The Capture

Posted on Sun Jan 26th, 2014 @ 1:36am by Ensign Corrine Steiner & Commander Brian Ratchford & Lieutenant Commander Sean O'Connell

Mission: Manhunt
Location: Civilian Promenades, Starbase 332
Timeline: Current

ON:

Sometimes crowds make it easier to sneak up on people unnoticed. And sometimes, they make it harder. Today near the docks, it was the latter. Corrine didn't see 'goons with guns', but she could tell by crowd reaction nearby that they had beamed in, weapons in hand. Not waiting to catch glimpse of them, she dashed away.

The civilian security team of four set formation. Three searched visually while one studied a hand scanner. Annoyed, the squad leader tapped his ear transceiver, "That's your idea of a discrete beam in?"

Another asked, "Tell me again why we can't just scan and beam her out?"

"We can't-"

The scanner chap called out, "I've got her! There she goes!" Fanning out, the squad sprinted towards her.

Corrine didn't have benefit of scanners, but again the crowd was helpful. Without needing to look back, she could see people looking and pointing out of natural surprise. With hiding not being a viable option, she evaded through traffic and market stands. Running around a corner, she had to stop for a moment. Perspiring profusely, she looked at her shaking hands. "Fever... the virus is taking hold faster than I thought..."

"To the right!"

Redoubling her efforts, Corrie ran towards two groups. One was Tellarites unpacking crates and the other was Klingons moving a containment pod. Klingons could be of wonderful help, but they would have no interest in assisting a human, and a female at that. Noticing the pod, she reconsidered, "But then again, they just might!" Ignored by the warriors, she ran to and carefully positioned herself by the pod.

One of the guards came into view. "Contact!" Seeing that his quarry obliged him by standing still, he took aim, "Got you!" Whether he wasn't paying enough attention to his surroundings or simply wasn't familiar with containment pods, the end result was, his phaser bolt splashed off the pod's invisible containment force field and hit a Klingon. Intensely startled, the warrior shook off the stun and glared with astonished eyes.

Corrie dashed away and the guard ran towards. He gestured to the Klingon as he approached, "Get out of the way! I'm sorry!"

A wild smile came across the Klingon's face. Instead of dodging away, he enthusiastically leaped at the guard, "I am NOT sorry!"

"What are you-" His phaser went off again as the Klingon grappled, but it wasn't a solid hit.

Hearing the weapons fire, the other Klingons hurried over, "A FIGHT! YES! This is GOOD!"

The scanner guard hurried around a corner, "Repeat please! I didn't catch that." Still tracking Corrine, he wasn't paying full attention to where he was going. The next thing he knew, he collided against the chest of a Klingon who stood still in his path. "What the-"

Happy for the opportunity, the warrior lifted him off the ground, "HaHAAA!" He spun the human over his head round and round, then threw him into a fountain.

Back at the star dock's security station, dispatchers watched things go awry via guard body cameras. "Bob, I think we're gonna need some backup."

"How many?"

The dispatcher grimaced as he watched a whole transport crew of Klingons streaming in, "Everyone..."

"What about Steiner? She's high priority!"

"And this isn't? Notify the Fleet of her last known coordinates. If they want to chase her, fine. If not, we'll bag her later. We've got a situation, here!"

Five minutes later, a call reached SB332 Security.

Sean looked up as his console in the office started lighting up he quickly motioned a few security officers to head for the armoury. The signal was clear. Weapons fire on the promenade. He tapped the button on his console, it was one of the security officers still on patrol.

" Petty officer van Houten, civilian promenade, deck 595, we got a bunch of Klingon's and a human's starting a brawl. Weapons have been fire. I need back up quick. Crewman T'vur is down and out I need medical assistance as well. Also we have an extra suspect who started the brawl, human female aged 25 to 35, 165 to 170 cms, brown hair, blue eyes.

Sean picked up his phaser and head for the nearest turbo lift .

" Jenkins, Appiah take four marines with you and contain that situation, set phasers to high stun, take stun grenades as well. I want those Klingons and their sparring buddies in my brig now! Jansen, Veral you're with me. We are going after that short brunette." He shook his head and tapped his combadge.

