FaB - Stooping to Conquer

 Episode Name:  FaB - Stooping to Conquer

   Written By:  Daedalus

         Cast:  Daedalus, Gelat, J'hara, Jolvan, Lominius, Valim and Verala.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Daedalus

     Aired On:  Sat May 28 22:09:44 2005

     Stardate:  55002.5

Time: Sat May 28 15:34:20 2005

Stardate: 55001.9

Cut to the interior of a Romulan ship. More specifically, an interior room with a Romulan Uhlan working at a console. There is a raptor banner on the wall behind him, signifying to those who know that this ship is a warbird, but by the room's size, more likely a smaller warbird, not a D'deridex, perhaps one of the sleeker, faster, streamlined D'valek or V'tir-class beauty. That the room is a transporter room is made clear by the diffused light that washes across the man's face from the offscreen vantage point behind the current angle of vision, and the dying whine of a transporter beam. It is then hammered home by his tapping on his console. "Transporter Room One to Bridge," he says, in his native tongue, "transport is complete." The reply is short and sweet from a disembodied voice, and is also in Romulan, "Excellent, Uhlan. Thank you. Now let's hope Lieutenant Valim is as smart as the opposing teams think he is."

The scene cuts to a rocky mountain valley, a narrow crack in the croppings of rock. On what little stable ground there is, the whine of the transporter begins. When the light fades, a single Romulan stands there, visible from the waist up. But as the close-up moves in, five small, thick canisters can be seen standing where other people *would have been*. Each is labeled in Romulan. Each has ... a communicator sitting on top. The single Romulan man activates his own. "Away Team to S'arotep. We are on target, and ready to proceed." And then the man sits down, pulling his pistol into his lap, and waiting, waiting, waiting....

Cut to the back alley of a settlement, where five Romulans, a nice curious number, are prowling behind a squat bunker, around the corner of which, some shuttles can be seen...

Jolvan crouches at the edge of the bunker peeering around the corner and in a volume just above a whisper calss back to his comrades,"I can see the shuttles but no guards."

A formal reply comes back to him in the same hushed tones. "How far are we from them?" asks Lominius.

Verala's gaze moves around slowly as she settles in behind Jolvan. No guards? "Tricorder," she murmurs, just above the attention-grabbing level a whisper induces.

The little doctor, crouches down near the rest of her team, she peers over the bunker and tries to look like she's checking it out like the resst of the tream. To be honest she has no idea what's really going on. She is after all the medic and making tatics isn't her thing. She hefts the back onto her back a little more and waits for orders.

Valim crouches behind the bunker. "Excellent. Jolvan keep a keen eye and watch for points where they could lie in wait. Lominius and Verala scan for life signs. We can not afford to simply assume it is safe." He waits patiently, allowing the others to carry out their duties.

Jolvan scan the as much of the shuttleport he can and waits to hear the tricorder report.

GAME: Verala contests its Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Routine and Fails.

Nodding wordlessly to the Lieutenant, Lominius steals a glance to Verala before moving forward a wary pace or two. Producing a tricorder of his own, the warrior creeps ahead of the group, his eyes flitting between the shuttle and the readings on his display. He moves to the left as he approaches their target.

GAME: Lominius contests its Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Routine and Succeeds.

Verala frowns slightly at the screen of her tricorder. "I'm picking up four, maybe six Cardassians, close together. Can't discern anything clearer- No!" she ends up hissing, grabbing for the hem of Lominius' shirt. "Get back here!"

Valim checks his chronometer, clearly he is keeping a tight schedule as all the teams' rolls play out in his mind. The Lieutenant waits

J'hara Watches the other scan, she stays where she is not wanting to have her own nice neatly pressed shirt pulled out. She's not needed yet anyway which is a good thing. Letting her eyes wonder down near the shuttles J'hara squints as if she can make out if someone is there or not by looking alone.

GAME: Gelat contests his Intellect/Perception vs Challenging and Fails.

Jolvan turns his head back to Verala raing his weapon to point toward the shuttleport,"Four or six. Any idea where?"

