Der Hölle Rache

Posted on Jun 14, 2014 @ 12:32am by Cindy Rochemonté & Captain Kassandra Thytos
Edited on on Jul 18, 2014 @ 7:40pm

Mission: All Our Yesterdays

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"Der Hölle Rache"

(Con’d from “Nature Hike”)

=/\=

 

"Der hölle rache kocht in meinem herzen, tod und verz weiflung flammet um mich her." 

“Hell's vengeance boils in my heart, Death and despair blaze around me.”

-          The Queen of the Night

 

Stardate: 2.140613.0953

Location: USS DISCOVERY

Scene: Bridge

 

The lift for doors hissed open, expelling the Vulcan Commander, an agitated Major, and attending marines.  "Report!"  He ordered.  Kass watched his face.  It remained unmoved and cold, but his eyes seemed to dance with a dangerous glow.

 

"The NILE has suffered critical damage, and was forced to crash on the moon below," reported Rico, one of the marines who had stayed behind to maintain bridge operations.  "All hands likely lost; I shot up their systems pretty good."  Kassandra felt a knot in her stomach.  She felt sick all of a sudden.  The deaths of comrades happened, but they never prepared one for the next death.  Nor was she prepared for the guilt that came with knowing she had been complicit in their deaths.

 

[[Sir, Captain Kane, the preserver, Commander Crichton, and Lieutenants Arn, BaShen, and Byte, appear to have escaped.  The remaining crew has all been accounted for,]] someone reported over comms.

 

Stonn's eyes remained fixed on the view screen in front of him.  He seemed to consider the situation for a long time before he finally spoke.  "We cannot give full attention to our task while the crew remains on board."  He glanced at Kassandra.  "Round up the crew, and prepare to transfer them planet side," he ordered.

 

"Commander, that planet is highly oxygenated," she reminded him.  "Sending them down there would be a death sentence."

 

Stonn did not flinch.  "You have your order Major.  This mission has priority above all else."

**Conceal, don't feel,** She told herself sternly.  ** You can still solve this peacefully.  You can save the rest of the crew even if the command crew...**  She did not continue that line of thought.  **C'mon Kass.  Vulcan psychology, you studied this.  Use it.**

 

"You don't have to do this, sir."  Kassandra said neutrally, her face not betraying the turmoil of emotions that was knitting itself around her heart.  She felt an ache in her chest like a solid lead weight.

 

"I beg your pardon, Major?"  Stonn turned his black eyes on her, as unemotional and unnerving as hers.  She swore he looked suspicious, but she soldiered on.

 

"You don't have to get rid of the crew.  Just bring them home with us.  They don't know anything about the CENTURY.  The only ones who know about it are on that shuttle, and it's gone now."  She kept her voice steady, thought inside she quivered.  "Destroy the CENTURY, doctor our logs, and all evidence will be gone.  No evidence, no action.  No one will believe any of the crew even if they did say something.  We can say that Kane went rogue, and he tried t' turn the crew against the Federation, and that's why we had to declare martial law on the ship.  Kane ain't held under the highest esteem in Starfleet."  Kassandra was beginning to have a flicker of hope.  She might be able to solve this with no further violence.  Surely the Vulcan would yield to logic.

 

"The needs of the many outweighs the needs of a few."  Stonn said cooly.  "While your logic is surprisingly sound for a human, all of the non-loyal crew are loose ends.  Too many loose ends and all our plans unravel.  We will beam them down to the planet to live as long as they manage to survive.  I do agree with the second part of your suggestion, however," he added.  "We cannot risk them finding a way to resurrect the CENTURY and escape."

 

"Sir, comin' back with only half the crew will raise eyebrow-" She trailed off.  The muscles around Stonn's mouth had tightened fractionally, and his eyebrow had raised half a centimeter.  She interpreted this change in expression as amusement.  "What's so funny, sir?"

 

"I am a Vulcan.  I do not find things funny.  However I do find it rather... Ironic... that the Butcher of Balbossa is standing here arguing over the lives of a paltry hundred and thirty enemy combatants."

