2377
The Orion Borderland
Bobbi March watched from her hidden perch as her lover Harrison Ryan scuttled across the open grass toward the fence surrounding the villa of Orion crime boss Gez Hokun. Hokun’s men were acting as mercenaries, fighting for the Tholian - Selelvian alliance in their war with the Federation. Harry and Bobbi had been tasked with reconnoitring the villa for Starfleet, but after discovering a large number of troops were present, Bobbi had devised a plan to destroy the villa.
Harry dropped into a narrow creek-bed and placed an Ultritium charge, arming it, before creeping along the creek-bed to a small tunnel.
“Hold position,” Bobbi whispered into her communicator. “Hostile. Ten metres, closing in.”
Harry stopped by the tunnel mouth, drew the Klingon d’ktahg Bobbi had given him, and when the Orion leaned over to peer into the creek, Harry stabbed him in the throat and pulled him into the creek.
“Clear,” Bobbi whispered.
Harry crawled into the tunnel, scrambling along as it passed under the road leading to the villa’s gates. He emerged on the far side and got to his knees, placed another charge, then scooted along the creek, clambered out and elbow-crawled to the foot of a watchtower. He planted another charge and then dragged himself to the corner.
“Hold.”
Bobbi’s finger tightened on the trigger of her TR-116 rifle and an Orion, who’d just rounded the villa’s wall dropped, blood spraying from the back of his head.
“Go.”
Harry planted another charge, then got up and sprinted across the open grass, dashing into the tree line.
Bobbi pulled out the detonator for the charges and pressed it.
The explosions rocked the villa, destroying the road into the villa, the watchtower, the antennae array for their sub-space radio, and the sensor grid.
Harry was now lying in the grass at Waypoint Charlie. As the Orion troops boiled out of the villa like angry ants, he opened fire with the X-77 concealed there. Pulse phaser fire cut down a dozen Orions before they could react.
Bobbi began lining up shots and firing, killing another half dozen Orions as they attempted to return fire on Harry’s position.
As Harry continued to pour phaser pulses into the Orions, who were now diving for cover, Bobbi had to shift position as more energy bolts began to flash her way.
As she crawled through the undergrowth of the wood, she suddenly spotted a pair of burly Orion males manhandling a plasma mortar into position.
Seconds later, as she lined up a shot, they fired their first round, which crashed into the trees somewhere behind WP Charlie. Bobbi immediately shot the two Orions in quick succession.
Energy bolts slammed into the trees around her. Bobbi ran, unable to try disabling the mortar because of the fire she was attracting.
“Fall back to Delta. I’ll meet you there,” she called into her communicator.
“Copy that,” Harry answered, sending another hail of bolts into the Orions’ positions before he moved out.
More plasma rounds began slamming into the trees, sending splinters flying. Bobbi, despite all she’d been through, was beginning to wonder if she’d survive.
Suddenly a high-pitched whine cut across the crackle of energy bolts. Bobbi glanced upward and saw a small attack flier speed over her head. It slowed, pivoted around using its anti-gravs, then lowered its nose and fired a burst of energy pulses into the trees from a nose-mounted turret.
“Keep running,” Bobbi shouted. “Get to Delta!”
The flier shifted position and fired another stream of energy bolts into the trees.
As she neared WP Delta, she saw Harry was already there, kneeling and lining up on the attack flier as it fired another burst into the wood.
Harry cut loose with the pulse phaser. Energy bolts slammed into the flier’s shields.
Bobbi reached him. “MOVE!” she shouted. “Before he lines up on you!”
The pair sped across the rough, uneven ground. Green energy bolts slammed into the trees where they’d been seconds before. Both staggered, but kept their feet and kept running.
The flier began to slide sideways through the air, clearly trying to track them. Bobbi saw where it was flying. Narrowed her eyes and smirked. She stopped. Took aim and fired. The tritanium bullet tore through the villa’s small power generation unit. The unit exploded into a fireball which crashed into the flier’s shields, span the craft around from the turbulence and it dropped to the ground where it exploded.
Bobbi ran after Harry, who had paused several metres away.
“Nice shot,” he said as they ran on toward the extraction point.
“Thanks,” Bobbi replied.
“Makes me glad I married you, even if you do refuse to call yourself ‘Ryan’.”
Bobbi laughed.
As they reached the hill where they were due to be picked up, Bobbi pulled out the detonator and hit the second button. Behind them, the final Ultritium charge went off, annihilating the Orions and the villa.
Bobbi March will return in Star Trek: Ragnarok
