[BACKPOST] You Come Through
Posted on Wed Jul 1st, 2015 @ 3:10pm by Karil
Edited on on Wed Jul 1st, 2015 @ 3:17pm
Episode:
Orphans
Location: Dilenahr Borough, Shi'kahr, Vulcan
Timeline: 2387
ON:
“As of 0300 this morning, Dilenahr is under mandatory evacuation orders. DARVO readings show toxic levels of mejilan gas blanketing the area. We will be liaising with the fireteam from Tcha'be'she 752 to hasten this process as much as possible.” Nevari concluded his briefing succinctly, referencing a large holographic display behind him while he spoke. It zoomed in on key areas where civilian extractions would be taking place. “Are there any questions?”
The Kayvar division of Shi’kahr’s V’Ket headquarters were seated around a large table in their wardroom, and most acknowledged the mission report with a terse nod.
Ot-lan Neo-tekerik was the only one to flick up his finger, and also the only one leaned back in his chair with his feet on the table. “What’s our timeline on this? How quickly are we expected to work, here?” the Mirani asked casually.
“Our goal is to have all civilians evacuated by 0700, but we will be stationed there for three days as a precaution,” Nevari answered.
“And how long before people start dying?”
“Effects of mejilan toxicity usually begin within 24 hours of exposure,” a voice piped up from the back of the room. Patalsu Karil held up a PADD. “Read an article on the nets.” He smiled faintly, an expression highly out of place.
“Karil is correct,” Nevari agreed, shooting him a stern look. “We plan to have everyone out before that time.”
“Then we should get going,” Neo said, standing and grabbing his flak jacket from the back of his chair.
Nevari took point as they filed out of the room, leading them down to a decontamination chamber buried deep within the Alair building. He spoke while walking. “We will be at alert level 2 for the duration of this mission. Biohazard suits are to be worn at all times within cordoned zones, and it will be a sealed suit. If your oxygen levels drop below 50%, you must report back to camp immediately. Understood?”
A chorus of “Affirmative”’s echoed behind him, and he keyed them all inside decon.
The Dilenahr borough of Shi’kahr was heavily barricaded as Kayvar approached in low-orbital vehicles, the only vehicles that would fly properly in the Forge’s natural electromagnetic dampening field.
Kerus, the pilot, swooped in low and hung a sharp right to avoid a levitating hazard sign. “We will set down here,” he pointed at a glowing beacon on his overhead map. “That is your camp. You will have to make the trek to Dilenahr by ground vehicle.”
“Is everyone prepared?” Nevari called down the cabin, placing a large white helmet over his head. He flicked a switch at the side and activated the internal helmet lights, and pulled out a biosign monitor from his arm. “Be aware of these at all times,” he cautioned as the remaining Kayvar agents pulled on their suits.
Karil detached his monitor, helmet under his arm. “Ready, boss.” He saluted with two fat gloved fingers.
The LOV touched down, sliding to a stop over several kilometers before abruptly halting. Kerus cleared his throat. “Pick-up is scheduled for 0900. Have your unit here,” he said to Nevari.
“Acknowledged.” Nevari exited, flagged by the rest of his team, into the suffocating desert air.
“Greetings,” the V’Shar coordinator called briskly over the sounds of drilling and hammering behind the cordoned zone. “I am Tra-lan Zurel. Sochya, welcome on-site.” He held his hand up in the ta’al.
“Nevari, Kayvar. We are ready to begin extraction as soon as possible.”
“We are sending team 3 through in about 50 minutes. Your unit can accompany them. Most of Shi’kahr operates on remote locked-security systems, which means we are required to break down the doors to get inside. Liyar,” he raised his hand to flag one of his own men. “Show them how to use the Gatir-lar. You can set up over there.”
Neo and Liyar seemed to know one another, as the two approached and spoke to one another in hushed MAG. “This is not where I expected you,” Neo murmured, switching back to Golic. “Can you even operate that thing?”
“Smart move, insult the man with the drill pointed at your head. Your intelligence continues to astound.” Liyar held it up menacingly. “All right, everyone, follow me this way.” The V’Shar agent snapped back to business, waving his arm over their heads to marshal them to the right. “This is a Gatir. It cuts directly through materials, like wood or stone. We drill four holes on each corner of the door leading into the domicile, which allow the door to be taken cleanly off by disconnecting the inside bolting mechanisms. This prevents any injuries from falling debris.”
Karil discharged the cutter with his index finger, and the sound of metal-on-metal loudly reverberated through the small enclosure. The vibrations nearly caused him to drop it. Karil cringed sheepishly. “Eiyek,” he mumbled, placing the drill carefully down on the table.
“These machines are extremely powerful,” Liyar added wryly, “and should be used with extreme caution. Do not place your finger on the trigger unless you intend to activate the drill.”
“And logistically speaking, once we get inside, are these individuals expected to be conscious at all? Will we need to administer immediate first aid?” Karil knelt down to examine the borough map laid down on the sand.
“Most of the individuals we are evacuating are already impacted by the neurotoxic component of the gas, so they will be unable to assist in their own recovery. We will be using gravstretchers to transport them to camp, where they will receive medical attention.”
“Simple enough,” Neo said, closing over his toolkit. “There’s team 2.” Their silhouettes reflected the sunlight harshly off of their white biohazard suits. They were each carrying and transporting several mejilan victims.
