Invesigating the Wire

Posted on Fri Mar 21st, 2025 @ 6:58pm by Captain Johnathan Reece & Captain Vilhelmina Nimitz & Captain Gaagii & Captain Samuel Hunt & 1st Lieutenant Volodymyr Kovalenko

2,800 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: The Campaign for Coridan
Location: Coridan
Timeline: MD 13 - 1600 Hrs

The Motor Pool of Camp Lambda was a hub of activity. Various Large trucks and rovers lined the road. In the distance, MACO F-76 Thunderbolt aircraft and shuttlecraft taking off and landing.

On the field, a MACO Panther MRAP was stationed, being checked over by engineers and mechanics. Loading gear into the back was First Lieutenant Volodymr Kovalenko. Putting his engineering gear into the back. He checks over his rig and weapons while waiting for the Captains to arrive.

Johnathan was next to arrive, walking with one of his NCOs, talking about the mission. "...you and Sgt Miller will man the weapons on the MRAP, giving us cover as we check the sensor."

"Aye, Captain." The young sergeant replied. He then moved off to go collect Sgt Miller.

Johnathan reached the MRAP and nodded to Kovalenko. "How're we looking?"

“We’ve got the gear stowed. My engineering crew are aboard. Spare sensors on the roof should we need to replace the one on the wire. Still waiting on Captain Nimitz though.”

The young Ukrainian responded to the newly appointed Captain.

Johnathan nodded approvingly. "Good job. When we get moving, I want you up on the turret." As he finished speaking, he saw Nimitz and her dog approach. He turned yo greet them with a polite smile.

Nimitz and Bruno came walking up. "Sorry I am late gentleman." She said with a smile.

"Captain Nimitz!" A voice calls out as a rover pulls up near to the MRAP. Stepping out was the Colonel, walking over to the group.

"May I have a moment?" He asks professionally.

"Yes sir." Nimitz said as she snapped to attention.

"At ease, before ya sprain something" Josiah said.

"I want you to know, that Captain Reece's appointment to the Detachment XO slot is in no way reflective of your service. Your service has been above and beyond and I hope that you continue to excel in your role as Bravo Platoon Commander. I am also recommending you for the MACO Commendation Medal with V device for your actions in taking the field"

Nimitz dropped into an eased stance. "No worries about my being upset about not becoming the Detachment XO, sir. He has the needed skills at this time." She stated. "Thank you for the recommendation, sir."

Josiah nods. “You more than earned it, Captain. You and Bruno both. Have Captain Reece radio in when y’all get to the wire. I don’t like having blind spots in our perimeter.”

"Yes sir, I'll let him know when he arrives." Nimitz said.

"Good Hunting Captain." Josiah says, giving the young captain a formal salute.

"Thank you sir." Nimitz said as she returned the salute.

Josiah nods, and watches as the MRAP departs from the front gates and out into the field of Coridan.


===A Short While Later===

After the team left the C.P. (Command Point), Johnathan had them head to the north section of the line first. "Nimitz, you and Sergeant Holloway will start at the norther operational sensor. I want you two to work south along our line towards the silent sensor. Myself and Sergeant Bulger will start at the southern point and work our way north, meeting you two in the middle. I'll have the MRAP move to a point between us, after both teams are dropped off."

"Yes, sir. Start at the Northern sensor and travel South along the perimeter." Nimitz confirmed her orders.


Johnathan nodded as he listened to Nimitz acknowledge his orders. Once she had, he turned his attention to the Sapper. "Volodymr, once the MRAP gets back to the center point, I want you to set up a defensive position, about 50 meters back from the line, with you firing arc centered around where the silent sensor is supposed to be. If you see any unfriendly. You are to light them up immediately."

Volodymr looks up from his PADD at the Captain, nodding. "With respect, sir, wouldn't my skills be better suited in repairing the sensor?" Volodymr replies, respectfully.

Johnathan paused, quietly feeling a little stupid for not thinking it through before he spoke, nodded as he replied. "You are correct. However, you are not to approach the sensor until both Nimitz and myself have met up in the middle. I'm not going to allow those damn Romulans the chance to pick us off one by one."

Volodymr nods. "Understood, Sir." He picks up his rifle, clicking it to charge ready as the MRAP stops at the first checkpoint.

"Chalk One with Captain Nimitz! On the bounce" Volodymr calls out and four MACOs respond with resounding "Hoo-Rahs" waiting to follow the Captain out of the MRAP and into the field to take position.

"Remember, keep your heads down," Johnathan spoke levelly. Too many of his brothers and sisters had already fallen to the Romulan scourge. "If you are engaged, send up the flare. Reinforcements can get to your location withing a minute."

After Nimitz and her team finished exiting the vehicle, the hatch closed, and the MRAP took off to the next drop off point, two kilometers south.

