The Kellina Barren
Moon She'lla
Alpha Centauri

As the team approached the downed shuttle, they angled their approach to put a modest dust dune between them and the wreckage, in order to avoid being seen by possible aggressors. Climbing to the highest point where they would be hidden proved difficult, what with the dust and gravel.

They hunkered down there, just below the top of the dune.

"Feral," Trip said. "What do you see?"

Feral stood up, putting her head in the open for a moment before ducking back down.

"I see two." She reported. "Both sporting rifles of some sort and their EVA suits are armored. I don't recognize the make of the shuttle."

Trip considered that.

"Okay, I think we can assume they're the bad guys here." He said. "But let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Someone find me a rock."

After a little scrambling P'Trell found a nice hand-sized one and passed it down the line to Trip.

Trip emerged from hiding with the stone in hand, taking a standard Starfeet throwing position. Left arm extended out, aiming at the target, and right arm held back behind his shoulder, ready to throw.

He launched the stone and watched as it landed roughly where he wanted it. At the two men's feet.

Both jerked in surprise and tracked the path of the stone quickly. Fully in view from the waist up, Trip offered a polite wave, hoping for the best.

His hopes were dashed as both of the men below quickly shouldered their rifles and opened fire. Trip ducked before the first bolt of energy passed overhead.

"Well, they're definitely the bad guys." Trip said.

"Captain, what do we do?" asked Chang.

"We defend ourselves. "Trip ordered. "Get your phase pistols and set to kill. Stun isn't going to do anything against their armor."

"Captain, I've never killed anyone before."

"Just remember that your suit can't take a hit and that you're therefore in mortal danger. That should give you the push you need to get out of this alive."

Everyone snatched their phase pistols from their sides, peeling the duct tape off quickly and setting them to kill.

Bolts of green energy were flying overhead in a steady stream. When Trip poked his head up to look, he found out why.

They were leapfrogging up the hill. Each of them was laying down covering fire for the other, before they switched over and repeated the process. They were trying to overcome their cover.

"Here they come!" Trip exclaimed. "Everyone open fire!".

Six more heads poked up over the dune and began laying down fire on the closest of the two men. The men in turn, seeing they were vastly outnumbered, didn't stop and retreat to the cover of the shuttle, as would have been wise. Rather they simply took a knee and combined their firepower.

No one landed a hit in the first volley but T'Pol and Feral. Both had security training, and both hit center mass, burning a hole in their target's suit and scorching the flesh within. That one rolled over on his back to deal with the suit breach, leaving the other to fight alone. So there was at least some relief.

It wasn't enough. Trip heard a quick *thwang* then the rushing sound of his air supply escaping.

He'd been shot in the helmet, the bolt entering the front and exiting cleanly out the back, miraculously missing his head by an inch. He rolled onto his back instantly and reached for the breach pads. Each was five inches in diameter and would warp to fit the breach. He applied them, front and back, then checked his air supply.

He'd lost a full five percent.

But rather than worry about that right now, he rolled back and began firing again. There he could see the team had hit the first man's helmet on the top with at least three hits, fracturing it beyond patching. He already lay limp in the dust.

The team continued firing on the remaining man, who fired in return. It took only a moment before seven separate shooters managed to reduce the man to a bag of suit breeches and he too died, before he could seal them all and continue shooting.

Interestingly, both men now leaked a thick, black smoke from unsealed breeches all over their suits. Trip couldn't imagine why.

Trip, T'Pol and Asha Feral were over the rise instantly, half walking and half sliding down the dune to the bodies where they lay. The others hesitated, still processing what they'd just endured. But they followed along soon enough.

T'pol was busy scanning one of the two bodies.

"What's making that smoke?" Trip asked.

"I was about to report on that." T'Pol said. "I am detecting parathermite residue in this one's helmet. Apparently, that is the source as it is still burning. The object, I believe, is to hide the identities of these men. A goal that the parathermite achieves admirably."

"Doesn't parathermite need oxygen?"

"I can detect oxygen in the mix."

Trip considered the bodies for a moment.

"So, we don't even know what species these guys are." He said, glumly.

"I see no way to know that without involving Starfleet medical on Earth."

"Okay." Trip said. "Feral, you're on me. Let's check out the shuttle."

At first glance it was clear that the airlock had been breached by a high-energy phaser pulse. Currently the door lay in the dust, having been cut loose in order for the shuttle's survivors to escape.

They cleared the shuttle as they'd been trained to do. Tucker moved in and checked the left, while Feral came close behind, checking the right.

"Clear." Trip reported.

"Clear." Feral affirmed. "And we have a few more melty-faced guys over here."

Trip looked. There were five men strapped to their seats, faceplates warped from the heat of parathermite charges.

"Well, that's it." Trip said. "No other survivors. Let's clear out of here and get to the rendezvous."

They rejoined the group, where T'Pol had apparently scanned everything to her satisfaction.

"Guys, I hate to say it," Trip said, indicating the breach pads on this helmet. "But we have another problem. I'm down five percent on my supply. I don't think I'm gonna make it."

T'Pol went still, immediately doing the math.

"We should make it to five minutes from the shuttle before you lose consciousness." T'Pol said. "Sovak can revive you without brain damage at five minutes, utilizing the equipment aboard the shuttle."

"Indeed", Sovak said. "Further, to be sure, we should take Captain Tucker in hand and run for the shuttle from the two-kilometer point."

"Won't that waste your own supplies?" Trip asked,

"No, we process oxygen much more efficiently than Humans do. Our air supply is still reliable. I foresee no difficulty."

"Okay then." Trip nodded. "Let's do this.