"Raiding Party"(Final Version)

[LeftEar JoNs 0]

03.30.09

USS/SS Excalibur NCC-2004 C

“Raiding Party”

 

Abandoned City and Ground Spaceport

Unknown Planet, Gamma Quadrant

Current Timeline, USS Excalibur

 

While she had never considered herself a modern pirate, the Ex Oh of the Excalibur had to admit that the scavenging “raid” on the abandoned spaceport had gone down five by five; she hadn’t gotten any reports yet on the official inventory numbers, but had heard by word of mouth and ear to ear that most of the ship departments had found items on the planet and within the abandoned space port and buildings that would be of use to replenish their dwindling and exhausted supplies and equipment.

 

She did one more go round on foot of the immediate perimeter area that she had ended up in after parting ways from Doctor Wydown; she had wanted to do a quick walk through to make sure no teams had dawdled in this section. Satisfied that she hadn’t missed anyone in this cluster of buildings, the brown furred Cait decided to implement the next stage of the ground based communications call out.

 

Commander Left Ear JoNs tapped at the communicator badge affixed to the upper left chest area of her black uniform tunic and spoke with a decisive tone.

 

“This is Commander JoNs to all ground teams within the vicinity; all landing parties have been recalled to the ship, repeat, all parties are to return to the Excalibur ASAP per Captain Corizons orders. All shuttles, ground patrols, air patrols, and scavenging personnel are to bug out immediately from the spaceport and city … “

 

Another Time, Another Place

Alpha Quadrant, Outer Colonies

Unknown Timeline, SS Excalibur

“ … c’mon you damn worthless scuts! I can’t believe you lot weren’t shot years ago, y’all are so slow! Move your tails, grab what ya can, and drill anyone that get’ in yer way! We got a call back order from Corizon and the local Imperial Fleet patrol is on its way! Move move move! You don’t make it back to the rally point we ain’t waitin’”

 

Commander Left Ear JoNs aimed and fired her disruptor pistol decisively, hitting a small propane tank that provided energy for a few of the nearby colony buildings; the tank promptly exploded, knocking back four militia guards and a couple of volunteers that had been moving in on her section of the assault grid with the resulting concussive blast.

 

Visually, JoNs could track her people at a glance by the clothing that they all wore. Most, like her, wore some sort of civilian clothing with a design reminiscent of military or militia service: black cargo trousers, jacket or cargo vest, mock long sleeved turtleneck or short sleeved mock turtleneck, tee shirt. Other males wore just a vest, females might wear a halter top and flak vest, and still others wore a combination of civilian and military issue clothing. All clothing was in varying states of disrepair, and could be fraying or patched. But for the most part, the Excal crew kept themselves and their clothing neat per the Captains Articles. The one common factor among all the landing parties was that the crew all wore some kind of ‘pirate bling’: waist sash, do rag on the head, arm band sash, or neckerchief, all in varying colors and such. Those who had bare skin showing might also have several identifying tattoos in bold tribal, skull, and various other patterns.

 

The SS Excalibur had swooped down on the planetary colony of Sigma Four, making orbit and sending down the assault teams in less then fifteen minutes. They had been steadily roaming and raiding the colony buildings and supplies for over an hour, reducing the colonists and the colony to little more then fractured pieces. Those who had fled were still alive; those people who hadn’t retreated were being mercilessly cut down. Things had moved and were continuing to move quickly as the dozen or so landing parties that had been deployed continued to loot the colony structures.

 

Everything was considered fair game, from portable computer systems to jewelry to weapons; what couldn’t be carried individually was slapped with a locater patch and beamed up to the warship in orbit.

 

The brown furred executive officer ran from her cover behind a dome shaped colony structure and darted across the street, firing the disruptor pistols she held in both paws. Her yowled battle cry echoed and reverberated, bounding off the small to medium sized buildings that surrounded the street. One of her shots hit another hapless militia solider in the leg, while the other two were driven to cover.

 

She dove into the alleyway set among a few of the colony structures that had she had intended as her escape route, and continued at a full run back towards the beam down site to re-connect with the rest of the teams.

 

“Left Ear!”

 

The panther like felinoid whirled at the call of her name, pressing her back against the brick wall of the grimy alley way to make herself less of a target, and stood with her disruptor at the ready; her reflexes then gave way to recognition as Kansas, her young cousin, came bounding toward her on all four paws.

 

Like Left Ear, the golden furred leonine Cait wore a black civilian military cut outfit of jacket and trousers, and a red waist sash that matched the older Cait’s. She had a medium sized travel pack strapped to her back, containing the loot that she was able to carry.

 

“Kitten – where’s your squad? Why aren’t you with your squad? I told you to stay close to Garrison and the Al-Ucard!”

 

The younger feline panted as she spoke, and was obviously concerned about something. “Garrison, Mordan, and the rest of our squad’s all heading back to the beam down point, but I had to slip away and find ya! We got problems! They’re younger kids. I was sweeping one of the buildings with my assigned partner, and we were about to cut and run, but now he’s going all bat sh*t over there … I …. I can’t stop ‘im by m’self!”

 

“Show me, go!”

 

JoNs put up her weapon, slipping it easily into the low slung holster on her right hip. She dropped down and took off after the younger feline, making good time and faster time using all four paws.

 

The two felines were flashes of exposed gold fur and brown fur, zooming across the battlegrounds; no one really paid them any mind, as most of the teams were interested in last minute booty or getting themselves back to the beam down point, and the two females didn’t run into any more local resistance either.

