USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202012.04 Announcement: . This is the fifth sim in T'Lin's story plot (and it's starting to get ugly!). Note: T'Lin was absent from the sim, but her character is on the Away Team. In this Narrative I have "written in" T'Lin to move her along with the story. Introduction: . The Penumbra was in orbit above the Mirror Universe version of the Kyrathian Homeworld. Damage Control Teams were installing replacement parts to the dorsal starboard nacelle and all engines were taken offline for the process. . An Away Team was down on the surface, with the Runabout, Tanagra, and Deltas Two and Three cloaked and circling over them for air support and transport. . The Away Team was trying to get into a large, three-story structure which sensors showed housed some kind of strong antimatter fusion reactor, but it was engulfed in what the local Kyrathians we'd spoken to called "the Evil Vine" (which must be the Mirror Universe version of the Ivorez), and patrolled by more than a hundred of the telepathically-enslaved Kyrathians the Ivorez had "possessed". . The structure and several other buildings was a "sprawling complex" of ruins buried in the writhing Vine. The Away Team had landed, disembarked, and sent Delta Flight and the Tanagra back into the air while they crept stealthily through the Vine jungle. But, when it appeared the Kyrathians had spotted them, they entered the first building they could find as a bunker. . Now, at least 10 Kyrathian Soldiers, accompanied by 3 of the huge beetle-like Gatherers, were converging on their location. The Marine Pathfinders (LtCol. Travis Patterson, MstGny. Derek Hines, Gny. Khal'Gon, and LCpl. Homer Kyle) were in the bunker but the Starfleet Officers were still outside.
. LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke was in the trees with a phaser rifle, being their overwatch; LtCmdr. Bevin MacArdry and Dr. Shadow K'Trevala had their bows with arrows nocked; LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris was brandishing his bat'leth; Lt. T'Lin had her phase rifle and collapsible spear; and Ens. Carshel was literally shivering in fear! The Battle of the Bunker: . On the Penumbra, Capt. Zak Taylor sat in the Command Seat on the Bridge with LtCmdr. Relok in the XO's seat to his right. Down in Sickbay, LtCmdr. Jason Carter flexed his prosthetic hand, checking its functionality, "Well, I think everything checks out." He spent a few minutes looking around Sickbay, then grabbed his jacket and throwing it over his shoulder, headed out for the Bridge. . Lt. Katarina Hawke stood at the Auxiliary Medical Station on the Bridge, keeping tabs on both halves of the Away Team, the Marine Pathfinders as well as the Starfleet Officers. She had a running transporter lock on each of them in case they needed an emergency beam out (though the thick overgrowth of Vines would make it a pain to do so). . Inside the bunker, Patterson glanced around at the other Pathfinders and whispered, "They're onto us lads." . Kyle moved deeper into the building to check out the rest of the room as Hines gave Patterson a nod. "I don't know how well everyone else will keep pace with us, Pat." He gestured with his shotgun at the Starfleet Officers moving across the small clearing in the jungle outside. "We might not be able to go high speed - low drag." . Den was still high in the tree-like vines in his sniper's nest. He noticed the dozen or so Kyrathian Soldiers and three of the huge beetle-like Gatherers crashing through the Vines, converging on their location. The Kyrathians were ignoring other structures and were focused on the one the Pathfinders had holed-up in. He called over the dedicated commlink, "Away Team, you've got incoming. I can still see them for now."