Valim checks his chronometer, clearly he is keeping a tight schedule as all the teams' rolls play out in his mind. He turns to look at the others and whispers very quietly, "Keep quiet. Sublieutenant Jolvan, visually confirm the situation. All others are to remain hiding and scan with the tricorder. Can anyone confirm Verala's readings?" The Lieutenant's dark eyes gleam with frustration. Clearly he does not look pleased at having to say so much while trying to be stealthy.

At the tug from Verala, Lominius scowls back and shrugs away her hand. "I can," nods he to Valim, "and I can add that three are inside, busy with loading it would seem. Three more are outside, possibly circling..."

Verala lifts her eyes skyward at Lominius' reaction, then shakes her head and tucks back against the wall behind Jolvan again, putting her tricorder away. Her mouth opens to answer Jolvan, but she ends up simply gesturing toward Lominius with her disruptor at his response.

J'hara was just about to scan, but got beaten to it, oh well she more then likely not get anything medical tricorders are more a one to one thing. The doctor frowns a little bit at Lominius, before turning a nod on their commander. She's not a talker anyway so no problem there.

Valim nods and steps forwards, still behind the bunker to tap Jolvan on the back, indicating he should proceed with caution up to the next safe area. He then turns and motions for Lominius to follow, next goes J'hara then himself. The Lieutenant indicates for Verala to watch their backs as she follows. All of this is done wordlessly using standard military signals.

Jolvan creeps down the alleyway trying to hide his movement from both eyes and ears as he keeps his on high alert.

His tricorder held low and his eyes watching their target, Lominius falls into line behind Jolvan; keeping pace silently.

The Cardassians seem blissfully ignorant of all this, of course. Either they are 'roleplaying' the poor quality of those officers who stay under the Dominion's thumb, or they are simply not putting their hearts into this wargame. 'Team S'arotep', aka 'Team Romulan', manages to get all the way from one end of the alley to under a new set of cover at the lip of the alley without being discovered. But that's when luck fails. One of the Caradssians turns at a noise, and at least one of the Romulans is unlucky enough to not be fully ducked down when the Cardassian turns. But the Cardassian blinks, confused for a moment, because, obviously, they weren't expecting this. He doesn't immediately think 'ah, they must have exploited a loophole, I should shoot them!' He just, very slowly, starts to open his mouth, as if about to call out.

Verala nods once to Valim, moving in a low profile toward the back of the group. She does straighten slightly, shifting sideways to follow the others as the muzzle of her disruptor moves back and forth slightly to cover the alley space behind them.

Valim, sharp as ever, does not seem to skip a beat. He motions for the team to loose their weapons and advance, firing at will. He stops Verala and indicates that the two of them should quickly sneak around to the other side of the building to catch the other guards they can not see.

Jolvan quickly snaps his weapon in line with the cardassian and fires.

With a narrowing of his eyes, Lominius joins Jolvan as he takes aim with his own disruptor. He too fires at the most alert of the guards.

Verala looks round toward Valim at the touch, catches his signal, and scoots swiftly down the alley to round the building. She doesn't even twitch when disruptor fire occurs. Either she's a little deaf, or extremely disciplined.

Valim follows behind Verala who has now taken point of the second group. He remains low, but sacrifices some stealth for speed. The operation clock is ticking and only the first ones there and out win. Romulans do not loose.

The Cardassian who is about to sound the alarm obediently goes down in a crumpled heap as his waist-sensor beeps. He was an easy target. But unfortunately, the soft beep, meant to carry as far as the normal sound of such combat would, does alert a second Cardassian, who is harder to hit as he returns fire, tagging J'hara out likewise as the combat medic scrambles for cover. The tone indicates she would be out for at least 5 minutes. So either 'Team Romulan' has to leave her behind, or someone has to carry the 'unconscious' medic.

Jolvan twist at the waist bring his R7 to bear on the 2nd guard and fires.

GAME: Verala contests her Athletics/Running vs Moderate and Fails.

GAME: Valim contests his Athletics/Running vs Moderate and Succeeds.

Verala grimcaces a bit as she finds alley debris the hard way, slowing her down. Shaking her head, she plows on determinedly.