 

The room went silent.  All eyes turned to the Marine Major, as if they were seeing her for the first time.  Behind her, Kuenzi took an involuntary step backwards.

 

"How did you know about that."  Kassandra demanded in a hoarse tone.  She felt like she had been punched in the gut.  That part of her record was supposed to be sealed both to cover the Federation's ass and to protect her from the peaceniks out for blood.  It had been agreed that her actions had been necessary and saved thousands of lives in the long run, but that could not condone what she'd done.  In the end, they had slapped her on the wrist, and the incident was redacted and swept under the rug.

 

"Major, why did you think you were recommissioned?  We need the type of woman who will give the order to eradicate an entire settlement to end a war; someone who understands that sometimes you must sacrifice 300 innocents to save thousands and to reach your objective of peace."  Stonn seemed sincere; he even seemed to approve.  The thought nauseated Kass.

 

**Is that who I am?  Is that my legacy?**

 

Kassandra swallowed.  She was at a crossroads.  Did she say what she thought now, and join the doomed crew of the DISCOVERY, or did she go with the flow, waiting for a moment to act that might never come and live with the guilt?

 

**And how will I live with myself if I don't act?**

 

Instantly, she gained her resolve.

 

"Sir, it isn't a matter of my morals, it's a matter of economy."  She tried not to speak rapidly, keeping a business tone.  "I don't want to spend months playing clean-up from this little incident because we acted rashly."  She play acted a pause.  "But... I have not been fully apprised of the entire situation," she added in a conciliatory tone.  "I trust your judgment.

 

"But if we are going to do this properly," she added, "I'm going to need a way to distinguish our men and women from the others.  Please ask them to remove their uniform jackets, and myself and my Marines will sweep the ship for any others that have managed to escape detention."  She slouched against the bulkhead and held up her hand, ticking off items on her finger. " Then I want to move all our prisoners down to cargo storage where they'll be away from sensitive systems, and more easily contained by my men."

 

Stonn seemed to consider these points, and then nodded.  "Do what you think is necessary.  I put my faith in you Major.  You have a long history of history of service, and your Marines are green still.  Federation First!"  Stonn put his hand over his heart and raised a fist in the air.  He tapped his combadge.  "Limited frequency, Federation First command group.  All personnel the Marine unit will be ensuring all combatants are contained.  In order to speed the process I will need you to remove your uniform jacket in order to distinguish yourselves."

 

"FEDERATION FIRST!"  Kassandra bellowed with conviction, mimicking his gesture. Her mind worked quickly.  She was not going to be complicit in another massacre; she would not be able to live with herself with more innocent blood on her hands.

 

Her Marines were the main threat, they had the most firepower and training.  Perhaps she could get some of them to join her in liberating the crew, but she would not be able to take on all nine of them if they would not.  Separate them then, try to reason with one group.  Disable anyone who refused to help.  Where to send the rest of the Marines where they would run the least risk of ruining her fly by the seat of her pants plans?  "Trebond, Raoul, Kuenzi, Massimo, with me.  Rico, Zim, Rasczak, Currie, Hendricks, I want you to start at the top of this ship and work down to the bottom clearing all the rooms and Jeffries tubes on each floor."

 

The five Marines she had ordered to perform the search saluted smartly and entered the elevator.  That should buy some time, she prayed that her memory was not failing- she thought she remembered there being a cargo bay and transporters on deck 23.  She had the inklings of a plan, but she needed to buy time.  She turned back to Stonn.

 

"If we're getting rid of evidence and loose ends then we'll need to get those bodies back on the CENTURY before we blow it out of orbit."  Kassandra told Stonn, crossing her arms and nonchalantly flicking a bit of Lex's brain off her chest plate.  "I'm gonna need you to get the engineers to beam all those bodies to the cargo bay on deck 23, once they're all there, we can beam ‘em in mass back to the CENTURY."

 

Stonn nodded approvingly, and tapped his combadge to give the order.  Kassandra turned, motioning her Marines to follow her into the turbolift.  They followed her, unspeaking, and the doors on the turbolift hissed behind them.

