As I am officially back from BayCon (last weekend's amazing convention), I'll be posting the remainder of what I've got soon. Enjoy!
EARLIER…
Leo ignored the irritation of the blood droplets on his cheek as he put pressure on Lieutenant Andry's shoulder wound. Doctor Farrell worked quickly to stabilize him before she could move him to sickbay. "Hang on, Lieutenant…"
The only response he received was a growl of discomfort from the lieutenant, but it meant he was still kicking.
Shortly after the second enemy ship rose above the reachable angle of
Proteus' cannons, before they could maneuver the ship in a roll, the distance closed too quickly. The enemy unleashed a point-blank attack a common Kzinti tactic. Swooping down, the enemy raked the frigate, aiming for the quarterdeck dome, fortunately shot wide and hit the forecastle. The firepower devastated their limited defenses, and poor Andry had not yet secured himself.
The resulting fluctuation in the ship's gravity field threw the poor man across the deck. The sharp corner of the railing impacted his right shoulder and tore the skin from his shoulder down to this spine.
Captain Meyn continued the action as the doctor and Leo worked together. She barked maneuvering orders and her cannons kept firing, but their accuracy suffered when the Kzin began using jogging tactics to prevent a direct hit. Now, they were only managing glancing blows against their shields.
The damage reports piled on quickly after.
"That's got it!" Farrell determined loudly. "Can you carry him, Leo?"
Saying nothing, he reached down and picked up Andry to position him in a fireman's carry. "Lead on, Doctor."
He heard Andry mutter, "This is
quite embarrassing…" as they traversed down the ladderway to the main deck and entered the modest sickbay, on the port-aft quarter.
Leo gently laid the man down on the nearest bed and noticed that a lot of the equipment was not native to Greenwood. "This is a Vulcan biobed," he thought out loud.
"The Vulcans contacted us before the Federation even existed," Andry said through grunts and moans. When the doctor applied a painkiller to ease things, he finally relaxed and smiled. "Oh…
thank you, Doctor."
Proteus shuddered violently, and then a shipwide whistle sounded off. A tune Leo did not recognize and said so.
Farrell did. "That's 'away boarders.' The Kzin are carrying the action. They mean to take us for a prize."
Leo's hand when to his phaser. He checked the safety, the power, and the setting, and held it with the muzzle pointed down at the deck. "Will the marines hold them off?"
Andry smiled pleasantly. "Depends on how many Kzin board. The marine detachment is two platoons under the command of a lieutenant. A Kzin raider holds many, many more." Despite the danger, the lieutenant showed no signs of fear or alarm. In fact, he looked at Leo with a dopey grin, reached up to pat his shoulder and informed, "You're really a decent bloke, Leo, you know that?"
"Uh… what did you give him?" Leo wondered of the doctor.
"Something to keep him calm and still so I can work." Farrell said as she ran a medical device over Andry's wound. She called to the man hovering nearby. "Stiles, prepare the surgery for the First Leftenant. Multiple percussive injuries and internal bleeding."
"Right. Come along, sir," said the massive Stiles has he carried Andry to another compartment further inside the sickbay.
Farrell gathered multiple items out of a bag, as the sounds of clashing outside the sickbay carried loudly. Rallying commands mixed with cries of anguish joined soon after. Leo moved to the entrance and took a peek at the chaos outside. More marines and sailors lay on the ground than Kzin.
"I'm going to help with the defense," he told Farrell. He started toward the exit, phaser at the ready.
The doctor strode to the surgery and told the retreating commander, "Head on a swivel, Leo. Luck."
Peeking around the door's opening, Leo nodded back. "You, too, Doc." Then, he disappeared beyond her sight, headed down the corridor.
Three pistols pointed at the entry to the flying bridge when they heard someone enter. Recognizing their visitor, Midshipman Ballard gasped, "Leo!" just as he stepped in from the corridor. The two rated petty officers behind her drew their weapons on him as he entered without announcing himself.
Leo lowered the muzzle of his phaser toward the deck and apologized, "Sorry to startle you… just checking in before I head over to Signals."
She lowered her pistol and nodded. "All right, here. What of the rest of the ship?"
"There's fighting on the main deck, I would also guess down on the orlop," he reported as he advanced on the large screens showing the local space. "Any other incoming ships?"
"Negative," Ballard said, her face flushed with anxiety. She approached him from the rear and gazed at the screens with Leo.
Leo turned partway to her and noticed her expression. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You good here?"
She nodded, saying nothing… perhaps not trusting her voice at the moment.
"You got this, Gwen," he promised her.
Unconvinced, she replied with a weak smile. "I hope so."
Leo removed his hand and checked his phaser's setting. He grinned and nodded. "I have to get over to signals. Dame Stacy wants me to make a quick call before I head back down."