Valim's zeal drives him forwards as always, carrying him past the Sublieutenant and to the other side of the building first. He quickly peaks around the corner to see a Cardassian aiming for the first group. Valim levels his own disruptor and fires in the direction of the threat.

The hasty shot from the Romulan Lieutenant as he spins around the side of the building grazes the Cardassian opponent, giving the lighter ping of a 'light stun' tone. It wasn't a dead on shot, but it clearly throws off the Cardassian's aim. What would have been a very definite 'down' shot at Jolvan instead registers as a 'light stun' hit, himself. Jolvan is now on the honor system for a 15-count in which he can walk, but not run, and dodge, but not return fire.

Jolvan drops down in a crouch and limps over to move cover. "Lominius, check J'hara."

Verala throws her shoulder against the wall of the building to steady herself, her disruptor muzzle flipping up and toward the Cardassian wreaking havok with its weapon. Eyes narrowing, she squeezes her trigger... and curses softly as her shot misses the downed Cardassian cleanly.

GAME: Valim contests his Intellect/Perception vs Moderate and Succeeds.

Valim can not afford any mistakes worse than the ones they have already made. He fires one last shot at 'injured' cardassian then motions for Verala to fire at the first one. "They are not out yet," he whispers quietly.

The extra shot 'knocks out' the 'dropped' Cardassian just as he was about to signal with his communicator. Oh, yes. That's right. Light stun means you can still do that. Sneaky Cardassian, but not quite as good as the Romulan Lieutenant. WIthin a few moments more, the team is moving up the shuttle ramp, Jolvan's 'stun' forcing him to lag slightly behind, as Lominius 'carries' the 'unconscious' J'hara.

Jolvan limps on board,"Let's hope that was the hard part."

Verala starts to nod to Valim, then quirks an eyebrow. Moving with the team, she slips round the building and heads up the ramp, her smile grim and her disruptor at the ready.

. o O Verala thinks, "Honey, I'm home. Get the hell on the deck and put your hands where I can see them."

Valim charges onto the shuttle with Verala, disruptor drawn and catching the occupants by surprise. "Do not move. You are now guests of the Romulan Star Empire for the duration of this exercise. The quality of your stay is directly dependant on how cooperative you are. Turn your weapons and other equipment over to the Sublieutenant," he says motioning to Verala. He studies the expressions of the Cardassians carefully. "Which one of you is rated to pilot this craft?"

Gelat starts to rise from a seat, sees the disruptor, and seems to remember to catch himself and be 'in character' about this. "I am Glinn Gelat, and this is my detail." He keeps his hands well clear of his holster, or the controls, accepting his lot at this point. "Do you really think they're going to let you get away with this, Romulan?" Whether he means that in-character, or as a protestation at Valim's loophole in the wargame rules, is unclear.

Jolvan limps to a crate to lean on,"Sir I say we collect the weapons simulated kill the cardassian and tell them to hide for we would throw them out the back midway between here and the camp in a real situation. You can't trust a hostage not to sabotage your plan. And we give the collect weapons to the first prisoner we free."

Verala, trusting Valim to cover Gelat and its companion, trains her disruptor on the Cardassian at the hatch, careful to keep out of easy grapple range. Her eyes gleam, though. Try it. Just try it, Cardie. Please. Her voice is even, though, as she says to it, "Reach around with your opposite hand, remove your weapon from its holster," and a slight gesture with her own weapon indicates it bloody well not try any stupid tricks in doing so, "Drop it, and back away." She clears her throat without looking away from the Cardassian. "Would you like to say that a little louder for the /rest/ of them to hear, Sublieutenant Jolvan?"

Valim's grin fades as Jolvan speaks. "I did not ask for your opinion Cardassian. Where is the third guard from outside?" he says in a quiet and calm voice. The Lieutenant shoots the Sublieutenant a look inidcating that /his/ was not asked for either. "Jolvan, scan for the last guard we picked up, but do not leave the shuttle. If you do not pick him up close the door. Verala and Lominius, stun the other two and remove their equipment. They have had their chance to comply."

