The Rescue, Part II

Posted on Sun Nov 12th, 2023 @ 12:48am by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Lieutenant Ayana Hillis & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard & Ensign Kate Kono & Ensign James Phoenix

Mission: Damn Dirty Apes
Location: Ape Settlement

Previously...

"I will not be stopped from taking my rightful place!" Thade exclaimed as he brutally attacked the guards.

Ayana quickly began working once more on her bonds, working to unlock the manacles and free herself.


And now the continuation...


Thade fought with the guards, and Zira rushed to her father, "Father, stop this madness. Our people must know the truth. You can't keep them blind from it forever."

Jon screamed a yell of pure rage as he got to his feet and went after Thade, knocking him down with a shoulder to the chimp's chest and pinning him to the ground so the other apes could control the paranoid aide.

Sam was dumbfounded by the turn of events and tried to both stay out of the way and get over to Jon and Ayana. With the away team well as truly in plain view since Salos had spoken there was no point in continuing to conceal their location. She had just reached their location when the guards turned once again towards the humans.

Thade looked up to see who had slammed into him. He smiled as he saw Jon. Getting to his feet he gave a sadistic chuckle. "Excellent, you are capable of something besides just bleeding."

Zira continued to plead with her father, "You must stop this madness father. We can live in peace with the humans."

The chimp guards had all been knocked unconscious by Thade. Athos was now at a crossroads, side with Zaius and Thade, or seek the unthinkable and make peace with the humans. He could not believe it, but at this moment, he had to do what was best for his people, and that meant stopping Thade and Zaius. Athos blindsided Thade, clobbering him and sending him flying. "You will not usurp my authority" he growled.

Ayana freed herself from her shackles and stood up, looking down at Thade defiantly. "You wanted a fight so bad. I told you that you and I would tangle before this was over."

As she spoke, the chimp guards got up, unaware of what to do. Zaius gave the order, "Eliminate the humans. Arrest Athos for treason and heresy against doctrine."

Deanna wasn't about to let this turn into a failure. She drew her phaser, took aim, and fired, hitting one of the ape guards. The ape fell to the ground stunned. "Everyone take aim at an enemy combatant. Anyone who doesn't immediately cease hostile actions, drop them."

Sam was dropped by a guard who had shoulder charged her but rolled after the impact and came up firing, one of her shots went wide but the second hit it's mark, taking out the ape who had tackled her. She eyeballed the next posturing being and took aim.

One of the apes struck Phoenix against his back knocking the ensign to the floor. After being dazed for a few moments, he rolled over and saw the ape starting to jump him. He fired three shots from his phaser directly up at the ape, downing him. James quickly slid away so he wasn’t impacted by the falling body.

Athos confronted Zaius, "Are your secrets worth this carnage? These humans obviously have the power to destroy us. End this madness, or I will."

Zaius heard Athos and looked at his daughter. Two of these humans was easy to hide, the secrets he kept would be safe. But now more were present, and it was likely a great multitude more of them could descend from the heavens and end any hope of containment, and likely destroy his people.

Sam sensed a shift, the guards were still going for the away team but those arguing, Zira, Athos and Zaius had come to a stalemate. She risked a look over towards them and read the uncertainties written across their features. This would either end right here or start a war.

Thade spit blood as he tried to shake off the three-strike combination Ayana landed. He charged at her with a scream and Ayana countered with a flying front kick to his chest, followed by a kick to his right knee, a roundhouse to his torso, a back spinning kick to his chest, and then a hard-hitting hook kick to his head that sent the ape spinning to the ground hard, completely dazed and his entire body seemingly in pain. Ayana looked down at him with contempt, "Not all females are defenseless."

Zaius for his part was ready to call Athos' bluff. He attempted to swing at Athos, who dodged the attempted blow and then attempted his own attack with a roar, his attack bashing down on Zaius and knocking him to the ground.

Deanna approached Zaius and Athos with Salos. As Deanna took aim at Zaius, Salos attempted diplomacy, "Zira, are you alright? I believe we need you to take control over your father."

The room hung in the balance - everyone waited to see if there would be a resolution that didn't involve continuing violence. Sam held her breath but didn't lower her weapon.

