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| | [[Category:Bureau of Information]][[Category:Task Forces/Unit Portals]][[Category:STAR FLEET: ORIGINS]][[Category:ORIGINS: Sixth Fleet]][[Category:ORIGINS: USS Hood]] |
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| ==2260==
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| ===[ORIGINS] USS HOOD: And Then It All Went To Hell.====
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| Scene: Planet Monil IV, Capital City.
| | {{template:ORIGINS_USS_Hood_Story_Posts}} |
| SD 2260.102
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| Lieutenant Commander Sean Merrick shifted uneasily in the limousine's shotgun
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| seat. He tried hard to ignore the loudmouth behind him and enjoy the view of
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| Monil IV's captial city. He sighed and turned to watch the capital's intricate
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| marble edifices blur by.
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| Merrick, about two dozen Starfleet crew, and several planetary officials were
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| convoying from their hotel up to the Grand Council Hall. Their job was
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| straightforward: negotiate for the Federation a treaty to mine the planet's
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| dilithium reserves.
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| Simple enough, Merrick thought. He rolled his eyes and wondered when the
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| councilman behind him would ever shut up about it. The chunky politician had
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| the XO, Commander Jack Steele, well and truly trapped in the rear cabin.
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| "I'm telling you that the Enric provincials won't like it!" Councilman Litro
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| argued. "They won't stand for it! Have you ever met one of them? In their
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| minds, it is the Prasaans' fault that the sun rises and that the sun sets."
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| Merrick harumphed. Hatfields and McCoys evidently had extended family on Monil.
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| As the chief engineer, Merrick had briefed the planetary council on which
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| dilithium deposits they wanted to tap first. It had gone over like a fart in
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| church. The majority of the mines lay in, of all places, the Prasaan province's
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| western border. It was land that the not so wealthy, but very irritable Enric
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| had historically disputed ownership of.
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| Litro carried on. "The Federation contracts will give the Prasaan overwhelming
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| economic and political power. Protests against these treaty talks have already
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| begun. Why, this morning, 5 people were hopitalized after a full out riot!"
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| "We're not about to tell you how to run your politics, councilman," Steele
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| calmly countered. "But the Federation considers that dilithium to be of the
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| utmost strategic importance. Disruption to its production won't be accepted.
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| What will your government do to mitigate relations between the Prasaan and
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| Enric?"
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| "Perhaps you haven't been listening Commander Steele!" Litro scowled. "The
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| Enric don't do compromise. They won't ..."
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| Merrick yawned. It had been like this with the honorable Litro yesterday and
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| the day before. He was checking his communicator's chrono again...when it
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| happened.
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| All of the sudden it seemed like there were explosions everywhere. The lead car
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| erupted in a mushrooming fireball. Glass snapped across Merrick's face even as
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| he was thrown hard against his harness. In an instant, the whole convoy
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| crashed to a halt.
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| Shaking his head, he looked up in shock. He felt as if he had ear muffs on and
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| his vision was blurry. He glanced around. The Captain's limo, along with half
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| the HOOD's senior staff, was a blazing hulk. His own car's driver had slumped,
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| unconscious or dead. Merrick looked forward again. There was a line of smoke
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| leading right up to the first limo's burning wreckage. The image stirred
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| something in Merrick...an urgent little voice began to rise. "OH SH...!"
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| "Out! Out! Get out!" he yelled. "Rockets inbound!"
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| Then he noticed for the first time a frightful pinging sound. Whizzing and
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| ricocheting bullets filled the car. Panicked now, Merrick unhitched his belt
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| and dove for the slightly less exposed rear cabin. Wave after wave of shots
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| thudded around him. He heard a short, very small cry. He peered up and beheld
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| with gut wrenching horror the darling little asian officer from communications.
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| She had taken two rounds to the chest. Her terror stricken eyes held his for a
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| moment, then lost their light forever.
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| Coming back to himself, Merrick realized that the intensity of the shots had
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| lessened. He saw commander Steele next to him laying on top of the councilman
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| and shouting vainly into a communicator.
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| "Jammed!" he spat. The fire seemed to have come from their right, so Steele
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| gestured left.
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| "Go! Go! Go!" Steele shouted as Merrick kicked the door out and they crawled
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| into the street. But as Steele dragged out the sobbing councilman, Merrick
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| realized that there was no real cover nearby. Their caravan had been hit in an
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| open field. The only nearby structure, a tiny convenience store he guessed, had
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| been taken out by a rocket that must have just missed their limo.
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| As shots started to patter close again, Litro began crying hysterically.
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| "They're going to kill us! They're going to kill us!" Steele gave the
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| incontinent man a swift slap to the cheek.
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| "Control yourself councilman!" Steele ordered, even as a bullet tore a
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| respectable hole inches above his own head.
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| Merrick took heart at this spectacle and started thinking again. A glimmer of
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| hope made him creep forward. Their driver had been a security guard. His
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| pistol might not have much range, but it was better than nothing.
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| With some difficulty, he got the driver-side door open and pried the gun out of
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| its holster. No sooner did he have it in hand than Steele thumped him on the
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| shoulder.
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| "The car behind us is still in one piece. It will have one too," the commander
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| said urgently. "Cover me in three ... two ..."
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| Merrick quickly fumbled off the safety and chambered a round. He heard Steele
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| count "one" and popped his head over the hood of the limo. Luck was on his
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| side. A band of six or seven was hoofing it across the open field towards them.
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| He opened fire.
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| The shots caught the attackers completely by surprise. He nailed one Monillian
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| dissident in the leg and two others hit the dirt. Immediately a volley of
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| projectiles whizzed centimeters from his bare skull. Ducking back, he glanced
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| left in time to see three figures outflanking his absurdly exposed position. He
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| squeezed off six rapid shots that miraculously downed two. The third braced
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| against a street pole, and then made the spectacularly bad mistake of trying to
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| look around it for a target. Merrick all but cheered as his slug splattered the
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| man's brains across the pavement.
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| He heard shouts and more fire behind him. Steele had made it to the other car's
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| weapon and was now pumping a danger close assailant full of bullets. Sirens in
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| the distance became audible. More shouts followed and a whistle call went up.
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| By the time Merrick had pulled another clip from his dead driver's belt, the
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| attackers were retreating. He watched them run full tilt towards a couple of
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| air vans off in the distance.
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| Bastards!" he screamed. "Get back here you bastards!" He let off a few more
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| rounds. He wanted to run after them and make them pay for this unmitigated
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| atrocity.
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| But his training overrode that instinct. Some of the attackers he and Steele
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| had downed might still have fight in them. Grimly, he moved toward the nearest
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| and kicked him in the head for good measure.
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| NRPG: Welcome Aboard the HOOD! This part of a prelaunch series Andy and I have
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| been creating to get things fired up. He'll have a few follow-ons to post
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| shortly after mine. Feel free to add on to them! Just reiterating what Andy's
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| already said in his e-mails, we want to make posting aboard the HOOD as fun as
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| possible. If you don't have time for a few pages, a 5-10 paragraph postlet
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| would be just fine. If you're looking for ideas to get the creative juices
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| flowing, just drop us a message. I always return e-mails within 48 hours and
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| usually within 24. I'm always eager to JP, edit drafts, or just talk if you
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| need.
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| Respectfully Submitted,
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| Brian V. Mansur
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| LCDR Sean Merrick
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| FO, USS HOOD NCC-1703
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