by Mellice Cem and Salvek
91214.2200
After Thinning the Ranks
-=The forest on Sibalt=-
91214.2200
After Thinning the Ranks
-=The forest on Sibalt=-
The game had, up to this point, gone well. The Alchemy team was still strong, while the Sera team was down most of their forces. Still, something unsettled Salvek as he traipsed alone through the woods now. That something was the mysterious foe encountered by himself and Ryn.
Whoever it was had apparently vanished down a hole in the ground from which there was no escape. At least, not by any ‘legal’ means available to a competitor under the rules of this game. If one had access to a device such as a transporter, then escape would be simple. There was no doubt they were battling an adversary with technology that neither the Sera team nor the Alchemy currently possessed.
This foe also seemed to have no trouble using Sue Tenney as a decoy, knowing she would be eliminated from the game. That seemed to indicate that this person was working against both teams equally and not merely trying to undermine the Alchemy team.
The sky was darkening, and rain was threatening to fall at any moment. Salvek wondered if Micah Samson was having any success with his special assignment. If the ominous clouds approaching the Vulcan’s position were any indication, the answer was at worst no and at best not yet.
He paused and leaned against the trunk of a tree with particularly dense foliage to provide him with some cover from the rain. His feet were actually beginning to ache slightly from all the walking he had done. Salvek unscrewed the cap of his canteen and took a sip of water. He continually scanned the area around him in an almost robotic fashion.
Retrieving a small stick from the ground, he lifted a leg and examined the bottom of the shoe. It was completely caked in mud and small twigs, which was limiting his traction. He used the stick to chip the mud and muck out of the treads of the soles, knowing he would need his footwear at maximum efficiency for the rest of the game.
Now why was it, he asked himself, that the clouds had begun to gather here of all places and not anywhere else in the forest? It was relatively simple to the hidden Bajoran, he really wanted to see how the Vulcan reacted to not just his sniping but a sudden rain storm that was accompanied by a rather thick dense fog which was now just starting to roll into the area. Before Mellice made any kind of move he strapped onto his head the visual enhancement gear he had brought and switched the settings from regular vision to heat vision, taking the extra time he needed to calibrate them for Vulcan heat signature. *Like taking candy from a baby. * He thought, as the fog that rolled in got even thicker while the sound of thunder clapped several kilometers away.
*Time to go to work again. *
He took a few strafing shots off to the Vulcan's right, and then followed them up with a few over his left. Each time he fired his shots had intentionally missed to splatter on both nearby trees and the rocks he had found to blanket himself from any incoming fire. He noticed with satisfaction that Salvek had to duck lower in order to narrowly avoid a couple of his near misses. Things were going as planned. He ticked off his mental list of those he had taken out of the running: Crewman Halliday, Doctor Hartcort, Commander Paxton Briggs and finally Captain Zanh Liis. In all, one suspected he’d been the shooter while another knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was here making things very interesting for both crews. In time everyone would know he was here, at least in some small way.
Touching the controls to his transporter armband, he left his snipers nest and reappeared in another position near where the Vulcan was crouched down in hiding. The fog had gotten even thicker now, and Salvek could hear the first few raindrops begin to pelt against the foliage he was using to shield himself from the weather. Things were indeed getting interesting for ‘ole Logic boy’.
The Vulcan’s instincts told him the rain was no random event, but rather it was a masking agent, tailor made to distract his keen senses. He had little doubt his opponent was nearby now. He also surmised that he was completely overmatched. Whoever this was could control the weather, transporters, and most likely had other technologies at his disposal as well.
The study of these facts led Salvek to the conclusion that this person could eliminate him from the game, essentially at will. The fact that he had not meant that he was waiting for something, or wanted something. Amusement? Information? Salvek could not guess.
He had two options available to him. Keep his opponent at bay as long as possible, in the hope that he may learn about him by studying his actions, or surrender right now and demand an end to this charade.
Salvek chose the former, knowing the latter may buy him a splatter of paint on the chest, and nothing else. He took aim at a random point in the trees, and squeezed off several shots. It was purely misdirection. An attempt to make his opponent believe that Salvek thought he knew what he was shooting at. With any luck this might give his opponent a false sense of security.
The rain was really pouring down now, and the roar created by the sound of the wind and water rushing through the leaves left Salvek’s sense of hearing virtually worthless. The fog combined with rain running over his brow severely impaired his vision as well. His vision and hearing were the two most important senses for this exercise, and a calculated effort was underway to deprive him of both.
To Mellice, this all seemed too easy as he noted the Vulcan's shots going wide and off the mark. He knew these errors were intentional, meant to misdirect him but out here even the smallest distraction from the objective could spell a disastrous splatter of paint on him. Nothing too serious but it would also get him a few ribbing laughs from the rest of Starfleet's Sniper Corps. And that, he just couldn't allow.
Being one of the Corps top 5 snipers he had to keep that reputation untarnished and himself paint free in the process. No small task when dealing with this many marks at one time, thus why he was playing the head games with them. As Zanh had stated Mellice was like the Cheshire Cat, and he was living up to that name as he took a few more strafing shots off to the right and from behind Commander Salvek, only to then touch the controls to his transporter armband and rematerialize elsewhere.
One final shot just above his head was taken as he then touched the controls of his transporter armband and he dematerialized from this nest and rematerialize in another not too far away from Salvek.
