Evacuation

Posted on Fri Nov 28th, 2014 @ 4:47pm by Lieutenant Commander Ciaran McIntyre & Lieutenant Commander Horatio Hawke
Edited on on Fri Nov 28th, 2014 @ 4:48pm

Episode: Orphans
Location: Colony Site, Dreyas IV
Timeline: MD30

Hawke stood with his hands on his hips as he watched another group of colonists beam back up to the Highlander. Their faces bore a pitiful mix of disappointment and abject terror; disappointment at leaving their new home so soon after arriving, and terror at what might be lurking just a short distance away in the woods.

When he beamed back down a short while earlier, he had the dubious duty of explaining to the colonists that they were being temporarily removed from the surface to the safety of the ship until their safety could be guaranteed. It had been received in pretty much exactly the way he assumed it would - disappointment and relief.

Some colonists surged forward at the chance to be evacuated, saying they never wanted to return. Others were more circumspect and accepted the decision, but viewed it as a temporary withdrawal while the investigation went on. Then there were the ones who just had to make it difficult.

There's always got to be at least one, Hawke sighed when a colonist named Hubert felt it necessary to test his resolve and challenge the authority of Starfleet to order them anywhere.

"Until this colony is formally declared, Captain Williams is in overall command of what is essentially a Starfleet operation," he had said. "Now you will be returned, just as soon as we are satisfied that you will be safe here."

Hubert wasn't mollified and he tried to press the point, shouting nonsense about military aggression and unlawful deprivation of liberty.

At that point, Hawke was very grateful to have the largest, most intimidating security officer on the whole planet standing next to him. He leaned in close and spoke quietly, "Sir, if you continue to resist, I will be forced to place you under arrest for refusing a lawful order and have Petty Officer Ropata here carry you back to the ship."

Ropata, at almost seven feet tall and shoulders half that wide, stepped forward and stood over Hubert, looking down at the hysterical colonist from his considerable height with terrifyingly wide eyes.

Hubert was among the next load of colonists transported back up to the Highlander.

Hawke smiled at the memory and watched Ropata usher some more colonists over to the beam out site when he heard the hum of transporter beams behind him. He turned around and saw a group of gold-collared uniforms materialise nearby.

"That's not fair." Lieutenant Ciaran McIntyre's voice echoed slightly around the now empty alloy shelters which had been erected in the hours before the attack. "You can't be threatening colonists with this big lummox. He clapped Ropata heartily on the back, immediately fearing for his life.

Ropata smiled menacingly. Mac was sure that the giant Maori didn't have much time for him but whenever he met someone that could snap him in half with his big toe, he tended toward trying to be friendly.

"How's the evacuation going?" Mac asked Hawke, shaking his hand in the direction of the immediate perimeter and ordering the team he had beamed down with to relieve their colleagues.

"Quite orderly," Hawke replied, nodding to a couple of passing colonists. "Your man Ropata here has a way of keeping the peace. We had some people earlier who would rather not visit the ship, but they soon came around." The XO stepped closer to McIntyre and leaned in, keeping his voice down so nobody heard. "It's not easy, Mac," he said. "The disappointment on their faces is hard to take. They've waiting how long for this place, and now it's been snatched away. We have to find out what's going on. We have to help these people come home."

"Don't worry about it. We will." McIntyre took note of the faces passing him for the first time. People trudging as though their hope had deserted them. They had come here for a chance to start their own world and most of them looked like they were losing it. "This is only temporary."

Hawke watched them go for a moment more before snapping out of his thoughts and remembering there was still work to be done. He turned back to McIntyre and said, "Right. How is your deployment? Do you need any help? All of Highlander's people are back aboard, except for your security people. The colonists will all be evacuated in about another ten minutes."

"The deployment's going fine but it's not the deployment that's the problem. I'm not sure how I'm going to have the teams comb the forest on these limited resources. I've got three teams, Alpha through Gamma, each with six officers." He took a moment to process the maths. "Even if I split them into smaller teams of three, it's going to be tough to cover the ground we need to cover, in the time we need to cover it, being as thorough as we need to be and not leave any teams vulnerable to attack."

"What about air support?" Hawke asked, his mind jumping straight to his pilot blood. "Could shuttles in the sky be any use? Or we could supplement your teams with some extra hands from the ship. Anybody with combat training."

"I wouldn't recommend it." McIntyre mulled the suggestions over in his mind. Both had strong points but he was averse to the risks. "The chances of shuttles driving the attacker deeper into the forest are too high for me. Same goes for the crew- I don't want to put them at unreasonable risk."

Hawke nodded, "Fair enough."

"Although, that being said, we might be able to utilise shuttles." McIntyre had already gone off on a train of thought. "If we were able to move the attacker into a certain area, we might be able to circle shuttles around to keep it in the general vicinity of the teams hunting it. From what little I saw, it didn't seem to take kindly to too much noise."

"We'd need to move it into an area that's easily controllable," Hawke said, picking up Mac's train of thought. "Not to mention where the pilots can get eyes on the thing - don't forget our scanners can't see it."

"I was hoping Science might be able to get something but you've got a point," Mac agreed. "If they can't get those things on scanners, having a bird's eye view could give us a decided tactical advantage."

"It might also be useful to have their extra firepower if needed," Hawke added. "If you and your teams could use them, just say the word and I'll get two birds in the sky for you."

"Keep them on standby." Mac replied. "If Science don't come up with anything, we'll get them in the air. In the meantime, I'll get my teams back on the perimeter."