Location: Akritirian Colony 'New Enterprise'
The colony could best be described as a boom town. Even though, the Akritirians were quite advanced as a society, shuttles flying everywhere, ground vehicles of a dozen designs, power aplenty, etc; the colony itself was an assortment of temporary prefab structures, little more. It had the setup of an industrial processing plant on one end, with holding facilities for Raeldra not too far away. Most of the temporary businesses were in the center of town and the residences worked out from there in a C formation. Most importantly the animal processing plant was downwind. The framework of a 12 foot containment fence could be seen near the edge of town. It was old school, not a force field fence. Instead, solid fencing blocked the view of the topography beyond. There were coils of barbed wire at it's top and a sentry or two could be spotted, if you looked really close.
As Roquel stood there, some raucous Akritirians came out of a bar, laughing. They sounded as though they'd had a lot to drink. Each wore a sidearm and a hat to ward off the day's son, since there were few trees in the area. No true roadway had been built. The streets were just packed earth. "This isn't quite what I expected." The Risian admitted.
Jillido exited the ship with Zeno glad to be out of the ship hoping he could find work he was really a part of their crew yet and not sure he would be unless it pays.
Zeno looked around. He had never seen such a rustic outpost. The metropolis he came from even in it's worst days of decay never looked like this. "I never realized advanced organic beings still lived such a basic lifestyle."
Icmod gazed around. The archaic look of the colony had him in awe. "It's quite a quaint little place isn't it. What were you expecting?"
"Well I don't know!" Roquel said, a little more miffed sounding than intended. "Just not..." She gestured in several directions with both hands. "Just not this! I guess."
"Well we might as well take a look around. Pelira was kind enough to invite us down." Icmod continued to look around. He had to remind himself that wasn't in an old western.
Jillido looked around this might interest the syndicate.
"Welcome to New Enterprise!" A well-dressed Akritirian called to the group. "Our little home away from home among the natives."
Icmod stepped forward. "Hi there. We're from the Albatross. What's there to do around here?"
Pelira, the settlements leader approached them. "Depends on what you like to do. Of course, we've got a good selection of modern conveniences, but there's always the bar, the brothels for the men." He reconsidered. "Or women, I suppose. There's also a Raeldra busting competition scheduled for tonight." He looked at them askance. "Have you ever seen a Raeldra?" He waved his own silly question away. "Of course not, they're indigenous to New Enterprise and in sum, truly the only reason we're here!"
"Raeldra?" Icmod asked. He had seen many grand sights in his day. He was always up for broadening his horizons. That was what he loved most about the DQ, the feeling of being on the frontier.
"They are large majestic creatures with large forward swooping horns." The awe of them was obvious in his voice. "We hunt them, you know." He gestured with a backhanded flip toward the fence line. "Out there on the plains; in the forests. The locals say they have an indomitable spirit, and they do, during competition you can feel it. It's quite exhilarating how they project."
"So what do the natives think about the colony and the hunting?" Icmod asked. He hadn't seen any evidence of the local inhabitants. "Most colonies seem to have trouble settling with locals."
"What do the natives, think?" Pelira scoffed. "Does it matter?" He waved it away as a ridiculous thought. "And as to settling with them, there's nothing they can do. The Raeldra are here. WE are HERE." The statement was made with such firmness of conviction that there was no arguing with it; at least not to Pelira, at least.
"So what the heck is a Raeldra busting competition consist of?" The XO was eager to get out of the sun. There seemed to be a lack of good shade and the hats that the colonists wore looked more and more appealing.
The Akritirian grabbed the collars of his vest and gave a forward tug. "A Raeldra busting competition is a chance for Akritirians to face the beast on its own terms. There are no force fields, no stun weapons. We enter an arena with little more than ropes and our wits!" His voice rose in excitement, volume, and speed of speech. "Oh it's 3 on one, but it must be! Raeldra are marvelous fighters, but we wear them down and eventually the Raeldra is tied up and bled upon the field with a swift stroke of a blade, the one and only time it is allowed in the event."
At this description, the corner of Zoss's mouth twitched. Only those who knew him personally would understand how annoyed this description made the Jem'Hadar.
"That's brutal!" Roquel expressed after a moment's hesitation and held breath.
"Not at all." Pelira dismissed. "They are majestic but an animal. We demonstrate our superiority over them this way." He laughed boisterously. "And then we feast on the best MEAT in the galaxy!" It looked that his mind had drifted far away for a moment, but then he returned it to the group. "Do come tonight. Really, you must." But an afterthought occurred to him and he sobered quickly. "It can be difficult for first timers though, I warn you."
Icmod gave a halfhearted smile. He wan't too enthused about the event but knew it would be rude to refuse the offer. "Well I would be interesting in going I guess. What do you guys think?"
Ill try anything once Jillido said.
Roquel looked at both of them. She definitely had misgivings, but this job had been her idea, and the last thing that he wanted to do was destroy the ambiance of the location. They might all New Enterprise fondly, if they just gave it a chance. "Is there anything I should know before we do this?"
"Raeldra project their senses." Pelira explained. "You can never quite brace yourself for the flood of it all."
~Suck it up! You'll have fun!~ Roquel told herself. After all, she had been scared of what the humans called 'roller coasters' once upon a time. Now it was her favorite thrill ride. She put a brave smile on, but despite that, she slid her hand into Icmod's for comfort and reassurance.
