Ambush From The Shadows (backpost)

Posted on Thu Feb 5th, 2026 @ 9:50pm by Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen & Petty Officer 2nd Class Bradley Sharpe & Captain Natalya Markova

Mission: A Princess Of Tial
Location: Outside Light's End, Tial
Timeline: After "To the Mountains"

The trip to the Skyfire Mountains, they had been warned, would be over the course of most of a day. Their hosts had sent them with a half-dozen natives, four of the dark-haired Sentar and two of the blonde Korashe, war priests to act as security against the local predators. The camp site that they had set up for the overnight stay was clearly one often used for those making this trek and had picket lines to deter the local life as well.

The campfire was a beacon in the night and while it would deter the predators, no one had mentioned other eyes that were out there as well. A band of twenty men and women moved silently through the forest, drawn to the fire almost like moths to a flame, but these moths came with purpose and drawn weapons.

Minerva laughed at the joke that Natalya had made as she continued to roast the meat on the stick that had been given to her by one of their guides. "And what did he do with the honey?" She asked in a very interestedly manner..

Alex listened and laughed too, happy in this unusual moment of…domesticity? Simplicity? How long had it been since he’d done anything the least bit like camping? If only Mr. Sharpe would join them, but he’d wanted to use the downtime to check and double-check his supplies before crashing. He wasn’t far.

They came from all sides, quietly and it wasn't until there was a shout of alarm from one of the war priests that they abandoned stealth and rushed in. The single war priest that was up and alert didn't even hesitate and engaged the closest of the attackers and in a whirl of weaponry had cut them down, but it took time and the young man was only of the second class and while he took the first one out, several others closed in on him and they became embroiled within their own combat.

Nat's head snapped around at shout. Half a second. The sword and scabbard had been at her side through dinner. With an almost casual flick of her wrist, the sword was free. One second. She shifted her stance - the hilt rolling around her wrist for a better grip, and the scabbard settling onto her back. Two seconds. The blade glinted in the firelight, the dancing flicker of flame reflected on the steel.

Her night vision was screwed by the light from the campfire, but she could see silhouettes. Pairs engaging in combat were impossible to tell who was who. But the ones not fighting back effectively? Those were hers to protect.

Nat was moving. Two and a half seconds after the first shout. Way too slow. She moved towards the shape of Minerva, and a figure bearing down on her.

Unlike Jenna, who had indulged in fencing courses, Minerva had spent her time in social interactions during her youth and really didn’t have any formal training with a sword. Even the Academy combat training classes had glossed over its use in favor of hand to hand and phaser usage. Still, she’d kept her sword at hand at the insistence of the guides and escort and had clumsily pulled it out, dropping the scabbard as she put her back to the fire and stared at the dark-haired man in black as he rushed her ready to strike.

Alex had been given a sword, but it was very much ceremonial. He wasn’t any good with it, so he’d set it down. Now without anything, he wouldn’t be able to fend off someone with his just hands. But he could still get between any attackers and the young Mr. Sharpe, and try to bring them closer to Nat and Minerva.

Two of the guides had done the prudent thing and bolted for the treeline, one made it. The other had been intercepted partway there cut down without so much as a warning or offer of captivity. The second war priest emerged quickly, outside armor only loosely on, clearly donned in haste though it was clear that she’d slept in her boots and other pieces. Her eyes flicked to her fellow, who was wildly defending himself against five others, another attacker already down, then began her own movement towards those she’d been commanded to protect, leaving her fellow to his own devices and probable fate.

Her hand-and-half sword was already out and in motion as he moved with a purpose, spotting three coming at her and moving to intercept, swinging the large weapon in an upward strike that knocked two of the three swords off course, letting the third scrape her armor before turning the blade and coming down in a sweep that opened one of the attacking Sentar from shoulder to side and a secondary wound on a second, spinning on one foot to maintain the momentum of her weapon, planting the second as it came around again and smashed through the guard of the third, nearly cutting her in half before ripping the blade out of the body and dispatching the only wounded one with lethal efficiency and moving on towards the Starfleeters and the remaining two guides.

Nat was awash in the chaos. Blade on blade. A scream in the night. Disruptor fire, Nat shook her heasd, clearing the memory. This was not Fort Yarrick. These were not the Breen.

