Trek to Moria

Posted on Sun Jul 10th, 2022 @ 11:12pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Ayana Hillis & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr & Ensign T'Plana-hath & Lieutenant JG James Phoenix

Mission: A Trip to Middle Earth
Location: Holodeck 1

The journey to Moria had thus far been uneventful, but at least the scenery had been worthwhile. Shran knew that encounters could happen anywhere, but he suspected the bulk of the fighting would be once they reached Moria itself. He had read the books and had an idea of what to expect, but the program was able to throw surprises at them, so nothing was absolutely certain.

Phoenix was bringing up the rear of the group. His reason for this was so he could make sure everyone was safe on the journey. But he could also take the offensive if and when needed. After all, he was a guard and warden. While some people in his role would take up the front, that was also less of a priority since there were more armed members of the group than just him.

Shon sighed not for the first time since the journey had begun. She dearly wished that she was once again on four legs. *why a Rohirrim should choose to walk* amazed her. She moved the pack on her back once more to try to reduce the pressure on her spine. Even through her armoured leather she could feel the weight. She looked to the right of her as they skirted a thickly wooded valley and saw a flash of…something moving through the scrubby brush keeping time with them. She stopped and moved to Shran. “There is something there in the forest keeping pace with us, this is the territory of the Orcs of Moria, unsheathe your sword?”

Shran didn't give away anything as he continued walking. "They have been with us for at least the last few miles. I suspect they will attack as we enter that clearing ahead. I believe a group of them are on Wargs on the other side of this hill. They'll try to flank us, put us into a pincer. Filter back slowly and discretely inform the others. Weapons at the ready for quick draw."

Shon nodded and, very slowly dropped back to where Sam was trudging behind, “we are being tracked by orcs prepare for an attack when we get to the clearing, prepare your weapons.”

Sam looked around, unable to see anything but not doubting the ability of any of their team in the slightest. She unsheethed the heavy sword and wondered how the hell she was going to use it. Coming dressed as a warrior was one thing, actually being a warrior was something completely different.

She dropped back a little more to T’Plana, “did your Vulcan hearing pick that up?” She asked

T’Plana smiled and showed Shon that she already had her bow in hand and three arrows in the other ready to fire. “I heard perfectly well, I have been listening and observing our follower’s for sometime waiting for the order to engage. I can engage three right now and ensure they are down if you would like?” T’Plana seemed very unVulcan like with an almost gleam to her eyes as she spoke the last.

Shon noted her companions seeming lust for battle, “I am dropping back T’Plana, I would catch up with Shran and ask what he wants. If it were up to me I would say yes but he is our leader. The clearing is coming up very soon. I am looking forward to cleaving a few Orc heads.

Shon stopped and took a drink from her skin then caught up with Phoenix, “we are being tracked by orcs on wargs, they will attack once we reach the clearing. Wargs are more easily killed with an arrow between the eyes.”

"My precision is no match for them" Phoenix said confidently as he unmounted his bow from his back.

Shran continued walking while he took a quick drink from his waterskin. He was slowing his pace as he looked over the terrain that was forthcoming. The clearing was vast, at least a half acre wide. Forest was to one side, hills to the other. A pincer attack by calvary, even something as ragtag as Warg riders would be formidable. His archers could thin the attackers so that the melee fighters could deal with the rest as they came in close. It was going to be the first test for them.

T'Plana stepped up towards Captain Shran, on the way she spotted another three 'orcs'. "Captain I can make out six orcs on our flank. I am positive I can take all six with my bow before any of the six realize what happened, thus eliminating six potential threats. Do you wish me to engage?" T'Plana made her statement and there was no hint of boasting in her voice, just surety of her abilities.

Sam waited until the decision was made, or the decision was made for them.

"I make at least a dozen on Wargs on both sides, but I would guess at least a half dozen more are on foot. Drop back just a bit and as you see me come upon the clearing, drop as many as you can." Shran stopped and looked back, "Sam, stay close to me." The Andorian appreciated her joining in on the fun, but he also knew she was dressed as a warrior, but in truth she was a healer. He'd do his best to protect her.

Shon, now back with Shran slowly unstuck her great sword from its sheath sure that it’s sharp blade would be covered in the blood of Orcs in just a few minutes. She was greatly enjoying this whole venture. Whilst being a doctor saving lives day by day on the ship the last couple of missions had been especially hard on her and she welcomed the release of the role play. Her adrenaline began to build.

Ayana took a moment to look back at Phoenix, giving him a look only a tactical officer would recognize. She signaled him to make ready to take incoming from the left as she readied her bow to take on the right. She could feel the thrill rising in her. This was exciting.

Phoenix nodded towards Ayana and then got into position on his side to take on the left side. He quickly grabbed a few arrows from his quiver and loaded one of them into his bow. He was ready for what came.

