Planet Hera

Posted on Mon Oct 22nd, 2018 @ 11:50pm by Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Asa Dael & Ahreva Malana

Mission: Hera v Hera
Location: Meroset 347, capitol city
Timeline: 2395, Battle of Hera's Planet

Ascending the stairs from the cellar where the resistance movement had been meeting, Lieutenant Commander Rita Paris took the lead, followed by Doctor Dael and Ahreva Malana. As the stone-faced scientist was a civilian non-combatant, Paris wanted her bringing up the rear. While she would likely have her moment in this drama, Rita wasn’t about to endanger her charge unduly. Both she and the doctor were Starfleet- they had signed on for this.

“Ms. Malana, stay close. I’ll need you watching our rear and keeping up as best you can. Doctor, stay close to me, stay in my shadow when at all possible. Neither of you are soldiers and I don’t expect you to be, but be prepared to defend yourselves.” Deep down, the Starfleet officer of another age wished she was as confident as she felt. She herself was no soldier, and she’d fought as hard as she could to find a peaceful resolution for this mission. But in the end, she would have to content herself with taking point in a rebellion, fighting their way across the city to the temple of Hera.

Now was not the time for doubt, nor recrimination, nor regret. Now was the time for action.

Peeking out into the street, Paris spotted a pair of Amazonian guards harassing a fruit stand seller. Slinging the large and unwieldy rifle across her back, Paris drew her antiquated phaser and stepped out into the street. Setting for heavy stun, she brought the phaser up, sighted, then fired twice in rapid succession.

The first one went down like a sack of potatoes, but the second caught the blast on an armor plate and it dispersed it enough to leave her only slightly dazed. She was quick to recover though and with a great yell, pulled free a swortsword and charged the group, one bracer shield up and active to defend herself from another shot.

Malana was just as fast, having targeted the Amazon with her sonic pulse rifle and fired as soon as she had started charging. The pulse of invisible energy seemed to pick up the woman and toss her aside like a ragdoll, straight into the building behind her. Bouncing off of it, the Amazon fell to the ground and moved around in a stupor for a few seconds before she was shot by another phaser beam. causing her to pass out. "Your shadow is safe, Commander. As for the Amazons, aim for the unexposed areas and watch for the bracer shields."

"Duly noted. Well done, Miss Malana," Paris appreciated as she unlimbered the rifle to hold in her off hand. if she could help it, she'd stick to the nonlethal phaser- but the chronal cosmonaut suspected that the danger was only going to increase as they moved forward. "Okay, stay close and let's cover some ground. Being fast-moving will make it harder for them to bring forces to bear on us, and we can't afford to get bogged down in a street fight. Doc," Paris passed back the PaDD that she had received from Commodore Meowlith, which detailed the shrines and details of the city up to the temple.

"You're the navigator, Doc. Guide us to those transponder temples that we can hit on our way to the main temple, okay?" Secretly Paris hoped it might keep the young doctor preoccupied, as this was their first mission, and it was an unfair cosmos that sent the sensitive healer into a war zone. But there was little to do for it now but try to keep the good doctor from getting shot, and perhaps being preoccupied with navigation might spare them some of the violence that was likely to ensue.

Asa’s eyes were as huge as saucers. They knew combat would be part of Starfleet eventually, but they had not expected it within their first fortnight aboard a starship. The young officer took a deep breath and forced their shoulders down, eyes forward in a cast of determination.

Looking at the PaDD, Asa pointed slightly to the left “Ahead, 317 meters to the first temple. Up this small hill.” With that declaration, the doctor fell in lock step with the XO, thankful for their manic energy to power the quick pace the taller person was setting.

Light, when Paris gets going, she really gets going , the El-Aurian physician thought to themselves.

As they approached the temple, the trio saw Amazons milling about keeping guard as older priestesses were seen deep in the temple interior. There was one side of the temple hidden in the shadow of a larger hill looming to the right side that appeared unguarded.

“Ma’am, I believe the shaded side of the temple is our best hope to avoid detection. While this place is guarded, they don’t feel overly alert. More like an honor guard for somewhere that is assumed to be so sacred as to avoid attack. Just an impression…..but their body language doesn’t seem that alert,” the doctor said, briefly making eye contact with the Lieutenant Commander.

