From: naomi_lara_at_optusnet.com.au
Date: Sun Jan 06 2008 - 19:58:32 PST
('binary' encoding is not supported, stored as-is) "Idylls of the King." Cont from Shawn's "Outnumbered" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For many a petty king ere Arthur came Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war Each upon other, wasted all the land; And still from time to time the heathen host Swarmed overseas, and harried what was left. And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, Wherein the beast was ever more and more, But man was less and less, till Arthur came. For first Aurelius lived and fought and died, And after him King Uther fought and died, But either failed to make the kingdom one. And after these King Arthur for a space, And through the puissance of his Table Round, Drew all their petty princedoms under him. Their king and head, and made a realm, and reigned. And thus the land of Cameliard was waste, Thick with wet woods, and many a beast therein, And none or few to scare or chase the beast; So that wild dog, and wolf and boar and bear Came night and day, and rooted in the fields, And wallowed in the gardens of the King. And ever and anon the wolf would steal The children and devour, but now and then, Her own brood lost or dead, lent her fierce teat To human sucklings; and the children, housed In her foul den, there at their meat would growl, And mock their foster mother on four feet, Till, straightened, they grew up to wolf-like men, Worse than the wolves. And King Leodogran Groaned for the Roman legions here again, And Caesar’s eagle: then his brother king, Urien, assailed him: last a heathen horde, Reddening the sun with smoke and earth with blood, And on the spike that split the mother’s heart Spitting the child, brake on him, till, amazed, He knew not whither he should turn for aid. But—for he heard of Arthur newly crowned, Though not without an uproar made by those Who cried, ‘He is not Uther’s son’—the King Sent to him, saying, ‘Arise, and help us thou! For here between the man and beast we die.’ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Location: GATEWAY Station Scene: Promenade, lower level And they were dying. One by one, they were being whittled away. A rock, battered at by ferocious seas, pounded away into sand and washed away. The snapping snarling wolves was the Dominion war machine, their pray was GATEWAY, the supporting ships and all of those onboard. No quarter was given, it was the way of things. Catherine ducked behind cover as she threw away the dead power source and rammed another home into her phaser rifle. She was with a small group of three of Maverick’s crack marines, their task was to take out the boarding Jem’Hadar; quickly, efficiently, and without mercy. Under Sterling’s directions they tracked down the boarding parties and tended to favour the tactic of mowing them down under cross fire. It was working well until the last group of Jem’Hadar did a suicide run at one of her teams, which resulted in the obliteration of both groups. They had started out as a team of seven, now they were down to four. It had been a heavy price to pay. Several shots smashed into the metal wall around them while the four took a breather and prepared for their next assault. The Jem’Hadar made them pay in blood for every team they dispatched. Catherine tapped the shoulder of the marine crouched in front of her as he returned fire. Using short, sharp hand gestures, she signaled her intentions. The marines all nodded and turned back to lay down a burst of phaser fire to distract the Jem’Hadar. Sterling slipped away and ran down the corridor away from the fight at a full run. A part of her reveled in this; the bloodshed, the fighting, the excitement, there were three things about this that she despised. Her husband was fighting also and his welfare was a source of concern for her, her friends were similarly involved, and the fact that they were losing did not please her. She was created for this, a creature of war, of blood and of violence; a savage, untamed part of her crowed in delight. Sterling vaulted over the stair rail and ran up to the second level of the Promenade and began to double back. From above she silently ran over her marine team and alongside the corridor towards the Jem’Hadar. Whilst moving, she slung her rifle onto her back. It was too big to use in close quarters; and pulled out the small hand phaser instead. Her other hand grabbed the pommel of the large knife sheathed on the back of her belt. On the upper gantry she approached the Jem’Hadar group from behind. They were clustered together in typical formation. From above, Catherine fired into the crowd of invaders. The Jem’Hadar’s concentration was broken and they glanced up, and they glanced up and it was enough to give Catherine’s team the edge. The marines began to mow down the superior force of Jem’Hadar. The soldiers reacted to the twin threats and divided themselves to face them and the pendulum swung back into their direction. Sterling dodged another phaser bolt and leapt over the rails, landing in the middle of the Jem’Hadar, firing her weapon and slashing with the knife in a whirlwind of glee, legs lashing out and knocking their weapons off aim. The Jem’Hadar scattered backwards out of her reach to retaliate and her marines, charging up the corridor with weapons blazing, did the rest. “That was insane.” Corwin muttered under his breath as they stood over the dead Jem’Hadar. “They’re dead aren’t they?” Catherine grinned happily as she holstered knife and hand weapon before