Into the depths

Posted on Sat Jul 15th, 2023 @ 2:37am by Commander Raiden Kosugi & Lieutenant Obav th’Villos & Lieutenant Josey Wales & 1st Lieutenant Kyle Walken

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Trinity Hideout
Timeline: Taking place before Confinement
4407 words - 8.8 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Ascano breathed out a slight sigh of relief, they were finally there, standing outside of the almost hidden entrance to the building Tiger Lily had directed them to. She glanced over towards where Tiger Lily was, still in Walken's arms the woman seeming to be in 7th Heaven with the contact she is having with him. She could only shake her head at her own thoughts, was he falling for the woman? She knew that Tiger LIly had fallen for him.

Speaking of Tiger Lily, Ascano could hear the woman say to Walken.

"I am so sorry you've had to carry me all this way, not having my chair thanks to that... that..." she stopped, "I can not speak ill of the dead. I may have to do penance for my ill thoughts. I am glad though, that he isn't around to cause me or you trouble anymore." a slight frown furrowing her brow. "But thank you." reaching up to caress Walken's cheek. Then she looked at the door. "I need to give a scan of my eye and then enter in the codes, if you will take me close to do so, and then we can proceed."

"There is no need to apologize, we all have our struggles to deal with in life." Walken spoke in a calming voice as he steps forward. He felt this woman touch his cheek, this was something Walken wasn't used to but he kept his focus. "You don't need to thank me Tiger Lily."

Ascano dropped back from the door in order to let Walken move forward. She could feel her body getting ready to go into action when it was needed. She looked at Tarala, then over towards Wales this was it, the chance to get in and wreak some havoc when the time comes.

With Ascano out of the way Kyle took his place so Miss Tiger Lily could do what she needed to do to get the door open.

Josey caressed his disruptor under his cloak and watched as Tiger Lily input the codes into the and watched the doors swing open as there was extensive activity going on inside the compound. He reached out and grabbed the arm of a younger cult member. " We have sister Tiger Lily and she has information vital to our leaders. We have just escaped from the federation, take us there NOW!! "

The young man appeared shaken for a moment until he saw Tiger Lily. " Praise the goddess you have returned to us Sister Tiger Lily, we feared that you had been lost to us and had gone to rejoin the goddess. " He then noticed Walken carrying her. " What happened to your chair? " He asked. " Nevermind that. " He said as suddenly as he asked the question i the first place. " Follow me !! " He said as he behgan heading towards a large building at a light run. He continued talking as he ran. Guard Captain Garvin has taken all available ships and have taken the fight to the invaders. Communications are sporadic with the fleet at the best right now. I was on my way to tell Brother Jerros to fire up the device. I shall take care of that after I deliver you to the prophetess, and after that the infidels shall surely die. " He stated with a look of loyal pride upon his face.

As they approached the building young Markus called out to those at the entrance. " Open the doors!! Sister Tiger Lily to see the prophetess on urgent business!! " As they entered the duty officer looked over the group and nodded his approval. " Go with them. " He called out as two hulking brutes in metal armor lined with fur with faces completely covered by a metal mask in a gruesome visage got into the elevator with them. " The prophetess is in her inter sanctum communing with the goddess and directing the will of the goddess. " Growled one of the brutes.

" I don't care how you do it! Just get our defenses back online !! " Yelled the Prophetess yelled at the men manning the consoles. She looked to the entry and saw Tiger Lily being brought in. " Praise be the goddess you are safe Tiger Lily.. She then glared at Walken. " Well don't just stand there, put her down in that chair over there and let her get to work. " She looked over the group that came in with Tiger Lily. " May the goddess bless you all for your efforts in bringing her here to us. You may stay and help guard the entrance and watch the glory of our goddess destroy this rabble of vermin that have come to annoy us. " She stated with an air of confidence. She turned and faced Markus. " Have you delivered the message to Brother Chotok as of yet? " She asked.

