From: Nai Lara (nai_lara_at_internode.on.net)
Date: Sat Feb 16 2008 - 18:07:09 PST
“ Cowardice” Continued from “109” Location: USS PATRIOT Stardate: 2422 [2.7] 1702.1300 Scene: Lioun IV Catherine and Tam were watching as a group of Hadar and a Vorta escorted Maverick away, before their attention was taken by another Vorta who had appeared after the marines were beamed away. “Well, well, what do we have here?” He surveyed the two women coldly, clinically. Catherine remained silent and just waited. He was just toying with them. “You must be Sterling-Jade.” The Vorta gave her a creepy smile when she raised an eyebrow. Her identity may not be secret, but that he knew it bothered her. “Oh come now, there’s only two of you in Starfleet – you and your brother.” The alien turned to Tam and smiled. “And I believe you are Niala, please correct me if I am wrong.” “You’ve done your research.” Jade remarked warily. He knew specifics, their names, their pictures. “Of course, knowledge is power, is it not?” The Vorta didn’t get close to her, but the Jem’Hadar’s arm lock tightened warningly as the Vorta tsked her softly and smiled. “Although, sadly, your knowledge is just not as good as mine.” “Sadly.” “I should just get the Jem’Hadar to kill you.” Sterling didn’t move, but she heard a phaser power up nearby. Her mind whirled for ideas, and found one. It was absurd, but perhaps it was crazy enough to work. “And you know if you do that, then Calum will come.” She kept herself calm and still, trying to act as nonplused as she could. Who knew she would be using the threat of retribution to give herself some more time. The Vorta sighed and folded his hands together in front of him. “The Order will never win against the Dominion.” He lectured to her as if to a child. Catherine smiled, she had him over a barrel. The Vorta wouldn’t have the authority to make a move that would probably start a war. As much as Calum wanted her dead, he wanted to be the one to do it, and he would unleash his fury on anyone that would deprive him of the pleasure of killing his errant sister. “Maybe, maybe not. But you can be sure that the Dominion would be a ghost of its present state once the Order is through with you.” She promised solemnly. The Vorta didn’t hesitate, but he nodded. “You might be right. Maybe you could be useful to me. Can’t think of a better way to improve relations with the Dominion and Order. Can you?” He asked her with a dazzling smile. They had both won their irrespective battles. “Although, I think the Jem’Hadar are…eager…to test themselves? Am I right, First?” The Jem’Hadar standing by his side nodded briefly. “It would be a beneficial exercise.” “She’s yours. Just don’t kill her.” The Vorta turned and gestured for Niala to come with him. The Counsellor found herself escorted by three of the Jem’Hadar following behind the alien administrator. “The Dominion never visited here before, but the moment we arrived, you were here and you ambushed us. You knew it was specifically us coming.” Catherine called out as she sensed the soldiers move around her. The coming storm halted as the Vorta turned. “So where’s the Changling? On the Patriot? Or the Calbot?” She demanded. The Vorta rolled his eyes and waved his hand negligently in the air. “Questions, questions…just insipid questions.” He turned and stalked off , dragging Niala with him. Catherine turned around and faced the mob of Jem’Hadar. =/\= Time: A few hours later =/\= The air in her lungs rushed out as she hit the ground hard enough to rattle teeth. She groaned and coughed, taking a breath before pushing herself up onto her knees. Sterling could hear the small mob of Jem’Hadar laughing at her expense, but ignored them. She raised her head and located her target and watched him like a hawk as she got to her feet. She was surrounded by a dozen Hadar who had formed a loose ring around an area. They had then tag teamed each other while fighting her. It was their version of letting loose some steam and relaxing. Their Vorta supervisor had disappeared with another squad once he realized that the Lieutenant Junior Grade knew nothing of importance to him. He had tossed her to the wolves and walked away without a backward glance. “The Jem’Hadar are superior.” Seventh crowed in success as the other soldiers roared with approval. He was stripped down to the waist, muscles bulging under scaly, thick hide. He was a muscular, strapping young man, with a lot to prove to his unit, and was taking absolute pleasure in proving his mettle. “This isn’t superiority, this is cowardice.” Catherine watched and turned as he circled around her. This had been her fifth round of combat, and his first. She was fatiguing and injured, while he was as fresh as a daisy. She had already killed one Jem’Hadar and had paid dearly for it. She had torn her shoulder again, and blood was streaming down her face from a large, ragged gash through her eyebrow curtosy of the spines on a Hadar’s scalp. She limped after a kick to the knee, and her body was dehydrated and running out of fuel. They kept pushing her without respite, deliberately trying to drive her over the edge. “And you are a coward.” She was deliberately goading the inexperienced fighter. They tended to do stupid things when they were pissed. Her belief in that tactic was confirmed when the soldier bull rushed her, instead of ignoring the jibe. Catherine sidestepped and snapped off a front kick that caught him in the face. She stepped in and