She needed a goddamn bearing. The chaos had turned her around. "Alex!" Names were the best she could do to disguise identity. "Give me a bearing!" If she could make contact with him, they could start to rally.

Alex looked to her voice and saw her in the firelight. Near Minerva. He could tell the angle of her body relative to him. Relative to the nearest attackers. “Two targets, Four o’clock!” he called out, confident that the Marines were taught that method of telling time — and telling bearings.

Alex might not be good with a sword, but there had to be something else he could use. “Stay down,” he whispered to Bradley. “I won’t be far. And I know where you are. You’ll be okay.” There was a nervous assent from Mr. Sharpe, and rushed for the campfire and the metal rod used as a poker.

The superheated blunt instrument was a more than adequate bludgeon against an attacker that stumbled back from Nat. He probably didn’t feel the heat when it cracked his skull. “Another, six o’clock!” he called to Nat again.

Nat's eyes tracked in on the sound of the man's voice. She ignored how 'good' it sounded in that moment. The two-handed hilt rolled in her grip. A leaf crunched. A twig snapped. Through the chaos, they were close.

Nat stepped, pivoted, and the blade sang through the air like a musical instrument. The fire blazed in her vision. She saw shape. Nothing more. She prayed his eye was better. The sword came up, around, and bit hard into flesh.

Nat didn't even pause. She ripped the weapon free, bringing it around in a wide arc. She didn't trust space for anything tighter. Depth perception shot, and running on memory, and guesswork, Nat swung the heavy weapon on a perfect line at neck height.

Her strength, the weapon's weight. The momentum carried through. The sound was so much louder when one couldn't see a damn thing. Two thuds as dead weight fell to the ground. One large, one small.

Nat didn't even pause, she grabbed Minerva, and hauled the woman in the direction of Alex's voice. "Coming to you,"

Minerva made an ineffective slash at the hand that had grabbed her, but hit only empty air before she realized who it was that was propelling her in a different direction and heaved a sigh of relief. That relief turned into a gasp as a large sword flew in front of them and the sound of a blade hitting meat and then of a body falling to her offside caused her to turn her head.

The female war priestess smirked in pleasure as her thrown sword had the desired effect, now pinning the Sentar rebel to ground by the Starfleet priestess. She drew a backup weapon as she scanned the surroundings again, there were eleven of the enemy left while she moved towards her sword, and aside from the visitors, herself and the two guides remaining. “My Ladies, My Lord,” She nodded to Nat and Minerva only, not even acknowledging the two guides, sheathing the dagger and jerking her sword loose from the body, then bringing it around and backing to follow the Starfleeters as they joined up, “We can handle them.”

"Try to take prisoners!" Alex called out, used to being in a command role even if he was very much in the care of the Tialans. He hefted his red-hot but rapidly cooling makeshift bludgeon. "We'll follow your lead."

"Prisoners, My Lord?" The priestess sneered, shaking her head while getting her sword in motion as the remaining eleven began to approach them, her own glow beginning to shed some additional light on the area, "If any survive, you can have them."

“Where I come from, we find it valuable to learn why a person wants to kill you,” Alex quipped.

**

The Priestess had been correct. The situation was handled, the rebels stopped. The idea of a prisoner was apparently anathema to these Tialans, possibly Tialans everywhere, and so none were available to ask why they had chosen to attack this party specifically.

The Starfleet team managed to get some fantastic samples for their research. They could do little with it on site, but back on the Chimera, they could study the mystery of why advanced technology so often failed to work on Tial. It might take them weeks, months, maybe years, but it would be worth it. Maybe it would enable them one day to adapt technology to work on the planet. Or maybe it was just a puzzle they could happily say they solved.

The mystery of why they were attacked would not be solved so easily. If the Priestesses knew anything, they were not sharing with Espersen or his team.

Minerva, for her part, fell in love with the planet. It did not surprise anyone when she requested to stay on Tial. The Captain and First Officer were sad to see her go, but the work was important. She would do well there, Espersen knew.

The rest returned to the Chimera a bit shaken by the raid and the swordfight, but ready to make use of their new discoveries.

And the adventure continued....


END

Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen
Executive Officer

Captain Natalya Markova
Marine Detachment CO

Ensign Minerva Delacroix
Alien Archaeologist/Anthropologist (former)

Petty Officer 2nd Class Bradley Sharpe
Chemist