 

=/\=

Scene: Medical Bay

 

“Doctor Reardon?”  Her eyelids fluttered, and then slowly opened to reveal Ensign Warran standing over her with a hypo.  Bonnie Reardon slowly sat, feeling groggy, slightly nauseous, and confused.  She glanced around to regain her bearings, and slowly stood, assisted by Warran. 

 

“Thanks Doug,” she managed, bracing herself against the bio bed nearby.  “I’m guessing the Captain got away?”  She gave an exasperated smile to the young man.

 

“The Captain, the Chief Engineer…”  Doug shrugged.  “A few others.  We got them though.”

 

Bonnie frowned. “What do you mean, ‘got them’?”

 

Doug looked at her in surprise, and then chagrin.  “I’m sorry, I forgot that you were unconscious for the whole thing.  Private Rico shot them down before they could get away.”

 

Doctor Reardon froze.  “They’re dead?”  She exclaimed in disbelief.

 

Ensign Warran shrugged.  “It couldn’t be helped.  They were resisting, and when they didn’t stop, Rico managed to take out their engines.  They crashed into the moon, from what I understand.”

 

Bonnie as about to ask another question, when the door hissed open.  Ensign Rossini backed into the room, followed closely by Ensign Hale.  Between the two of them sagged a body.  “Warran, where can we put him?”  Doug turned to direct the two men to a morgue slab.  Bonnie watched the body in horror.  This was not supposed to have happened… this was supposed to be… bloodless.

 

“Who… who is that?”  She managed with some trepidation.

 

Ensign Hale turned back, giving her a raised eyebrow.  “Oh him?”  Hale’s face took on a look of regret.  “Lieutenant Calvari.  He just had to play the hero,” Hale shook his head, annoyed.  “What a freakin’ waste.  Calvari was a good man.  If only he hadn’t been so stupid…”

 

At that, Bonnie retched.  Warren rushed to her, attending to her.  “Doctor?”

 

“Its fine, Doug,” she managed weakly.  “I think I’m still recovering from the ambizine shot.  I’ll be alright…”

 

But inside, she knew it wasn’t true.  As she gazed at the body that had once belonged to Lex Calvari, she felt her insides twist.  She had sworn an oath long ago to do no harm… and now, seven people were dead. 

 

She retched again.

 

=/\=

Scene: Inside the turbolift.

 

Kassandra palmed a flash grenade surreptitiously and moved to the center of the turbolift.  It might have seemed an odd move, but if a fight were to break out, she would be at an advantage.  The Marines would not have space to shoot her with their pulse rifles without risking injury to one of their own.

 

"Did you know about Balbossa?"  Kassandra asked aloud.  Behind her, Kuenzi and Massimo shifted uneasily, looking at each other.  They knew, but were uncomfortable.  Trebond's reaction was frightening; his pulse rate spiked with excitement; his pupils were dilated; his blood flow increased; his breath quickened as he leaned in.

 

"Oh boy did I!  You've been my hero forever; I've been dying to tell you since I was assigned to your team."  Kassandra was taken aback by his fervor.  Not only was it misplaced, but he was oddly, creepily... aroused... by the thought of what she'd done.  "You ended a conflict that would have taken months, a conflict the Federation would never even have been involved in; they weren't even a member world, and you had the guts to end it in one fell swoop!  You didn't lose a single Marine.  It was such an elegant solution-"

 

"Trebond, I ordered the execution of three hundred and six men, women, and children, of a sentient race.  I ordered them killed because I knew that one of them were the leader of the insurgents, and one of the children was the Princess he was going to use to rally others to his cause.  I decided that rather than allow the war to continue n' escalate, that I could stop it right there by killing them, and since no one would admit which of them were the ones I wanted, I did somethin' so morally reprehensible, so evil, that I've regretted it every single day of my life.  Their names and faces are burned into my memory forever, I have nightmares when I sleep.  You understand what I'm tryin' to say?  You don't want that, you don't want to have somethin' like that on your conscience."

 

"What are you trying to say ma'am?"  His weight shifted, and the muscles in his arm and chest tensed, his hand readying to move into action.

