-=/-\=- Somewhere on the Planets Surface -=/-\=- "Why me?" Aidan swore under his breath, trying to keep up with the much faster ODA XO. He had spent most of the prep time studying the technological background of the Jem' Haddar, finding less and less ways to do something against them. Natural cloaking, that was probably gone with their biological transmutation to federation friendly races, which took an edge from them, but still, on a tech scale, they were way above them. Polaron beams had the nasty habit of breaking any federation shielding technology known to date, but it was the only point where Aidan had the gut feeling he could apply some leverage to turn it in their favour. Running behind a deadly, armed, most possibly prepping an ambush Jem' Haddar scout didn't really help him out. Cortez stopped abruptly. Aidan ducked instinctively behind a tree and scooped around. "What now?" he whispered. Whatever was out there had stopped moving. Cortez peaked his head out from behind the large tree that was his cover, resting his left knee down onto the mud. "Where are you", Richard thought to himself as he scanned his head back and forth. Looking back over at Lynch who had taken cover behind another tree only a few feet away he whispered back, "He's out there somewhere, waiting for us. See if you're tricorder can pick up anything". Aidan nodded, agreeing with the plan. He took out his tricorder and started to scan the surroundings. As Cortez had pointed out, the Scout had stopped running and was probably waiting for them to reveal themselves, probably knowing that the nearby radiation from whatever was going on in that facility would scramble their readings, as now was happening. "I can't get anything" he informed, still whispering. "There's a high level of particle radiation in the area, I'd wager there's some kind of cloaking technology running strong. There's also traces of different radiation, but the sensors can't pinpoint either its nature nor its exact location. Weird..." Aidan leaned against the tree, thinking hard. Richards eyes continued to scan the trees in the area, this was like a game of cat and mouse and it felt more like he and Lynch were the ones being hunted. "Come on, I know you can think of something, you're IQ is at least twice mine". Richard said glancing back at the engineering specialist. Aidan crouched and lifted his phaser again. "Sorry mate" he said apologetically. "I just hate not knowing" he added and looked around. Suddenly, a light burst carbonized part of the tree Lynch was standing next too. "Gotcha", Cortez said then glanced back at Lynch, he had seen where the blast came from and whomever was there had made the mistake of giving away his position with a badly aimed phaser blast. "I'll circle around, you flush him towards me". He said to Lynch, then took off like a bolt in a 90 degree angle from where the bad guy was at. Aidan followed Cortez plan and dashed to the other side of the burst. He, as well as Cortez, had seen the movement some twenty meters away and began to dash behind the running man. He wasn{t sure, but could've sworn it was a human. Not Jem' Haddar. 'So it is true' he allowed himself to think while sprinting through the hindering vegetation. A new blast pulverized a rock just where his foot had been second before, making him dive forward to the ground and fire into the blasts direction. Cortez kept running, waiting for the right moment to circle back around towards his preys flank. He had heard the latest phaser blasts, and had seen where they originated from. Whomever was there had no idea that Richard was moving in around his back. "OK, now", Richard thought to himself as he twisted to the left and began making his way back towards the enemys position. After a few seconds of running Richard came to a rather large bush. Stopping for a second behind the bush, he pushed a few leaves out of the way revealing a grouping of three trees about 5 meters away, all within a few feet of each other. In between the trees was the figure he was looking for. He could tell because whomever it was had given up his position again by firing another shot from his rifle towards Lynch. He was completely unaware that Richard was behind him and closing in. Aidan saw Cortez almost at the same level where he had spotted the human again. The bulky Jem' Haddar armour seemed to slack his movements, allowing Cortez to move to a strategic position behind him. Determined, Aidan jumped sideways, making as much noise as possible, almost immediately dodging another blast. Richard pushed his rifle around the strap to his back and pulled out his knife, holding the handle between his thumb and his index finger, pointing the blade down. His intention was not to kill, but to capture. Slowly and deliberately he began moving towards his target. The rain pounded on Richard face and bounced off the tip his knife. As he crept forward, the figure continued firing random shots towards Lynch who was doing a very good job at keeping his attention. Now Richard was only a few feet behind his target and could see him clearly, even with its cloaking device on. Taking one more step Richard then lunged toward the figure low, inserting his knife into his right knee and simultaneously placing him into a headlock. As the blade peirced the Jem'Hadars skin he let out an awful howl and dropped to the ground. Twisting the knife as he pulled it out of the Jem'hadars leg Richard quickly placed the blade at his throat hoping that he would now give up. But to the Jem'hadar, surrender is worse than death. And without even flinching the wounded warrior grabbed Richards hand and pushed the blade into his own throat, causing his blood to splatter all over Richards face. As the body of the Jem'Hadar scout collapsed to the ground, blood continued to squirt out of his neck as his heart desperately tried to continue pumping. Aidan panted slightly, as he reached Cortez position and opened his tricorder. "What now, Rich?" he looked questioningly at Cortez and allowed the tricorder to take in data, as he moved it up and down the dead Jem' Haddar. "Definitely not human. Internal organs are arranged differently, and... hold on" he said, tapping wildy on the tricorder. Richard shook his head, "the bastard killed himself". He said, still a little shocked at what just happened. After wiping the Jem'Hadar blood off from his knife, he began searching the scouts pockets. Nothing of importance, they were all either empty or containing only weapons or ammo. "I think..." Aidan started, rearranging the sensor output/input range. "I think we got something" he finally said triumphantly. "Gamma radiation residues" he said, as if that explained everything. Cortez, being a weapons specialist foremost, immediately understood, his face brightening up instantly. "If they emit radiation, then we can spot them, even with there cloak on", he said looking over at Lynch. "Exactly" nodded Aidan. "If we can get the Chimera to launch a Quantum beacon in low orbit above the facility, we can set our tricorders to trace Gamma residues with an exactitude of point five to one meters. That might give away their locations... if it works!" he added. "If you weren't so damn ugly I'd give you a kiss", Richard said with a grin. Slipping his knife back into its sheath on his right calf he then pulled out his rifle from behind his back. "Ok, lets get back and spread the news". With Cortez taking the lead, the two men began jogging back towards the rest of the ODA team. -=/-\=- End Log -=/-\=- Petty Officer 3rd Class Aidan Lynch ODA Engineering Specialist USS Chimera Second Lieutenant Richard Cortez ODA Assistant Commander USS Chimera