Star Trek Hunter
Episode 27: The Sword of Destiny
Scene 14: pum Hegh
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27.14
pum Hegh*
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The 101st United Earth Governments Space Marine Brigade, who had taken to calling themselves "Sauron's Orcs," had landed on Rising Sun. Led by Colonial Nancy Hope, the marines found themselves quickly surrounded and within weeks they were driven off Soda Toer and into the caves at the base of the cliffs under Goodstead – a group of villages on the continent near the Soda Toer Archipelago. These warriors, most of them from North America, were among the toughest Earth had to offer. But they had taken heavy casualties and were woefully outnumbered.
Eventually, less than 5,000 surviving Earth Force Marines found themselves in three large groups huddled in a cavern system that ran along the base of the cliffs. They were facing well over 35,000 klingons camped on the beachhead around them. The U.S.S. Eye of Sauron had taken heavy damage while beaming the brigade down to the surface and had to retreat. Col. Hope did not know when she could expect space support.
Fortunately, her troops were not under assault from space. With Star Fleet and Imperial Klingon Vessels constantly cloaking and de-cloaking in orbit, neither side had been able to establish space dominance or air dominance.
Through a series of feints and strategic use of the tides, the 101st Earth Force Marines had held their ground at the base of the cliffs against repeated klingon charges for more than a week before the romulans were able to land their forces.
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"Give her room!" Col. Hope snapped. Two of her marines immediately took a half-step to the side, away from the romulan officer they were escorting, instantly aware they had gotten just a little too close. The romulan general did not change her expression or her gait.
"Colonial Hope," she said in crisp, precise English. "You are to take your troops and attack the klingon forces. You have twenty minutes to prepare your forces."
"I take it you are General Hokitha," Hope said. "You seriously expect my marines to attack entrenched klingons on my order in twenty minutes?"
"Are you a coward, simple, or simply hard of hearing?"
"I am in need of more information before I give that order, General," Hope said. "We are allies. I am not in your chain of command. I do not take orders from you."
"Do you know nothing about klingons?" asked Hokitha. "They will not wait for you in their trenches and mow you down with disruptors. Humans would. Cardassians would. We would. But not klingons. Not if your forces charge forward with battle cries instead of sneaking around like humans usually do. Attack them like klingons. Then, once the klingons are committed and charging toward you, order your forces to take the best cover they can find. Is that sufficient information, Colonial Hope?"
"And when we take cover, your forces will attack?" asked Hope.
General Hokitha locked eyes with Col. Hope for nearly a full, silent minute. Then: "Tell your humans to point their phasers at the klingons. Do not point them at the sky. You have 18 minutes."
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It took all of those eighteen minutes to transfer the orders and confirm that they were understood. Col. Hope's words travelled with the orders. "You know you are charging into the face of certain death on the promise of help from people who have been your enemies all your life. This is no time to be human. We are not human. We do not fear death or pain. We are Sauron's Orcs! Now go out and fight, you orcs! Let the klingons know they have met their match. FIGHT YOU ORCS!"
She would have added a battle cry to that, but she couldn't think of one. Since the marines had started calling themselves 'Sauron's Orcs', Col. Hope had read everything she could about orcs so she could use that assumed identity to help build morale. But she could not remember any orcish battle cries either from Tolkien's literature or World of Warcraft. Fortunately, the marines did not need her help in that department. Apparently they had somehow conflated orcs with gorillas and began making deep, hooting yells and grunts – "Oooh! Oooh oooh oooh Oooh oooh oooh" – working themselves into a fever pitch. Then, with indistinct hoots, grunts and screams, they burst out of the caverns at the base of the cliffs and barreled toward the klingon positions.
General Hokitha had accurately predicted the klingon response: the klingons left their disruptor rifles in their hardened encampment and charged toward the charging marines with disruptor pistols and blades.
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Getting soldiers to charge into battle, even into a hopeless one, is not exceptionally difficult. Getting charging soldiers to stop, take cover and pick their targets on cue took discipline. The kind of discipline the 101st Marines prided themselves in. Once the klingons were fully engaged, the orcs dropped to the sand and started picking their targets. With nothing more than a few scrubby bushes for cover, the orcs' chances for survival in this battle dropped by more than half in the face of a charging horde of klingons.
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Until disruptor fire from above and to the left started mowing the charging klingons down.
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"Don't get distracted, keep firing!" Hope ordered as she noticed the firing rate from her brigade dropping – they were looking for where the disruptor fire was coming from instead of picking targets.
The combination of accurate phaser fire from in front and disruptor fire from the klingons' left flank caused the klingons to group more heavily toward the center of their line, where they were immediately subjected to fragmentation bombing. Less than a third of the klingons who had left their trenches and committed to the charge survived to reach the orcs. There was still a pitched battle, but thanks to the help from above, the Marines of the 101st Brigade had a fighting chance.
Above the fighting, a vast flock of large birds with disruptor rifles attached to their beaks circled, picked individual targets and dodged sporadic return fire from a small number of klingons at the back of the line.
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With help from their newfound romulan and avian allies, just under half of the Earth Gov forces that had taken part in the original landing had survived. With insufficient numbers to mount any attacks, they divided into small units to work cooperatively with the romulans and the nikamsitiri to conduct night raids and guerrilla attacks on the klingon forces, most of which were still concentrated in the once beautiful cities of Soda Toer.
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*pum Hegh (thlingn Hol - Death From The Skies)
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27.14