Within a few moments, the work is done. The beeps of their sensor modules show the two Cardassians at the controls as 'stunned'. And they slump and can be dead-carried away from the controls. They keep their eyes open, and while the younger officer looks somewhat amused, Glinn Gelat seems rather annoyed. He stays within the limits of the game-rules, and does not speak again as he is put aside, his equipment taken. The door shuts. The shuttle is taken. Now it's just a 250km flight to the POW camp, tricking the guards there to set the shuttle down, and ... well, the meat of things to go.

Jolvan looks out the shuttle's cockpit making as much of a visual recon of the camp from the air as he can to use later.

Verala stows collected weapons with the rest of her equipment- one never knows when they might come in handy- and jerks her chin toward the cockpit, still wearing that annoying grim smile. "Move," she orders the remaining Cardassian, her disruptor trained steadily on it.

Valim checks his chronometer several times durring the trip. Again the timetables run through his head and he grins as things seem to be going as expected. "Sublieutenant Jolvan, I trust you are feeling well enough to continue," he says with a humorous glint in his dark eyes. It would seem that the Lieutenant is enjoying this game quite a bit. "If you are up to the task go with Sublieutenant Verala and subdue the guard outside and bring him aboard the shuttle. Take him concious if possible, but do not risk detection." The Lieuteant waits on the shuttle with Lominius guarding the pilot.

Valim takes a seat and alows the others to see to the operation of the shuttle. "Get us out of here and to that camp. Take your time though, we do not want to look to conspicuous." He checks his chronometer, again the timetables run through his head and he grins as things seem to be going as expected. "Sublieutenant Jolvan, I trust you are feeling well enough to continue," he says with a humorous glint in his dark eyes. It would seem that the Lieutenant is enjoying this game quite a bit.

Jolvan passes the time on flight by checking notes from the briefing and his weapon. He gets up when the camp is in view to check it ou from the air.

Verala makes sure everything goes smoothly. That's what she's there for. Most especially, she watches the Cardassian carefully in case it tries anything dumb. Like silent mayday signals.

Valim reamains seated and looking calm, but has a few more things to make sure of. "Ensure that he does not ignore any requests for security clearence or anything else. We would not want him trying to make this difficult for us. This may only be a game, but I would assure him that there are many things we can do within the rules of this game that he would find most unpleasent."

The ride in does take some time, during which time, the soft beeping of the sensor-units indicate that the two previously 'stunned' and disarmed Cardassians are now allowed to 'awaken'. There's little they can do except sit where they have been placed, of course, and it would take barely a flick of the wrist from Valim to put them behind a security field. As for the Cardassian who is now standing next to Jolvan as the Romulan pilots, leaning over the console to return the hails from the camp with Verala's pistol against his back, well, he does what appear to be the proper give-and-take responses. It's only a game, after all, and he doesn't seem to very well care if he wins or loses.

Jolvan slows the shuttle down and turns to the Cardassian gives a purposeful glance to Verala,"Okay ,Cardassian, what was it you told them that /we/ didn't hear?"

Verala stiffens, and instinctively the muzzle of her disruptor finds the back of the Cardassian's neck before she remembers it really wouldn't do very much if she pulled the trigger, and the weapon backs off an inch or two. "What were you saying, Lieutenant, about unpleasant pleasantries earlier?" she growls.

Valim calmly reguards the other Cardassians who seem to be awakening. "As we are all following the rules of this exercise to the letter, I will be forced to stun you again." He raises his pistol from the place along his leg where it had been resting. After he stuns them again he catches the exchange in the cockpit. "Lominius, keep an eye on them." He walks to the cockpit to see what his happening. "If you have done something to tip your friends off Cardassian, you had better have a good solution for how to fix it."

The Cardassian says nothing. He looks back through the open cockpit door to the where Gelat and the other unnamed junior officer are now 'stunned'. It's almost a pleading look, even. But, under the rules, the others are 'out of play' at the moment. They cannot answer. And so... neither does he.

Jolvan exhales a deep sigh,"My guess is there is now a welcoming party for us when we land at the pad." gives a devilish grin,"Why land at the pad?"