. On the ground, Bevin was giving her equipment a last-minute check. Shadow, too, checked his bow and nocked an arrow, just in case. Tabby felt odd and whispered, "Bev, Shadow, might wanna get behind me. I think we are being followed and watched." As he heard the crashing of the huge Gatherers he added, "Make that something big. Maybe even a few, and a lot of smaller things. I can't tell how many." He paused then shrugged, "It could be wildlife." . Kyle called from the back of the room, "Hey, Pat ... that might be a back door over yonder." He pointed with his rifle. "Dunno where it's a-goin' though." . Patterson sighed and addressed Hines first, "Yeah, looks like stealth is out the window." He turned towards the Corporal, "Kyle, go check that back door." He turned again towards the Klingon-Nausicaan hybrid, "Khalgon, find a strongpoint. Set up a base of fire." Then he turned back to Hines, "Hines, defensive measures. Set charges at your discretion." He opened the commlink, "Hawke, Yeah, I hear them coming. Something big. If you got a bead on them ... you're free to engage at your discretion. I think that Vine knows we're here." . Hines nodded at Patterson, "Got it, Pat." Then he added, "Might wanna get Delta Flight on strafing runs against whatever 'tanks' they've got mowing down the jungle." . Up on the Penumbra, Kat was watching the lifesigns on her monitor. She reported, "I've got multiple lifesigns down there with the away team." She didn't need to say they were Kyrathian. . Den called, "Patterson, going for the three big ones first." He took a breath and held it, leaning into the rifle to take a shot at the lead Gatherer. The phaser blast hit the lead Gatherer and the huge beast flinched and turned in the direction of the shot. Its shell smolders from the hit, but it seemed unharmed. It grunted and pawed around a moment, but couldn't find the sniper who'd shot it.
. Suddenly, the Team felt an electrical tingling like static electricity, then they heard a distinct "pop" followed by a low hum. Somehow a force shield had erected surrounding the entire complex of ruins! . On the Penumbra, LtCmdr. Relok, keeping a close watch on sensor feeds, announced, "Captain! I'm detecting a force shield on the planet below!" . On the Penumbra, Zak turned to his Chief Science Officer acting as the Executive Officer in Patterson's absence, "A shield?" He spun his chair and called, "Kat! Do we still have transporters? Comms?" . Kat barely prevented herself from hitting her fist against her console. "I've lost their bio signatures as well. The forcefield is keeping me from finding them again. We don't have either captain." . MAX, the Artificial Intelligence from the Darmok's Reconnaissance Dome, was fully aware of the situation, and even though he was essentially a set of computer programs, he was fully sentient and capable of emotion. He felt the tension just as much as the others on the Bridge. He chimed in, "Analyzing shield harmonics. It will take me several minutes to identify the source." . In the air over the compound, CfWrnt. Antonio "Sandy" Sandoval saw the shield suddenly materialize and noticed he'd lost the signals tracking the Away Team! He called, "Delta Flight to Penumbra! I've lost lock on the Away Team!" He didn't get a response. . Back in the bunker, Khal'Gon cursed, "Crap!" He set his weapon to automatic fire and let loose a barrage of WAR projectiles into the nearest gigantic Gatherer. . In the small clearing, Tabby straightened, "What - what is that sound?" . Carshel was beginning to panic. He started mumbling, "We're trapped! We're so trapped! They'll find me! They'll find me!"
. In the bunker, Patterson also noticed the shield. He opened the commlink, "Away Team to Penumbra." There was no response. He turned to Hines, "Comms are out with the Penumbra and Delta Flight. We're on our own." He switched to the channel for the whole Away Team and called, "All AT, we're compromised. Weapons free!" He raised his rifle, prepped the grenade mode, and took aim at the rustling treeline. . Hines moved to the doorway of their bunker, propped his WAR-shotgun against the doorframe and set about rigging a shaped charge. In seconds he announced, "Claymore set!" and grabbed his shotgun and backed off. . From his sniper's nest, Den let loose another shot at the lead Gatherer. Den's second shot also hits and the big Gatherer convulsed a moment, then righted itself, really mad! It charged in the direction the shot came from, but still didn't know exactly where. Den muttered to himself, "Oh, crap!" He opened the commlink, "Away Team, those big things are not going to go down easy. Switching to the others." He turned his aim to one of the Soldiers, hoping they'd be easier to pick off, moving very slowly to avoid being spotted. . Khal'Gon noticed the shot from Den's phase rifle and raised his automatic weapon, the WAR-SAW. He deployed the bipod from the barrel and placed it on a piece of hard debris and let rip. High-energy rounds traveling at near warp speed riddled the lead Gatherer, and a significant part of the jungle around it. The huge beetle let out a groan and fell onto its side and stopped moving.