"I concur," Malana added, scanning the surrounding area. "It seems word of the revolution hasn't gotten to them yet, either. That works to our advantage. If the psi-collector is in the tower, I believe I can destroy it from here, but it risks the chance of killing someone. If we assault the temple, it risks the chance of our own deaths. Sneaking in seems minimally optimal as there is no way to get back out alive afterwards. Alternatively, we leave. Which price will be paid, Commander?"

Training told Rita Paris the ideal solution would be to draw their fire as the other two flanked the temple. But with two non-coms- despite that sonic weapon of the stone scientist- that wasn’t an option. Or was it? They were not a known commodity just yet, so the Amazon guards might not yet be alerted to just who they were and why they were here. Slinging the heavy rifle across her back, Paris took a deep breath, shutting her eyes briefly to center herself. Opening them again, a devil-may-care grin spread across her face. “Let's give them a chance. Miss Malana, please cover me.”

With that, the gold-clad commander stepped out into the street and began casually strolling toward the temple. As the Amazons noticed her, Paris waved cheerfully with her empty left hand. “Hail sisters! What news of the day?”

Between her odd appearance and the fact that they were reasonably certain she shouldn’t be there, the two guards exchanged glances. Which was when Paris shot the first guard, dropping to one knee to diminish her profile as she drew a bead on the second Amazon, who was now drawing her blade and charging with her energy shield engaged.

At least they’re consistent, Paris thought as she fired again, trying to hit the Amazon in the thigh.

While the second blast glanced off the edge of the ovaloid shield, several more sounds could be heard simultaneously.

Malana firing her sonic pulse rifle just over Rita's head.

Two harpies screeching.

A minotaur bellowing from inside the temple.

While the sonic pulse threw the second amazon like it did the last one, a pair of harpies took off from the roof of the building and two more Amazons and a minotaur stepped out of the front door of the temple, each ready for combat.

With a grunt of frustration, Asa took off through the shadowed undergrowth, about 30 degrees off from where Rita was from the perspective of the door of the temple. They reached down as they ran and picked up a small rock, tossing it towards one of the Amazons shields, attempting to see if projectiles could penetrate the shields, or if they were impervious to energy and ballistic energy.

Once they were stopped and hidden, the doctor withdrew two small throwing knives, aimed carefully at the Harpies as if they were birds being hunted back home, and expertly attacked both. One sedative coated blade cut deeply into a leg of the first harpy before sailing off unseen, and the other embedded itself in the second harpies abdomen. They then took aim at one of the columns supporting the entrance to the temple and began firing with maximum strength on their phaser.

“That’s what you get for trying to be a white hat, Rita,” Paris muttered to herself as she scrambled for cover. Holstering her phaser, she unlimbered the rifle that she’d hoped to use as a last resort, yet here she was, the second battle of the day, resorting to lethal force.

Visions of the diplomatic delegation being torn to pieces by the harpies steeled her resolve, as she pointed the TR-116C2 at the sky, set the range and fired the grenade launcher. “Move, people! Let’s go go go!”

The grenade missed the now sedated harpies and landed square between the two new Amazons, blasting them clear across the plateía in opposite directions, taking them both out of the fight.

As for the minotaur, Malana aimed her sonic pulse rifle at it and fired, pissing it off. As it charged her, she flipped a selector switch and fired a constant stream at the beast, slowing it to a halt just a few meters in front of her. It bellowed at her as it leaned in, trying to reach for her, the screeching from her weapon rising slowly as it seemed to start to overheat.

"Drop it, Malana!" the doctor yelled, running again to not give away their position, "Those things are nigh unkillable without a special weapon...lets pin it under some rubble, eh?"

This is it, Paris thought to herself. The briefing had made it abundantly clear just how deadly and impervious these things were. Thex had modified their weapons, programming them to produce alloy-jacketed projectiles that could penetrate their hides, and could kill them. This minotaur in particular was going to kill them all, right here, right now. Phasers didn't work on them, so there was no stun option. It was down to kill or be killed. And there were plenty more where this one came from.