Verala laughs softly at Jolvan's comment, and backs off a few steps, pulling the trigger of her weapon aimed at the Cardassian's sensors. "He's not going to tell us anything," she shrugs.

Valim nods at the Sublieutenant. "Jolvan, place the other two behind a security forcefield." He waits for the Sublieutenant to comply with the order before coninuing to speak. Before he can resume speaking he is forced to level a his predatory eyes on Verala rather than the Cardassian he intended to interogate. He says nothing infront of the others, especially the Cardassians, but his eyes are clearly displeased. "It seems we are out of options at this point. Verala, scan the landing pad for guards and locate an alerntate place where we will not have to scale a wall to get in."

The Cardassian 'drops' dutifully, even roleplaying out a groan as he slumps to the deck. The second cockpit console -- which would normally handle auxiliary operations and emergency tactical matters for the small transport shuttle -- lights up as if to indicate incoming wargame fire!

With eyes widen when Jolvan see the warning light and beeping, He takes the ship down low trying to use the hills for cover. Trying to get below the weapon's scanners.

Verala avoids Valim's gaze as she holsters her disruptor. She really doesn't get a chance to respond, though, as the board lights up. Muttering a curse, she vaults herself neatly into the copilot seat, fingers flying toward the board and its weapons controls.

GAME: Verala contests her Coordination/Reaction vs Routine and Marginally Succeeds.

Valim does not look pleased, but attempts to contain his anger. "Good work, but we are already a step behind them now. Jolvan, continue evade and Verala find their sensors and weapons, do what you can to disable them." He walks over to an open console and begins to search for the transporter controls. "I will work on getting us out of this. Best to transport down anyways now that our cover is blown."

GAME: Verala spends a courage point.

GAME: Verala contests her Shipboard Systems/Tactical vs Difficult and Fails.

With Verala's desperate attempt to return fire before she's even fully seated in the chair -- give the Romulan props for tenacity -- the shuttle *rocks*. No beeping lights up the console. It *rocks* as if *really hit* by something and, yes, sure enough, out front of the cockpit, visible through the transparent aluminum viewport, there is the venting of plasma that can be seen.

GAME: Valim contests his Coordination/Reaction vs Routine and Succeeds.

GAME: Jolvan spends a courage point.

Jolvan manuevers close to the ground as close a he can safely get and fly erractically,"This is too real."

GAME: Verala contests her Shipboard Systems/Tactical vs Routine and Succeeds.

GAME: Verala contests her Shipboard Systems/Tactical vs Difficult and Fails.

Verala barely spares a look toward the viewport, just enough to spot the plasma, as she wrestles with unfamiliar controls. Weapons, check. She starts to fire off a shot, slapping at a control. "Shields up," she says shortly, scanning monitors. True alarm shows in her voice. "Lieutenant, that was real damage. Not simulated. The forward plasma manifold is damaged. This bird is going to overload and explode unless we shut down."

Valim growls. "Verala figure out exactly what happened to us. Was it the Cardassians or something else." He turns to the Cardassian who she just shot and examins his reaction to all of this. "Either your end of the exercise is very realistic or your people have actually shot us. If that is the case, I strongly suggest that you do something about it, since you will be transported off this shuttle *last*." He selects a safe location for transport and tries to send Lominius and J'hara to first.

. o O Verala suppresses a surge of frustration.

. o O Verala thinks, "Idiot! Didn't you hear me?"

And that's when the audio hail comes in: "Attention, Allied Forces. This is the Dominon Force Commander, Gul Duros." And that suddenly may give pause. Because Gul Duros is the name of a very important Cardassian who *stayed* with the Dominion, and did not move along with the exiled government that joined the Alliance. Could this whole wargame be a setup? "Your surrender is required. Your weapons are useless. And the signal we are now beaming at your ship should cut off communications to the Allied ships above. And as you can now see, we have the tactical upper hand. Surrender and yield over all access codes to your waiting vessels, or you will be destroyed."

GAME: Jolvan contests his Shipboard Systems vs Routine and Fails.

Jolvan looks at the sensor screeen presumabliy it can see things before he does,"No landing site in sight. damn."