. Den noticed the Nausicaan's shooting and muttered, "Well, that works, Khal'Gon, thanks." . At the far edge of the clearing, Shadow sensed the loss of communications through the tension in Sandy and Patterson. He reached out telepathically to his Shayana, LtCmdr. Relok, up on the Penumbra, ~Relok, we're okay, so far.~ He took aim and released his explosive-tipped, armor-piercing arrow at one of the Kyrathian Soldiers, then quickly drew another and let it fly at the same target. The Soldier went down. . Hearing Patterson's announcement of "Weapons free", and hearing (and seeing) the WAR weapons fire and Den's phase rifle, Tabby readied his bat'leth, backing towards the Medical and Science Team members and edging towards the building designated as their bunker. He said, "Bevin, I don't know how good you are at fighting, but I'm gonna need you and Shadow as a distraction so I can study the movements of the upcoming threat. I may be Klingon, but I think like a Romulan." . Up on the Penumbra, Relok heard Shadow's message and reported, "Shadow says they're OK so far, but ... he feels pretty tense, Captain!" . Zak's face had formed into a grim frown. He stood and said, "Standin, phasers on that shield. Punch a hole!" . Standin, the Vulcan Tactical Officer filling in for Den, nodded and said, "Aye, sir, full phasers in tight beam. Firing!" . Above the shield bubble, Sandy in Delta 2 called the other Delta Flyer, "Delta 3, form on my wing with the Tanagra, target that damn shield. See if we can punch a hole or anything!" He knew the Runabout wasn't exactly designed for combat, it was more a transport vessel, but it had phasers and everything would count ... he hoped!
. As the three small craft started shooting at the shield, a huge, high-energy plasma beam came blasting down from space as the Penumbra's own phasers struck the outside of the shield. But, unbeknownst to those outside, their efforts set up a harmonic resonance on the inside! A sonic pulse that set everyone's head to ringing. . The Kyrathian Soldiers screeched in pain and their upper arms flew up to cover their auditory sensory "panels" on the sides of their heads. The Gatherers did not seem to be affected. . Tabby covered his own ears, "Ah! What the hell?" . Carshel covered his own ears but was crouching at the edge of the clearing, almost catatonic in fear. . On the Penumbra, Standin reported, "That shield is vibrating, sir, but holding. Do I maintain?" . Kat watched from where she stood at the Medical station, listening as well. "We might need to find the right frequency to prevent the vibrations from happening?" she suggested. . "Keep it up, Standin." The Captain ordered. "If we can get just a tiny hole, maybe we can beam up the Away Team." . But Relok reminded him, "Sir, if we get only a small hole, we could only beam one or two at a time. That's a large Team, sir." . In the clearing, Bevin noticed how the Kyrathian Soldiers had reacted to the whine of the shield and decided to use a screamer arrow like the ancient Japanese used and launched one shrieking into the air over the Soldiers covering their "ears". While it didn't seem to add much to their reaction, since the shield's resounding wail was so pervasive, she was sure it helped.
. Up in the tree, Den flinched at the noise from the shield, struggling to shut it out even while gripping the branches to keep from falling. He shook his head to clear the fog from the whine and took aim at a Soldier and fired a phaser burst. He noticed that a single shot didn't take it down and quickly followed with a second. He shook his head again, muttering to himself, "Double taps, okay." He determined he would do that for the rest of them. . At the back of the bunker, Kyle grabbed his head, "Ah! My haid! What's that noise, Patty?" . Khal'Gon growled, squinting his eyes shut hard as his ears rang, then took a deep breath through his nose, and continues to fire bursts into the treeline. . Patterson winced, flinching at the high, resonating sound. He called out to Kyle, "Cap's tryin' to punch that shield open to get us out. Helmets have noise suppression. Give it a couple seconds to adjust, and start shooting those tanks!" . In the air, Sandy saw the Penumbra's phasers hit the shield and locked his own targeting on that point. He opened the commlink, "Delta to Penumbra. We'll keep trying to drill that point, but... it doesn't seem to be working. You got anything bigger?!" . Capt. Zak was pleased to hear from Delta Flight. He said, "Sandy? Good to hear you! Yeah, hit that shield. I don't want to use torpedoes since I've lost the lock on the Away Team. I don't know where they are!" . Sandy was quiet a moment as he thought, then said, "Then lock onto me. I'll beam off Delta 2 to Delta 3 and set the Flyer's core to overload. It's gonna be a really big explosion." . Huddled to one side of the clearing, still some ways from the bunker, Tabby glanced up at the shimmering shield and gritting his teeth through the ringing pain in his head, said, "I feel like ... they're trying to ... break or punch through ... the thing surrounding us. A shield of some sort?"