 

It was the moment of truth.  She stepped off the precipice.  "I'm trying to say this is wrong.  We can't let Stonn kill half of the crew.  The ends NEVER justify the means, believe me.”  Trebold visibly shifted, and his face was contorting into a mask of disbelief.  “We vowed to protect the Federation and the people of the Federation.  These crew members that Stonn talks so casually about eliminating, those ARE the people of the Federation, they are the people we swore to protect.  We swore to uphold the ideals of the Federation, and killing in cold blood is not it."  Kassandra was aware her voice was taking on a pleading note, but Goddess, she did not want to have to do what she would if she couldn't convince them.  Behind her Kuenzi and Massimo shared another look, and seemed to come to a decision.  The muscles in Kuenzi's body slackened, relaxing, her hand dropping away from her hand phaser, and Massimo followed her lead, pinning his hands at the small of his back.  Raoul and Trebond tensed.

 

"That sounds like you aren't with us, Captain.  And if you aren't with us, well unfortunately, we're going to have to eliminate you."  Trebond was hungry for the kill, his pocket phaser was out, ready to fire; she could tell.  Raoul was following his lead.  She would have to act fast.

 

She triggered the flash grenade and tossed it into the air with a flick of her wrist.  They raised their eyes instinctively, and were blinded as it exploded.  They cursed.  Kassandra moved quickly, she had to end it before one of them thought to call Stonn.  She pulled a knife off of her utilibelt and arced it towards Trebonds neck, even as she snatched the phaser from his hand depressing it right into Raoul's size.  They hadn't even had time to make sense of the situation. Massimo and Kuenzi were huddled in the back, hands up defensively.

 

"It's over, you're OK, Kuenzi, Massimo."  Kassandra said reassuringly.  She knelt over Trebond. He was sputtering, choking on his own blood - the knife blow had not been as quick as she would have liked, he was still bleeding out.  He choked out something.  Kassandra leaned in.

 

"That was amazing."  He rasped.  "Do it, finish me off.  I would have done it to you."

 

Kassandra hesitated, then reached forward to finish the job, his blood spraying up into her eyes.  She did not bother to brush it away.

 

The turbolift stopped at Deck 22, and the doors slid open.  She turned and pushed Massimo and Kuenzi out of the turbolift and programmed the lift to return to maintenance.  With any luck, that would stall the discovery of the bodies.

 

She focused her sensors on the two Marine's eyes.  They would be fine.  Already the pupils were starting to dilate normally, and there did not appear to be any trauma to the retina.  She waited as they blinked and shook their heads.

 

"What should we do?"  Kuenzi asked Kassandra.  Jaw muscles tightened, brows drawn toward her eyes, neck and back tensed, but heart beating slowly now. She seemed determined, set on her new course.

 

"I need you to secure engineering."  Kassandra put a hand on the other woman's shoulder, disheartened by the involuntary flinch of her muscles under her armor. Kuenzi was scared of her.  "Stun anyone who is not wearing their jacket, secure them, remove their communicators, then free the prisoners, and keep them in engineering until I get there.  Don't let the neoessentialists raise the alert- A sonic grenade or a knockout gas grenade followed by your pulse rifle on stun will probably be easiest.  Try to keep them alive, but don't hesitate to defend yourself or the non-combatants."

 

"Where are you going?"  Massimo cocked his head at her.

 

"I'm going to sickbay.  There is a highly irritating but useful asset I have to liberate."

 

=/\=

Scene: Sickbay

 

The doors slid open into sickbay, and Kass crept in.  She scanned the room, and was startled to find Doctor Reardon standing over the body of Lex Calvari, facing away from the door.  Kass began to raise her phaser to stun the traitorous doctor, and then stopped.  Doctor Reardon’s shoulders were quivering, and almost imperceptible sobs were emerging from the woman.  Kass lowered her phaser, and took a step forward.

 

“Doctor?”  The marine intoned gently.

 

Bonnie Reardon did not turn, but did seem to stop.  She composed herself, but did not look at Kassandra.  “Do you know the Hippocratic Oath, Major?”