 

The screams reached her sensitive ears before actually arriving at the rectangular off white structure, and Left Ear picked up the pace. She went upright on her hind paws and tore through the opening that had been blown out of the entry way, pulling her weapon out as she did so. The interior of the structure was decorated according to the classic design pattern of an Earth elementary school, with lockers lining the walls along the corridor at intervals and various posters that announced upcoming school plays or events. She continued following her younger kitten, and passed several classrooms to either side of the hallway that were empty and a few offices scattered in between the class module areas on the way to the target area. There were also about three bodies scattered at intervals along the route; evidently, some of the school administration staff had at least tried to put up a fight.

 

They reached the intended room and Kansas skidded to a stop, sliding past the open entryway to flatten herself on the far opposite side of the open doorway. The older panther feline didn’t even stop to get a tactical read on the situation, and bolted right into the classroom; Kansas moved to take a flanking position to watch the elder Caits back.

 

Little desks for the kids were strewn about the room. Hardcopy books along with digital Padds had been tossed haphazardly here and there. About a dozen or so kids – oldest looked about nine, with the youngest about four or so – were huddled together to one side of the room. They were a mixture of full Humans and humanoid appearing species such as Trill and Bajoran. An older blond haired Human woman, probably the teacher, lay dead from a disruptor shot to the chest, her eyes wide open and unseeing.

 

Jarrett, a former Imperial security guard turned pirate, whirled at the entry of Left Ear and Kansas. He held a bloody dagger in his hand, and it was obvious that some of the kids had cuts on them from the weapon.

 

“What the hell are you doing Jarrett!” Her angry growled question was almost unrecognizable with the snarl, and her tail lashed ominously. She slowly removed her disruptor pistol from its holster, simultaneously thumbing on the heavy stun setting,

 

“Just following orders Sir and sweeping my assigned structures.” His callous leer was prominent, and his gray-blue eyes held a deadness within them that came easily to the unrepentant and wicked.

 

An odd gleam entered into the Commanders green eyes then, and her entire demeanor went stone cold; she exuded her own wickedness at that point, but it was of a different type of darkness then Jarrett’s “Cutting kids is part of our mission? Wait, never mind.”

 

Left Ear just up and drilled the Excalibur security guard in the hand with a flash of plasma stun shot from her disruptor; the dagger flew from his hand, and he gripped his hand as the pain erupted. She then took a shot at his chest, knocking him down hard to the ground and rendering him fully unconscious.

 

A few of the kids screamed, but others had a flash of relief show across their faces, knowing that the immediate threat Jarrett had posed had been disposed off. The remainder of the kids were too shell shocked to have any reaction either way.

 

Kansas immediately moved to the children as the commotion gave way to a stillness that permeated the air along with the smell of blood and the ozone of the dissipating disruptor fire. The leonine felinoid spoke in low tones, trying to be as soothing as possible to the beings that were only a few years younger then she was. The young Midshipman directed the eldest of the little group, a brown haired boy, to lead the others to one of the abandoned offices and wait there for what remained of the colonists to come to the school and check on them.

 

While the golden furred feline was engaged in this, Left Ear hurriedly worked on Jarrett, stripping him of all available energy weapons and bladed weapons (they could be employed for her own personal use or redistributed or sold for profit on the ship, after all). The elder JoNs then popped one of her claws out and proceeded to run it horizontally along the left side of his face, just under the eye socket bone, drawing blood in the process and scarring the pale white skin. It was an ancient Caitian marking of an unworthy clan member, usually someone who had shown cowardice in battle. In recent years this practice had translated over into the galactic mercenary clans of the Caits.

 

She fished some titanium grade restraints - plundered from the local militia sheriff’s office - from her own travel pack and effectively bound the rogue crew member. Her final act was to slap the hapless and unconscious man with a locater beacon after resetting it for a wideband Imperial signal; Jarrett’d be nice and ready for the Imperial patrol when they showed up, like a birthday present even.

 

Marooning Jarrett was really no risk to either Left Ear or the Excalibur crew. The junior level crew members were not privy to the decisions of the command team, or any future raiding plans: it was easier to keep the crew in line when they were only told about an upcoming job just prior to the mission launch. And even if the Imperials tortured Jarrett for any information on the whereabouts or information on Corizon and his crew, he wouldn't be able to tell the Feds anything that wasn't already recorded on the holo net news feeds.

 

The pirate rebels had been making quite a name for themselves these past few months; who knew that stealing an Imperial warship could be so much fun and so profitable?

 

Left Ear had remained quiet as she went about her work, but as soon as the kids left the room and she finished with her ministrations to the former Excal security guard, she turned to her guardian child and junior officer. “If anyone asks Kitten, he was killed by the local militia authorities, you read me?”

 

“He had a bad streak; he won’t be missed, by me at least. Aye Sir.”

 

The two feline cousins then exited the building and double timed it back to the beam down site, both running on all fours. After a couple of kilometers, they crested a hill and spotted the site where most of the Excal Raiders were re-grouping or dragging the spoils of the colony raid to.

 

At the appearance of the Ex Oh, several of the pirate offices raised their photon rifles or energy pistols in the air, discharging them and yelling out calls of victory. Kansas and Left Ear both went upright onto their hind paws in response to the hoo rahs; Kansas continued running forward across the now shorter distance and jumped into the arms of one of the big engineering guys, while Left Ear fired her own disruptor pistol into the air in answer to the general atmosphere of the adrenaline infused celebration. Nut cases aside, the colony raid had gone down five by five, and the supply hall would augment their ships stores nicely.

 

JoN didn’t see Corizon among the group yet, so she assumed he was tying up some loose ends with the colony assault and hadn’t made it back to the re-group site yet. Or, the Dameon pirate captain was as dead as a burned out dilithium crystal and she’d be free to take over command of the ship and crew.

 

Indeed. Five by five.