Verala's hands fly over her console, shutting down as many systems as she can in an attempt to avoid imminent explosions. She scowls as she starts to reach for the sensors, but the audio message answers Valim for her, and she glances upward, alarmed.

GAME: Verala contests her Shipboard Systems vs Moderate and Marginally Succeeds.

Valim grins evily. "Do not land near them. We still have the upper hand at this point. It would appear that they do not have any ships in orbit. Switch disruptors to kill until we determine just whose side these Cardassians are on." He speaks loudly enough for everyone to hear him. "Find us a safe place away from their weapons fire and attempt to locate the transpoders for the other two teams. We need allies right now. One of our ships in orbit will notice the /actual/ weapons fire. Gelat, you will have one chance to prove your loyalty."

Unfortunately for Valim, Jolvan's flying isn't quite good enough to shake the targeting lock. As the shuttle veers a hard 90 degrees to one side to avoid one barrage, a second must clearly walk up the backside of the shuttle, because suddenly, again, there is the venting of plasma and the alert lights on the console. Time to plan just got a LOT shorter. "Allied Forces on the Shuttle, you have 10 seconds to signal your surrender, or we will destroy you. If you try to evacuate the shuttle, we will destroy you. Transporter beams and tractor beams do not, you will find, mix well at all. Six seconds left."

Verala glances toward Jolvan helplessly, then back to Valim, biting her lip. Orders are orders. She reaches to switch the shuttles weapons to KILL.

Valim frowns and reaches for the com. "We surrender and are putting the shuttle down here, now." He does not seem too concerned though. "Please cease your attack." He glances back to examine Gelat again trying to gauge the Cardassian's reaction. "Jolvan, do what you can. Everyone brace yourselves."

"Negative, Allied Forces. Come up 50 meters and we will tractor you in. If you comply immediately, you will likely survive." The voice is harsh and brooks no compromise. "If there are still Cardassians aboard the shuttle, you will surrender your weapons to them immediately. Unless they are fools, they now know who has this camp and what our intentions are, and they will choose to live another day rather than resist us."

Jolvan noses the shuttle over and aims directly for the downward slope of the hill," Everyone brace yourself."

Valim grits his teeth and quickly orders. "Jolvan, take us down now and HARD! There is no time to waste. Make it look like a good crash."

GAME: Jolvan spends a courage point.

GAME: Jolvan contests his Shipboard Systems+A vs Moderate and Succeeds.

The ship is brought down, grinding to a halt, moments before safeties give it a complete auto-shutdown. Emergency power kicks in, bathing the cockpit in a red glow, washed paler by some natural light coming in from the viewport. Behind the security field, the other 2 Cardassians await.

Jolvan gose of the control panel making sure everything is oof or showing normal,"Is Everyone all right?"

Verala pulls her fingernails out of the armrest of her chair, and swallows. "I thought there'd be better company in the Nine Hells." It's a feeble jest.

Valim frees himself from his feet and tries to quickly get to his feet. The quickly part was not necessarily a good idea and he falters as his balance is not quite there yet. "Verala, check the shuttle and make sure we are not going to explode. Jolvan watch the pilot. Switch your weapons to an actual stun setting." He stumbles towards the back. "Gelat, you have some explaining to do before we release you."

Gelat doesn't answer. Doesn't say a word. Indeed, the impact of the landing has both of them sprawled out on the floor behind the security field, slowly picking themselves up, wargame 'beepers' still showing them as 'unconscious', ironically enough. He just looks at Valim as if time is on his side here. After all, Cardassians are coming, nevermind their political affiliation.

Jolvan retrieves his weapon and keeps it trained on the spoonhead he was told to cover.

GAME: Verala contests her Shipboard Systems vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Verala contests her Shipboard Systems vs Difficult and Marginally Fails.

Verala rather frantically leans forward, pressing at touchpads, scanning screens. "Alright," and she sounds uncertain. "Everything's powered down. I think. But we're on emergency power; it'd take an engineer to tell you for sure if we're about to blow up or not." She growls. "I'm a soldier, not a backline engineer."

