Duty Log ~ MCPO Caine & Imrol Kessek ~ "A Drop In the Water, A Look In Your Eye" Part II of II

Posted on Thu Mar 26th, 2015 @ 4:38am by Master Chief Petty Officer Rik Caine

1,787 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill

=/\= Continued from Part I =/\=

Rik moved quickly, he didn’t have time to nurse the bruising. Wiping the black soot from his face, he looked around the small room. Fire was spreading quickly and the room was even more of a mess. He groaned and pulled himself up, going to reach for his phaser as a single guard appeared in the doorway.

"Halt!"

"Imrol, grab the stuff. NOW!" Rik hissed at the man who was crying with anguished tears on the floor. Rik sighed, he hated having to be this direct, the man had just had his entire world brought crashing down around him, lost the one person he cared about, but they had to survive. "Imrol!" Rik said again louder as he realised his phaser wasn’t there.

"Hands up!" the guard shouted as he moved into the room.

Rik raised his hands, his tarnished uniform now clearly on display. The guard moved closer still with a distinct smirk on his face. "We've followed you the whole way, Kyym will be pleased. Want to know how? File in the office wasn’t straight, heh."

Rik winced, how he had been so foolish. He'd caused Imrol enough suffering and instantly felt the burden of blame for the death of the boy weigh down upon him. "I can't let you take us," he said slowly and quietly, his eyes narrowing and a look of determination glinting in those baby blues.

Without warning, Rik launched himself at the guard and pushed the rifle upwards as it fired a shot into the ceiling. Forcefully twisting the butt of the gun Rik drove it upwards into the guard's chin who grunted and relinquished control as he staggered backwards his head jerking upwards with the force. Before Rik could spin the rifle around to fire, the guard had charged, knocking Rik into the table which broke under his weight being thrown upon it. Rik groaned, as he thudded to the ground and the rifle clattered to the floor. The guard raised his leg and thrust it downwards to Rik's head, who managed to roll to the side as the foot landed on the broken table. Flicking his legs around, he sent the guard to the floor with a thud and a groan as he picked himself up. Rik put his hand to the back of his head, feeling the blood run down the back of his neck.

"Stop!"

A second guard entered the room, brandishing a bladed weapon of sorts. Rik adopted a defensive stance, using his forearms to block any incoming attacks. As the two men danced, Rik was caught on the arm by the blade and winced at the hot searing pain of the knife slicing through his skin and saturating his uniform with blood. "IMROL!" Rik yelled again, as he swung to the left and ducked, narrowly missing another swipe of the blade as a punch landed in the guard's stomach doubling him over. Rik used the opportunity to grab the man's arm and twist, a distinct cracking sound as the knife fell to the floor amid yells of agony. They didn’t have time for this.

Rik was grabbed from behind, the first guard having regained his senses. The second begun hitting him, punch after punch, blow after blow, landing in his ribs and face. Rik coughed spitting blood to the floor. Struggling he managed to hook a leg behind the guard that was holding him and with as much force as he could muster through the pain he pushed backwards sending both him and the guard to the floor with a crash.

Freeing an arm, Rik elbowed the guard allowing himself to stagger free and get up. Spitting more blood onto the floor he was met by the other guard brandishing a firearm and aiming at Imrol who had remained crying, tortured by the death of his child on the floor.

"Enough!" the guard shouted, wiping his own blood away. "One more move, and the old man dies!"

The guard on the floor stood up and Rik knew he had once chance left. Without a moments hesitation he tripped and pushed the guard behind him forwards as he fell into the other assailant. This gave Rik enough time grab his phaser from where it had fallen in the blast, and fire two stun shots at the attackers. Watching as they dropped to the floor, Rik sighed, spat more blood out of his mouth, and holstered his weapon. "We need to move Imrol, I am sorry, but we have to go." He said softly.

"NO!! TH..THEY KILLED HIM, MY BOY!" Imrol yelled, each anguished sob sending a pang of guilt through Rik's very core.

"Then avenge him. Make his death not be in vain. Help me end this." Rik said slowly holding his hand out once again to the aged Atlantean.

Imrol looked up, his tear-filled eyes showing more hurt and sorrow than Rik had seen in a very long time. "O..k… I will. I will do it." The man said slowly as he accepted the offered hand and picked himself up.

