Too Young the hero

Posted on Tue Dec 10th, 2013 @ 7:13am by Commander Aztala Germond
Edited on on Thu Mar 6th, 2014 @ 2:03pm

667 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 - Whispers in the Clouds
Location: USS Casseiopeia, Deck 4, Section 1
Timeline: Day 2 - 1240

ON:

Cadet First Class Ian Mackenzie turned the corner of the corridor, phaser in hand. The acrid smoke and fumes were choking his lungs and obscuring his vision. Wiping tears from his eyes, Ian squinted and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. His teams objective was to make it to Deck 10- the Auxiliary Helm Control and destroy it. There was only one glaring problem and that was the fact that there was a group of raging hostiles that Ian didn't recognize, but the Marines aboard referred to them as the Karemma. They had already lost four men over the course of the 12 hours that the ship had been boarded and as of this moment, they were a barely functional unit. The lack of sleep and the pain of loss was wearing on each of them, Ian especially.


Turning the corner, Ian brought his Type III phaser to bear. Finding nothing, he proceeded to the nearest doorway, which was sealed shut per the Commanding Officers final order before the Karemma executed him in cold blood before completely annihilating the bridge crew. They had continued systematically,wiping out whole populations on the first ten decks alone and leaving one or two alive to spread a message of fear and to force any small pockets of resistance to cower in fear.

A snort made Ian spin on his heel to the left and fire his phaser into the noise. He focused and could see the form of a Karremman glowing a bright orange before it disappeared and faded into a pile of smoldering ash. One of the Marines behind him whooped triumphantly.


"Nice job, kay-det! You got one!" Corporal Bowers shouted gleefully. Ian shook his head and started to shake. He had never killed anyone before and there was no way to prepare himself for it. All that was left of his assailant was a pile of ash and a pulse rifle.

"What have I done?" Ian asked himself in a low voice.

Bowers walked up and kneeled down next to Ian, placing his hand on Ian's shoulder. "You did what you had to, if you hadn't, more men would have died right now. Now we can talk about this more later, but right now we have a mission. So get up and let's go!"

Ian shook his head in confirmation and brought his phaser up in front of him and moved forward. A short distance later, they reached a service hatch to a Jeffries tube. Ian brought his rifle up with one hand and opened the tube door with a hiss, it was pitch black within the confines, with the exception of a few flickering lights further forward.

"Alright, people. Our job from this point is simple- climb through the Jeffries tubes and get to auxiliary helm control, the sooner we stop this ship, the better. Now, Corporal Bowers, when we reach the main EPS junction on Deck Six, I'm going to need you to work some magic and gain access to the temperature controls. Force the temperature controls to alternate between extremes just outside humanoid tolerance levels. I want these bastards to freeze or burn, it might just slow them down. Lance Corporal Dolan and Private Matthews, you take point-"

Lance Corporal Dolan spoke up. " Sir, with respect, you don't give orders here. Currently, we outrank you by a long mile so leave the tactics to us-"

No sooner than Dolan had spoken, did a sharp snapping sound ring out as Corporal Bowers delivered a sharp slap to the left side of Dolan's face, knocking his tactical helmet askew. Then Bowers stepped in front him, mere millimeters from Dolan's nose.

"This cadet IS the ranking officer now, according to me. He saved your life. Hell, he saved ALL of our lives, so I would suggest that you hang on to his every word, Lance Corporal. Do I make myself clear?

Dolan nodded. "Yes,Corporal."

Corporal Bowers put his rifle up. "Good, then let's move.

:OFF

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