T'Plana smiled and nodded her acknowledgement. She slowly made her way back and placed an arrow on the string of her bow. She took a deep breath and visualized the upcoming battle. She again assessed the situation; she would strike the lead orcs on their wargs, as well as the wargs. That was four arrows, then shift to the next two orcs and wargs, another four arrows. After that it would be a tactical assessment of the battle as the orcs and wargs would by then be adjusting to the situation and the crew would be engaging their own targets. She took another breath and entered a Vulcan warrior Zen sense, she was prepared.

At last the moment of truth arrived. Shran was only a mere few steps from entering the clearing. He had Sam close behind him, and he knew in mere moments the chaos of combat would ensue. He gripped the hilt of his blade and took a deep breath. As he took the final steps, he drew his sword, which glowed a deep blue. He heard the archers in the group loose their first shots and heard the squeals of the Orcs they fell.

Shon screamed a Rohirrim battle cry and met the first warg she could, throwing herself under it and hamstringing the beast so it went down screaming in pain. The rider a foul smelling creature jumped off the flailing beast and came at her with a short curved blade. Her sword cleaved his blade in two and carried on into the Orcs chest, a look of surprise flashed through his dying eyes. She turned deflecting an arrow with her blade. The next Orc was upon her and their metal connected ringing out across the glade. He was big and heavily muscled so she danced around for as long as she could tiring him out. She took her hilt in both hands and swung as he raised his blade and he was dead before he hit the ground. She stumbled and an arrow found its way into her shoulder half buried in the thick leather jerkin. She snapped the shaft and moved on, she would deal with the pain later. Glancing around she saw Shran engaged in a melee, then, as another warg reared up before her she concentrated on her own next kill.

A pair of Orcs were charging Shran, and he knew another was coming from the opposite direction. He had to let Samantha hold her own for a moment while dealing with the bigger threat. He twirled his blade as he prepared for combat, the blue glow creating a blurred effect as he did so. The orcs moved in, both ready to engage. Shran came in with a hard thrust, then spun to his right that left the orcs off balance as he slashed, gashing the chest of one of the orcs who fell to the ground dead. The other orc yelled loudly, but Shran quickly dispatched him, coming in with an overhead chop that split his head like a ripe melon and buried his sword down to his sternum. Shran turned to check on Samantha, hoping for the best.

T'Plana saw Captain Shran step into the clearing, without a thought or looking she quickly loosened two arrows, then another two. She then quickly loosened the last four arrows at her intended targets. After completing her first volley she assessed the situation, the orcs and wargs she chose as targets lay dead, she scanned the area she saw an orc archer loose an arrow that hit Lieutenant T'ghann-Travis and she quickly fired an arrow, piercing its right eye, the creature fell. T'Plana scanned the area for more potential targets.

Shon saw T’Plana down the orc and she nodded her thanks.

Phoenix had already downed two of the orcs with his first two shots. He hastily took another two arrows out of his quiver. He then aimed at an warg that was coming straight for him. He fired the arrow that was already in his bow. The arrow traveled at what felt like a slow pace when in reality it was only a few seconds. The arrow pierced the warg between the eyes like how Shon had advised.

Shon looked over towards the ridge line and saw more orcs gathering. “SHRAN” She called. “There are more of them, we should try to attain the high ground, get into the trees where the wargs cannot get. We should take the mountain path.” She turned and decapitated a warg and it’s rider with one stroke of her sword. Her shoulder was tiring and she was loosing blood as she slashed an orc who was heading towards Sam, his legs were cleaved from him and she gave a shout of triumph. “FOR THEODIN KING!” She cried.

T'Plana saw another orc archer and immediately fired her bow at it, downing the creature as the arrow struck true through its throat. An orc riding a warg thought to take advantage of her while she was firing her bow and attack her flank, to the orcs surprise T'Plana jumped straight up and snapped fer left leg at the orcs head. She connected with the orcs throat throwing it from the warg. The orc landed on the ground gasping for air as it died from a crushed larynx and throat. As T'Plana finished through with her kick to the orc her right foot slammed down on the wargs head crushing its skull. She landed on her feet and launched two more arrows at orc archers coming over the ridge, downing both. She then decided it was time to engage the orcs in melee, she drew her sword and rushed forward.

Ayana fired her bow, killing a warg as the rider got tossed to the ground. She quickly switched over to her twin blades and killed the orc before moving towards a pair that were moving towards Shran and Samantha.

Sam meanwhile was trying hard not to panic, brave as she was this was not something she was used to and brought back memories of away missions gone wrong in the past. The heavy sword was cumbersome and unwieldy, far too large for her smaller frame without the appropriate training. She saw Shon's shoulder and her gut dropped. Had someone turned the safeties off? The holodeck systems prevented major injuries until someone had deliberately turned them off. The fighting was fierce and she tried her best to keep out of trouble whilst working her way over to the Captain.

