Leisure Activities

Posted on Sat Jul 10th, 2010 @ 11:39am by Lieutenant JG Hannah Andeti & Commander Earlond

Mission: Episode 1.2 - "A House Divided"
Location: Holodeck One
Timeline: MD15 1900

The counselor was not sure what to expect as she approached holodeck 2, phaser clipped in place. It felt awkward and unusual but she was equally certain that whatever the commander had in mind would require significantly more fire power. Well no one could say that he didn't keep life interesting and she didn't hesitate before entering the bay.

The program already seemed to be running and Andeti squinted into the gloom for Earlond's familiar form. She couldn't repress a smile as she slipped her phaser into her palm, the sound of each breath loud in her own ears.

"Behind you, Counselor," Earlond's voice came from the darkened corridor - but from off to Andeti's right, not from behind her.

Hannah turned quickly, phaser still in hand, but relaxed only slightly when she caught sight of the commander. He was certainly good at making himself unseen when he wanted to be. She offered a smile. "Glad to see you didn't start entirely without me." He looked tense, tenser than she'd seen him in a while and she knew that when he was he wasn't the safest of men to be combat training alongside. Hopefully he would be able to remember exactly which side she was on if things got too drastic, but she mentally prepared herself to act quickly if the alternative presented itself.

"You'll be needing this," Earlond said, handing over a heavier phaser rifle. He wondered why people he trained with even bothered with the smaller weapons in his programs.

The counselor took the phaser rifle, returning the sidearm to its holster and checking over the larger weapon. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had need of a weapon like this, but her training was still there and she completed the weapons check, then nodded to Earlond. "Shall we?"

Earlond nodded, already moving carefully along the wall of the corridor. He motioned for Andeti to keep watch behind them. Despite his current distractions, he tried to focus on the training mission at hand.

The counselor turned and kept her weapon at the ready. The hall was empty and she was more than a little curious to know where, exactly, they were. Somewhere in the distance she could sound the distinct blare of a siren, but otherwise the corridor was completely quiet. Too quiet.

There was a sudden burst of fire as she followed the commander around one bend and Andeti flattened herself against the wall, resisting the urge to join the commander's fire with her own and instead checking behind them, making sure they weren't in the middle of an ambush before she turned and with one burst from the rifle took down the final remaining enemy. It took only a minute in the gloom to count the three other shooters that Earlond had efficiently taken down and Andeti inwardly cringed at his skills as a killer.

Not immediately noticing Andeti's discomfort, Earlond ruthlessly pushed forward, breaking cover and setting off at jog down corridor. His weapon flashed, taking down enemy after enemy and barely leaving any for Andeti. As they continued, it became clear that the frequency of Romulan enemies was increasing; as it did so, Earlond seemed to be using more shots than he usually did.

Finally, he came to a stop near a T-junction, leaning up against the wall as he reset the power levels on his rifle. He was breathing hard, but not from the effort of running and shooting.

The counselor took down one final Romulan behind them before joining the commander at the junction. She took a moment to catch her own breath, eying Earlond closely. "This is quite the program." She forced a smile to cover any discomfort with the man's brutality. If she had any hope of continuing their association she knew it was something she would have to get used to.

"It's not one I usually run," Earlond admitted. "I've made some...modifications." Suddenly, he cocked his head, listening. An instant later, he spun out into the cross-corridor, raising his rifle to fire. He never got the chance - another Romulan tackled him, sending the rifle flying. As the Romulan swung a knife down to stab Earlond, Earlond managed to catch his wrist and then kick out, flipping he Romulan off him.

The counselor was ready and as the Romulan struck the ground she took aim and quickly fired. The man lay still and she checked the corridor in the silence as the commander retrieved his own weapon. She did manage to throw him a small smile. "Modifications?"

He didn't have time to answer, or she didn't have time to hear one as a hand came out of no where and grasped her by the throat. She swung around, striking this new attacker with the butt of her weapon and driving her knee up against his solar plexus. The Romulan's grip loosened, but only marginally and with a thrust he slammed her into the wall. She knew that the safeties were off but that didn't prepare her for the shock of pain that ran along her side and the deep bruises she felt formed beneath the man's fingers. Collecting herself she released her hold of her rifle and heard it clatter to the carpetted ground. The glint of the man's knife still in its holster caught her eye and with one movement she grasped it and buried it in his stomach.

The blood was green and hot as it gushed out but he released his grip and the counselor jumped back. Her foot came down on the inanimate hand of another dead Romulan and she had to steady herself against the wall as her attacker went down. She blinked into the gloom, her heart beating hard as she retrieved her weapon before turning and looking for Earlond, who had, in the time it took her to deal with one man, taken down three others himself.

"Are you injured?" Earlond asked Andeti, his eyes flicking rapidly around the area, missing nothing.

"I'll live." She laughed and focused on checking her weapon as she felt her heart beat steady and her nerves calm.

Earlond eyed Andeti closely before turning back towards the distant end of the corridor. "Armored door on the left, twenty meters," he said. "From the way our opponents are reacting to our intrusion...there will be two guards flanking the door, with two more behind various furniture in the room. It'd be nice to know where the furniture is, but we don't. Our target - not one of the guards - will also be armed. Recommendations?" Earlond already had his own idea on how to procede, but this was a joint exercise.

The counselor looked for a minute, squinting into the darkness as she considered his question. She almost wanted to laugh again -- hadn't he noticed her blue uniform? Tactics wasn't exactly her specialty, but she appreciated his inclusion of her, at least superficially, in the planning. She certainly hadn't expected that. "Well, I suppose we should assume they'll be expecting us so something quick, no torching our way through." She was thinking out loud, more than speaking to him, but she fidgetted with her weapon as she spoke. "Is this the only way in?"