. Shadow and Bevin simultaneously switched to explosive arrows and launched them high into the air towards the shield, targeting the spot where they could see the Penumbra's phasers on the outside, but ... their arrows were ineffective at this range, especially since such a strong force shield. . Finally, a cluster of Kyrathian Soldiers cleared the treeline and entered the clearing, heading towards Bevin, Shadow, Tabby, T'Lin, and Carshel! Patterson barked out a code, "Sixty Mike, Sixty Mike!" This was originally a code for the 60 millimeter mortar rounds from centuries before, but was now used to warn friendlies of "impending explosion". Patterson launched several grenades from his WAR rifle and explosions ripped across the clearing as the first wave of Kyrathian Soldiers were riddled with shrapnel, but more moved out of the jungle to take their place. . Kyle called, "Patty! The back door! I think it leads into some tunnels or sumpin'. Wanna sneak out the back door?" . Patterson nodded and turned to Hines, "Hines, Kyle, check that tunnel!" . Hines and Kyles quickly moved to the tunnel entrance to check it out. Hines took a position and glanced at the Corporal, "Set. Kyle?" Kyle gave a quick nod and together they advanced cautiously into the tunnel to make sure it was safe for the others. . Patterson opened the commlink, "Away Team, everyone into the building. We've got an escape shaft in here. Move!" . But Den responded, "I can't. They're between there and myself." He took aim again and double-tapped another Soldier. He resisted the urge to call out "Boom, headshot!"
. Patterson, frustrated, slammed a hand onto the top of his helmet. He called again over the commlin, "I wasn't asking, Hawke! Khalgon and I will provide cover-fire. Run your ass to us and don't dare stop until you get in this building!" . Bevin and Tabby started towards the building, but Carshel was petrified with fear at this point and wouldn't move from his hiding spot. Shadow called to Relok through their telepathic link, ~Relok, heading into the building, using it as a back door out.~ He then literally grabbed Carshel and threw him over his shoulder and took off at a run towards the building, T'Lin on his heels. Bevin and Tabby hung back to cover their retreat. . Several Kyrathian Soldiers lay apparently dead around the perimeter along with two of the gigantic Gatherers. Many Vines lay on the ground and the jungle around them was tattered from the many WAR rounds that had riddled the area. Khal'Gon reloaded and as he did he called out, "Last box, Travis!" . Unlike phase rifles and hand phasers, whose power supply was virtually limitless, WAR rifles took enormous power to accelerate their projectiles to near light speed. They burned through batteries like water. Usually, a team member would carry three or four spare batteries, but Khal'Gon had been spewing WAR rounds like a fountain to take down the Gatherers and thin the numbers of Soldiers. . The last surviving Gatherer reached the building and commenced to tearing at the very wall itself! While it was working on the wall and Soldiers were milling around the perimeter, trying to avoid the WAR rounds spewing at them, Shadow, Carshel, and T'Lin passed dangerously close to the raving Gatherer as it ripped into the building, but ... they managed to get inside without being squashed!