" No I have not Prophetess, I brought Sister Tiger Lily here first. I shall take care of that now with your permission. "

" But of course child, please do so at this time and do make haste, we do not want the offerings to the goddess to grow cold and stale, now do we? " She asked with a coy smile.

" It shall be as you instruct as he turned to head to the door..

Josey moved towards the door and motioned the others to follow suite and prevent Markus from leaving.

Kyle slowly made his way to the chair that was pointed out to him but he was waiting for what was about to happen to go down. His one hand inching closer to where he had stored his combat knife and phaser as he carries Tiger Lily forward. He made sure to give Josey a nod.

Josey stood in front of the door and blocked Markus from exiting the room. " Markus Please go sit yourself down in that chair over there. " As he motioned to a chair.

Markus appeared puzzled. " what? Why? The prophetess instructed me to deliver a message and to be quick about it. "

Josey moved his cloak aside to reveal the disruptor aimed directly at Markus. " This is a Klingon disruptor, it has NO stun settings. SIT DOWN!! Or there won't be anything left for you to sit down. " The expression on his face went from friendly to threatening to deadly serious in the blink of an eye. " And just so there is no misunderstanding, I hereby place you all under arrest by the authority of the United Federation of Planets. "

Walken whispers to Tiger Lily, "Sorry... but joining a cult never turn out well." He lets go of her legs so just his hand was wrapped around her waist as he carried her, drawing out a hand phaser. "This is your warning I'm not giving another, on the ground or we do things the Marine way." His phaser was trained on the Prophetess as he glares at her.

Ascano had moved to where the door could be covered also training her phaser towards the others.

Tiger Lily's eyes widened, her heartbreaking realizing that she had been used, and for what, for these non believers to infiltrate and stop the Goddess from doing her work?! She knew the man who held her had a knife, and in one swift motion, she grabbed it and plunged it into Walken's upper thigh.

"You betrayed me!!" she shrieked out, moving to yank the knife out for another strike.

Walken's Adrenaline spiked as the knife stabbed into his thigh, red was what the Marine was seeing now. He fully let go after her pinning her to the ground with his good leg his phaser still trained on the Prophetess. The knife still sticking out, "It's gonna take more than that, Jarheads don't break. Last chance on the ground!"

That didn't set well with those who were in the central command center. Those who were at different consoles moved, whilst the Prophetess her hand moved down quckly to grab the large knife she had at her side. She knew how to use that well.

Tiger Lily also made her move, she might have had to use a chair to move around but that didn't make it to where she wasn't able to fight. Instead she twisted about to get Walken off balance, and try to make her escape.

At that moment also was a pounding at the door which they had come in, Ascano having locked it from their side. She glanced over towards a viewscreen which caught her attention. "Okay then we've got one of those armored men outside of the door, things are going to be getting really hot now." Ducking as a shot hit the arch way of the door. First and foremost they needed to get the security doors opened and the shielding taken down.

A few had knives and also a couple had phasers which they shot at the invaders before diving behind the consoles.

"Screw it!" Walken shouts as he felt Tiger Lily struggle below him for the chair. He pushes down harder with his knee and fires his phaser at the Prophetess. These nutcases had their chance to stand down, now they were doing this the Marine way. After his shot at the Prophetess, he began to take aim at another in the room and fire on them as well.

After the second shot, he pushed the end of the phaser against the back of Tiger Lily's head, "Your murder of innocents ends today."

Tiger Lily's struggles abruptly stopped, feeling the business end of the phaser against her head. The closeness of the phaser even if it were set to stun would still cause damage or even death. She had heard of this happening. Her body went limp and Tiger Lily was quietly sobbing, she didn't want to die!

"P-please don't kill me... please don't kill me" she begged between sobs.