 

Kass tilted her head.  “Not really… somethin’ ‘bout ‘doin’ no harm,’ right?”

 

Bonnie quietly laughed.  “Actually, that was a later addition to the oath.  The original said no such thing.  But it did promise to render aid to others.”  She paused, and then finally turned to Kassandra.  “I am thinking of the final line.  ‘So long as I maintain this Oath faithfully and without corruption, may it be granted to me to partake of life fully and the practice of my art, gaining the respect of all men for all time.  However, should I transgress this Oath and violate it, may the opposite be my fate.’”  She finished the quotation, and stared stonily at Kass.

 

“Sounds like you’re havin’ second thoughts there, doc,” Kass intoned cautiously.

 

Bonnie’s face became a mask of emotion.  “Does it, Major?”  Her tone was harsh.  “Because I did not join this coop so that we could take lives.  The Federation is about the preservation, not the destruction of life.  The Federation first in all things, Major, but it cannot be before the sacredness of life itself,” she snapped, and then stood upright, as if ready to fight Kassandra.

 

“Them some traitorous words, Commander,” Kass said gently, but adopted a relaxed posture, drawing her hands away from her body.

 

Bonnie watched her actions with a confused expression, but settled into a crouch in case this was a deception.  “I am having no more part of this, Major.  I will not be party to the execution of our crew, and I don’t care if that means I’m a traitor.  And I will not go down without a fight, so if you want to arrest me, you are going to have to take me down first!”  She was trembling despite her brave words, but there was a hard resolve in her eyes.

 

Inside, Kass felt internally grateful.  Another ally, wholly unlooked for.  “Believe it or not, doctor, we’re on the same side,” Kass gave her a grim smile.  “I didn’t sign up for this either.  I already have enough innocent blood on my hands – I don’t need more.”

 

Doctor Reardon considered the Marine for a long moment.  “Why should I believe you?”

 

Kass tilted her head.  “I could have shot you already, doctor.”

 

Bonnie’s eyes fell to the phaser at Kassandra’s side, and then back to Kassandra.  She finally relaxed.  “Alright.  So what do we do?”

 

The Marine Major’s smile grew pained, and she glanced at the prone form of Cindy Rochemonte, still undergoing regeneration at the medical bed.  “Any chance we can wake her up?”

 

=/\=

Cindy awoke to a nightmare.  Kassandra's face loomed in her vision, backlit by blinding light.  The woman's face was covered with gore, her deep blue eyes and the whites of her eyes standing out from the drying blood to terrifying effect.  Cindy squawked and tried to scramble away.  Her body wouldn't respond.  Fear settled in her stomach.

 

"Cunt!"  She spat.  Her eyes adjusted, and she could see she was in the med bay.  Bonnie Reardon was next to her, quietly working a medical tricorder.

 

"Seein’ as you just woke up, I'm gonna ignore that and assume you really meant to say 'Mon dieu! But I am such ze klutz, taking ze face plant into ze decking two floors below!”  She said, adopting a shrill voice and a phony French accent.  “Alas, my depth perception, it iz bad on account of my four eyedness.  Oh Kassandra, mon sauveur, I am so lucky you were zere to beam me to sickbay, and zat you did it even zo I am an annoying bitch.'"  Kassandra rolled her dead eyes, and returned her voice to normal.  "Listen, sweetcheeks, I don't have time to argue, and as much as it pains me to say this, I need your help."

 

Feeling returned to one of Cindy’s arm, and she tested it by swinging her fist into the Marine's face.  Kassandra did not even react; not a flinch, not a wince.  Tears welled up in Cindy’s face as pain trickled down her arm.

 

"Feel better cupcake?  That one's free because I deserved it,”  Kass growled.  “Have another if you like - it was me who sabotaged the listening post's computers.”  She paused.  “Though you might want to slap me this time, or aim for the jaw, because I really need you to be able to use that hand."

 

Cindy's hand was throbbing, and Bonnie Reardon bustled over to heal it with a regenerator.