. As soon as a gap wide enough appeared, Hines raised his shotgun and stuck the muzzle through, right into the face of the raging Gatherer, and fired multiple times, saying with each shot, "I'm! Not! Dying! Today! You! Big! Ugly! Beetle!" . Patterson turned towards the ripping wall too, but seeing Hines dumping shotgun blasts into the beast, he gave a slight shrug and turned his attention back to picking off Soldiers in the treeline. . The huge beetle took several shotgun blasts to its face and collapsed in a heap, but the damage was done. A huge hole was ripped through the wall, and Kyrathian Soldiers quickly advanced and started to climb over the carcass to gain access! . On the Penumbra, Kat was growing frustrated. She couldn't get any sort of fix on the Away Team, so changed her focus to determining just how big the shield was. She discovered it surrounded the ruined facility but not much of the surrounding jungle. But, it did create a complete dome, shutting off the facility from everything above the canopy. . Not liking the feeling of helplessness, she turned and reported, "I'm not sensing anything inside the forcefield, and I'm not even able to get a rough idea of how big it is, to be honest. It covers the facility, though." She tried one last thing: her Borg interlink with her brother. ~Den, are you guys ok?~ . On the ground, Shadow, Carshel, and T'Lin had made it into the bunker, but two Soldiers had moved in and blocked Tabby and Bevin from making it through! Quick-thinking, Bevin reached into her pouch and produced a "Bug Bomb" grenade that she quickly activated and tossed into one Soldier's face. . The Soldier began convulsing madly, writhing in agony on the ground. The other stood dumbly watching it. Seizing the opportunity, Tabby lifted his bat'leth and grunted, "Time to get buck wild," and charged the dumb Soldier. "You ... Will ... Not ... Touch ... My ... WIFE!" He set to hacking with his bat'leth.
. But Bevin was no frail damsel in distress! She was an angry Scottish woman (so to speak, although she was technically a Deryni) and drew her own huge Claymore, a two-handed longsword, she had strapped across her back which she used to hack the Soldier as well. . Tabby called, "Bevin, get inside, I'll cover the front! Carshel needs a motherly figure. I got this, love!" . But Bevin shook her head and replied in her thick Brogue, "Way'll civvir ait taegaithir, Taibbykins!" . Tabby grinned at her, "You really are a stubborn Scottish, kilt-wearing, crazy red-head, aren't you?" . She grinned back, "Weel, ithir thain wairin a kilt, aye!" . With one Kyrathian Solder disabled by the Bug Bomb and the other hacked by an enraged Klingon with a bat'leth and a crazy red-headed Deryni with a Claymore, their target went down under the onslaught, not dead yet, but unable to fight back. . With almost everyone inside and more Soldiers streaming out of the jungle towards their bunker, Hines shouts, "Fire in the hole!" He set off the Claymore mine he'd placed near the door. The shaped charge spewed hot shrapnel in a fan to clear the path to the door. He shouted again, "Move! Move!" . Tabby and Bevin broke off their frantic hacking and took off for the building. . Above them, pounded by the Penumbra's powerful phasers as well as Deltas Two and Three, the shield pulsed, then suddenly contracted, focused into a tighter bubble around just the buildings closest to the one the Away Team entered ... but, smaller meant more focused and hence ... stronger! . Kyle peeked out of the tunnel they'd secured and counted heads, then called, "Pat, whar's Den? We got the others? But ... whar's Den?"
. Den was still in his sniper's nest, thinking about and climb-hopping down and switching to "run and gun" tactics to get through. He saw that maybe he could sprint along the perimeter of the clearing where there were fewer Soldiers and maybe get through uninjured ... maybe. He started down. . Just as Den reached the ground, two Kyrathian Soldiers spotted him and tried to head him off. "Well, that's lovely," he mumbled. "I guess we can go hand to hand on this." He skidded to a stop. . Patterson answered Kyle, "He's cut off. Priority is the Team. Make sure they all get to safety. Khalgon, go with them. Cover the rear. Hines ... we've gotta get to Den." Hines joined him and Patterson counted them down and when he reached zero poked out, fired a grenade at the Soldiers, and took off at a full sprint towards Den. . Hines was right behind him, firing his last few slugs at other Soldiers and shouting, "Go, Pat! Go!" . Patterson's grenade erupted behind the Soldiers blocking Den. One of them was nearly killed from the blast, and the other got significant shrapnel and went down, but ... Den got a little shrapnel of his own! . Den stumbled, falling but quickly rising back to one knee, biting back the pain and the injury, at least for the moment. He pulled his rifle back to his shoulder and let off another double-tap at an advancing Soldier and continued towards Patterson and Hines. . Patterson slid to a stop beside him, grabbed an arm and tugged, "Can you run, Den?" . Den just gave a silent nod and together they sprinted back to the building. There were still several Soldiers clambering towards the entrance, but they were blocked by the Gatherer's carcass and Tabby's and Bevin's big blades.