Josey fired at the two techs that sat at the consoles as they jumped up from their seats to join in the fray. The first one turned into a mist of vapor as the disruptor beam caught him in the chest. The second tech narrowly missed shooting at Josey and disappearing a half a heart beat later. " Get to the console and drop the shields and open the main gates so our troops can get inside! " Josey called out. After our people are in we will destroy all the control panels so they can't operate their main weapon and get the marines to take down that device of theirs with demolition charges. "

"Ascano get it done!" Walken ordered as he focus his attention down towards Tiger Lily. Despite her being in this cult, he hoped maybe she could be somewhat innocent in this. He lifts her back in his arms, holstering the phaser. "Tell me everything you know, prisoners, force numbers, anything that will help us end this once and for all. I can help you but only if you help us and give this cult shit up."

Tarala had been quiet for the most part, she'd pulled the disruptor she was carrying when things got a little heated and they dropped the act. Thankfully she didn't need to fire, when others took care of the job for her. The sounds from outside the door caused her to take a look around the room slowly.

"We should set up a firing line with some of the gear in the room, sir. If they get through the door before our attack force is able to neutralize them we're going to be in for a fight."

Josey took stock of what they had in the room for defense usage at hand. " The prophetess won't be needing her desk or those two tables ever again. we'll flip them on their sides and use them as a barricade. If the outer door is breached and it's not wearing a Federation uniform then don't hesitate to shoot. Until backup arrives the situation is kill or be killed. Mission success is the destruction of the cult, the destruction of they're infernal device of mass murder and the freeing of all prisoners. We are the lynchpin that this mission needs to succeed, so until help comes, nothing else matters. " Said Josey with grim determination in his voice.

Markus sat quietly on the floor cross legged and had his eyes closed and mumbled a prayer that was barely audible. He then took the tip of his shirt collar and placed it in his mouth and bit it. A cracking sound was heard in the room as Markus body began to convulse. " Goddess take my life and smite these heretics!! " Markus fell over and with a few more convulsions, he ceased moving and within a few minutes began to mummify right before their eyes until nothing but a shriveled corpse lay before them.

"Suicide, how original," Tarala said dryly, as the man shriveled up. She made a slight face, before turning her attention back to the items that Wales had pointed out and started dragging the desk into a better defensive position. "Do we have any direction stun grenades or actual explosives?"

" I brought along two smoke and two flash bang grenades. We also have the two disruptors that the Techs dropped that can be set to overload and create a helluva bang and wipe out a goodly number of people. " Stated Josey as he helped move and overturn the desk and tables to create areas of cover for themselves if the control room were breached by enemy forces. " If we can pry those metal wall plates from where they are and open that small access door near the entry way and pull out a power cable and put it under the metal plating, It would give whoever stepped on it a very unpleasant surprise. " He added to his tactical defense plan suggestion.

"I think the phasers would be a last resort, take us and everyone else with us. I can try and rig them with a deadman's switch. That way if we all die they explode," Tarala arched one of her brows, did she have the time to do that? "What I wouldn't give for some directional explosives right now."

Ascano quickly got onto the now vacant seats and worked to get the security doors open, she glanced at the monitors, "The shields are down the security doors are opening, except for ours. " the images flickering on for the different sections. "Our people are heading in, and what the hell?" she gaped at the image she saw. It was that of a woman, obviously pregnant manacled upon a throne with tubes going from her to a machine with acolytes and others facing off with Hayter and his team.

The scene flashed upon the larger screen for a moment, Tiger Lily seeing this, screamed out. "How dare they tread upon sacred ground!"

Ascano dropped the image.

Tiger Lily turned her accusing eyes towards Walken, "I do not know any of what you have asked." her gaze rather steady, though there was a slight flicker there . "You betrayed me, I will not tell you anything. Do what you will."

Meanwhile the door to the control room could be seen being manually opened, it slowly inching its way wider. A couple of shots are fired through the opening, going wild.

"Think what you want Lily, you joined a murderous cult, and next time you try to kill me don't be an idiot. Now shut up and keep your head down. Time for rigging things is running short. Focus on firing through the door."

Walken was quick to overturn the table he was nearby to protect himself and Lily from her cult mates. "Good job Lily your plan worked perfectly, I can't believe these idiots didn't know you were a deep cover agent for us!" He shouts with a laugh as he fired back again through the partly open door. Hoping his comments would cause confusion for the Cultist.

