Chapter 42 Assault on the Control Room Part 1
Four columns of light appeared on the planet Tolochon 2.
"Munro to Enterprise we're preceding to the mission objective."
"Understood Lieutenant." Replied Picard
"Telsia to Munro, during our attack we sustained heavy damaged to our port nacelles from the anti-spacecraft batteries. Our power levels are fluctuating. Sydney feels she can compensate but we don't know for how long." Said Telsia
"You've done all you can Telsia, get your team back to the Enterprise." Replied Munro
A single Romulan stepped around a corner and shot at Chell. Korban immediately returned fire but the Romulan had already disappeared around the corner. Chell's shields took the hits and were recharging. The team moved on down the slope to a larger area. There was a tower with a sniper in it. The sniper took a shot at Chell, whose shields drained completely and punched through the armor. The Chief put a battle rifle burst into the sniper killing her.
"Munro to Enterprise, evacuate Chell."
Chell disappeared in blue light.
"They will pay." Said Korban.
The team moved on around large rocks and smalls lakes and rivers of lava, taking out any Romulans they encountered. A basher popped out of a nearby river as Munro grabbed a Romulan weapon. He fired the secondary mode and a large burst of radiation hit the beast killing it in a single shot. It also drained a fifth of the weapon's energy.
"Looks like this thing spits out radiation, even a few seconds of exposure kills Romulans but it would take several bursts to kill Exomorphs or just one from the secondary mode. I'd better keep this in reserve." Said Munro
They moved ahead and took out some other Romulans including a couple of grenadiers. Then they saw an entrance with a large door, tower and ledge. The Chief took out a pair of snipers in the tower but took cover when two grenadiers from the ledged tossed plasma grenades. (Not Covenant, but Romulan Plasma.) He popped out from cover and took out one of the grenadiers but the other sought cover before he could shoot again. But the Chief merely waited for the grenadier to pop back out and put a round in the Romulans skull. He raked the bolt on the sniper rifle initializing the four-round replication sequence which took about two seconds. The team moved on to the now open door.
"Chief! Snipers on the ledges and in the towers ahead. Take cover!" Said Korban
The Chief and Munro both jumped behind a large boulder but before Korban could move a sniper blasted him to the ground. Korban groaned.
"Perhaps today would be a good day to die…" he said
Munro crouched next to him as the chief popped out from cover next to him and took out a sniper on the ledge then three more in the pair of towers ahead. He triggered the replication sequence again and was ready to go.
"Maybe tomorrow Korban, today you're going back to the Enterprise." Said Munro hitting his combage "Enterprise, Korban has been hit get him out of here."
"I refuse! Munro!" yelled Korban as he disappeared from the planet's surface.
Munro and the Chief continued on deeper into the facility. While outside the Chief stayed with the sniper rifle with Munro covered him with a battle rifle or assault rifle. They took out half a dozen Romulans before they had to jump across a pool of lava and take out three more. Two more grenadiers threw grenades at the two until the Chief took them both out. Munro used his tricorder to modulate a console which opened a door leading into a cave. But before they could enter it a quadruped burst from the wall on the right and began firing at them. Munro and the Chief switched to heavy weapons and put a quartet of quantum rockets into the beast. However two of them simply bounced off. The creature activated some kind of shielding which repelled projectiles both kinetic and energy-based. Fortunately it wasn't on all the time. The Chief and Munro began throwing plasma grenades which stuck to the beast and exploded. It took twenty grenades but they eventually killed the beast.
The two men proceeded into the cave and cleared it of Romulans. They exited the cave just as a rock slide blocked the way in. The main complex was ahead. Munro eased around the edge of a boulder…then ducked back in as a sniper took a shot at him. "4 snipers in 2 towers at 11 and 2 o'clock and a pair on the ground." Said Munro
"Got it." Replied the Chief
He activated his active camo and stepped around the corner. Munro popped out from behind cover and put a pair of bursts into the two Romulans at ground level then ducked behind the boulder as a sniper opened up on him. The Chief aimed at the two snipers at 11 o'clock and fired once, moved to the left two meters and fired again. He fired again at the snipers in the 2 o'clock tower. He moved back to the right to avoid the last sniper and shot him as well. He deactivated his camo and reloaded the rifle.
Two more Romulans beamed in at ground level but were quickly killed by the Chief and Munro. Before they could enter the facility however an extremely large Exomorph rose up from behind the main walls.
"Well this is new…and scary." Said Cortana.
The large creature began firing at the two men on the ground with a pair of 'lasers' and some kind of projectiles. Munro and the SPARTAN returned fire with a quartet of rockets and wounded the hovering creature. They reloaded while avoiding the return fire of the creature and put another quartet of rockets into it. This only angered the creature but after one more pair of rockets from Munro the creature sputtered and died, falling to the ground.
In space two Romulan Warbirds decloaked in front of the Enterprise.
"Federation vessel, you have violated the treaty by entering the Neutral Zone." Said one of the Romulan commanders.
"We entered under emergency conditions. We intend to destroy an Idryll doomsday weapon called the Master Control Facility." Replied Picard
"Explain yourself."
"We're transmitting data about the weapon…and about an attempted coup within the Romulan government called the Empty Crown." Continued Picard
"Exomorphs…very interesting…but I have no fear of doomsday weapons in the right hands."
"Only if your loyalty to war is greater than your loyalty to your people. This doomsday weapon destroyed the last empire that tried to wield it."
"Just because the Idryll couldn't control it doesn't mean we can't…could it be that the great Captain Picard is finally afraid?"
"Afraid? Yes I'm afraid! I fear for the Romulan people if you allow the Empty Crown to control the Empire."
"I see…Commander Suldock reports that this 'Master Control Facility' has no military purpose."
"I suggest you test his veracity and his loyalty. Investigate the facility."
"Very well. I will beam a team down to investigate your claims, but if you are wrong Picard. You will have to answer for your incursion into the Neutral Zone."
"And if I'm right, you will have a difficult decision to make." Said Picard as the channel closed, he then contacted Munro and the Chief on the ground.
"Chief, Lieutenant Murno, the Romulans are sending down a task force to investigate Suldock's activities. While they may not be willing to assist you, they provide a helpful diversion."
"Understood sir, they're beaming in now." Replied Munro
The Romulans beamed down a three-man team near Munro's position. Before he could approach them however, a trio of Empty Crowners appeared in front of them and began a firefight. Munro and the Chief left the Romulans to fight amongst themselves having a higher priority…
