Fishing in the Dark - Part II

Posted on Wed Jun 17th, 2026 @ 4:19am by Commander Rhupert Tyree & Commander Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Commander Zuub & Lieutenant Katya Davi
Edited on on Wed Jun 17th, 2026 @ 4:41am

1,670 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Operation Kakori
Location: Cargo Bay 2, Shuttlepod 14225
Timeline: After Fishing in the Dark, Pt.1

[PREVIOUSLY]

It took a second more than normal to begin materialization, and twice that for them to fully form, but when the transporter finished. three people stood in the back of the shuttle. "Welcome to the Jungle. Please exit out the back ramp in a calm and orderly fashion. And do watch that first step, we're a foot off the deck."

[CONTINUED]

Neil moved up and gave the newcomers a quick look before abruptly grabbing each by a collar and clearing the transporter area and depositing them before the Valiant's doctor like trophies. "Talking and or walking wounded, he inquired of Ed, preparing to thump Quaid if need be.

He was starting to come to, Edmund was. the feeling of someone grabbing his collar and him hitting something cold and metallic. That was what he felt, where was he? Ed tried to lift his hand, there wasn't any reaction. Everything seemed so heavy. Even his eyelids felt heavy. He drifted back into unconsciousness.

Zuub's antennae leaned forward and twittered. She started a scan with her medical tricorder to determine the extent of any injuries. A concussion seemed likely, but what else happened? In her soft wispy voice, she asked, "What happened to him?"

As if in answer to Zuub's query, the medical tricorder spat out the information:

Pronounced bruising, deep ligature marks around his neck like he had been choked by something braided. Swelling, and ragged breathing. Wrenched shoulder, broken wrist, concussion, cut lip contusions on his ribs with two cracked.

Meanwhile, inside the shuttle, Kat was targeting the next three to beam aboard. As she didn't have a list, she avoided the two at the helm and grabbed the three that had the clearest signal. The three that materialized where Lachlan Barr, Emiko Marley, and a large Klingon. "Welcome to the Hotel California. Capacity is two, so please exit out the back. Colonel Tremble and Lieutenant Zuub are ready to take care of you. Oh, and watch your step."

Daynah watched the scanner and saw the shuttle fire a large barrage of phasers. They were all direct hits, but little to no damage to the station. She knew that they were simply laying cover fire to get the rest of the team out. She noticed the same spike in power. This time it was a bit stronger than the first time. "I am not sure how much more the relays in this shuttle are going to take." As the three materialized Daynah's XO hat turned on. "Who the hell are you?" She shouted at the Klingon over the din of noise.

Zuub looked at the tricorder readings and mused the situation. She ordered a medic, "Take this patient to our sickbay and put him on a biobed. Have the computers monitor his conditions and feed them directly back to me. He's not in apparent critical danger, but I need to be there should things take a sour turn."

Emiko beamed onto the transporter padd, her swelling and bruises readily apparent on her petite face. She looked around. "Where's Lieutenant Jayna?" the petite intelligence officer cried out. "You have to get her off there, now!" she demanded.

Zuub looked at the petite woman and instructed Tremble, "Take that one and give her some ice. She's obviously fine."

"As you were, Petty Officer," Neil said, none to gently grabbing her from the pod's small transporter and physically moving her to the hallway behind him, even as he stared at the Klingon for a second before pulling him from the shuttle. "Not sure why we have an extra," he bit off slightly. "Emiko, take him to the brig to wait interview."

Emiko looked at the Klingon and said, "You heard him. Come on." The petite woman gave a sharp look at the Klingon and a nod towards the door before looking back at the transporter PADD, hoping to get a look of Jayna coming in."

Lachlan materialised with one hand still half-raised, as if his body hadn’t quite accepted that the fight was over. The transporter effect peeled away from his vision, replaced by the cramped shuttle interior, the smell of heated systems, and too many voices hitting at once.

He heard Emiko before he properly saw her, saw the swelling on her face, saw the Klingon tense at the shouted question from Daynah, and then Neil’s order landed.

Brig.

The Klingon understood enough. Maybe not the words cleanly, but the meaning of them. His shoulders bunched, chin lifting, breath turning heavy in his chest. Lachlan saw the moment before it became a problem: a tortured man, pulled from one cell, now being marched toward another by people he had no reason to trust.

“Hold,” Lachlan said, voice rough from where the Klingon had nearly crushed his throat earlier.

It wasn’t loud, but it carried.