It certainly confused Tiger Lily. "How can you be fighting with that knfe buried in your leg? Don't you feel the pain?" she asked.

"Of course, I feel the pain." Walken ducks his head to take cover. "But as a Marine my job is to fight so good people can go home." The blade was still stuck in Walken's leg, he knew enough to know pulling it out he could bleed out before rescue made it. "Also helps I'm running on adrenaline, got about twenty minutes before I crash. Then who knows maybe you can get your revenge."

Tiger Lily went silent, for a moment, then she said softly, "I am sorry I stabbed you, I can't take back what I did. And honestly, I wish I never met you. This is due to maybe, in another life another time....." she shook her head."No that would have never worked, we would have never worked, because you would not have believed in the Goddess."

As they were talking, the door went wider, allowing the large man in the metal armor to step inside, carrying a rather large phaser rifle Ascano looked up from what she was doing, her eyes widened he was looking directly at her, and Ascano threw herself to one side, as the rifle was chewing up the console where she had been, trying to get a bead on her.

Tiger Lily rose up slightly to peer over the barrier and smiled. "The Destroyer has arrived." There was a flash of light, Tiger Lily fell back.

Then Ascano appeared next to Walken. She was yelling "Tarala, get him! as she hunkered beside Kyle. Then said to him, "Fancy meeting you here." she quipped.

"Nice to see you alive." Walken looks down at the knife in his leg. "I got about five minutes before I can't put any weight on my leg. So if you got a plan that isn't me rushing that guy with my knife, make it fast."

Tarala only had a moment to decide what to do, and instinct, along with her Starfleet training kicked in. Her disruptor was in her hand, with the power level turned up and put three shots into the armored man. Two seemed to just hit the surface but the third got through and did some damage.

The armored figure started to swing her direction with his big rifle. In the moments she had, she changed tactics and started shooting the phaser rifle in his hand. She managed to get off three shots, two hitting the rife. When he finally trained it on her, he pulled the trigger and the weapon made a high pitched noise before it popped and a puff of smoke come from the side of it.

The Orion blinked, realizing her plan had half worked and there was a pause in the fighting. He recovered first and charged at her slamming her down onto the ground. The hit hurt and she felt her head start to spin as instinct took over again. She pulled one of the knives she could reach from her belt as he leaned back and slipped it into a weak point in the neck of the armor, a gurgle coming from the man as she shoved him off of her.

"Big, dumb bastard," She hissed.

"Times up." Walken pulled the knife from his leg, now nothing to stop him from bleeding out. He hops over the table only able to move with a little bit of adrenaline still pumping in his system. He jumped on the larger man who the Orion had just stabbed. Leaping on the large man he dove the knife in any openings in the armor he could find.

Ascano watched as Tarala had dealt with the armored man, Ascano had lost her phaser in her diving for cover, hence why she had yelled to Tarala. Now the blasted Marine Co went after the guy taking out his knife that had been in his leg.

"I think he's dead,Walken he's already dead. And you're bleeding." Ascano dragging him back away from what used to be that armored man, behind cover. She quickly took off her shirt, revealing the tank top underneath and ripped a three inch wide strip from her shirt and tightly wrapped it around the wound, and utilized the pen she found in her cargo pants pocket, twisting it tight to apply pressure upon the wound.

She then called out to Tarala, "You good?! And thanks for the save!"

"I'm good, I'm good," Tarala waved one of her hands as she moved back onto her feet. She took cover behind one of the tables and got ready with her disruptor to shoot anyone that was going to come through the door.

The falling of the 'Destroyer' seemed to have given the other cult members some pause. Then there was shouting out in the corridor and sound of weapon fire, which took the attention away from those in the control room.

"You always make sure that someone like that is dead, never assume." Walken leans his head against the cover as he holds his phaser to Ascano. "I can't stand anymore, it's on you and the rest now." The Marine closes his eyes as he turns a little paler.

