck and end his existence. He was dying, and it would be the right thing to do, but at the same time, he was Starfleet, and doing that to a downed opponent wasn't something that one did. Aren instead kneed him in the jaw, just hard enough to incapacitate him. With the blow to his head, and the loss of blood, Aren stumbled, having to catch onto a console, to keep his balance, knife still in hand. He reached around the console and grabbed one of the Federations emergency medical kits that had been attached to it for a situation such as this.

He let go of the knife and opened the case, pulling out a few bandages and applied pressure to the wound in Chorag's belly. He looked with cold eyes at him, and watched the snarl appear on his face. Blood poured out of both his wounds, and while Aren tried to keep pressure applied to the belly wound there wasn't much he could do for the knife jetting out of his neck. Aren fumbled around the kit for a hyperspray, to inject some pain killers into him. The petty part of Aren wanted him to suffer, but he was above that, and he needed to render what aid he could. He inject Chorag with the painkiller, and moved to try and stop the bleeding from his neck. Chorag's breathing grew ragged and his life slowly slipped away from him. "nuq Data' quvHa' 'ach chaq noH SoH pong qeylIS SuvmeH vaj SoH." [What you did was dishonorable but you fought well, may you judged by Kahless]. Aren said to Chorag, ignoring his own injuries. He stood up, whipping his bloody hands on his pants.

Aren turned to Lirha, knowing that she was already thinking what he was thinking. "We should warn the rest of the crew of the attempted mutiny." Aren said, whipping the blood from his eyes.

Lirha collapsed on her back and was trying to block out the pain that her shattered shoulder blade was sending to the rest of her body. Her breaths were labored which caused her to let out a pained moan, but she tried her best to reply and maintain her composure. "...Do it..." she said in a weak voice before looking towards Franklin to make sure she was alright. "..Amaranai..?"

Amaranai was on the ground, coughing, in an attempt to catch her breath. Her eyes had been closed as the air was being strangled from her and then, all of a sudden, the hand had been released and she had been dropped. She looked up when she heard her name.

"Fine . . ." she coughed. "I'm fine."

She lay down on the deck just as a way to rest from the attempt on her life and the lives of the commander and general. She coughed and tried to breathe slowly. Her eyes still had spots in front of them, but for the moment, she had a feeling she would be okay.

Aren nodded, as he stumbled over to the command chair, pressing the button for the 1MC. "All hands, I repeat all hands, this is the XO. There has been an attempted mutiny on the bridge. The mutiny on the bridge has been dealt with, but be prepared to deal with potential rouge Klingon elements. XO, out." Aren said, the world started to spin. He grabbed onto the command chair and turned to face Lirha.

Aren's head was pounding as he moved over to help Lirha. Aren gave her a quick triage to make sure that she was wasn't severally hurt. "Sir, please stay still." He said, with as much iron and compassion that he could muster. All obvious wounds appeared to be superficial but he didn't know if there was something internal. "How are you feeling sir?" Aren asked. Aren tapped his combadge. =/\= Bridge to Medical. We need a doctor on the bridge. =/\=

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

GEN Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Commander Chorag
First Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Saalm]

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

CPO2 Crispin Snow
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Derani]

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical and Second Officer
IKS Duja'Q

PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Warraquim]

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval
Counselor
IKS Duja'Q

Petra Varelli, PhD
Forensic Anthropologist
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Sandoval]

Ambassador Sorel Varro
Chief Diplomatic Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Petty Officer Eviess
Medical Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Lt. JG Eelim Galan
Security Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Commander Aren Ban
Executive Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Lieutenant JG Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Security / Tactical
IKS Duja'Q

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Strategic Operations Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Ensign Abbey St James
Security Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Wyatt]

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