A mission in progress

As per Commander Tal'Ara's suggestion, Rai stayed on board the Hippolyta, carefully maneuvering the empty shuttlecraft full of ghostly life signatures through the treacherous atmosphere of the planet. The two shuttles of ground units on the other hand, also had to break through the planet's dry, windy, turbulent atmosphere, making a rough, white knuckle landing behind the prison compound on the dry desert sand. The Cardassians did attempt to lock on the empty shuttle and fire, and the distraction meant that that the away team made it planetside without interruption.

After flying a starship through a plasma storm, landing the lead away team shuttle was almost enjoyable for T'Pren, who, after a few awkward moments of adjusting to the much lighter, more responsive craft, was more than up to the challenge. Of course, it was still a bumpy ride -- she wasn't looking to make it smooth so much as she was attempting to avoid as much damage to the shields and hull as possible -- but she dropped them behind the compound walls with a triumphant lurch that bothered the less experienced fliers, but didn't seem to ruffle her at all.

And then, faced with just how close she might be to regaining her fathers or to losing them for good, she took a deep breath and let the Vulcan walls of her mind slowly close to compartmentalize for the mission.

Tal'Ara stood up from her chair and adorned a Phaser rifle.

"You know the drill, people. Be swift. Be silent. Do not fire until the last possible moment. Lets avoid any unnecessary bloodshed. Team A is going with me into the compound. Team B will be staying behind with Lieutenant Inabnet, and setting up the transportation signal booster. You will need to set a defensive perimeter. I suggest you use the brush cover to your advantage. We will signal you when we are close by. Good luck."

She opened the shuttle craft doors. The ensigns from Team A locked and loaded, and followed her out. She was joined by the other Team A members from the second shuttle. They gathered outside of the crafts, organizing their attack pattern.

Tal'Ara stepped away and moved back towards T'Pren.

"If something goes wrong and we cant signal you - if we aren't back in contact within one hour, start packing up and get out of here."

Team B turned their attention to Lt. Inabnet, their young, tremulous faces awaiting her instructions.

The sound of Team A's boots followed Commander Tal'Ara through the arid desert sand. They were scared, but very prepared under Tal'Ara's training. A single Cardassian guard was on patrol at the compound's perimeter. He was sitting on the ground, draining a canteen completely unaware of the team in the swirling sand.

Despite the strength of those Vulcan mental walls, T'Pren couldn't keep the rush of fear at bay at the thought of Tal'Ara being in charge of the team that might find her fathers. Or the thought of anyone finding them before she did. But her face stayed completely impassive. She strapped on her own phaser and tricorder and gave the Commander a stiff, silent nod at the orders.

With a glance at Team A and a deep breath, she turned back to Team B. She pointed out five ensigns that she knew to be particularly good shots. "Come with me. The rest of you, get the equipment together and as close to operational as you can. When I give the signal, move the beacon into the center of the cleared area. We're going to need to anchor it in this wind."

The five ensigns she pointed to were given studying stares. "You three will keep a perimeter around the shuttles. You two, flank me. We're going to stay low and stay quiet. We're not looking for a fight if we can avoid it. Let's move."

She took point, phaser at the ready, and slipped outside, keeping an eye out for cover and for the best place to set up the beacon, sweeping the area with all her Vulcan senses for anything that might even vaguely resemble danger.

A flat boulder partially immersed in sand sat about 300 yards away from the site. The three ensigns had gone to create a perimeter, and the other two dutifully flanked Pren's heels.
The area was thankfully unguarded.

Tal'Ara signaled the team to fan out into pattern V.

They moved silently. Not even breathing unless necessary.

The area was scanned for signs of life - this guard was the only one near by.

Tal decided to take care of him. She crept up behind the guard, and in an instant, had the guard on his back, arms pinned under her legs, with a phaser pistol in his mouth, and a small, sharp knife waiting patiently on his inner thigh.

She spoke to him in a low and quick voice.

"If you so much as breathe, I will make this hurt in ways you cant imagine, " she said, with the knife putting slight pressure into his upper thigh.

"Now, I want you to tell me how many guards are stationed in this section of the base. Use your fingers."

His eyes wild and his breathing ragged, the guard jerked at the contact of the blade. He held up all five fingers.

Tal'Ara knew the number was inaccurate. But there was no use pumping him for information.

She frowned at him slightly, but said nothing, as she fired the phaser in his mouth - it was set to stun.

She turned to an ensign, "Hide his body. Make sure he is bound and in a place no one will be able to see him. Gag him as well."