“Incoming!” Liyar hollered into his comm. “Ready triage tents. Is everyone suited up?” he directed the question to Kayvar as a large ground vehicle without doors rolled up beside their tent. At the affirmative, Liyar climbed up and gestured for everyone else to follow suit. “All right. Team 3 exiting the compound now. Lift the gates. Let’s go.”
Shi’kahr was designed in a series of concentric circles, going from wide to small, to finally the government buildings in the very center. These were fortified heavily by the surrounding area. Each layer was an individual borough or neighborhood, and Dilenahr was situated near the outer edge. This increased the operational radius significantly, and almost doubled their drive time.
Karil was in the passenger seat, studying a PADD with coordinates to the first house on their radar. He enlarged the blueprints and triggered the three dimensional vector mode. “It looks like this is the best way to get in there,” he observed mildly. There was a basement door leading to a set of stairs that got out on each floor, as opposed to the front door which led to 2 separate stair levels on opposite sides.
“We’ll see it when we get there,” Liyar replied.
At long last Dilenahr began to rise around them, the skyline clawing upward toward the sun. Liyar ensured his biohazard suit retained its seal, and placed his helmet over his head. Just as they approached the border, Liyar jumped out and crossed through the contamination forcefield at a run, waving his arm behind him to encourage the rest of the team to do the same.
Karil jumped next, and hit the ground hard, feeling the shockwave ricochet through his body. The remaining members of Kayvar followed suit, with Neo leading the rear. They all disappeared through the blue-white Federation contamination field, moving quickly toward the first house.
Liyar situated himself near the side of the door, while Karil and Neo stood on the opposite side, and Liyar angled the Gatir at the corners expertly, removing the inside bolts with speed and precision. He counted down on his hands from 3, nodding his head at Karil, who landed a heel-kick straight at the wood with all of his strength. The door separated from its wooden frame and fell to the ground with a large boom.
“Fireteam, call out!” Neo shouted loudly as they began to move through the foyer. Silence was the only answer, but when they came to the living area, one body was sprawled over a lounge couch limply. Neo raced toward them and lifted her, gesturing behind him to Karil, who extended a gravstretcher promptly. “Vyéz,” he swore under his breath. “She’s not breathing. I need a shaelan, now!”
Karil helped him get the woman onto the stretcher, and rifled through the bottom compartment for a translucent want connected to a hypoinserter. He loaded it with oxygen and copper elements, handing it over to Neo with a blank expression on his face.
Liyar and the rest of the team fanned out through the rest of the house, and found an additional person in the upstairs bathroom. Liyar jogged down the stairs with the child slung over his shoulder, to the sight of Neo injecting a hypoinserter into their mother’s neck. She stirred and her lifesigns flickered. She was loaded onto the gravcart and guided outside beyond the barrier as quickly as possible, while Karil ran another biosign scan.
“Come on,” Neo’s voice blared through Karil’s comm. “We have to keep moving.”
One female child, but there were more toys and gadgets around the house than one child would explain- and there was an extra bedroom. All of this information registered unconsciously in Karil’s brain, in a place he couldn’t verbalize to his superior officer. Karil shook his head. “Something isn’t right. Let me run one more scan.”
“We’ve done all the scans. The house is clear. Get moving, that’s an order.”
About to give up, Karil reached the door, placing his fingers around the frame, but he turned back at the last second. He grimaced and stepped back inside, getting out the scangen and keying it to more refined search parameters.
“Karil, you were given a direct order. ” This time it was Nevari.
A faint dot began to glow in the bottom left of the scangen, after several terrifying seconds. Karil breathed out. “Sir, we have another lifesign in here. Requesting medical backup.” Without sticking around to hear their answers, he broke out at a run down the basement stairs, jumping them two and three at a time.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, damn it!” Karil growled, shedding all conception of his so-called Vulcan heritage. There were boxes lying all over the place, half-open and overflowing with useless junk. He navigated laundry piles and came upon a ratty looking cot near the heating compressor. There was a body strewn over it, the boy’s skin was totally ashen and his lips were dark chartreuse. “Requesting immediate medical backup, the occupant is a child, he’s been directly exposed to the source of contaminant leak.”
No sooner than he made the call, did the basement door open and the rest of Kayvar barrel down the stairs in a lumbering march. There was an empty gravstretcher between them, and a medkit resting on top. Karil sprang into action instantly, locating a rebreather and fastening it over the child’s face as quickly as possible.
“Get a line on the property owners,” Nevari barked into his comm as he descended the stairs, taking in the scene without batting an eyelash.
“It's maat'Kile,” Neo said, holding out his PADD.
“Are they here?” Karil asked.
“We have the mother, she's outside in the medical tents, Tari. Father, Farik, unaccounted for, and we have Seylan here. Lenol was with Liyar.”
As Neo spoke, two medics entered the basement with a portable decontamination unit.
Karil knelt as they lowered the gravstretcher to the ground, and gently placed two fingers against the boy's head. He cringed at the sudden onslaught of neurological impulse, like metal grinding against metal, screeching and rising through him. Television static, white noise. “He's still alive,” Karil nodded.
The medics moved seamlessly, assembling the unit as the seconds ticked by, molasses-slow dripping. They attached the final two ends and created a seal, enclosing Seylan Kile inside while gas filled the chamber. It was then drained out of the side, and slowly Seylan's color began to return.
Karil maintained a steady link with him nearly the entire time, and as he begin to stir, looked behind him at Nevari. “Notify kan-dvin-lar, now.”
OFF:
Patalsu Karil
Kayvar Unit, V'Ket
Shi'kahr City HQ