Leave No Man Behind

Posted on Sat Nov 9th, 2013 @ 10:18am by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Commander Gaius Ra-Xialii & Lieutenant Horatio Hawke & Lieutenant Ciaran McIntyre

Mission: Remnant Part 1
Location: USS Endeavour - Bridge

Hawke expertly guided the ship into her next position, where the crew down in the cargo bay would deliver the next mine to its position. It was one of the most frustratingly repetitive tasks a pilot was ever called upon to perform - set course to the first designated drop point, engage, all stop, hold position ... wait ... set course to second designated position, engage, all stop, hold position ...

And so on.

Nevertheless, the pilot was thankful for the task at this time. It gave him something useful and important to focus on and keep his mind off the terrifying situation he was a part of. It was bad enough that the Borg were here! But his shipmates were over on that hideously deformed Borg Cube! He feared for their safety.

As he held the ship in position, the comm segment of his console flared to life. Comm was being routed through the helm while tactical took charge of laying the mines, so Hawke was the one to answer.

The signal was frantic as McIntyre's voice was constantly interrupted by the sound of phaser fire. The Chief of Security made a few attempts to relay further information but in the end, his voice fell silent, replaced by more and more desperate phaser blasts.

"Commander!" he called, "The away team is signalling. They're under fire and are retreating."

"Bring us about, back into transporter range, power weapons and make ready to jump to warp if and when the ship detonates," Gaius said, a cold sweat forming on the Commander's forehead. "Looks like the minefield idea failed," He said, mainly to himself.

"Aye, sir!" Hawke responded, working his console and piloting the ship around, speeding her toward transporter range. As the ship slid through space, he also had the computer lock in an emergency warp vector, which meant he could launch them away from any explosion at the touch of a single control.

Gaius sat pensive on his chair, his hand balled to a fist, so much so that his knuckles where white. His other hand was awaiting some kind of status report from the Captain, but none were coming.

----

On the Borg Cube, the situation seemed desperate. Every phaser blast saw a shimmer of green pass across the chests of the Drones which advanced inexorably on McIntyre and what was left of the away team.

"What the hell are we going to do, Sir?!" The Ensign to his right cried, unable to pull himself out of panic.

"We're going to keep shooting them until we have to club them to death, and when we can't club them to death," Ciaran found a modulation on his phaser rifle which sent one of the drones careening into a nearby console, "we're doing to stick our hands down their throats and pull out their nanoprobes one by one!"

On the bridge, Hawke's console beeped as the ship passed into transporter range. He immediately tapped the comm and opened a channel directly to the transporter room. "We're in range! Get them out of there!"

Another drone collapsed after a pulse from the Lieutenant's rifle before he began to feel that familiar tingle in the pit of his stomach, that moment where the inner molecules of his body started to disintegrate into nothing. The split second of blue light which enveloped his field of vision was the safest he had felt since anyone had said the word "Borg".

The sound of mechanical footsteps still filled McIntyre's ears as his head lolled forward. His crouching form remained on the transporter pad long after his traumatised security team had been ushered away by the ship's medical personnel.

"Bridge to Away Team, where is the rest of your group? The Captain? Kessel?" Gaius said, knowing the answer.

"They're not here." McIntyre's voice came like a resonant hiss across the bridge as an icy chill seemed to fill the air. "They're lost to us."

"Report to the bridge asap," the Commander continued, "Lets get them back! Prepare 3 squads for immediate beamout."

As the security chief's chilly report reverberated through the ship's speakers, the relief tactical officer diverted their attention back to their console. "Commander, the overload of the core aboard the Cube has stopped. It's powering its warp engines!"

"Match their outbound vector and speed. Punch it!" Ra-Xialli said, almost punching his own console.