In the higher shrubs and low trees on either side (within a hundred yards or so) of the boulder, T'Pren stationed her two remaining ensigns. When she was positive there was nothing to get between her team and the beacon's set up, she passed a signal to one of the young officers at the perimeter of the shuttles. He, in turn, passed it to the remainder of the team inside. The half-Vulcan pointed out the boulder and stood guard like a meerkat until the equipment reached her location. "Anchor first," she reminded her ensigns quietly.

The ensign knelt and tore pieces off of the unconscious guard's uniform, gagging and tying him securely. They and another officer dragged his body between two boulders, out of sight. They returned to Tal'Ara's side, awaiting orders. It was almost too easy, so far.

At Inabnet's orders, the young ensigns hunkered down and strapped the beacon in place. No sooner had they begun, than a small Cardassian patrol vessel passed overhead. They had been spotted.

Well, shit. T'Pren frowned up in dismay at the Cardassian vessel and then at the progress of her team. "Work faster," she told the ensigns when they looked up at her in concern. "We need this finished ten minutes ago." After a moment's hesitation, she tapped her comm. "Team B has been made." But with her fathers on the line, she wasn't about to give up. Nor was she going to sacrifice her team for her own personal desires. She gestured signals to the ensigns on the perimeters of the shuttles and hiding in the bushes to stay alert.

"We're going to cover you," she told the group working on the beacon. "This is our current top priority, but it's not more important than your lives. Do you understand me?"

The small craft opened fire, scarcely missing the young ensigns, before circling around, giving Inabnet the opportunity to fire at the underside of the vessel.

And she took it, focusing sharply on what she knew were the weak spots on a Cardassian shuttle of that size. T'Pren stabilized herself with a foot on the boulder and bumped up the setting on her phaser before opening fire.

Inabnet hit the vessel, but not critically. It returned fire again, now smoldering and puttering, passing overhead again.

This time when the vessel came back around, T'Pren signaled for one of the ensigns nearest her on shuttle duty and one of the ones staking out the beacon area to join her in firing. She didn't so much care what they hit as long as they hit something, and she, meanwhile, aimed very, very carefully for those weak points.

"Progress," she demanded of the group working on the beacon. And then, once again, she opened fire.

The vessel came spiraling down, landing in a small fireball not too far away from the site. The one Cardassian survivor dragged himself from the craft, burned, and very very, angry. He leveled a phaser at Lieutenant Inabnet.

T'Pren put herself directly between the survivor and his line of fire for the beacon and the team around it, giving the Cardassian a clean target should he want it. She bumped her phaser back down to stun, aimed for his chest, and fired.

The Cardassian patrolman dropped like a stone, misfiring into the air as he fell unconscious.

With the immediate threat down, T'Pren signaled for the third shuttle perimeter ensign to come take her place protecting the group at the beacon and strode swiftly to the Cardassian craft to see what could be gleaned from it. She ripped pieces from the stunned Cardassian's uniform to hogtie him and gag him, just in case he should wake up at an inappropriate moment, and then dragged him away from the flames to keep him safe. It was probably a pretty funny sight, given the half-Vulcan's size.

She peered into the cockpit to check if any of the equipment was still operational and whether or not the officer inside would be a threat. What she really wanted was to see if they'd already reported back to the base letting them know they had company, but she also didn't particularly want to get trapped in fiery rubble.

Tal'Ara looked at the members of the team who hid the body.

"He said there are 5 guards in the area. This was a lie. We can expect at least twice or three times as many. We are going to move forward. We are going to move slowly and silently."

As they began to make their way towards the base, T'Pren's distress call came through.

"Fuck," she said to the commbadge. "Okay, Inabet, do what you can to buy us time. Get that beacon up and running. We will be back soon. Commander out."

She turned to the team.

"Okay, Team B has been made. We are throwing the stealth out of the way. Set phasers to kill and pair up. Time is our enemy now. Lets go!"

She lead the charge through the sands towards the base, team in tow.

From within the prison facility, Inabnet and Tal'Ara could hear the alarm carried on the desert wind. Two teams of ten Cardassian officers bearing phaser rifles were already on their way out on double time towards Tal'Ara's and Inabnet's locations.

T'Pren's Vulcan hearing picked up the alarm as soon as it went off. Her head jerked up and her heart beat a little faster against her lower ribs, but she had a team to protect and no time to worry about anything else. She signaled to the ensign guarding the group at the beacon to come replace her in the cover of the Cardassian wreckage and then sprinted back to that vulnerable little bunch in the center. "Progress!" she commanded, scanning the horizon in every direction.

"It's up, it's up, we're up!" blurted the ensign. The beacon went off.