Always Sunny in Leopra

Posted on Fri Jan 28th, 2022 @ 10:32am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Aiko Kato & Lieutenant L'Rissa

Mission: Respite
Location: Cait

The day had been quite enjoyable thus far, at least in L'Rissa's view. She had taken Aiko to capital city to view the great statue of Tigra and then they hit the museum of history and art to take in a bit of culture. A nice lunch had followed before the short trip out to Leopra, the prominent ecological reserve on the planet. The scenery was truly picturesque, as was the weather, with temperatures only in the low 90s and a gentle near constant breeze rolling off the lakes and across the savannahs. One couldn't ask for a better day for a stroll in this picturesque landscape, and yet one cloud remained ever present with L'Rissa, her mother.

It was an understatement to say that Aiko was having the time of her life. The day had been quite filled with amazing sights and wonders and tastes. Leopra was a fascinating place, quite unlike anything she had seen. There were similarities to the Serengeti on Earth, but the scale of Leopra was much larger.

Ever the stereotypical tourist, Aiko had spent roughly half of her trip taking holopics and holovids. However, she also made sure she took time to be present in the moment and to savor yet another reminder that the simpler things in life are often the best.

As Aiko and L'Rissa strolled through a magnificent backdrop of rolling hills interspersed with the gentle rumbling of the lake that was in parts obscured by canopies of large and ancient trees, she realized that L'Rissa was once again lost in thought.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Aiko asked, which had been a favorite expression of her mother.

L'Rissa came out of her daze and looked at Aiko, "Sorry. I don't mean to be so distant. Just so preoccupied with thoughts of my mother."

"Still worried about how dinner last night went? Because if you ask me, I think it was actually pretty good."

"Honestly, I wasn't thinking about it at the time, but my mother left rather quickly last night and we haven't heard from her since. That has alarm bells ringing in my head the more I think about it. I know that might seem strange, but my mother is nothing if not overbearing when it comes to me."

Aiko furrowed her eyebrows in thought, "Well the commanding officer of a station is a pretty big responsibility, it may be that something came up that required her attention...you know a diplomatic mix-up or a myriad of other things."

She put her hand around L'Rissa's shoulder to try and reassure her. "I'm sure it's nothing to b-"

Aiko froze mid-sentenced as she felt something sting her neck. It was not particularly painful, but it was unexpected and uncomfortable that she almost reflexively reached towards the right area of her neck where the sensation came up and felt a small needle object sticking out. She pulled it out and tried to examine it but started feeling her vision blur and the surroundings spinning.

"What in the world...?" she was starting to say before she fell backwards in a heap of her own body, alive but completely unconscious.

There was a slight shifting of the tree leaves about twenty feet away from the deserted trail that both Aiko and L'Rissa were on. Although nearly imperceptible, the rustling of the leaves of the canopy of trees moved against the wind and if one looked closely, one would see a humanoid form moving into position and staying still as if aiming at a target...

L'Rissa could barely hold Aiko up and keep her from hitting the ground with just her one arm. She looked at her friend and saw the needle in her hand and could smell the foreign substance that was on it, obviously either a tranquilizer or a poison, though she assume the former as it didn't look like Aiko was having any medical signs of distress besides simply being unconscious.

She scanned her surroundings and spotted the silhouettes hiding amongst the trees. She began to sniff the air and caught the scent, something she had missed previously by allowing herself to be preoccupied with her own problems. Her eyes narrowed as she allowed her natural instincts to take over. She saw a projectile come her way and quickly leapt to her right avoiding it.

She knew she didn't have much time and that she was likely to be at the very least knocked unconsciously in short order. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her comm badge and tapped it, =^=Lieutenant L'Rissa to any StarFleet personnel. I am in the Leopra national reserve with Lt Aiko and we are under attack by unknown assailants. Request immediate assistance or emergency beam out. Please respond.=^=

She sensed another projectile and this time flattened herself out feeling the projectile brushed against her fur as it past over her. She wasn't sure what to do. Charging into an unknown combat situation was out of the question, and she couldn't leave Aiko. She quickly picked Aiko up into a fireman's carry and began moving as quickly as possible towards a small grove of trees to her right which was near a very mobile looking body of water.

She sensed another projectile and twisted herself, avoiding it, though she could hear it make a small impact noise with Aiko and she hoped that the extra dose of whatever this was didn't negatively affect Aiko. She reached the trees and moved behind a large red oak, allowing her to put Aiko down. She lay Aiko against the base of the tree and then began climbing the tree until she reached a significant height that gave her a vantage point to look out over the whole general area while keeping her fairly secluded. She could see multiple silhouettes and they looked to be arguing. They were definitely humanoid, and at least one appeared to be Caitian. She wished she could hear what they were saying but they were simply too far away.

She looked back towards the body of water and realized where exactly they were. It was Lake Cait, and the lively water was because they were near the gravity falls, a feature on Cait that was fairly unique in her experience. It was a water fall that was 500 ft tall, and the gravity was off quilter almost like being on a lunar surface, which allowed for things to practically float down like feathers on the wind. She had jumped off several times as a child and been camping in the valley below with her father on several occasions as a child. It was an area that she knew well and could easily hide in while waiting for help, assuming help was coming.

