Rounding up Ringleader

Posted on Wed Jan 19th, 2022 @ 3:09am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Remal Kajun

Mission: Paranoia Nebula
Location: Bajor

If you could squint really hard, you may have been able to see 10 feet between the trees. She watched for movement as she moved forward. She was the prowler, they the prey. The firing had gone silent. They were now on the defensive, right where she wanted them. One confirmed down. One leader she felt was close enough to smell and two she knew went down but were they dead or just playing possum?

She heard Nozzies scream, meaning she had joined the hunt. The smile filled her heart to know they were together again, hunting an invisible enemy, just like the old days. Five feet now. A movement, a crunch of snow. Suddenly she was hit in the face by blowing snow, the winds had shifted.

There came a shout upon the wind, 'screw this, retreat!' and then a snow runner started its engine. Someone was trying to flee, but she had the position. Patin rushed forward without care, until the runner was within her sights and coming right at her. He saw her briefly and gunned the engine just before she swung the axe burying it in the runners engine.

The snow runner sputtered to a stop with it's stunned driver. He looked up to see her standing over him. "High ya." She said before punching him square in the jaw, knocking him off his ride and out of consciousness. Two confirmed down. Two to go.

Meanwhile Rhenora was on the hunt for the ringleader with more than a few questions on her mind to ask when she found him. Namely who was behind this whole charade and why? Why pick off members of the old resistance cells, people with unique skills and abilities forged through adversity that none of the young ones of today held.

She heard rather than saw Patin take out the other snowmobile - leaving Rhenora to take on the leader. She had a funny feeling that Patin would be close by, somewhere….waiting for the opportunity to take the goon down together. She cringed a little recalling Patin’s questioning techniques, there were more than a few broken bones involved there. If they wanted information - they would have to be careful.

As she suspected, a movement to her left gave her comfort that Patin was indeed close by, the goon was several meters in front of them, trying to bluff them out with stillness in the blizzard. Rhenora had an idea, lighting the fuse and giving away her position, but lobbing the explosive towards the snow mobile and neatly blowing it to pieces. There was nowhere for him to run now.

The explosion was strong enough and bright enough to redirect the winds. The blowing snow spit and then stopped briefly. Long enough for Patin and Rhenora to each see their target. He was scared and hiding behind a tree, a phase rifle in hand. Patin eyed Noz and knew she wasn’t going for the kill, but rather the entrapment. That meant disarming him.

She carefully judged the distance, she was closer than Noz, whom she guessed was planning something. Always an over-thinker that one. Patin, axe in hand moved up behind the tree, then using the axe as a containment bar she quickly wrapped it out and around him and pulled him into the tree, effectively pinning him and his rifle in an upright stance. The smell of urine hit the air and she guessed he had pissed his pants.

Grinning. Noz stepped up and around the tree to face the trapped man and get the answers she so longed for. Somewhere in the distance, one goon remained unchecked, but this was more important in the moment.

Rhenora wrinkled her nose in disgust at the smell before turning her attention to their target. She regarded him for an instant, letting him sweat about the thought of being bested by two mid 50s women in the snow.

"Tell me who sent you" Rhenora demanded as she reached forward to grab the phaser rifle.

His eyes pierced hers, “Why should I? I have nothing to lose!” He tried to spit in her face but the wind and the cold froze it upon his bottom lip instantly.

“ Because at the moment I’m the one holding the phaser rifle and my dear friend Patin here is holding a rather large axe. Do you care to reconsider?” The irony drooled in her words.

He simply looked up and away. Refusing to spill his information. If he talked, they would likely kill him, if he died, the secrets would be safe. He was willing to die for his cause.

Rhenora looked at the phaser rifle closely, as though inspecting the weapon and all its virtues. She flicked a couple of buttons then fired at his boot, blasting the leather from his foot and leaving his scorched toes in contact with the frozen ground “ Well that was interesting…. Now… frostbite can be very nasty… or I can try the next setting up, What do you think Patty?” There was a hard glean in her eye, would she kill him - probably not, but she would scare the hell out of him in the process.