“Why do you not just show yourself?” Salvek demanded. The cat and mouse game was growing more pointless by the second. Every time Salvek took cover, his opponent would simply transport to another place that made Salvek’s cover useless. Rethinking his earlier decision, he actually took his weapon and set it down, leaning against a nearby tree.
As soon as he did a figure, covered in camouflage, popped up from a hole in the ground. Salvek reached for his weapon, but a perfectly placed shot hit his gun, knocking it over. Salvek thought better of his decision to go for the weapon, and stood up straight.
“I can’t believe you’re a Vulcan. Someone at Starfleet has a sense of humor.”
“I beg your pardon?” Salvek asked, now looking directly down the barrel of the man’s weapon.
“The very idea that Starfleet would give someone like Zanh Liis a Vulcan for a first officer, its almost laughable.” The man lifted some of the cover from his face, and Salvek could tell from the ridges that he was Bajoran. That narrowed the possibilities of who this could be down to one of countless many the Captain had mentioned over the years.
“May I inquire as to how you know enough about the Captain to make the conclusion?”
“We served together on the Aries.”
Salvek searched his memory for a conversation; one that had taken place long ago on another vessel. They were sitting alone in the ship’s lounge, late at night. Salvek was just completing his duties in engineering, and Zanh Liis simply could not sleep. She was clutching a cup of coffee, to no one’s surprise, and telling Salvek of a man she had once had a fierce competition for a promotion with and how the failure of both of them to get that promotion had turned out to be an important thing for them both. “Then you must be Mellice Cem.” Salvek replied.
Nodding his head only once as the grin on his lips grew more. "You would be correct, Commander. The same one who gave Liis hell back then, is back to give her hell again, only this time in a far more entertaining way." This said as he then slowly lowered the rifle to his side on its sling. "I'm also a sporting man so let's say we make this interesting for the both of us. Last man standing wins this." He said, while touching the controls to his armband transporter and vanished before the Commander’s eyes. “Let's see how Commander Salvek deals with a challenge shall we?” Mellice said to himself in a whisper.
By the look on Salvek's face, he was clearly confused on what Mellice was up to. The man had him dead to rights and let him go but not before challenging him to a single battle of wits in this game. It was after Mellice had vanished that the fog and rain came to a stop. There was more to this meeting with the hidden rival than met the eye.
Salvek felt like he was being tested. He could only imagine that Mellice’s fascination with him stemmed from the Bajoran’s desire to answer the question, “What sort of man would Zanh Liis have as a first officer?” For that reason alone Salvek continued with Mellice’s game. He was not going to let him believe Zanh Liis had a quitter at her side.
Salvek spied a large fallen tree nearby and jogged over to it. The bark was quite stiff, which was exactly what he was hoping for. With the heel of his boot, he chipped some of it away, until he could get his fingers under the surface. He peeled at the bark until he had pulled about a one meter long by forty centimeter wide piece of it free.
With the barrel of his weapon, he created a small hole in the center and slipped his hand through. It was crude, and undersized, but Salvek had created himself a makeshift shield.
He spun as he heard the sound of paintballs launching, raising his shield and absorbing Mellice’s fire. Salvek then rolled to the side behind the nearest tree, and shot back at the Bajoran. He then waited for several moments, assuming Mellice would affect an escape to another area once Salvek had fired upon him.
Once he felt the way was safe, Salvek crouched low to the ground and made his way as quickly as he could to where Mellice had fired upon him moments before. There was another trench in the ground here, just like the one Mellice had used earlier to ambush Salvek and Ryn. He was clearly at a disadvantage, but could attempt to level the playing field by eliminating the Bajoran’s hiding spots as Salvek discovered them.
Keeping his shield raised for safety, he began kicking dirt, rocks, leaves, branches and anything else he could find into the small man sized hole. When he was done, there was no way Mellice could transport back into the hiding place, and there was one less angle Salvek had to worry about being attacked from.
There were more than just the trenches in the ground that Salvek had to worry about. Even with his bark shield he couldn't cover every angle the Bajoran had in this forest. From above he watched as the Vulcan filled in the trench he had been in. *Oh Commander, above you. *
He smiled as he took aim and began firing again. Paintballs pelted the ground around Salvek and his shield. He also moved in and out from between a few tree stands, continuing to take pot shots at him. Even as he fired on the shield as a distraction, Mellice was waiting for when the Vulcan's guard would either lower, or he got to a tree stand behind him to take the final shot.
In this game, timing was everything. As Salvek turned to his tree stand, Mellice was once more gone, reappearing in a new tree stand right behind the Commander. Mellice grinned and took careful aim. After this shot, he'd have to change out the CO2 tank and reload with a fresh one, a small task really.
He pulled the trigger and grinned as a blue splotch stained the back of Salvek’s uniform. Not saying a word, he then transported off to another section to see what kind of mischief he could find.
Salvek offered the empty forest the most sincere congratulations a Vulcan could, bowing his head to the now departed Bajoran in respect. “Well played.”
*I have a feeling we will be seeing much more of each other. * Salvek thought, as the Vulcan headed for the detention area.
When he reached his destination, the first person Salvek saw was Zanh Liis, who was sporting a matching blue paint splatter on her clothing. “I see you met my old friend.” She said to the Vulcan.
“You look lovely in blue, Captain.” Salvek answered, as he took his place beside her in the holding area.
Lieutenant (jg) Mellice Cem
Assistant Security/Tactical Chief
USS Revolution NCC-71605-A
&
Assistant Security/Tactical Chief
USS Revolution NCC-71605-A
&
Commander Salvek
First Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
First Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012