He stepped half a pace between Emiko and the Klingon, not blocking her, not challenging Tremble, just putting himself where the worst of it would have to go through him first.

“Colonel, he helped us get out. Carried Major Merrick when he went down.” His eyes stayed on Neil for a second, then flicked back to the Klingon. “I understand the brig. Unknown passenger, hostile station, no paperwork. Makes sense.”

The Klingon’s lip curled at the word. Lachlan turned slightly, meeting the warrior’s eyes.

“Big man,” he said, lower now. “Listen to me. This is not a Cardassian cell. No one’s puttin’ hands on you. No one’s askin’ you to kneel.”

The Klingon growled something under his breath, deep and ugly.

“Aye, I know,” Lachlan said. “You’ve had enough rooms with locks. I don’t blame you.”

He took one careful step closer, letting the Klingon see both his hands. No weapon raised. No threat.

“You want to leave this ship alive and with your honour intact? Then stand down and come with me. I said I’d get you off that station, and I did. I said I’d vouch for you, and I will. But right now, my people are wounded, my Major’s half-dead on the deck, and if you start swinging in this tin can, someone’s going to make a bad choice.”

For a few seconds, the Klingon looked ready to test every word of that.

Then his eyes shifted toward Merrick, toward the blood and the medics, toward the chaos he had been pulled into rather than rescued from. The fight did not leave him, but it banked down behind his eyes.

“I will speak only to you,” he said at last, voice like gravel over broken glass.

Lachlan gave a small nod, accepting that as the best bargain they were getting.

“Fair enough.”

He glanced back to Neil. “With your permission, Colonel, I’ll escort him myself. Guarded, aye, but not dragged. He’s earned that much.”

Then he looked to Emiko, tone firm but not unkind.

“And Petty Officer, find out where Jayna is. We’ll deal with this one.”

Lachlan shifted toward the hatch, one hand indicating the way out.

“Come on, big man. Let’s get you somewhere quiet before anyone decides to be stupid.”

Six down, seven to go. Kat turned her attention back to the sensors as she tried to get a transporter lock on the next three. But the radiation around the ship was increasing, thanks to the bursts of plasma radiation vented from the bay and the Badlands themselves. She made several adjustments to filter out more of the radiation, then tried again. There they were. Seven hazy life signs. She isolated three--again avoiding the two at the helm--and failed to get a lock.

Dropping to her knees, she checked that nothing was amiss beneath the console, tweaked an EPS conduit, and sat back down. "Cross your fingers," she said to Dayna, then tried for a transporter lock again. It took several seconds, but she finally had three solid locks. "Transporting."

Three more people materialized on the back of the shuttle. "Welcome to Thunderdome," Kat said, waving a hand toward the back hatch. "Exit is that way. There's a doctor back there to check you over."

Zuub told Kat, "Have the Commander look at them first. He's part of the triage. If there's something serious, I'll deal with it. If not, they can tough it out or have someone else handle it until everyone is cleared."

"Okay." She wasn't sure why she couldn't arrange that on her end. Kat just sent them out the back so she could focus on the next group. Yes, traffic control could be an ops job, but not right now. Regardless, she wasn't going to argue with the doctor at this point. And she trusted Rhu to take care of whatever was going on back there.

Blinking, it took Neil a moment to realize he'd been demoted and transferred to the Fleet by the ship's doctor.

Shrugging, he said, "My triage would be if they've got a pulse, and aren't bleeding from more than a single opening to get them out of here." He was making sure to check on the arrivals, but his priority was to keep the transporter pad clear for the next round." To put it directly, MOVE marines. All I want to see is arses and elbows as you clear the area."

Neil didn't get to channel his inner gunny very often and it was satisfying, though seeing more and more of his crew returning alive was better still.

(To be continued...)
END
A joint SIM post by:

Lieutenant Commander Zuub
Chief Medical Officer
USS Valiant

Petty Officer Emiko Marley
Intelligence Communications Specialist
USS Pioneer

Commander Daynah Ral
Executive Officer/Chief Science Officer
USS Valiant

Lieutenant Junior Grade Gage Tohoyia
HUMINT Agent
USS Pioneer

Sergeant Adélaïde Moreau
SAR Specialist, Team 2, The Cure
USS Pioneer

Sergeant Major Lachlan Barr
Chief of the Boat
First Sergeant, The Cure
USS Pioneer

Lieutenant Katya Davi
Chief of Operations
USS Valiant

Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer
USS Pioneer

 

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