=/\= Security to sickbay, officer down on deck 595, also we might have some knife injuries as well, please dispatch a medical team ASAP, O'Connell Out=/\=

On the promenades, Corrie stumbled up to a department store window. Perspiring profusely, she was alarmed to see fine black lines starting to form on her skin. Panicked, she looked at her reflection in the glass. They were on her face, also. "It's happening too quickly!" She quickly pulled the antidote capsule and bit into it. At the very least, if that didn't get her thrown into quarantine, nothing would. Then, after staggering for a moment from dizziness, she hurried into the store. She knew that she needed to mentally map out a plan, but she could no longer think clearly. At this point, blind fear was what kept her moving.

Corrie caught sight of a fleet security man. Gambling that his phaser wasn't set to kill, she dashed laterally behind the department store wall-window. Tracking her perfectly, the guard fired. His beam, however, hit the perfectly clean and clear window and splashed. Feeling some of that splash, Corrie cried out and raced on.

It was a security guard's nightmare. Mothers with children in tow were screaming with panic. Many froze directly in his path, too emotionally stunned to move. But that wasn't the full extent of the red shirt's lucky day. Three Ferengi had a good view of the chase from the in-store restaurant. Opportunity sparked motivation, and the three circled up in a huddle.
"Do you see what I see?!"
"I bet she'll pay every latinum she's got to escape."
"That's fleet! We'd get into big trouble!"
The last comment drew a swat upside the back of the head.
"Ow!"
"We snooze, we lose!"
"Right!"
With a clap, the three broke huddle and took off running.

Even with civilians and snagging clothes racks hindering his progress, [insert name here] closed the distance on the exhausted Corrine Steiner. He was about to make the final push and shoot when someone stuck a foot out from under a rack of bell bottom jeans. Barreling forward in an attempt to regain his balance, he plowed into another rack of ladies' silk evening wear. The rack bar deflecting off his face caused him to lose his grip on the phaser. Putting it in to high gear, so to speak, he tore away bras and panties from his face just in time to see a Ferengi run in and kick his phaser across the floor under some shelving. Then, without stopping, the little orange man took off in pursuit of Corrie.

Badly winded, Corrie had no choice but to stop and gasp for breath. As she did, her three rescuers ran up, "Come with us! We'll beam you out!"

Infuriated, she grabbed a high heel shoe off a rack and threatened with wild eyes and clenched teeth, "One of you little trolls sold me out!"

The three little men froze for a moment, looks of horror on their faces. In her condition, this hooman looked like an insane, wild animal. As is the way of Ferenginar, discretion is the better part of survival. They ran the opposite direction. They collided with the point on Sean's security team. "Somebody's gotta STOP her! She's CRAZY!"

The crowds had started to leave patches of empty decking as they moved, eager to get out of the way of whatever ruckus was going on, but too confused to know where the ruckus was going. It was one of these patches of empty decking ahead of Corrie which glowed briefly with the blue light of a transporter beam, depositing Brian on the promenade. He'd been watching the situation evolve from ops, and decided that he would try to cut the target of Sean's security team off, and catch her between him and them.

Corrie just stumbled forward, aimlessly making turns and staggering into walls. Then came a wave of fear. Looking around her, she remembered, "The dream! I'm here!" Just as she did in her dream, she looked back in horror as a fleet guard rounded a corner and took aim.

Brian raised his own phaser as soon as he spotted the woman stop and turn, and pressed the trigger button at the same time as the security officer, who was hidden from Brian's range of vision by the crowds. Both stun beams hit the woman at the same time, and she dropped to an untidy pile on the ground. Brian had to run an push through the remaining crowds to keep them from trampling her.

It wasn't until he was up-close that he was able to get a good look at her. At first, he had thought she was some other species that he couldn't quite recognise off the top of his head, but now that he was closer he could tell that she looked human, but her skin was covered in black mottled lines, like she was infected with some sort of disease. He instinctively raised his sleeve to his nose, in case it was some airbourne infection, for what little good the automatic reaction would give him.

"Doctor Keller," he said, tapping his combadge with his free hand. "We need a medical team here as quick as you can make it. Get some extra bodies here too; everyone on the promenade is going to need testing for an infection. Ratchford to Ops; quarantine the promenade. Possible airbourne infection." He looked up as O'Connell and the rest of the security team caught up to the woman. "You might want to get some more of your people watching over the civilians down here, Commander. They're going to be restless enough with the chase, even without the fact that we need them to stay where they are until we're sure this woman isn't contagious."

OFF:

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Cmdr Brian Ratchford
Lt. Cmdr Sean O'Connell
Ens Corrine Steiner

Starbase 332
Pegasus Fleet