 

"What do you want?  You fucking killed me.  Why fix me up?  Are you trying to torture me?  Sadist!"  For a moment Cindy thought she saw a look of hurt flit over the Marine's face, but it was so quickly replaced with annoyance she was unsure.

 

"As a matter of point, YOU killed you.  I had no intention of hurting you.”

 

“Merde, you shot at me!”

 

“Those were warning shots.  If I'd meant to hit you, I would have, believe me.  Between my sensor nets and the HUD, I'm nearly a perfect shot at that range."  Kassandra's tone was snide.  She took a deep breath, and cut Cindy off before she could continue.  "And before you start your yappin', I need to explain why I need your help.  Stonn's taken over the ship; apparently he's part of a neoessentialist movement, and the CENTURY had ties to the movement.”  Kass paused, scrunching her face.  “Or something.  You know more about that than me.  Anyway, I think he's shot down the command crew, including Captain Kane and most of the department heads when they tried to escape.  I tried to talk him out of it, but he's made it abundantly clear that he wants to maroon you all on the planet.  You know, the one where you won't be able to sleep ever, because as soon as you fall asleep you won't breathe and die?"  She crossed her arms.  "That isn't going to happen on my watch.  I swore an oath and I meant it…” she sighed.  “But unfortunately I can't take on all the mutineers and save the crew all by myself, which is where you come in, Miss Engineering Genius.  I need you to tinker with the DISCOVERY's systems, cause a distraction while I put my plan into action."  Kassandra finished.

 

Cindy stared at her incredulously.  She had not said a word during Kass’s soliloquy, and now, the air hung silent, waiting for her reply.  The engineer finally broke the silence by sputtering, "Are you just forgetting the part where you KILLED me?  And don't say I did it,” she yelled, seeing Kass ready to protest.  “That is semantics, and you know it.  I'm not doing anything for you.  I don't like you, I sure as hell don't trust you, and furthermore, you can go fuck yourself!"  Cindy snapped.

 

Bonnie glanced at Kass, saying nothing, and Kassandra's deep blue eyes stared blindly out of her gore-streaked face at Cindy.  Then her eyes took a faraway look, as if she could see through Cindy.

 

And then something unexpected happened.  Kassandra seemed to deflate right before Cindy's eyes.  The muscles around her eyes relaxed into tired lines, her mouth tightened into a pained grimace.  She sat down heavily, her face hovering at the bottom of Cindy's vision.

 

"Listen, I know what you think of me, Rochemonte,” Kass finally said, quietly.  “I know what everyone thinks of me, and you're right.  I'm a killer, and a good one at that.  I'm coarse, uncultured, impolite, hard to get along with, demandin', insultin', not a team player.  And yeah, I rely on fear to get my point across too often.”  She stopped, and pronounced her next words slowly and delicatey.  “But I did not have any intention of killing you.  I wanted to frighten you, sure.  I thought you'd stumbled across top secret information that I'd been ordered to protect, and I wanted to impress the gravity of the situation on you to keep you from becoming a security breach… I wanted to catch you, but I wasn't going to kill you."  Kassandra's head slumped out of Cindy's line of sight.  Her voice was quiet end shook slightly.  "I definitely didn't mean to scare you so much you accidentally killed yourself trying to get away from me." 

 

The room was silent for a long moment.  Bonnie continued working, and gradually, Cindy felt more feeling returning to other parts of her body.  She managed to sit up, slowly, and stared at the Marine, who was still looking down from her seat beside her.  Kass finally spoke.  "I haven't- hadn't- killed anyone in almost two decades."  She raised her hands and turned her vacant stare on her blood and grime soaked hands for emphasis.  "I tried to leave that part of my life behind me.  I even sat out the second Dominion war and watched close friends die just so I wouldn't have to kill anyone again.  And then today it became unavoidable.  Stonn wants to kill everyone, and I lose whichever way.  Either I took action and killed again, or I chose inaction, and killed by refusing to help.  I don't WANT to kill.  I WANT to save people, and save as many as possible, but I can't do that on my own.