grabbed his shoulders while he was blinded, forcefully ramming her knee into his chest hard enough to crack through the chest plate. The soldier gagged, eyes widening, as she darted back the tube that fed the Hadar’s his white in her hand after being torn from her body. Sterling heard the roar of displeasure from the soldiers and smiled grimly as she spun and heel kicked the Jem’Hadar and sent him to the ground. A hand gripped her shoulder and a fist pounded into her lower back a few times, hard enough to made her bow forward and stagger. She brought her elbow up sharply and felt it connect with something, and the hand released her. “You want to know why I’m better then you?” Catherine spun around, and punched the Jem’Hadar twice in the face, hard enough to split the skin of her knuckles. The soldier just took them without reeling. So Sterling drove her foot into his groin and finally got a reaction. “I’m smarter then you.” She smirked. She turned and looked as First stepped up. Goading as a tactic wasn’t going to work on him. He was experienced, and a seasoned warrior. Things had stepped up a notch. The two combatants eyed each other over the field, he stood there calmly and impassively while Catherine struggled to regain her breath, struggling in the hot, mid-day sun. Not for the first time, she wondered how Daniel was faring. If even, he was still alive. Her mouth twisted into a snarl. If they had killed him…. The Jem’Hadar watched in respectful silence as the two combatants fought, waving a complex tapestry of movements together. First deliberately struck at her damaged shoulder, forcing her to awkwardly block, leaving her body open. The moment her guard was open, he was in with several quick hits that drove her back. She counter-attacked, but First had more battle experience then Catherine. He grabbed her hand and turned, so his back was presented to her and he rammed his elbow back into her chest under her arm, before lifting her up like a rag doll and throwing her to the ground. She hit the dirt and rolled. First was waiting, and the moment a target presented itself, he kicked his foot into her ribs, feeling them splintering with the force. Catherine bit back a sharp cry and grabbed his foot as he came back for seconds. With a quick turn and a yank, she drove him to the ground. The air above them exploded in weapons fire. It was short, sharp and brutal. The Jem’Hadar hadn’t the time to raise their weapons before they were slain. The only two survivors were on the ground, desperately fighting for their own life. The caveat that Catherine couldn’t be slain was forsaken by First when he realized that the marines were coming to kill him. First rolled onto his back, dragging Catherine over him to shield him from fire. The woman grabbed his hand and twisted, breaking the grip around her throat. They exchanged fire, he struck her again over her broken ribs, which she rammed the heel of her hand against the base of the First’s nose, driving the septum into his brain. The First twitched, eyes widening before a moment later, they clouded over with death. Maverick ran up to Catherine who was sitting astride the First, panting hard, her eyes glazed over. “Cath?” He grabbed her shoulder and helped her onto her feet. She rocked there, unsteady and sagged against him. “Water.” She croaked. In seconds, Kyle handed her a full bottle. She downed it in moments and gestured for more. “Thank you.” She said as she finally took a gasp of air. Now that pressing need had been attended to, she glanced at Maverick and Niala. “You got out, and we got ourselves a Vorta.” She noted their prisoner glaring at them with open hostility. “Thanks to Kyle.” Maverick smiled and transferred Catherine to Kyle. She coughed and doubled over before straightening up painfully. Her body was built to take punishment, but two major fights in a week was almost too much. “We need to get off this planet. Do you think we can beam a beam up to the battleship?” Her eyes flicked from Maverick to the Vorta. Maverick smiled as he got the idea she was conveying and raised his weapon. “I’m sure we can arrange something.” It was time to turn the tables. =/\= Location: Dominion Battleship Scene: Vorta Haden’s Quarters =/\= “You won’t escape.” The Vorta sniffed as they rematerialized in the privacy of his quarters. The marines quickly ensured that they were alone before relaxing their guard a little. “We can certainly try.” Maverick smiled coldly before he gestured with one of his marines to eliminate the Vorta as a threat. He turned back to the rest of his team. “We have two goals; locate the rest of the marines – probably in their holding cells; and then find the Patriot and get to her. And maybe destroy this beast.” “The Patriot’s here?” Tam asked in shock? Like Sterling, the Vorta hadn’t been bothered to clarify the situation like the one who had interrogated Maverick was. “She survived. We don’t know how well, but she survived.” The Colonel replied and began to organize the teams to accomplish their goals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NRPG: Beth, I’ve left room for you to go Tam’s questioning if you wish. Right you lot, we have a couple of weeks left. Good posting! Naomi Lara Lt. J.G. Catherine Sterling-Jade Intelligence Operative USS PATRIOT And Commodore Teneill Danara-Bennow Deputy Chief of Starfleet Intelligence From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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