"Grab what you need, we can take the hover car back to the palace," Rik said as he pulled off his duty jacket and loosened the collar of his mustard yellow top. He pocketed his commbadge, ripped some of the jacket material off to tie around his arm and slow the bleeding that was now staining the yellow undershirt, and looked back to Imrol.

The aged man had collected together a few books and a disk. "I'm… ready…" he said through his tears.

"Ok, listen carefully. We need to go straight out the door to the car and go. Keep the goal in mind. We're going to avenge the death of your boy, Imrol; we're going to end this. Don’t look back." Rik explained as he rested a hand on the man's shoulder and squeezed.

Imrol led the way and tried to take a look to the back room, his view obscured by Rik who bustled him outside and into the hover car. "We'll come back, take care of your boy. I promise," Rik said with a small nod sensing the man's obvious anguish as his eyes were fixed on the house.

Rik slid into the driver's seat and fired up the gyro-thrusters. The car whirred and sputtered into life and rose from the ground. Pulling out of the alley, the street was empty; it was strange after the commotion that had taken place. Rik glanced to his left and then he saw why. A sleek hover car with a small mounted gun on the back and an Atlantean pointing it right at them. "DUCK!" Rik shouted as he accelerated as fast as he could. The disruptor shots ripped through the old car, one catching Rik in the shoulder as he revved and banked the corner down the hill and back into the centre of the city. The searing hot, white pain was immense making it hard to focus on the narrow and winding streets. Struggling to keep the car straight, Rik bumped the vehicle off a few walls sending sparks flying into the air.

"Do you have a weapon?" Rik asked Imrol, through the pain, who shook his head, starting out the window as if all his life had been drained. "Damn," Rik said as he groaned again from the pain of the disruptor shot to his arm. Running on pure adrenaline, Rik weaved the car through the streets, the sleek car never too far behind taking pot shots when it could.

The car banked to the left and ended up on a main freeway through the centre of the city. The road itself was a long and straight stretch that suited the mobility Rik had. He was loosing blood and needed to do something. He groaned and used his other hand to pull out his phaser. One eye on the road, one on the weapon, he disabled the palm sensor allowing free use. "Low level, setting one… aim it at my shoulder and fire." Rik instructed as he grabbed a towel from the back seat and bit down on it hard.

Through muffled yells Imrol did as he was told and the low level burst seared the skin shut. The pain was intense, immensely hot, and took Rik to the brink of his threshold causing him to white out and swerve the car into oncoming traffic from the next lane as he did so. Horns blared as Imrol dropped the phaser and leaned over to take the wheel. Imrol pulled the hover car back into the right lane as the sleek vehicle appeared next to them and swerved into the battered hover car causing it to rock heavily and slide across into the next lane and oncoming traffic from the opposite direction once again.

Imrol could see the palace; Rik was still out cold from the pain. With careful manoeuvring the car weaved through the traffic. Imrol saw his opportunity to get away from the pursuers. Cutting across the final lane, Imrol revved generating as much power as he could and took the hover car up over the barrier and down a hillside, picking up speed as the car plummeted to the road underneath the freeway. Imrol was thrown from the wheel due to the sheer force as the car was sent into a spin as it crashed with a thud into the side of a building. Warning lights bleeped as alarms blared.

Rik awoke with a loud groan and pulled his head away from the headrest. He reached up and rubbed his neck, the immense pain from all over his body now taking its toll. "You're crazy," he managed to say.

"Not as crazy as you Starfleet, now hurry, we need to get to the palace before they catch up to us." Imrol said with a sense of urgency and determination.

Rik let out an audible groan as he reached up and took the wheel. "Remind me to see a croaker when we get out of this alive." He said reversing the car. It had seen better days, but by luck or sheer determination was still managing to carry them. Rik was thankful of that.

Eventually, the battered car and two men arrived at the palace. Carrying each other, they staggered inside to the final showdown and their eventual fate. Rik pulled out his commbadge and tapped "Amelia, Calhoun… it's…" there was an audible groan, "it's done. I have him"

=/\= End Log =/\=

Master Chief Petty Officer Rik Caine
Security Investigator/Chief of the Boat
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Imrol Kessek (NPC played by Rik)
Atlantean Legal Scholar and Political Dissident

 

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