grabbing her phaser. “Come on, there’s a lot more where they came from.” She glanced at the thick coating of blood on her hands. Neck wounds were incredibly messy. The woman wiped them clean on one of the Jem’Hadar’s tunics. Blood was also incredibly sticky as it started to dry and would hinder her. “We need another tactic.” Corwin insisted. “I’m working on it.” Catherine nodded in agreement. It was luck that they weren’t injured or killed in that stouche. Next time they wouldn’t be quite so lucky. “Any stun grenades left?” She asked as they took of at a slow run. It would only be a matter of time before they encountered another patrol. One of the marines took point while another covered their rear while Catherine and Corwin struggled to come up with a solid battle tactic. “Nope, used them up earlier.” It was a grim reply. “Nothing left in the weapons lockers anyway.” Catherine sighed and wiped the sweaty hair from her eyes. “I’m down to two power supplies.” She swayed as GATEWAY itself rocked under their feet, and reached out to stop Corwin falling down. “Most of us are on our last.” He got his balance again quickly. Catherine felt a slow burn over her hip and glanced down, she pulled at the large rent in her uniform and cursed softly. She had a slash wound, one of the Jem’Hadar had gotten lucky. As quickly as she observed it, she dismissed it, it would stop bleeding and heal quickly on its own time. “We need to get supplies.” Corwin continued. “It’s going to have to wait.” The marine on point yelled. “Take cover!” This time the Jem’Hadar patrol found them. The station rocked again, and the marines hit the dirt, unable to keep their footing. They were on their stomachs and shooting at the Jem’Hadar as they desperately sought cover. Catherine jerked back as Corwin’s head next to her was vaporized. She rolled against the side of the corridor and under cover of a doorway got to her feet. She glanced around at the scene and grimaced. They had been flanked by the Jem’Hadar and were now pinned down on both sides. Sterling turned her head and looked at the remaining two marines, taking shelter on the other side of the corridor and saw something that bothered her. They fought back alright, but the expression in their eyes. They had given up. =/\= Location: Space Scene: Fighter =/\= Tanith gritted her teeth as she executed an imbelman manoever and swooped down from above on an unsuspecting battle cruiser. She threw everything she had at the much larger space ship as she raced along its shied perimeter. Most of the shots splashed away harmlessly, but given the flickering shields of the damaged cruiser, some of them managed to punch through and drew a little blood. She twisted the controls into a spiraling corkscrew to defeat the battlecruisers targeting sensors. Her fighter was just a shade faster then their computer targeting, but not by much. The woman turned her head around and glared as she saw a Federation fighter explode to her right. Hands fighting for control, she swung the fighter back around, darting between phaser blasts, space ships, fighters and debris for another run at the cruiser. Somewhere in the dark corner of her mind, she wondered about the futility of it all. =/\= Location: GATEWAY Scene: Medical bay =/\= The rules of war should be that people who were in medical care were to be left alone. Pity the Dominion did not believe in those rules. Injured persons, as well as medical staff were fair game in their book. Daniel gritted his teeth as he held his position in the doorway to the GATEWAY’s medical area. The Jem’Hadar had been throwing themselves at the medical bay, and it was only by Daniel’s determination that he kept them off. Kate ran up behind him and lay a hand on his shoulder as he loosened another barrage. “We’ve evaced everyone that we can.” The doctor told Daniel, feeling his shoulders bunch with tension as he raised his rifle again. The Jem’Hadar were persistent. Daniel nodded grimly. They had to leave the dead behind in their strategic retreat. They didn’t want to, it went against their moral code, but their hand had been forced in this. Ultimately, the dead could wait – the living could not. And Daniel and his marines couldn’t hold the medical bay indefinitely. They needed to withdraw to a secondary area. Kate pulled back and ran from the room, she had patients to attend to and she could hear Daniel right behind her, protecting her back. They made it to the safety of the doorway before the Jem’Hadar spilled into the medical bay like an evil tide. Clarkson spun and knelt down, laying down suppression fire as Kate dove for the door control. Her hand smacked the control and she hit the ground as the blast doors separated the two groups. Daniel quickly got onto his feet and helped the doctor up. “That isn’t going to hold them for long.” Kate closed her eyes for a moment. “This is hopeless.” She had been hoping and praying for the Federation to send a fleet through the reopened wormhole. She had been hoping for the last couple of hours. But her hopes and prayers remained unanswered. “We’ve just got to hang on a little longer.” Daniel said softly. He too, had given up praying for a miracle. Now, all he wanted to concentrate was survival. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NRPG: It’s short, and I’ll try and get something out tomorrow. Naomi Lara Lt. J.G. Catherine Sterling-Jade ILO USS PATRIOT And Commodore Teneill Danara-Bennow Deputy Chief Starfleet Intelligence From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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