. Tabby and Bevin had been guarding the door, attacking any Soldier that got through Khal'Gon's spray of WAR rounds. Suddenly Khal'Gon heard the forbidden "click" of his WAR-SAW running out of ammo. He cursed vehemently in Nausicaan and dropped the now useless weapon to the ground and drew his bat'leth. "Fine!" he barked, "Perhaps today IS a good day to die!" . Tabby glanced at his fellow Klingon hybrid then back to the Kyrathians, "Bring it, you ugly arse!" . Patterson, Den, and Hines ducked through the entrance. Pat shoved Tabby and Bevin towards the tunnel and Khal'Gon turned to follow as Patterson barked out, "Hines ... rig charges on the entry and collapse it. I don't want them following us in." . In the air over the shield, Sandy maneuvered Delta Two towards the "weak point" in the shield where they'd been focusing all their efforts. He then "overclocked" the Flyer's core, setting it to overload and called his backup, "Delta 3, emergency beamout, NOW! Penumbra, lock onto Delta 2 and fire!" . On the Penumbra, Lt. Standin at the Tactical station said, "Sir, tracking Delta 2. It's going to blow on the side of the bubble! Targeting it, torpedo away!" . Delta Two hit the shield wall just as a torpedo hit Delta Two. A huge explosion rocked the shield. It flickered and resonated with a sonic boom that nearly deafened everyone inside, then ... the bubble contracted again to just cover the one building. . Tabby flinched, "Ack! That hurts!" and grabbed his ears. . Kyle ducked his head, "Ow, ow, ow!" Then he shook his head to clear it and said, "Tunnel's clear least 30 meters, sir. But ... we oughta get to runnin'?" . Patterson slapped his hand to the left side of his helmet and winced from the intense flash caused by Delta Two detonating. He called out, "Sandy!" . Hines looked up, then dropped to one knee for a second or two, his head lowered. Then he looked back up at Patterson, "We gotta move, Pat!"
. Den stumbled against the tunnel's entrance, huffing against pain and fatigue. He called his sister, ~Kat? Kat, can you hear me?~ He wanted to check himself over for injuries, but ... that could wait. He ducked into the tunnel behind the others. . Hines slides into the tunnel himself and sets the charge. "Sixty seconds! Everyone in the tunnel!" . Everyone scrambled through and Patterson made the head count then tapped Hines, "Last man, Hines, get back and blow it." . Khal'Gon finally noticed Den's wounds, "Kyle! We've got wounded!" While he knew they had Shadow, their Chief Medical Officer, on the team, he instinctively called for his Marine brother Corpsman instead. . Kyle quickly shouldered his rifle and dug out his medkit, glancing at Shadow as he moved past. "You check Tabby's ears. I'll patch up Den so we can get a runnin'." . Tabby was holding bleeding ears and grumbling, "Freaking pointy ears suck. How bad are they?" . Bevin wrapped a strip of cloth around his ears as Shadow scanned with a tricorder. . Tabby glanced at Khal'Gon, "You'd know best outta everyone here, how are my ears? I know they're bleeding, but ...," he trailed off. . Khal'Gon just grinned at him without saying a word. . And then the explosion went off that sealed them into the tunnel. They all hoped the tunnel would lead them somewhere they could get out of! . In the air above, Sandy, now on Delta Three, called, "Delta 3 to Penumbra ... we're RTB. There isn't anything else we can do down here." . The Captain sighed, "Delta, acknowledged, Return to Base. They're on their own for now." He turned to the Tactical station, "Standin, what's up with that shield? We keep blasting it and it's still there!"