He grimaced as the cold pierced his skin but then turned his face in defiance. “You won’t kill me. Your lot has too many moral and ethical rules. My guess is you need something from me, otherwise you wouldn’t have made the effort to capture me.” He saw the look in her face. “I’m right aren’t I? Well, I’ll tell you right now… I’m not talking.”

Patin was getting impatient and pulled the axe tighter. “Let’s just knock him out. I’ll take him to my shed. Play a little game. Ooh. Maybe I can introduce him to Buku. I’m sure that will loosen his tongue.”

“ Why don’t you cut his nuts off with that axe of yours and we’ll see how tight lipped he is then?” Rhenora retorted, trying to think of a way she could intimidate him into talking.

“Tempting. But in this cold, would be difficult to find them.” She mimicked a shrinking sound “Shlup, shriveled up inside.” Then she giggled at her own cringe worthy joke. “Besides, I really want to play with him a bit, see how I can make him squeal.”

He was squirming as they talked about the torture they were planning on inflicting, but he stood his ground. The brief training Faro had put them through had instructed him on the enemies tactics and how far they were willing to go. But there was always a line they would not cross. One he could exploit.

“ Oh well then… level up it is” Rhenora thumbled the control again, setting the beam to a painful but survivable setting. She aimed at his nether regions. “ Last chance there Mr Shrivel” Either you talk, or you never pee again”

It was too cold for tears, or they would have been streaming down his face. Out of nowhere a shot rang out, sizzling Patins hair, grazing her scalp. She turned, axe in hand, “Son of a Mother F***er!” And then she threw the axe at whoever had shot her. It landed with a thud, and a wheeze upon the wind. It was a reaction of self defense, but the axe drove home and goon number 3 lay bleeding to death in the snow.

The ringleader, such as he was, grabbed the rifle Rhenora was holding and pushed it down so if she fired it would miss. He had to think fast if he was going to get the upper hand. In the confusion he raised the butt of the rifle into Rhenora’s face though she maintained a tight grip. He then took and twisted it and her along with it, throwing her off her feet and into the snow.

It was at this point, he took control of the gun, but Patin grabbed him from behind with a mighty bearhug. He stumbled backward trying to shake her off, striking a tree behind them with Patins body taking the brunt of the blow. It hurt, but she was smiling through the pain. “That all you’ve got big boy. I’ve had bigger. You want me off, you gotta do better than that.”

Rhenora regained her footing, winded from the impact and the cold but able to shake it off within a few moments. She watched Patin take on the ringleader as her own vision cleared, trying to come up with a way to disarm him so the one armed bandit could teach him a lesson or two.

He had the rifle, but he couldn’t use it, not with his arms trapped and the gun pointed at the ground. He grunted, spied another tree, turned with Patin on his back and stepped backward into it, hard.

There was a loud snap. Patin let out an oof, and a grunt of pain, but did her best to suck it up. What she didn’t know was that there was a small broken branch now embedded into her rib cage. She squeezed harder, her arms maintaining their grip. She was holding out until either she or Rhenora could get the upper hand.

Whilst he was focussed on Patin his attention was not on the phaser rifle, he couldn’t dispatch both of them at the same time. With a lunge Rhenora surged forward, grappling with the phaser rifle and attempting to reef it out of his hands as his attention was divided. As she did, her thumbs changed the setting on the rifle to a stun setting.

Growing desperate, cold, tired and frustrated, he remembered a move Faro had shown him. He quickly stepped forward into Rhenora, then backward and doubled over, throwing Patin forward into Rhenora and the two of them into the snow. He then let out a chuckle, before aiming the rifle at them both and firing two shots each. He then cackled, his task complete as he lurched off into the cold and blowing winds.

TBC