The last of the chimp guards fell to the ground stunned as Kate fired her phaser. Ayana looked over and pointed and taunted Thade, "Your minions are all out of commission. Nobody can help you. You and your insane leader are beaten!"

Zira had a few tears running down her cheeks as she spoke softly, "I will."

Zaius looked outraged. "You would usurp my authority? You, my own child, would dare to be so bold?"

Athos looked at Deanna, "You humans have powerful weapons, far more so than what we have, more than any humans here. I will support you, if you are willing to assist my people."

Sam looked towards the rest of the team, nodding her acceptance. "We will assist you where we can" she commented, knowing there was a blurry Prime Directive in there somewhere.

Salos gave a kind smile. "The Science Directorate will support a peaceful transition."

"I will work with everyone to educate the populace regarding the secrets the Religious Directorate has been keeping" Zira said in a solemn tone.

"You cannot!" Zaius exclaimed.

Deanna turned and fired her phaser at him, stunning him. She looked back at everyone, "Sorry, but he'll be fine. I simply couldn't listen to him whine about his lost position and secrets any longer."

Suddenly an ape scientist ran inside, "Dr. Salos! The sky, it is unlike anything seen before. And our instruments are going haywire."

Salos rushed outside, Deanna following her. Salos exclaimed as she looked up, "What in the name of Caesar is going on?"

Deanna took out her tricorder. To her amazement, she was getting clear readings. She studied the readings, "We are seeing a massive aurora borealis as the magnetic poles shift to their natural positions and the EM issues dissipate. I am getting full readings, and I believe communications and full transporter abilities should be available shortly."

"What does that mean?" questioned Athos.

"It means we are leaving" Ayana said bluntly.

"We'll keep our promise to assist you" Deanna assured.

"Sorry," Kate said to her phaser rifle as she powered it down. "Maybe next time," she said jokingly with a happy giggle after slinging it to her back next to her bag. She gave Sam a playful punch. "Guess who didn't have to fire a shot?!" Kate pointed to herself with both thumbs and stuck her tongue out at her friend as she moonwalked backwards toward the open sky to take in the beauty of the Aurora. "I love this job."

"Never gets old, does it?" Sam echoed as they took in the shifting colors overhead. "Oh, you mean the sky? That's pretty good too."

"Your technology is impressive. I obviously am most interested in your weapons technology. Might we have access to that?" Athos asked.

Salos and Zira both gave a look of near disbelief. It was obvious they cared little about weapons or any sort of military technology. They were hoping for something different, something that could benefit their society.

"You have seen what our weapons can do, but I'm afraid that will be all you will learn of that technology. If you want such things, you'll have to learn how to create them yourselves. Giving you such technology before you have learned how to respect it would be disastrous to your society, assuming it would survive such a thing. We know this as a fact, as we have seen it firsthand. We have an obligation to help your people though, because you are from Earth, and it was humans that brought you here, and even wrongfully experimented on you, despite the result being your evolvement into how you are today. So, while you may not get weapons technology, we will provide you with other technologies, and I am certain your culture will advance appropriately, under your wise guidance, all three of you" Deanna said forcefully.

Salos and Zira gave a confident nod in appreciation to Deanna for her words.

Ayana helped Jon walk to the door. She looked at Athos, "You need to do something about Thade" she sneered. She looked over at Sam, "I'd very much like to leave doc."

Jon leaned on Ayana. He knew he was in trouble, his breathing was becoming harder, and he felt broken up inside and tackling Thade hadn't helped matters. "We both would like to leave Sam." He wheezed before looking back at Athos. "Ayana is right General. Thade needs to be removed. He is a danger to both your society and the humans."

Athos grunted. "I will most certainly deal with him, permanently."

"We'll be back from you shortly. We need to dress our wounds. I suspect you have plenty to do as well" Deanna said as she looked at Salos. "Here, take this. It is an emergency transmitter. I'll contact you with this before we return. I'm sure our captain will want to meet with you" she said, handing Salos the transmitter.

"Alright everybody, let's go home" Sam announced, having made sure they had a secure connection with the Washington. "Howard to Washington, 6 to beam up".

The swirling blue transporter beam enveloped them, and they disappeared into a myriad of energy.

Salos, Athos, and Zira watched in awe as they dematerialized. "Such technology. We must be centuries behind them" Salos noted.