Once they arrived, Johnathan grabbed his weapon and stood. "Chalk two, on me!" He started out the vehicle, then stood cover for his troops to exit. Once they were out, he looked back inside. "You know what to do. See you in a little bit." He nodded to Volodymr, as he pressed the controls to close the hatch. He then turned and led his team towards where the southern sensor was located.

"Good Hunting Captain. Chalk 3 on me!" The MRAP took a few moments to get to the down sensor was, the doors open and Volodymr lead his chalk to take up position before heading down to the sensor itself.

"Sargeant, let's get guns on the perimeter." The sargeant nodded, fanning out his men as Volodymr took position.

"1-1, this is 1-3. In position, how copy?"

=/\=1-3, this is 1-1. Good copy, over. We are inbound to your location, eta, ten mikes. How copy, over?=/\=

"Solid Copy." Volodymr replied and held his ground. Pulling out a pair of electrobinoculars, he observed the downed sensor relay tower. He could see damage to the tower, but what caused it was a mystery.

A few moments later, Johnathan and his team started to approach from the south. After offering the call sign, then getting the correct counter sign back, they stepped out of the darkness. "Report," he said quietly to Volodymr.

"From my observations of the tower, it looks like something cut the sensor lines. I'll need to do an inspection of the relay before making a definitive conclusion on what caused the malfunction." Volodymr reported calmly as he continues to scan the horizon line.

Johnathan nodded as he listened. Then, looking north, he was surprised that Nimitz and her group hadn't made it here yet. Activating his comm unit, he spoke into it. "Reece to Nimitz, what is your status, over?"

There was silence on the other end.

"Nimitz! Come in! What is your status, over?"Johnathan was starting to get a bad feeling here.


TAG Nimitz

"Captain, with permission, I want to make a visual inspection of the relay, see if I can't get it back up and running." Volodymr requested of the Captain.

Looking over at Volodymr, Johnathan was hesitant to split the team up more, given that they seemed to have lost contact with Nimitz and her team. However, he knew that the mission had to be accomplished. Nodding, he replied, pointing to several MACOs that were standing in the area. "Permission granted. Hurley, Muktahr, Carr...go with him. Keep your damn eyes peeled!"

"Aye, Captain." Volodymr nods, picking up his rifle, he leads the group down from their position. Racing across the expanse towards the beacon at a run.

It took them a few minutes to get there but once at the beacon, Volodymr had the three spread out to cover him while he examined the relay tower. The panel looked cut, like someone took a knife to the relay.

"Captain Reece, the relay been sabotaged! It's been cut through clean..." Volodymr was caught off guard by the impact of a plasma bolt nearly over his head.

"сука!" He cursed as he dropped to the deck, rifle in hand.

"Taking small arms fire!"

More shots rang out. Volodymr ears twitched. It wasn't Romulan disruptor fire he was hearing, the pitch was too high. It sounded more like the issued plasma rifles that Starfleet Security forces used.

Friendlies inbound! Johnathan's shout could be heard over Volodymr's comm unit. As the firing continued, Hurley was hit and vaporized in a scream of agony.

"They're using Plasma Shooters. Don't think these are Romulans! Can anyone get eyes on their postions?"

Volodymr called into his comm unit as he lifted his rifle and returned fire. Bolts of blue flying from his rifle down range to where he thought the shots were coming from. The fire from this new enemy was heavy, and deafing.

Suddenly, the enemy fire was forced to pause briefly, when from right behind Volodymr, Johnathan stroke forward, firing a punishing stream of energy from his gatling cannon. "Report!" He shouted as he moved closer to Volodymr.

"They're not Romulans, Sir!" Volodymr looked at Jonathan as he came up behind him.

"Then who the hell are they?!" Jonathan shouted over the cacophony of weapons fire. "Get on the horn with command, see if we have any friendlies down range!"

Volodymr ducked under cover, clicking his comm unit.

"Overlord, Reaper 1-3 How Copy?"

It was a tense few seconds before Josiah came over the comm.

"Reaper 1-3, go for Overlord."

Volodymr passed the comm over to Jonathan.

"Overlord, Sir!"

Johnathan ceased firing and quickly got behind cover as he too the comm unit. "Overlord, Reaper here! We are at the damaged sensor location, currently under fire from unknown forces! Their weapon discharges seem to be identical to friendlies! Are there any friendly units downrange from this location?!"

At the command tent, Josiah had a look of confusion as he looks over the tactical plot table.

"Shouldn't be anyone out there but you. You saying we got Friendlies in your A.O, over?"

Back on the line, Johnathan had to attempt to tuck away as the opposing fire had resumed its intensity after ge gad stopped firing. "Their weapon discharge seems to be of the same plasma makeup as ours, however, their intent seems very focused on ending us! Requesting artillery strike, emp rounds..." he quickly checked his tricorder, then shouted back into the comm unit. "...five hundred, thirty-seven meters east of my location! How copy, over?!"

It was another tense few seconds.

"Negative, Reaper, all long range artillery currently engaged. Interrogative: are you in a position to capture a hostile and bring 'em in for questioning?" Josiah inquired.

