11 - Gather the Troops
Posted on Fri Nov 1st, 2024 @ 6:13pm by Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Remal Kajun & Patin & Captain Rhenora Kaylen
Mission:
The Beginning of the End
Location: Bajor
Timeline: Current-ish
Bajor - Drakkar Province - Village
Captain Kira Nerys jogged into the village, wondering why it seems so quiet and empty. Had the Wraith cult converted them all to their cause? She looked around for the village temple, a modest building where the faithful would learn and practice their faith with the Prophets. Picking up her pace she headed for it and quietly peered in one of the windows. Breathing a sigh of relief that it was indeed still dedicated to the Prophets.
"The battle of the Wraith is upon us, I need your help to ensure the Emissary is born and safe" she threw open the doors of the darkened space and announced her presence. The assembled villagers murmured amongst themselves.
"The Ma and the Fa are under siege from those who believe the Pah Wraith are the true Gods of Bajor. If we do not act, the Emissary of the Prophets will die before it is born."
"And why should we help you, or them for that matter. Why stick our necks out for off-worlders?" A lowly voice answered back. He was a brash looking wiry fellow who had helped rebuild the cabin and cared for Remal like a brother in arms, but he was not prepared to lay down his life. Especially not on a whim or the word of the former Emissary's favorite right hand.
"Because they are of Bajor, and if you want to continue to worship the Prophets in peace and not die in a sea of Bajoran blood, you will heed my call." Kira said with authority in her voice. "The Wraith are coming to destroy everything we have worked to rebuild after the Occupation. There will be no peace, no joy, and no freedom. We've been their before, do you really want to go back there?" She challenged. "This child must be born, and protected. Right now they plan on killing all three of them during the birth. Who kills a family at their most vulnerable time?"
That got emotions rising, particularly amongst the women who felt deeply for the spiritual process of birth. To have that used against one of their own was not acceptable. "What do you need us to do?"
Even as they spoke a dull roar of cheering could be heard coming from the forest behind them. Their eyes widened. This was no exaggeration, this was war on their doorstep.
Now challenged to fight, the builder stood and moved to the back of the temple where a control panel provided access to environment controls and the bell tower. He pressed a series on controls and a moment later the Bells began ringing out the sounds of the Bajoran Resistance. It was an odd but fitting choice as it signaled a fight was at hand instead of the Bajoran theme song which would have had the opposite effect.
He looked at Kira and nodded, showing his respect. Not two minutes later, a neighboring temple's bells began ringing, and then another. "You wanted an army, now you'll have one."
Out in the streets, which were once quiet, one Bajoran after another spilled from their home, or a shop, into the street as they slowly made their way to the town center and the source of the bells. They waited on baited breath, anticipating the call to action and what it could possibly mean.
Kira stood on the steps of the Temple around where the villagers had assembled. Having swapped her Starfleet uniform for something that wouldn't stick out quite so much in the rustic Bajoran landscape.
"The last time these bells rang through the hills and valleys of Bajor it was a call to arms against the Cardassians. Now another wishes to take out liberty and freedom from us!" Kira started, her voice ringing loud and clear over the crowd. "The Pah' Wraith will use their army to attack the cottage by the water, tonight, and plan to kill the Prophet's new Emissary before it is born. If that happens all of Bajor will burn with a fury we have never seen before. We MUST protect the child and ensure its safety!"
The crowd murmured amongst themselves, wary of involving themselves in another fight for survival. Many of them knew Remal, they knew Rhenora less but she was his and therefore family. Family was worth protecting. For months now they could feel the tensions on the planet rising, yet most had dismissed the rumors as something happening far away. Their faces showed their anger and held the lines of age and apprehension. What they were waiting for was a leader to follow.
Kira waited for the rumbles around the assembled villagers to reduce before continuing. "Come, take whatever arms you have, and let us fight for our freedom, fight for our future, and fight for those who can't fight for themselves!"
The crowd gathered close, taking up what arms were available, the literal angry mob with the proverbial pitch forks and torches. It had taken some convincing and coercing but there were now hundreds of angry Bajorans ready to march upon the enemy. At approximately 8:45, they began a forward movement into the hills and the trees beyond the village. The fight was coming to the cabin.
TBC
John Donne "For whom the bell tolls"
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
Captain Rhenora Kaylen
Commanding Officer, USS Sunfire
Commander Jenna Ramthorne
Chief Flight Control Officer & Mission Advisor, USS Sunfire
Remal Kajun
Counselor Aide, USS Sunfire
Husband of the Captain
Played By Commander Jenna Ramthorne
Patin
Friend of the Captain, USS Sunfire
Played By Commander Jenna Ramthorne