"Affirmative," Earlond said with a nod.

Andeti nodded. "Would it be possible to draw them out? That would seem the simplest solution, if we could manage it."

"It would make things a bit easier," Earlond said. "At this stage, they'll probably want to stay and protect the target, but what kind of lure did you have in mind?"

The counselor didn't have to give this one much thought but continued to stare at the door, considering. "The easiest solution would be to cut life support, although I would assume that system is fairly secure?" She looked at him for confirmation.

"I wouldn't imagine we could cut it off, however..." Earlond trailed off thoughtfully. "There are other things you can do with life support controls besides cutting them off, things that may not be automatically locked out by the computer."

The counselor grinned. "And you just happen to know where that system is?"

"Perhaps," Earlond said. "The issue would be taking our enemy by surprise; we would need to attack only shortly after we tampered with the controls, or they could restore them."

"If we're forcing them out of the room I don't think that should be too much trouble. They probably won't be very organized if they're trying to escape the room and we can pick them off, take out the target. Assuming the controls are near here," she quickly amended realizing that she sounded more confident than she really was.

"Or we could just kick the door down and surprise them," Earlond said. "The controls are able to be accessed by any one of these consoles, provided you can get through the security."

Hannah couldn't help but laughing at the simplicity of his suggestion, but shook her head. "If you're asking me if I can break through the computer's security, you've got the wrong girl. Now if you want me to talk my way through the computer . . ." She shook her head again.

"You could ask it how it feels about releasing a few nerve toxins into the room," Earlond said dryly. "But if I'm going to be breaking into the system, you'd better get ready to kick that door down." Turning, he started accessing the computer.

The counselor laughed again, glad to see that the commander was relaxing, at least enough to share her humour and approached the door. It had been a while since basic training but she thought she remembered the basics of taking down a door. She eyed it, the large metal entranceway did seem a bit daunting even against her height, but she wouldn't be turned away. She looked to Earlond for her cue.

Taking moment longer with the computer, Earlond turned and nodded towards Hannah.

She responded with a nod of her own and took a running leap at the door. Her shoulder hitting it made a solid 'thump' but the frame wasn't as strong as it appeared and it came down at once. In one move she was through the door and instinctively she brought down the first guard who came at her. As he fell in a burst of phaser fire, Earlond was already in the room moving with swift determination and Andeti was both awed and put off by his efficiency as a killer.

Barely remembering to leave one of the enemies for Hannah, Earlond moved quickly through the room, firing in short bursts. He managed to take out two of the guards before they realized the two Starfleet officers were in the room. The other guard and the target managed to duck behind two overturned couches, but Earlond's charge didn't falter even when the two remaining enemies returned fire. Running up onto one of the couches, Earlond fired twice into the guard, then staggered slightly as the target's disruptor burned into his shoulder.

A sudden shot from behind hit the Romulan's hand, forcing him to drop his disruptor; a moment later, a kick from Earlond sent the target sprawling. Stepping forward, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Earlond leveled his rifle and opened fire, firing repeatedly into the Romulan's fallen body.

Andeti gaped at the wound in the commander's shoulder but watched in a sort of frozen silence at the man's completely cold and expressionless countenance. She had only felt this sort of shift in his underlying emotions once before and that had been right before he had tried to kill her over a year ago. She watched as he took out the other Romulans with ease and hoped that once they were gone he would come back to himself.

Earlond did not stop firing. Part of him noted that he was wasting munitions; had it been a real fight, he would be setting himself up to fall if they got attacked later. Right now, though, his focus was on the Romulan, and his anger at working with them to support their defenses...

"Earlond!" The counselor watched as the commander finally seemed to lose control as he attacked the final Romulan, reducing his already inanimate body to little more than fleshy green pulp. She didn't expect him to respond but she was taken by uncharacteristic hesitation to interfere. There was no denying that the release was well needed but if he lost himself too completely it could be dangerous. Finally she steeled herself, dropped her rifle and launched herself at the man.

She had rarely surprised him in the past and she only marginally did so now, but the impact of her body did the trick and he ceased firing only long enough for the program to come to its end.

For a long moment, Earlond just stared at the ground where the hologram of the Romulan had lay. "Good work, Counselor," he said abruptly, straightening and heading for the door.

The counselor's eyebrows both rose and her now empty hands landed on her hips. "Earlond." She tried to keep her voice empty of surprise and resisted the urge to have the computer seal the door. Instead she hurried to catch up with him and one hand dropped to his arm.

An instant later, Andeti found her arm twisted painfully behind her back, Earlond standing behind her, and her neck centimeters from being broken. Earlond blinked, quickly releasing Andeti, shaking his head slightly to clear away the last images of Romulans rising up from behind to attack...

Hannah had to take a moment to restore her calm as she felt him release her and took a shaky breath, hoping to steady her voice. It was hard to remember, sometimes, how dangerous he was to be with. She distinctly avoided touching him, but didn't step away from him either. Instead she changed the subject, offering a small smile. "Would you like to get some dinner and relax a little?"

"Relax?" Earlond repeated. "I really don't think I need to, Counselor." Though if she made it a recommendation as a counselor, he might have to. "I apologize for that. You just startled me."

"What makes you think I meant you're the one who needs to relax?" Andeti smiled.

Offering a reluctant smile, Earlond shook his head and sighed. "Very well," he said. "I will join you. And hopefully, I won't try to kill you while we're eating."

Hannah chuckled. "I appreciate your restraint."

"I blame Iluvar," Earlond grumbled as they headed towards the exit together. "He doesn't let me have any fun."

The counselor laughed again. "I'll have to thank him later."

END

by

Commander Earlond
Executive Officer
USS Pandora

and

Lieutenant jg Hannah Andeti
Chief Counselor
USS Pandora