"Just give us a time and location." Even if no one else would go, Icmod took it as his duty as XO of the Albatross to attend.
"Excellent!" Pelira said slapping his leg with excitement. "In the meantime, get settled in at the inn and come down for dinner and drinks. On me."
Pelira I think will get long wonderfully Jillido said
Turning his head, the Zoss made a show of intensely scrutinizing a nearby gatepost to avoid showing his face to Pelira. Zal began wandering up to the various livestock in the pens and touching them.
At once, there was an explosion against the outside wall of the east gate, but it didn't breach it. Pelira's visage became hard, anger filling every nuance. "Damned Vegones!" He cast a look around until he found a small group of Akritirians seated at a small table in front of a small establishment. He yelled loudly to them. "They're at it again! Drive them off and secure the gate!"
The trio bolted from their seats. Two of them pulled holstered sidearms. The third grabbed a longer one that had been leaning against a post. "Yes, sir!" As one, they tore off toward the wall.
Roquel was totally shocked. Ten minutes down and it was already dicey. "What's going on?"
"Nothing to worry about, my dear." Pelira said, raising her free hand and kissing it gently. "I have to go, but come to the show tonight. The rest of this will sort itself out."
"Seems they have not fully tame these inhabitants yet," Jillido noted
As Pelira walked away. Icmod turned towards his crew. He looked at the two Jem'Hadar members. He was now glad they had decided to beam down with the rest of the group. "Zoss you and Zal see if there is anything you can do to help."
"Right away, sir." Zoss gestured for Zal to follow and together the two shrouded and took off.
"The rest of us should find some cover in case something goes wrong." Icmod looked towards Roquel and then scan his eyes over the rest of the crew. "Follow me."
Despite her wish decision to take this job, Roquel was definitely worried. Things were not right here. She'd seen things like this in the past. Whenever cultures at different levels of development clashed, the more advanced one nearly always dominated. It was her opinion that the Vegones and the Akritirians were playing out that age old truth, much to the dismay of the Vegones.
She looked to the wall. It seemed they were fighting back. It also seemed that they would probably lose.
Several Akritirians went by with energy weapons at a fast run. Roquel lowered her head as if it were weighted. She shook it and sighed. "Right behind you."
Zoss and his son had reached the perimeter wall within ten minutes from the first explosion. There were gangs of armed colonists rushing to and fro from the wall with no visible organization or purpose of movement. The Albatross's security chief decided against shrouding in this crowd, as bumping into a colonist would be far more difficult to explain than just walking around as a Jem'Hadar.
The walls of the settlement were flimsily constructed at best and had a feeling of being a pre-fab structure rather than a solid defensive bulwark. Zoss could see the entire structure shake as something impacted the defensive perimeter from the other side. It was a credit to the manufacturers of the prefab structure that the whole edifice was still in one piece.
Ignoring the colonists' confused looks, Zoss and Zal bounded up to the ledge for the defenders to shoot over and gazed over the parapet.
They saw small flashes of grey as the attackers dodged between pieces of local vegetation, expertly dodging the defending colonists' phaser fire. The low-powered phaser rifle blasts were met with a barrage of coconut-like projectiles that exploded with surprising force upon contact with the barricade. The hardened shells fragmented outwards in a manner reminiscent of howitzer shells used in European Battlefields on ancient Earth, sometimes exploding in midair above the barricade, causing grievous injuries to the unlucky few caught below.
Zoss winced as a shell fragment bounced off his toughened hide. He ducked behind the nearest barricade and grabbed a colonist by the front of his shirt.
"Who leads the defense here?!" He demanded.
"Hell if I know!" The Human male replied after getting over his initial shock of being grabbed by a Jem'Hadar. "When these varmints start hollerin' fer a scrap, we's usually jus' keep shootin' till they skedaddle! They don' stick around this long normally!"
Tossing the Human aside in disgust, Zoss drew his phase carbine from his holster and beckoned for his son to do the same. The father/son team cranked their power settings to max and together took aim at a nearby native tree. They both fired in unison and vaporized the tree and ignited the surrounding foliage. Several natives were thrown clear of the blast and several more took off in a panicked run as their clothes were set ablaze by the heat.
There was a pause in the fighting as the combatants stopped to process what just happened.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Zoss roared at the colonists. "CONCENTRATE FIRE ON THEIR COVER! DENY THEM COVER!"
The mixed band, mostly Akritirians but with a few humans peppered in, seemed to take well to the leadership. They aimed for anything that the Vegones might use for cover and let loose.
Under a blistering barrage of fire, the protection shredded in front of the Vegones, and they fled in twos and fours until there wasn't anyone left. Severeal Akritirians took the opportunity to cut them down as they ran. "That's the way to do it, boys!" One shouted to another. That'll teach them for interfering with our business!"
Zoss blew the smoke off the muzzle of his carbine and holstered it. He shook his head in disgust at the colonists and he gestured for Zal to follow. Several colonists made to talk to Zoss and his son, but the pair quickly shrouded and walked off.
=/\= Icmod, this is Zoss. Do you read? =/\= The Jem'Hadar said as he took Zal into an alleyway with lower foot traffic. =/\= There are natives on this planet. Sentient and definitely intelligent. They attacked the perimeter defense but were repulsed. These colonists are undisciplined and lack a coherent defense force and equipment. I'm surprised they're still around. =/\=