Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 5: All Good People
Scene 6: Taking Point
5.6
Taking Point
The Tellarite Biological Survey moved on from the forest environment to a broad savannah, now without Captain Skip Howard, who had returned to the bridge of the Beagle to assist with retargeting the task force to seek out the descendants of the silicon-based life form that had abandoned the space station that orbited the red dwarf on the edge of the Serrat system.
At Captain Howard’s specific request, Captain Rhonda Carter’s 2nd officer, Lt. Cmdr. Vranran zh’Kathar, had taken his place with the survey. As a result, Spike and her marines had a new assignment:
Keep the peace between a sarcastic, overbearing band of tellarites and a hot tempered andorian Star Fleet officer. A ridiculous assignment for a small squad of U.S. Marine privates and a low-ranking NCO.
At least one thing had become easier - the marines had a much easier time keeping up with the tellarites on the savannah. Keeping up with zh’Kathar, on the other hand, was pretty much impossible. Andorians were famous for being great runners and the first way the aggressive andorian 2nd officer of the U.S.S. Escort had of expressing her aggression was by simply outrunning the group until she was only a speck on the horizon.
“Hey, Stinky…” The enormous director of the Tellarite Biological Survey caught up with Lance Corporal Petra Spitze with some effort. Spike was somewhat gratified as she had only a few days earlier felt incapable of keeping up with him.
Drisk javWalirsh was breathing hard. The tiny Norkaond Vef, the smallest of the tellarites, was with him. “That andorian is just going to keep doing that. She’s putting herself at risk - there are dangers in this landscape. Not just predators.” The enormous tellarite was carrying a large stick. He used it to prod a small plant, which, in turn, whipped up and wrapped around the stick, latching onto it.
“Carnivorous plants,” javWalirsh explained. “They’re not deadly to you - most of those spikes wouldn’t get through your uniform. But if you’re running as fast as you can and one of these gets you…”
“Broken bones, a bad tumble, some bad cuts,” the tiny, pink-skinned tellarite continued. “And they’re poisonous. It’s a mild poison, but if you’re out there by yourself…”
“Are you two worried about an andorian?” Spike asked.
“We had a few skirmishes a few hundred years ago,” said Norkaond Vef. She sidled close to Spike - the tellarites seemed to have no concept of personal space. The little tuft of fluffy, white hair at the top of her head was almost touching Spike’s chin. “I don’t think they’ve gotten over it,” she said quietly. “They’re kind of weird that way. They hold grudges when they win.”
“You and lover-boy are the fastest of your lot,” Drisk continued. “Norkie is as fast as any of us. We’ll look after your two smaller puppies. How about you take that big kid and Norkie here and get up there and look after that andorian who is supposed to be looking after us?”
Instead of answering, Spike called to her marines. “PFC Habib! PFC Maxwell!”
The two younger marines sprinted over to her.
“The two of you are detailed to support the survey.” Spike turned toward Sasha Soko. “Moscow, you with me. We’re taking point.” She looked around. The tellarites had spread out to take samples. The plant javWalirsh had triggered had lost interest in the stick and recoiled itself. Spike picked up the stick and looked for another such plant. Her team watched with interest.
She found what she was looking for a few yards away. She prodded the carnivorous plant with the stick, only to have it snatched from her grasp by the plant. “Look out for these. Don’t step on them.” Spike took off at a solid run with Sasha Soko and Norkaond Vef following.
PFC Guz Maxwell turned toward Drisk. “I’m actually faster than he is.”
“I know,” javWalirsh replied. “I just wanted to split him and Chauv up for a while. I could put up with it in the forest, but out here… That was just getting unnerving. The grunting and banging and howling were all okay. But I just couldn’t handle all the crying afterward.”
Guz Maxwell and Raanda Habib nearly died laughing.
5.6