428: Frontier Justice

By LT. Commander Jack Hubbard
80722.13

-=Years ago, New Skagway Colony=-


Hubbard rushed to the site of the confrontation with the rest of his cycle. It was unthinkable that a group of their own had turned on some of the other settlers, and yet, here they were.

It was either some form of accelerated “cabin fever” or simply a power play by some of those settlers on the colony who had not been happy since the early days of the development of the project.

Hubbard was briefed on the way to the incursion that there were casualties, and they were bad-very bad. He fought off anger that children had been among the dead and dying and focused on what could be done with the materials they had available.

Anceera had been a thorn in the side of the Starfleet leaders since the colony’s inception. He was selected to join the colonization party begrudgingly by Starfleet, but had made the cut because of special favors owed, and an influential father. And now, Jack Hubbard was advised that Anceera had taken lives as part of a coup to take over the colony. A move that had no chance of succeeding without external assistance.

“What you’re saying is that we have the resources to overwhelm these instigators,” Hubbard finished saying as the news of the Cardassian support group was being relayed to them via comm. They had traveled to the site of the conflagration on foot, and now they were learning that a vessel had breached airspace, a Cardassian vessel, and at least a dozen Cardassians had beamed to Anceera’s stronghold. The odds had suddenly changed and Hubbard and his party now found themselves in the minority.

The New Skagway colony had been a small contingent and now with the arrival of the Cardassians, should everyone in the colony join in, all involved would find it an even fight.

Hubbard checked his phaser and added it to his side. This move drew looks from several of his party who didn’t know him well; after all, the whole colony party was just getting to know each other.

“A phaser, for a healer?” questioned one of the Lieutenants walking next to Hubbard.

“Would a dead healer do anyone any good?" questioned Hubbard in return.

The group was about to find out a great deal about Doctor Jack Hubbard, and Hubbard was about to learn about himself.

.............................

The rescue team made their way to the clearing near the mining encampment where Anceera had made his move and in the process had killed several of the colonists. The Lieutenant had the team spread out and converge slowly on the obvious altercation near the opening of the mine.

As they approached Hubbard could see a small girl, about nine years of age, screaming in agony. She was stranded in between the two groups, one being the coup group led by Anceera and the other being a small contingent of mining families, who were attempting to take cover from the phaser attacks. The miners had one small hand-held phaser and were sporadically returning fire on their attackers.

Near the injured girl was another younger girl, who was trying to comfort her. Hubbard continued to move, hoping to get to a vantage point where he could help the girl. As he continued on, he saw that two of Anceera’s henchmen were coming from their cover and descending upon the children.

That was when Hubbard broke from his cover.

It was a reaction no one on his team had anticipated, but Jack had no idea what to expect from the attackers who were moving on the girls.

Both of the men had phasers in hand and were moving quickly. As Jack took off at a dead sprint from the forested cover, he could hear the voice of the Lieutenant calling for him, but he neglected the call and ran ahead.

The attackers were several meters from the girls and closing in when they spotted Jack. At that point, Jack slowed his pace, stood erect and pulled his phaser; he leveled it and picked up one of the attackers closest to the girls. The men saw his medical kit and then...his phaser.

The closest attacker hoisted his phaser, and that’s when Jack fired, dropping him.

Hubbard continued toward the girls, phaser fire now coming from Anceera's location and ringing through the forest over Jack’s shoulders. He carefully took aim and beat the second attacker to the punch, sending him to the ground. Once the attackers had been dispatched by the stun setting, Jack continued to send fire back toward the other hidden attackers.

He kept moving and firing as the flashes of phaser fire continued in his direction. The scene was one of insanity, as Hubbard had no regard for his own safety.

The phaser fire had drawn attention away from the little girls and allowed him to move toward their location.

Finally, close enough to the girls, who were afforded some cover by an outcropping of rocks, he lowered himself and began attending to the one girl’s phaser burns. The girl was sobbing and clutching at her leg while the other girl was providing as much bedside manner as a seven year old could muster.

As he treated the injured girl he alternated his attention between her burned leg and the movements of Anceera’s people. Behind him, Jack could see his own detail changing positions and moving up and around the scene of destruction.

Soon Hubbard’s team had encircled the insurgent group, rendering them helpless after a few more moments of hectic phaser fire.

Hubbard had stayed with the two children and provided what comfort in the field that he could. The injured Bajoran girl had been especially brave, especially in light of the fact that her wound was ghastly looking, and had not been easily repaired -she had to overcome the shock of the traumatic incident. Hubbard had little patience for bullies, especially people that took advantage of children.

The dust having settled on the minor coup attempt, all of which was completely absurd, Hubbard was able to reunite the children with their parents. He then walked directly to the Lieutenant who was questioning Anceera, as two of his accomplices were being taken into custody.

The Lieutenant was in the midst of a standard line of questioning.

“Any others involved in the colony that we need to know about?”

Anceera was about to answer when Hubbard walked straight up to him and head-butted him to the ground, “You son of a bitch...you and I will have an understanding...”

The Lieutenant was aghast and was about to intervene when Hubbard leaned down to the fallen insurgent,

“The understanding is this. You will not prey on those smaller than you. If you do, you will answer to me. I expect no response, just obedience.”

With that, Hubbard flinched as though he were going to strike Anceera again, which caused the coup leader to recoil. Hubbard shot the Lieutenant a look and then moved on to check on members of the attacked party.

One of the Bajoran elders stepped forward to speak with Hubbard as he treated some scrapes on a woman’s elbow.

The elder asked Hubbard, “Tell me...is that standard operating procedure for Starfleet doctors?”

Jack smiled and without looking at the man, continued to treat the woman, “No my friend, that is colony diplomacy. He will not hurt you or those children again.”

The man was befuddled, “Will you get in some type of disciplinary trouble for your actions?”

Hubbard smiled at the woman he was now finishing healing and turned his attention to the man.

“Hippocrates might take a dim view of my actions, but sometimes you just have to do what’s right.”

Anceera looked across the dusty opening of the clearing as he was being led back to the colony proper. Hubbard’s eyes met his, and Jack flashed him a smile that spoke volumes.

.............

LT. Commander Jack Hubbard
CMO
USS Serendipity NCC 2012