"Sir... the safeties are off! We have wounded!" She shouted before a stray arrow embedded itself in her thigh.

Shran turned to look at Samantha and heard her yell about wounded as an arrow embedded itself in her thigh. That wasn't the biggest concern at the moment though. She had an orc moving in on her danger close and two more were coming in that direction as well. Shran pulled his dagger and launched it at the orc that was closing on Sam, the dagger piercing the orc's heart. He rushed over to handle the two other orcs. The orcs howled as they engaged. Shran used a strong front kick to knock one orc back and then engaged in a flurry of swings before dispatching the other. He turned his attention back to the other orc, who had just gotten back to its feet. Shran worked the attack on the orc, eventually getting a killing shot when he spun out and decapitated it.

Shran looked around and saw that the battle was essentially over, with T'Plana and Phoenix wrapping up the last of the orcs. Shran's concern at this point was that Sam and Shon both had been injured somehow. "Computer, pause program" he said, but everything continued. "Computer, arch." Again, nothing happened. He walked over to Sam, "We have a problem, and I don't just mean the arrow in your leg. Obviously the safeties are off, but the computer isn't responding. We are going to have to do some sort of temporary treatment for you and Shon until we can get you both back to sickbay." He looked around, "Everyone gather around."

Sam took a moment to wrap her mind around what was happening. They were trapped here in the holodeck, with the safeties off, in a program that was hell bent on challenging their combat skills. She moved over to A rock and dropped her weight onto it, levering herself down until she could inspect the wound in her leg. The arrow hadn't penetrated through to the bone but there was muscle involvement that would slow her down. Thankfully being the ever ready doctor she was she had packed some period specific but modern tweaked supplies in her pack.

"As some of you may have noticed, the safeties are offline. To make the situation worse, the computer isn't answering to commands, so we are apparently stuck in here for the time being. We need to come up with some temporary measures to treat our wounded, and then decide what our best option would be considering the situation."

" I have some medical supplies - it's not much but it'll have to do" Sam explained as she unpacked the satchel. Bandages, tinctures and ointments all appeared, too bad she hadn't thought of a hypo. "Shon, come here and let me see to your shoulder"

Shon found her own bag and smiled. “You didn’t think I would go anywhere without a medkit, a couple of hypos and an autosuture did you Sam? I have analgesia and a broad spectrum antibiotic,” she looked shamefaced. “I cheated. Once our adrenaline wears off we will begin to feel these wounds. Sam, you’re more important, let me look?” She noted the wound and the muscle involvement. “Orc weapons are usually dirty so any wounds need antibiotics. She cleaned and sutured Sam’s wound and applied a field dressing finishing up with a shot of antibiotic. “Do you want some analgesia?” She asked.

" I think we had best save it" Sam replied ruefully. With only two small medkits between them they were going to have to eek as much out of them as they could. She treated Shon's shoulder, using the treatments available as sparingly as she could.

Shran gave a broad smile. "Of course the doctors bring medical supplies just in case. Well done. Any thoughts from anyone about where we might go. I would mention that from the looks of it, returning to Rivendell may not be possible."

“Maybe we have to complete the task set to release the holodeck controls?” Shon said simply. “I think we should take to the mountain path, find somewhere defensible and make camp. The orcs look to be regrouping.”

" From what I remember, the dwarves are friendly - yes?" Sam asked, wracking her brains to remembered the stories of old. "If we can make it to the mountain, we can seek refuge with them"

T'Plana fired off two more arrows at two orcs stalking out of the woods towards the group, felling both. She turned to the captain "Captain, I believe Lieutenant Shoniara's suggestion is most prudent. We have wounded and no offense to those gathered here, but some members are not as well equipped and trained for melee and hand to hand combat." After making her statement she checked how many arrows she had left in her quiver, seventeen. She sighed internally going to need to make more.

Phoenix still had his bow unmounted but at this point he was just holding it. "I agree with the Doctors" he said before he glanced around to survey anything he could see. To find any more threats to the group.

Shran listened to everyone's opinion and looked to Ayana,
What say you Ayana?"

Ayana had sheathed her swords and was considering the situation. "To be honest, considering the period we seem to be in, going to Moria at this point seems the best option. If we follow the suggestion of the mountain pass, we should be relatively safe until we reach Moria itself. Once we get there, we will have to be careful if we wish to avoid conflict, though the real threat there should be gone."

"Very well" Shran said having heard from everyone. "We will press forward. Shon, you and Ayana take the point, Sam stay close to me, and Phoenix, you and T'Plana be rear guard. let's move."