"Sorry I can't take that right now. " Ascano sternly said. "My hands are a bit occupied right now with your wound. Just lay down. Don't want you to die. You stubborn lug." she growled.

Walken doesn't answer as he slides down from the table completely out now.

Josey looked to Walken. "Someone get in there and stop the bleeding. " He ordered.

"Already on it sir!" Ascano responded.

He moved around to the other side of the door and got out one of the flash bang grenades and tossed it in front of the incoming cultist, it had the desired effects of temporarily blinding and deafening the advancing cultist. Josey gtrabbed a phaser and set it for wide beam stun and fired into the crowd and dropped a good number of cultist and forcing the remainder to fall back. " That bought us some time, I don't know how much but I hope it's enough. " He turned his attention to Walken. " How's he doing? " Josey asked with concern in his voice. " We all have our combadges concealed on us. See if you can't find his after stopping the bleeding and get an emergency beam up directly to sickbay, we should be able to do that with the shields down. "

After securing the tourniquet on Walken's leg, Ascano wiped the blood from her hands with what was left of her shirt, then dug through his pockets to get his commbage. Finding it she pinned it on him.

"Ascano to Gladiator, emergency beam up to sickbay." She sat back and watched as Walken was beamed out. Once Ascano got confirmation of his arrival, she said. "Copy that." She found her phaser and joined Josey to make room for the incoming teams.

She looked at Tarala, a huge grin on her face. "Looks like we've got back up coming in full force. Finally we can be at the end of this."

"Good," Tarala replied with a slight smile of her own.

Josey acknowledged with a nod as he was joined at the door for defense efforts. " Set your phaser for wide beam stun, And should they come retreating back this way we'll alternate shots and drop as many as we can to help our troops with the mop up efforts. "

They could hear the fighting down the hall, both energy weapons and melee weapons. The sounds grew less and less, until things became quiet after several minutes. " Not sure who won as of yet, so be ready for anything. " He commented dryly and waited to see what would happen next.

From the corridor just out of sight, a voice could be heard. "Lieurenant Wales, don't shoot, we're coming in."

Ascano called out, "Identify yourself."

"Hey Mia its Duke the one dating your bunkmate, Carissa. If you need some identification I can tell you about a certain tattoo. "

Mia cut him off. "Uh no, nope." she looked at Josey.
"Sir, its our people." blushing a little bit.

Tarala let out a relieved sigh, as she slid her weapon into it's holder and glanced at the doorway. "If we're comparing tattoos, I do have a couple I don't mind showing off."

From around the door stepped a tall broad shouldered man, wearing camoflage clothing. "You asking me or Mia or both?" Duke teasing Tarala and Mia. " I don't mind seeing either of them."

He looked at Mia, "I know you have a tattoo"

Tarala just smirked and shrugged one of her shoulders, better not to answer and let that one linger. Why give everything away at once?

Duke's eyes flashed over to where Wales was at. "Are you ready to go home, Sir? You sure look like you need a good meal and a shower."

Josey nodded. " Yeah I'm ready to go home. A good meal and a shower huh? No mention of a good rye whiskey or sleep? " Josey joked.His face took on a more serious demeanor. " First off, I still have a shuttle craft to pilot back up to the Gladiator, Do we have a preliminary causality report as of yet? " He asked, not sure if he really wanted the answer to that question.

A look of compassion was in Duke's eyes as to what Wales has asked. "Sir, there isn't any casualty report as of yet, information is being gathered as we speak. There's a bottle of rye whiskey waiting for you and your team."

Josey began to feel some sense of closure on this mission and the eradication of the cult once and for all, he felt his spirits finally beginning to lift for the first time in a long time. " Duke, when those reports start coming in I want to know about it as soon as possible. " He looked back down at the PaDD in his hand and glanced back up at duke again, but this time with a grin on his face. " Oh and I'll also need a full report on those tattoo's as well. " He stated. " I have one myself, But that information is classified and it is only shown to certain people. "

Ascano just laughed and clapped Josey on the shoulder. "Okay lets just get out of here." exiting the room, getting a nod from Josey.