Valim frowns. "Well, they have had their chance. The Cardassians will be left to their dislyoal brethren. May the Obsdian Order have mercy on your families," he adds with an evil grin. His tone and expression become very serious. "How long will the focefields hold out? If there is time place the pilot behind the focefield. It is time we left this pile and made our way to the camp, we still have an objective to reach. Duty does not allow for otherwise." With that he makes his way to the nearest hatch to see where they are.

And that's when the *general* hail comes in: "Attention: Allied Forces. The Klingon team has won 'Operation: Flags And Banners.' The games are over. You may now hail your superiors in orbit to confirm, and stand down to be picked up." And the signal beepers on the belts of the Cardassians reset, as if to confirm that, yeah, this was part of the game. And, likewise, the messages on the consoles now seem to indicate power condition ... green. Some damage from the scruffed landing. What the---?

Jolvan narrows his eyes as he hears this message,"Impossible."

Verala pauses, her eyes sweeping her console. "... " She turns slowly in her seat to fix Valim with a baleful /look/. And then that /look/ soon transfers to the Cardassians. "Are you sure we can't break their bloody necks, sir?"

Valim grits his teeth in frustration, but is not surprised. "Verala, attempt to contact our our ship in orbit, confirm that this is not a trick. I /was/ expecting a trick like this, but we best be sure first. Do *not* stand down yet." He stands wearily guarding the Cardassians. "This trick goes a bit beyond Starfleet."

Gelat laughs. "Lieutenant," he says, "it's no trick. It was a trick, and you started to fall for it. But clearly you're no stranger to this kind of warfare, either. We knew either the Romulans or Starfleet would see the loophole we left in the rules and try to hijack the shuttle in. The vehiclular 'signal' units on the front and back of the shuttle were rigged to explode, to make the plasma venting, and send false telemetry to the shuttle. You fell for that much of it, and it was meant as a delay." A shake of the head. "Trust me, however: I was hoping it would be either you lot, or the Starfleeters, that won. Klingons don't deserve it, and we'll never hear the end of it."

Jolvan stands up with his weapon and heads for the back of the shuttle. a look of anger over his face as he opens the rear hatch.

Verala turns back to her board, working on establishing communications. After a moment, she says in a neutral voice, "I've reached the S'arotep, Lieutenant. The message is confirmed. The Klingons breached the camp walls while... in a brute force assault and freed enough prisoners to win the games." And she turns again, glaring at Gelat. "A trick not a bit beyond spoonheads, obviously."

Valim nods his acknowledgement to Verala. "I was wondering why I never saw the weapons fire. The reports were were getting from the shuttle were quite convincing." He grins, doing his best to gracefully accpet loosing in the presence of the Cardassians. "Maybe next time we will bring a pilot qualified for a Cardassian shuttle. For my part, I am just glad Starfleet did not win."

Gelat says, "You'd rather the Klingons? And here I was going to offer to buy your men drinks. I was just glad someone won before you decided to forget the articles of war and shoot me to kill like I was some Jem'hadar thug." He laughs. "Come on, let's reset the controls and get this little beast back in the air and to the base camp."

Jolvan steps outside face flushed green with rage, He curses up a storm kicking small stones and fire at a far off boulder.

Verala snarls and turns back to her board. "Permission to transport back to the S'arotep, sir?"

Valim nods to Verala. "Permission granted. Be prepared for a debriefing shortly." He turns back to the Cardassians. "I was about to order your release when a more serious threat was made by your own people. You must understand that I was forced to act in the best interest of my people." His voice clearly indicates that he is not pleased at having lost, but he is not angry at those around him. He chuckles, trying to lighten the mood. "I do not care for Klingons in the least, but I can deal with their winning. Starfleet would be intollerable had they won."

Gelat nods. "Then let us be on our way." As the transporter beams wrap up Verala and Jolvan, he moves towards the console. "Lieutenant," he adds, as he resets the engines and prepares to take off, "the one good thing about the Federation is this little Earth game called 'poker'. I am wondering if you've ever heard of it? You strike me as a fellow who would enjoy a good game...." And on that, as the voice fades out, the shot cuts to the exterior view of the little shuttle, taking off, a bit scuffed, but heading for the campsite.