She once again lifted Aiko onto her shoulders and made a dash towards the falls. She knew they'd see her leave the cover if they were even halfway competent, but it was a risk she had to take. She moved and took the leap, floating down in slow motion.

She was halfway down when her comm badge rang out, =^=Lieutenant L'Rissa, this is Commander Iliam. We have received your message and are sending security immediately. Stand by. =^=

L'Rissa could only chuckle to herself at the absurdity of the situation as she continued the low gravity free fall. A dozen moments later she landed and quickly moved into the seclusion of the trees and began to wonder what exactly was going on?


Krussar could literally feel the fury of Mr. Black (the Orion Syndicate operative) washing over him, given how he and the two Nausicaans on his team had so badly botched what was supposed to be a simple capture of the target.

Whether it was some sort of precognition, a significantly cautious attitude or just sheer luck, the Syndicate operative had elected not to join this capture mission, opting instead to monitor the mission remotely from the comfort of the safe house.

Mr. Black had been quite chatty right up until his team had started tailing their targets. And by that Krussar meant the Syndicate operative was giving short instructions on positioning or quizzing him and his team on tactics. It was a conversation he had found annoying as he felt like the Syndicate operative viewed the skills of him and his men as subpar.

The moment Krussar, who typically was an excellent sharpshooter, had missed the shot that should have rendered the Starfleet Caitian unconscious, Mr. Black had suddenly became silent.

The Caitian was surprisingly very agile- even for a Caitian. She clearly was no ordinary Caitian and had the training and instincts of a warrior. Not something he had been expecting from a simple starship pilot.

As Krussar and his two Nausicaan elite team members had chased the Starfleet Caitian, Mr. Black's silence only grew longer until they became deafening. The Starfleet Caitian stubbornly refused to let the human female go and risked her own life to hang on to her.

Krussar now had a grim realization that this botched operation could very well be the death of him. The Syndicate had a long memory and always collected on debts just as it took care of those that went above and beyond.

Would this be his fall from grace? He had always envisioned something like this happening and had contingency plans in place but he knew the Syndicate well enough to know he would mostly be buying time. If they were really intent on finding him and killing him, they would...eventually.

One of the Nausicaans confirmed that there had been a transmission sent on a Starfleet communications band, likely from the Caitian. His team was highly skilled in matters of close quarter combat and various combat missions, but they did not possess enough skill or the right equipment to decode the transmission, not that it mattered. It was not hard to guess that the Starfleet Caitian had just called for help.

This was soon confirmed in short order when the other Nausicaan confirmed this to be true. Two Starfleet hoppers had taken off from a nearby Starfleet installation they had been monitoring. This was likely a search and rescue team and they were likely locked on to the source of the transmission- the Caitian's combadge.

Things were not looking good and Krussar realized that he was running out of time. He needed to know what to do.

He opened a comms channel, against the express direction of the Syndicate operative...or Mr. Black as he preferred to be known. "Mr. Black...are you there? I need to know if we should still press on with the purchase given the high price. We just got word that another buyer has entered the negotiations and they are close to shutting us out of the purchase."

His words were adequately obscure so as to at least cause confusion in case someone was listening in. But all that answered him was deafening silence. For a while he wondered if Mr. Black had been captured, or if he had just absconded realizing the complete futility of trying to salvage this mission now.

Krussar realized he had no choice. He had to withdraw and he had to do so now. The Caitian Starfleet officer was now over Lake Cait. Even if he and his team were to jump over to try to catch up to her, she had too much of a lead that mathematically made it impossible to catch up to her before the Starfleet rescue team got to her first, or at least were within visual range to see what was happening.

Besides, they were on alert, which meant any further action on their part, even they managed to capture their target, was poised to be extremely difficult.

He turned to his team, his decision made. "Code rrrred. Time to dissssappearrr gentlemen."

Twenty minutes passed before the StarFleet rescue team arrived and met up with L'Rissa. The leader of the team, a large muscular Caitian named Lt Cmdr Leonin informed L'Rissa they had captured a pair of Nausicaans who were attempting to flee the area. L'Rissa asked if they were the only ones caught, and after getting a confirmation she informed the commander that a Caitian mercenary was most definitely on the loose. He gave orders for security to continue searching the park and surrounding area while taking L'Rissa and Aiko back to the StarFleet facility for medical treatment and a debrief.

The medical personnel were top notch as was expected and they were able to treat Aiko, though she was going to need some time to get back to normal. L'Rissa was allowed to speak with her.

L'Rissa made her way into the medical bay after giving her full official statement. Aiko was in a biobed laying down. She checked if everything was alright, and was told she could speak with her. She made her way over to her bedside, "Well, this was certainly an unexpected turn of events. Far more excitement than I had planned for a simple sightseeing tour of Leopra."

Aiko felt very groggy and sleepy still. She'd been conscious enough to understand that she had been attacked with a sedative and had taken significant dosage. Although not lethal, the doctor had informed her it will take some time for her body to work the sedatives out of her system. Aiko smiled at L'Rissa's word. "Well, I was looking for adventure," she said. "I guess this is one way of finding adventure...thanks for saving me out there. The doctor and nurses filled me in on what you did out there."

L'Rissa smiled. "No problem. Besides, it was the safe play. I can't imagine having to go to dinner tonight with my mother without you" she said with a laugh.