Gwen Ballard steeled herself, then replied respectfully, "Then, off you go, Leo."
He paused at the exit and peeked around the frame. Glancing back toward her, he said, "If I can, I'll check in on you later. Stay safe." Leo did not wait for a response. Instead, he crossed over the short corridor to the signals room and fired off a distress call toward Greenwood, where he knew Essa and the rest of the task force would hear him. He encapsulated the message with his personal access code, knowing that she would dispatch help, post-haste.
His feet moved quickly down the long ladder back to the main deck. As he drew closer, energy and projectile weapons' fire, along with the clattering of metal striking metal, resounded through the corridors. Hand-to-hand combat erupted depending on the close quarters of the enemy.
As Leo approached the ladder leading to the quarterdeck, activity beyond beckoned him to continue forward, instead, and take cover while eyeing the more open areas of the main deck. He brought his phaser up and fired, stunning two of the Kzin before they could strike the death blow on sailors laying prone on the deck. Luckily, those two appeared to be the only intruders within his view.
He turned back to return to the ladder, and a marine non-commissioned officer wearing the customary black and green tunic turned the corner, surprising both of them.
Instinctively, she drew her cutlass back for a preemptive attack, but checked in time once she recognized the man. In her other hand was a standard-issue projectile pistol, now pointed up at the overhead instead of at him.
With his free hand, Leo raised it up to block her if she followed through with her action. "Rellie, It's me," he said, startled. He cleared his throat and regained his composure. "What's the situation?"
"They're everywhere, sir. They teleported in to multiple sections," said Staff Sergeant Durelle "Rellie" Kurlinski. Her head swiveled quickly, her eyes shifting left and right to ensure while exchanging information, she could respond to a sudden attack.
"I've just come from signals-" Leo started, then stopped. With a determined expression on his face, he leveled his phaser, and fired at a target behind the sergeant, hitting a Kzin square in the chest.
At nearly the same instant, Kurlinski raised her pistol, and fired a projectile behind Leo. The Kzin behind him caught the shot through the left eye as soon as they turned the corner.
With the exchange completed, both scanned either end of the corridor to check for more enemies before relaxing only slightly. A shared glance between the two led to a moment of mutual appreciation. They simultaneously said to each other, "Nice shot."
"Where are you heading, sir?" asked Kurlinski.
"Quarterdeck. You?"
"There's a fight just outside the reactor room. Stern of the orlop," she said quickly.
Leo nodded. "Don't let me delay you. Good luck."
"You, too, sir," she said before sprinting down the ladder to the deck below.
He ascended the ladder and heard energy weapons being fired in rapid succession. He crept up softly to see if he might spy the situation without exposing himself. Leo saw a group of Kzin bunched at the alcove leading out to the deck, prevented from progressing onto the quarterdeck by a makeshift barricade of furniture. The four of them were angling for better shots at the Proteuses on the deck who were firing back when they saw a tuft of fur or better.
Leo ducked out of sight, reset his phaser for wide-angle stun at the maximum power setting, then peeked to see if he was clear to fire. Once all four were fully occupied, he fired his pistol. Four stunned Kzin lay on the deck.
"Who's there?" called Lieutenant Euphemie Castlereagh, seeing Leo's jet black hair through the thin openings of the barricade.
"It's Leo, Euphie!" he called back. "I've handled the Kzin group. The rest of them are down on the orlop, for now. Can I come in?" He turned around to cover his rear while the quarterdeck gang pulled apart the benches and other equipment used to stall the Kzin.
Castlereagh approached Leo with a wide grin. "Thank the Lord for you, Leo."
Resetting the safety on his phaser, he pointed at the heap of Kzin near his feet. "They're only stunned, so if you have the means to take prisoners-"
The lieutenant executed the unconscious beings without hesitation; four headshots, with no aiming necessary due to the point-blank range.
Leo looked away, closing his eyes at the same time. "All right…" he said with sigh. "I supposed you
don't have the means to take prisoners."
She shook her head. "Not presently. And I'm not going to wait around for them to wake up and become a threat."
"Status of the captain?" he asked quickly.
Castlereagh approached the plotting table and gestured for Leo to join her. "I'm afraid she's sustained some wounds when the Kzin overpowered the marine sentries. They took her to the great-cabin, and sent for Doctor Farrell."
Leo frowned and took up the position across from her. "Who has command?"
"I do," she said, her fatigue clear in her tone. Leo knew that Ballard held watch in the flying bridge, Reyes in the Signals room.
"Do you need another hand?" he offered, re-holstering his pistol and setting his hands on the edge of the table.
She appraised him in a new light. "If you're game, then I am."
Leo caught her gaze with his own and said, "How can I help?"