Johnathan grimaced, but didn't voice his feelings on it. He knew that the entire front was full of action. "Understood, regarding artillery, Overlord!" He then paused as he considered his commanding officer's question, then he shook his head as he responded. "Negative, Overlord! Am missing Reaper 1-2 and unit currently! We can hold the line, but, short of taking unacceptable losses, am unable to proceed as you asked, over!"

“Copy. I am scrambling Reaper 4 to you now. Captain Gaagii and Captain Hunt will be on station in 1-0 Mikes”

Gaagii made his way through the terrain with little to no problems. This sort of movement was right up his alley. As they approached the area where Captain Reece was he turned to Hunt. "Do you have Captain Reece in the sights? Looking to see if there is a quicker way for us to get over there."

Taking a quick look through the binoculars, Hunt put them down. "Spotted Captain Reece just over the ridge. 3 mikes out."

Gaagii took stock of what they had which was not much. There was little to nothing to cover their advance. He exhaled sharply through his nose. "Right Captain stay with me we are going to move fast and light straight through. Keep your eyes open as we will cover each other. If we move quick we can cover the distance in a matter of minutes. Are you ready?"

Hunt brought his weapon up at the ready. Odds are they were fixing to get shot at halfway through this run. But that was indeed the life of a MACO.
"Let's do this."

Gaagii opened a comm channel. "This is Captain Gaagii to Captain Reece. We are closing on your position. We are just below the ridgeline, 3 mikes out. Coming in fast and hot."

"Roger that, Reaper 4!" Johnathan replied, as he laid down a punishing stream from his minigun. "Haul your asses! Over!"

With the closing of the channel, Gaagii nodded to Hunt and took the lead over the ridge. He fired his weapon in three second bursts. First to his left, then to his right, then center. This was done not to hit any enemy in particular but to keep the enemy guessing and lay down cover fire so they could make the target of Captain Reece.

Firing off a few shots, Hunt began moving as well. The next few minutes were spent as the two men moved closer and closer to their destination. By the way they moved one would think they had been training together for this moment for quite some time. Reaching near the end of their run both took a knew in a defensive position.

"Right, this is the final ridgeline. I am going to lay down the cover fire and I want you to reach Captain Reece's position. Once there the two of you will cover my charge up the hill." Gaagii shouldered his weapon and turned up the power a small amount. He also widened the confinement of the weapons. The idea now was to make the enemy believe that more than one person fired from Gaagii's position. Once Hunt was ready Gaagii opened fire.

Samuel took a deep breath, looked and nodded. Out of nowhere he took off running at top speed as the other Captain covered him. A few shots came his way, but for the most part, he was protected by cover fire which kept the enemies head down. A few moments later, he dived in next to Reece. "Captain Reece I presume."

Johnathan saw the two officers coming and made sure they were covered. As Captain Hunt landed hard by his feet, he lwr loose another withering stream of phaser fire, before ducking back down under cover. "Welcome to the party, Sam!" He shouted over the firefight. He then looked at Captain Gaagii and nodded. "Glad to have both of ya with us!"

Gaagii charged up the hill stopping only to take a couple of shots in either direction. He did not aim these were shots to cover his charge. When he arrived he shouldered his weapons briefly. "I believe the saying is that the cavalry is here."

"Damn right," Sam shouted. "Are these guys Romulans are someone else?"

Johnathan laid down some more heavy fire, before dropping back under cover and replied. "Unknown. All I know is that they are using our own weaponry at us."

More unknowns appear in the distance, at least one "brave" fool pops up and starts to charge towards the MACOs. He was either brave or foolish, but it did give the MACOs a chance to possibly grab him or at least get a better look at the kit they were sporting.

Quickly popping, Samuel fired off a shot that knocked the individual over who rolled not to far from them. "Got to be thankful for damn fools."

Johnathan grunted an acknowledgement, as he rose and let off another stream of devastating phaser fire. As he did do, he sent out three of his men to get the knocked down enemy troop. Unfortunately, as soon as they reached him, there was a massive explosion, vaporized all four individuals.

"Holy shit!" The big Texan swore aloud. "The bastards choose to go suicide bomber, instead of being captured?! I really am starting to hate these Romulans!"

"Just wish I can see the looks on their faces."

"You and me both!" Johnathan replied, as he laid down another brutal barrage of fire from his gatlin phaser.

After a short, but fierce firefight, the enemy finally withdrew, and the team got the sensor repaired. Then, after capturing one of the enemy, who had been using apparently stolen Starfleet weapons, they moved back to the CP, Johnathan giving them cover as they moved.

~OFF~


Captain Johnathan Reese
MACO Raider / MXO
Unicorn NX-151
MACO Special Operational Detachment - Alpha

&

Captain Gaagii
Chief Strategic Intelligence Officer
Unicorn NX-151

&

First Lieutenant Volodymr Kovalenko
MACO Officer
Unicorn NX-151

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