 

"Just me and there's nothing to do but go through here, guns blazing.  Lots of people dead.  Because that's all I know how to do.”  She paused.  “With you helping me on the other hand, I may be able to avoid wholesale slaughter, which gives me a better chance of saving as many people as I can before I get taken out.  Lieutenant, I'm begging you to please help me help our crewmates."

 

Cindy digested this, and glanced at Bonnie.  Bonnie did not look up from her work.  Shame appeared to flood her features, but she did not pause.

 

"Fine,” Cindy said finally.  She heard Kassandra let out a hissing, relieved breath.  "But I'm not doing this for you," she snapped.

 

“Fine,” echoed a relieved Kassandra.

 

Cindy tested her body again, and then turned to Kass.  “So what is it I'm supposed to do?  What is your no-doubt-gloriously-well-thought-out plan?"  Despite her willingness to help, Kass could tell that Cindy had yet to forgive her. 

 

This was fine.  As long as she was not alone in this fight.  "I've been planning this on the fly, so don't get all snotty on me about this,”  Kass said wearily.  “I need you to sabotage the DISCOVERY to create a distraction to keep the neoessentialists occupied- give me time to get you and the engineering staff onto the CENTURY without Stonn noticing.”


Cindy blinked.  "That's the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard,” she said finally.  “The CENTURY is a derelict!  Stonn could blow us out of the sky at any point!  We should retake the DISCOVERY.”  Kassandra stood and stamped a foot in frustration and glared at Cindy.

 

"Yeah, me and what army?”  She snapped.  “I have two Marines I think I can probably trust, a whole shit ton of engineers, scientists, and other non-combat troops who won't have armor. Against us we'd have, oh, I'm betting pretty much all of Sec/Tac and five other marines.”  She stuck a finger in Cindy’s face.  “So I put it to you: who the fuck is going to take back the ship?  Y' think I'm an army of one or somethin'?  You want me to take on a hundred and thirty something people all by my onesie-selfie?  I'm only functioning because the Marine Corps medical kits put together a mean painkiller stimulant combo.  And, you know, remember that whole bit where I didn't want to kill everyone?"

 

"The CENTURY is a sitting duck!  No shields, no weapons, nothing!  You get me into engineering, I can turn the DISCOVERY against the neoessentialists, I can isolate the neoessentialists and support you using the DISCOVERY."  Cindy shot back.

 

"Do you seriously think you can do all that before they notice?  As soon as you start tampering with systems, you're going to send up giant alarm bells, and bam, they kill all of the prisoners.  And then they send security after you, and kill you again."  Kassandra barked.

 

“Alright, that’s it, enough you two!”  Bonnie said, finally stepping in, an annoyed expression on her face.  They both turned to her.  “Cindy, just about a third of the crew is loyal to Stonn, and most of security works for him,” she sighed.  “And Kassandra, engineers alone will not be sufficient in this plan.”  She grimaced.  “If we are to succeed, we will require some bridge personnel too.  We need someone to run operations so that the CENTURY has a fighting chance against the DISCOVERY.”  Her grimace turned to a glare.  “And we’re not going to get anything accomplished by the two of you bickering at each other all day.”

 

The three women were silent for a long moment.  Finally, Kass spoke.  “There are body bags in the cargo bay on deck 23; I've already got the OK to send the bodies back to the CENTURY- I should be able to get the crew inside the bags, and get them out using the cargo transporter.”

 

Bonnie stepped in.  “I will take care of that… we can start getting the ship up and running while you try to liberate the rest of the crew and get them ready to beam over.  We’ll prioritize, engineers, and then ship operations personnel."

 

“I’ll buy you some time,” Cindy offered.  “I’ll make sure that I have Stonn and his goons so busy they won’t know what hit them.”

 

Kass stepped back.  “So we’re agreed then?”

 

Cindy offered her a sarcastic smile.  “Viva la resistance.”

 

=/\=

NRPG: La Resistance.  Viva la.

 

=/\=

Alix Fowler

AS

Major Kassandra Thytos

Marine CO

USS DISCOVERY

 

AND

 

Christopher B. Del Gesso

As

Russ Gerodi BaShen, LtJg

Flight Control Officer

USS DISCOVERY