Martial Law ((Matthews/Caine))

[C.T. Caine 0]

What a mess, Owen thought to himself as he walked down the street next to the Agincourt's Chief of Security. He had ordered his people to patrol the streets of the city, each fireteam assigned to a different sector. Along with Caine's people, the Marines were doing their best to make sure martial law was enforced and all tumults quickly subdued. So far everything had gone according to plan, more or less. But to say they were spread thin was like saying the Ferengi dabble a bit in business. The feeling of uneasiness that had settled firmly in his stomach when JoNs had given them their order wasn't going to go away anytime soon. Owen half-expected a band of rebels, terrorists or just unhappy civilians in general to jump out at them. He knew that the presence of heavily armed Starfleet Security Forces and Marines had probably intimidated the locals at first but he also knew that this intimidation would be short-lived and it might soon be replaced by dissatisfaction. All it took for that dissatisfaction and anger to turn into outright hatred would be the wrong people taking advantage of the general mood and they'd quickly have a situation that could turn from nasty to uncontrollable and dangerous within minutes.

 

Taking a quick glance at Caine, Owen noticed she looked just as tense as he felt. He couldn't help but smile. "You should have asked the doc for a muscle relaxant. Might need it tonight."

 

Caine's grey eyes were not focused on her patrol partner; as the one element of this situation that she currently trusted, he was not the point at which most of her attention was directed. Her gaze had been flicking across the landscape of bulidings which they had to somehow clear of all activity, watching for trouble, for danger. She had not smiled since the order had come down from Commander JoNs, and she did not now at Owen's attempt at levity. "The last thing we need is something to distract our focus," she said, somewhat crisply. "We'll rest when we're relieved." She did not bother mentioning how long some of the security and marine crews had been on shift by now. She had not yet heard any complaints; they were well-trained.

 

Owen shrugged as they went on. He didn't take her response personally. He was experienced enough to know that everyone deals with stress differently. He was one of the people who use humour to relieve the tension. Obviously, Caine was not. A sudden movement he caught out of the corner of his eye made Owen stop. He crouched down behind a low wall that enclosed a tiny yard and pulled Caine down beside him. "Movement at 1 o'clock," he whispered, silently cursing the bad timing. Dusk had long since set in and made it difficult to see into the narrow sidestreets which would now make a perfect hiding place for anyone wishing to remain out of sight and withing firing range. "Can you see anything?"

 

Hearing the hissed announcement, Caine dropped at once and backpedaled, taking up cover a few feet away from him behind a parked vehicle. She peered in the direction he indicated, her sharp Vulcan eyesight cutting through the dark slightly better than Owen's and after a few seconds saw the same movement he had mentioned. "Three men...possibly armed..." she murmured just loud enough for him to hear. "One of them's on guard -- other two are talking." She could just barely make out the voices on the evening breeze, but she couldn't discern words, only vague tone. "They don't sound too happy."

 

"They probably know we're here," Owen whispered back. He tapped his commbadge and reported their situation and called for reinforcements. Then he carefully made his way over to Caine who was closer to the alley, if only by a few feet. Laying flat on his belly, he tried to peer from under the vehicle over to the three men hiding out in the shadows. All he could make out were silhouettes moving in the dark. He changed into a squatting position, his back leaning against the vehicle. "Wait for reinforcements?" he asked.

 

"We could always see if they want to go quietly," Caine said a bit pensively. "With only two of us we may as well see how much we can do *without* the intimidation factor." This sentence came out in a slightly wry tone; they both knew the whole point of martial law was the intimidation factor, but it didn't stop Caine from wanting to do things the easy way where it was possible.

 

Owen considered her reply for a second then nodded. "I'd rather deal with it right away, too. The only problem is, they can see us, we can't see them."

 

Caine shook her head slightly. "I can see them. Sort of. And being the voice of God out of the darkness can be an advantage." Pushing herself up slightly on the vehicle she was leaning against, she called with all the authority she could muster into the dim twilight. "This is Lieutenant Caine with Starfleet Security! You are ordered to disperse at once and return to your homes!"

 

Owen quickly raised himself but still remained behind the vehicle, ready to back up Caine's authority with the firepower of his phaser rifle, if necessary. Glancing over the roof, he could see that the three figures remained frozen in place. "This is working just great," he exclaimed while straightened a little so he could aim his rifle over the roof of the vehicle at one of the men. "Alright, guys," he called out. "You don't wanna get shot, I don't wanna get shot. Let's just break up this party and go home."

 

"Maybe you go home first, huh?" one of the men called back in a sulky tone. "What are you going to do, shoot us?"

 

"Hell, man, I'm a Marine, I have orders to shoot if I run into trouble. You take a guess what I'm gonna do, boy." Buddha hated negotiating. He had been taught to deal with a lot of combat situations but he'd never liked negotiating...much less at gunpoint.

 

Caine puffed a breath out through her nose in an almost-laugh, though it had no humor in it. "This area is under martial law -- we are authorized to clear the streets by whatever means necessary. Disperse. NOW. Or we'll take you into custody." All the fire of Owen's orders was gone from her own, the Vulcan coolness hiding her distaste for the whole situation.

 

"Go ahead!" came a second voice out of the dimness; another of the men had spoken up. "Do it, then!" He paused then whispered to his companions, "Go on, call their bluff -- they don't want to do it."

 

Damn! Owen thought. He quickly glanced over to Caine before pulling the trigger and shooting one of the silhouettes. "Never, ever mess with me, boys!" Owen called out to the remaining two. "Go home and take your buddy with you or I'll stun all of you and you'll wake up in our brig with a huge headache. Your choice."

 

Caine blinked slightly as the stun bolt flared into existence in the dimness, and she heard the thump of the body hitting the ground. "Well, so much for the subtle approach," she muttered dryly, and her statement was punctuated as a window on the opposite side of their cover vehicle was abruptly shattered by a heavy rock.

 

Pivoting, she angled herself around the front of the car and fired off another stun shot, dropping the man on guard towards the front of the group with a low thud. The air seemed to sting with the flashes of the stun bolts and she waited in silence to see what the third man would do.

 

Ignoring Caine for now, Owen took aim at the last shadow remaining upright in the alley. "You've got two choices, buddy," he called out again. "Go home or end up like your friends." While he waited for a reply he grinned and spoke in a low voice to Caine. "I thought that was a very subtle stun shot, Junior. Anyway, that's as subtle as I'll ever get."

 

"I suppose it's as subtle as we can really afford," Caine responded distractedly, her eyes on the shape of the third man in the darkness. She didn't think he would stand on his own as strongly as he had stood with his friends, and sure enough, after a few seconds of deliberation, he bolted in the opposite direction down the alleyway.

 

Caine tapped her commbadge. "Caine to all teams -- two for collection at my position and one resister departing south-southwest...make sure he's got the point."

 

"Nice shot," Buddha said, walking past Caine and over to the two jerks who had tried to mess with him. "Why didn't they just go home?"

 

Caine pulled herself up to sit on the hood of the car and watched as he examined the two unconscious bodies. "Let's be honest, Buddha...if this was your home, you wouldn't want to either."

 

Owen turned around and looked at Caine as if seeing her for the first time. He remained silent a long moment, contemplating. "If this was my home I would have shot first."

 

Caine nodded, looking back at him unblinkingly in the darkness. "I know you would. So would I." She let herself drop from the hood. There was the echoing sound of approaching footsteps and Caine angled around, seeing a few men from the security and marine teams approaching for the cleanup. "Let's go," she said, gesturing at Matthews. "Some time left before daylight."

 

Owen only made a non-committal grunt and fell in step with Caine as she went on to continue their patrol.