While the Minotaur looked no worse for wear other than some blood from its ears, Malana had to agree with the doctor, she couldn't subdue it with her rifle. Releasing the trigger and lowering it, she jumped back as fast as she could, but not fast enough. The minotaur caught her by the leg and hulk smashed her straight into a stone wall, her rifle spinning through the air uselessly and landing some ways away.

After looking satisfied with its handiwork, the beast roared and turned to look for more targets.

As it did so, Malana wiggled a bit, working to extricate herself from the granite masonry. Rolling out of it, she stretched a bit, several of the now shattered armor plates on her suit crumbling away in the process and her helmet's visor falling off as well. Malana herself looked no worse off, though. "So even the mightiest beings of flesh are that weak? Come back and hit me like a mountain!"

The Minotaur was silent for a moment, head cocked at the challenge. It then turned and looked incredulously at the woman still standing before it.

That was when the mighty beast of myth and legend grunted and stepped toward her, nostrils flaring as a loud crack was heard, and he stiffened. Turning toward the source of his irritation, the minotaur spied the sniper who had shot him standing in the street, advancing on him.

"Stand down or I will shoot you ag-" Rita Paris managed before the beast ran for her, at which point she held her ground and fired twice more into the chest of angry behemoth. Which roared in pain, but kept coming, closing the distance between them with alarming speed.

"Auto," the Starfleet soldier ordered, then a burst of fire from the weapon slammed into the rampaging bovine humanoid. Dead before he hit the ground, his momentum carried him forward to slide to his finish in the street.

"Let's blow this tower and move, people!" Paris called as she chucked the underlauncher, selecting the low yield plasma grenade. Firing it into the inner chamber of the shrine, Paris called out. "Fire in the hole!"

Asa dropped to the ground in anticipation of the blast, anxious to check on Malana. Everything about this was terrifying, but more than anything, the doctor was concerned about the well-being of the formidable woman who just took quite a beating.

As they dropped, Doctor Dael scanned for the Harpies and Amazons, not seeing them amongst the carnage until one of the warriors appeared near them. The doctor grabbed their phaser and fired instinctively, forgetting the setting was no longer on stun, but on kill from firing at the column. The doctor caught the Amazon by the lower left leg, but location didn't matter at that point. The advancing warrior dropped to the ground, dead.

Asa saw the distinctive scorch mark on their target and felt dread and knowing what they had done. With a brief cry, the physician wretched up their last meal, feeling disgusted at having taken a life. They rolled to the side of where they were sick, and waited for the blast to come, numbness setting in for the carnage they had seen and inflicted.

As the shrine exploded in a 'FZWOOOOM' of cascading plasma energy, Paris took stock of the situation and doubled back. Spotting the young doctor, the first officer saw the look on their face, saw the dead Amazon and put the pieces together. Unfortunately, neither of them had time for a crisis of conscience. Grabbing the neck of the white plate of hard polymer armor, Rita yanked the physician onto their feet with a grunt. Setting them on their own, the ancient astronaut spun the young immortal so they could be eye to eye.

"Listen... I need you to listen to me, Doctor. We're in a war zone now, and as much as neither of us wants to be here..." To her right, another Amazon charged, with a bloodcurdling war cry. Without hesitating, Rita Paris fired, pumping a mythic round through the berserker. The charged alloy round easily passed through her breastplate armor to drop the warrior woman, the impact spinning her about before her corpse fell to the cobblestone street. Turning back to the ship's surgeon with tears in her eyes, Paris locked eyes once more.

"We have to move, Asa, please." In the time they had known one another, the El-Aurian physician realized that the only person they had ever heard the first officer address by their first name was Sonak. "If you want to live, come with me."

Looking around, the golden avenger spotted Ahreva Malana picking up her sonic rifle. "Miss Malana, we've worn out our welcome, let's go!"

Asa took a deep breath, awareness coming back into their eyes as the first officer called them by name. They let a few errant tears leak from their face, made eye contact with Rita and said, "Yes ma'am. Freak out later, got it."

With that, they reached into their bag where they had left the PaDD and pointed to their far right. "Next target, 1208 meters. I suggest we run."

Shaking the debris and loose bits of her suit from her, Malana checked her rifle and readied it. This was far more violent than she had anticipated.

