#17 Two

Posted on Tue Jan 23rd, 2024 @ 11:19pm by Major Jackson "JJ" Barnes {Meji} & Warrant Officer Shannon Money {Meji}

Mission: Hijacked
Location: Starbase Danvers
Timeline: current/somewhere in between

ON:

THE RECENT PAST:

As Major Jack barnes and Warrant Officer Shannon Money chilled together in the shade of some palm trees, heads leaning back on a piece of driftwood that had washed up on the beach quite some time ago. They were laughing and talking, trying to pick out shapes in the minimal clouds that happened to be passing over in the soft breeze. Over the last couple of hours they had gotten to know each other better, the whole purpose of the pair as they also got in some flight hours in the fighters. It was nice, pleasant, and fun for both. Plus, with both of them being officers there would be no frowns due to their hooking up.

Money, coming out of a fresh cackling at some joke Barnes told her, clutched her arms in over her ribs as she sucked in air and recovered. "You are a funny fucker."

"Better watch that mouth," Jack teased. "The Commodore's ears will bleed and you'll get a mouth full of powdered soap." He looked over at her, smiling ear to ear.

Shannon returned the smile, and seeing he was ready to say something else she reacted like any good marine would. She quickly rolled over to him, the front of her body pressed to the right side of his, hooking one leg over his legs as she gave him a kiss. Even in their full flight gear she just needed to kiss that handsome face. "Sorry, Sir. I was improvising," she said with a smile even as her right arm lay upon his chest, one finger lightly playing with his chin and lips.

Barnes lay there collecting his thoughts on the matter. They had been hanging out for weeks, getting to know each other, so what she had done was not unpleasant, unwanted, or unexpected. "Awww, shucks, Miss Shannon. Ain't nothin' wrong with a smooch now and then."

Him digging into his southern drawl made her giggle, and Shannon did like that about him. For a badass marine with a tight record he was the epitomy of casual and relaxed when R&R was the point. "Okay," Shannon responded, kissing him again, this time all their smiles fading as they held it for a few moments, a little tongue-tip play ensuing.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

They instantly stopped kissing and sat up, heads on a swivel as they looked around. "That came from the resort!" Barnes got to his feet and ran through the trees to look out the other side of their little island towards the starbase boardwalk. Both communication towers were down and the building that powered the orbital defense systems was shredded from within by another explosion.

Money slid to a halt beside him. "What the fuck!?"

"No clue. Let's get airborn and see what we can do." Both of them turned and ran back to their fighters, tapping their combadges to tell the internal flight computers to energize the power core and prepare for flight. As they ran through the trees they could hear the thrumming whine of the fighter engines cranking up. When they broke through the tree line, sprinting for their fighters, Jack called out. "They'll need orbital support. Those installations were hit from within."

Shannon got to her fighter and the footholds morphed into view, with the Warrant Officer climbing up to her cockpit at the same time as Barnes. "You got it, Major. But, if this place is getting hit I can only imagine the fuckery we'll find in orbit." She slid her helmet on and hopped into the pilot's seat, seeing JJ was doing the same.

Now, with helmets on and canopies sliding shut, they could talk in normal tones through the mic. "We need to see what the hell is going on. We can come back if they need us to." Seeing his fighter was now at full capacity on the power levels he began to lift off. "Ascending now, let's get hoppin'!"

Money's fighter began to lift a few moments after Jackson's, and then they were side by side as they gained altitude, with the Major turning towards the beach. "Where are you going, Sir?"

"We gotta take a look. Last I saw there were civvies and kids down there." Angling his fighter for a better look down as they passed over the resort area Barnes could see absolute carnage, with green-skinned assholes running around trading fire with Starfleet personnel. There were civilian bodies scattered everywhere. A warning alarm began to sound off and Jack looked to a screen. "Incoming ground to air! Evade! Evade!" With practiced skill Barnes banked hard left while Money went hard right, and he could see she was angling to do a figure eight to confuse the tracking. The phase cannons began to try and track them as a hell storm of bolts flew passed their ships, some so close that Jackson thought he could smell the burnt ozone.

"We gotta climb, Major! Those are short range surface defenses!" Angling the nose of her fighter upwards Maney used her thumb to press the turbo button. All three of her engines put forth a massive flow of impulse energy as the craft immediately gained an excessive amount of speed and shot towards the stars. "Woohoo! Nothing like a rocket strapped to my ass," Shannon shouted gleefully even as she was pressed back into her seat by the G-forces.

Barnes had matched her maneuver, but stayed a distance away to confuse the gunners. After they began to climb the guns stopped firing from below and the two fighters broke atmo and began to see the black of space and the stars and planets beyond. "Ohhh, man. That was close."

It was Money's turn, her own board now lighting up with more targeting. "Seems we joined a new party, Jackson..." Her voice trailed off as she finally realized that their destination, the USS Amandora, was nowhere to be seen ahead of her. Lances of particle energy began to fire their way.

Both pilots used every trick in the book, up to and including, their anti-track devices which were shot out of the ventral side of the fighter. "We gotta find cover, or jump the hell outta here until we can get our shit together."

There was debris all over the place, massive chunks of superstructure that had been torn away from the orbital station by phaser fire and photon strikes. "Get into the flotsam. They can't track us and it will look like we ran." Ordered Barnes.

They did just that, both of them braking their craft hard and using the adhesion plates on their landing gear to attach to a flat section of orbital debris, which kept them angled from being physically seen from the base. "Sensors are picking up a warp trail, but it is fading. I don't see Amandora, so...what the hell?"

"No clue, Shan." Barnes had to think a moment. He looked over at her canopy and she gave him a nod and thumbs up, which he returned. "My sensors are telling me that all this debris and damage was caused by phaser particle weapons. But, who would attack this far into Federation territory?"

"Want me to contact Amandora, see if they know anything," asked Money.

"No!" Jackson answered, giving the answer in a clipped response. "We don't know what they're doing or where they are going. If we send messages it could hinder any tactical advantage for them." He wished he actually believed that, but something was telling him there was something very wrong here.

"Fuck it!" Money said. "I'm going, Major. You can come along or sit here and play dead."

"Where are you going?"

"To follow that warp trail, Sir. Amandora may need us and didn't have time for a recall." Shannon tapped her controls and her fighter powered up. "Well?"

It made sense to Barnes. Anything was better than playing dead. "Let's do this." He powered his own craft up, and when ready, they both detached and began to zoom through the debris to avoid any further fire. Once clear they locked onto the warp trail and set their own warp, jumping as soon as they were set.

OFF: