Kegena Settlement Evacuation
Abe stayed behind at the infirmary while the rest of the Team, along with ENS Smith and ENS Jones of the colony security team, boarded the Proud Mary and took off for the settlement.
On approach to the settlement, detected heat signatures of numerous humans at the settlement, in and amongst the buildings; the Team was able to separate those outside the buildings as “tribals.” Their observed behavior was unexpected; they were not attempting to break into the buildings, but were “looking in the windows” for something and moving on to the next settlement building. Ella contacted the colonists by radio and attempted to get them to explain the situation on the ground, but they were too panicked to say anything other than to beg for rescue. Haank fired a warning shot with the ship’s laser toward the center of town, causing the tribals to take cover.
The ship was set down to the immediate NW corner of the settlement, and the colonists were instructed to make for the ship, to be covered by the security team (Haank, Buck, Smith and Jones) from the lowered cargo ramp; one family did as instructed, but the others there were too cowered to move.
When pressed for more information, the family would only say that they needed to get out of here in a hurry, and not to wait for the others—a little unusual—so Buck escorted them to a passenger cabin and politely locked them in “for their safety.”
The ship was relocated to the SE corner of the settlement, and as a result of some discussion, left the ship to “manually evacuate” the colonists from their homes, to expedite things; Sam remained behind at the helm. As the ramp lowered, the Team observed a pair of colonists engaged in a firefight with the tribals; one of the colonists was observed shooting a heavily-wounded tribal in the back as he tried to crawl away to safety. The Team advanced under fire to the colonists position in front of the nearest buildings, and attempted to provide first aid to one of the colonists, who took a round to the upper-chest. Ella went house-to-house, knocking on/down doors and trying to evacuate the residents, while the rest of the team tangled with the tribals. ENS Jones and Smith flanked around, and Jones was shot; Smith dragged him back to the ship, “encouraging” him. Haank attempted a less-lethal response, managing to shoot a couple of the tribals’ rifles, destroying them. Buck defended the rear-flank, dropping one assailant with his laser-rifle. After clearing a few homes, Ella ordered a pull-back to the ship, as Sam reported more tribals advancing from the East.
The ship lifted off and began to circle the incoming horde; Buck manned the gunner station and commenced to scatter the horde with laser-fire, while ENS Smith provided mostly-ineffectual fire from the still-lowered cargo ramp. Meanwhile, the locals were questioned in the hold by Ella and Haank; as Ella’s questions transitioned from polite diplomacy to intimidation, it was revealed that one of the colonists, “Jim-Bob,” had taken a tribal youth captive and was believed to be holding him in his dwelling on the settlement’s NE corner.
The ship was landed on the NE corner of the settlement, and the Team dismounted and stormed Jim-Bob’s home, finding him there, along with a couple of compatriots, and the captured youth, bound and gagged, with signs of continual beatings. As Jim-Bob argued his “innocence of any crime,” he was impatiently shot by ENS Smith; he and his compatriots were then taken into custody, and the youth released to go back to his tribe, with the Team’s apologies (such as were able to be communicated without being able to speak their language).
The situation having been defused, the colonists were released back to their homes, and the ship returned to the main colony.
On arrival, the guilty-parties were remanded to local custody, after Jim-Bob’s injuries were treated by Abe.
Notes
- The “combat operation” absorbed the vast majority of the time for this session
- Abe was working in the infirmary in the previous session, and being less-than-combat-capable, Rigil Kent took over a Red-Shirt, ENS Smith, and ended up playing him in a manner reminiscent of Strax, the Sontaran (from Doctor Who)—to everyone’s great amusement
- Likewise, it was decided to be best to leave Sam aboard the ship, so Winston took over the other Red-Shirt, ENS Jones, for the combat; after having been grievously wounded, he was the recipient of much “encouragement” by ENS Smith
This part of the multi-phase operation to find and recover our missing crewmen was to be a simple canvassing of the locals in and around the bar where they were last seen by other crewmen. XO Matthews and Crewman Park volunteered, in the event that they might recognize the suspicious persons that had tailed them, earlier, in the marketplace. ChEng O’Malley also volunteered, and as Crewman Prudhomme was on duty at the time, Flight Officer Parsons volunteered to drive the air/raft. With a full cart, I decided the remainder of the security team should stand-by at the ship. Violence was not expected, although I did expect to have to move quickly to recover the missing crewmen, by force; I ordered all members of the security team to be fully armed, and wearing nanoweave body-protection, at minimum, opting not to proceed fully-armored, to reduce the likelihood of resistance by the locals we intended to canvass.