Double-timing it, staying to back alleys and using the map of the city was producing reasonable results. The two officers in MACO armor could run at a considerable pace. But that would have left behind the civilian scientist, which was unacceptable. So they moved at her pace, keeping her safe with their numbers and navigation. Using the suit's scanners, they were able to coordinate around patrols and stay well ahead of their pursuers.

Score one for modern technology. Back in the old days this would have gone on until Paris peeked around a corner and she literally came face to face with an amazonian guard. But with the advanced capabilities of a tricorder with head's up displays, this made moving tactically through the city a breeze when combined with Paris' own instincts and experience.

Until a harpy patrol spotted them, and there just wasn't any way to stay under cover while evading them forever. A flash-bang grenade threw them off the trail long enough for the trio to seek cover, but they were still 120 meters from the next psionic collection shrine.

"If I fire that will definitely give away our position, so we'll have to move quickly. Doctor, you have our route to the shrine ready, and Miss Malana, if you could lend a hand with our feathered friends please?"

"On three we fire then move. One... two... three." Calmly Paris stepped out from under the cover, sighted her rifle, locked on target and fired. The legendary menace moved at the last instant, and the shot took her though the wing, shattering the bone and dropping her from the sky with a shriek.

Ahreva fired a sonic burst at the other harpy, knocking it out immediately and flinging it onto a nearby rooftop where it lay still.

At this point the sounds of revolution could be heard not far off, coupled with several large muffled explosions.

The doctor had largely been trying to stay alive and out of the way, knowing they were not here due to their physical prowess, but it occurred to them they had one advantage the rest of their team didn’t. The enhancements of the MACO suit combined with their natural strength from growing up jumping and climbing trees gave the young doctor the ability to leap to the third story of a building in a single jump.

Not wanting to give away the position of the team, they called “Hold on, getting a quick visual,” and sprinted to the nearby street. Oriented towards the temple, they leapt onto what appeared to be balcony on one building, and then up and over to a rooftop on the building opposite. They crouched down and ran to get a good view of the temple.

It appeared to have the same setup with Amazon guards at the front, and what was likely to be a minotaur-guarded interior. Deciding to bring an element of surprise, the doctor aimed at what appeared to be a power structure on the roof of the building, directly over the top of the temple.

They fired at the power source at maximum strength on their phaser, maintaining the beam until crystal-like glass exploded in a violent maelstrom that took out the roof of the temple and barraged the Amazons below with debris and energy shards alike, piercing their shields in places and leaving a patch of carnage on the landscape.

The doctor rolled off the rooftop and managed to make it back to the street holding their shipmates undetected. Sensing their apprehension at having the Doc go absent for a moment, followed by a loud explosion, Asa just shrugged and said, “Figured it would be nice to get the drop on them this time.”

Taking in the young doctor’s actions, the conventionally cheerful commander grinned crookedly. She’d been mildly panicked over the young doctor’s sudden movement, but her helmet’s sensors had tracked the physician and when they had come back in one piece, Paris was greatly relieved. “Well, I guess we don’t need to hit this shrine. Well played, Doctor… plot us a course to our next target and let’s keep moving.”

As the sensors detected another patrol incoming, Paris crouched low, then popped around the corner just long enough to launch two tear gas grenades into the path of the patrol, one after the other. Then the Starfleet siren was on her feet and moving at high speed, navigating the twisting and winding back alleys in her attempt to keep the trio out of conflict as they continued moving toward their mission objective- the main temple of Hera itself. On the route they were taking, there were at least three more shrines on the way, and each one they destroyed would only help them that much more in the long run.

Which was when a Harpy patrol dove into the city on a powerdive, surprising the first officer by snatching her up in the creature’s claws like a hawk snatching up a field mouse. Before she knew it Paris was airborne, and in too close a quarters to bring her rifle to bear. As her antiquated phaser was holstered on her right side, Rita could choose to drop the rifle to reach the phaser, or find another way to deal with this flapping menace as it dug its claws into her shoulder, penetrating her armor on the left shoulder, causing the anachronistic astronaut to cry out in pain as thee harpy hauled her ever higher into the sky.