round 1 Ensign Nathaniel Wilmer - "The Choice"

[+ Rune Jolara]

((Jamming Room – The Tower))

::Nate had created quite a buildup of stunned guards, all of which had fallen unconscious at the top of the stairwell. Frankly it was becoming somewhat ridiculous. They had dedicated a significant number of guards to preventing them from deactivating the beaming jammer. However, the Starfleet officers had the superior advantage and it was beginning to come across as something of an “overkill” on their part.::

::Nate allowed himself a moment to focus on the situation with his colleagues – Fi, D’Sena, Collim, even Gordo. They were all still alive.::

::His comrades were all growing on him. He respected them greatly. He would hate for anything to happen to any of them. And even though he felt that this particular arena of combat presented now significant danger to them, he still would not allow his friends to be hurt in any way.::

::It was during that moment of thought and hesitation, that Nate noticed he’d allowed one heavily armored guard to get to the top of the steps. The soldier was wearing some sort of sophisticated energy absorption armor, and was mounted with a chemically mounted, tank fed, flame throwing backpack.::

::Fi screamed something to get Nate’s attention. He didn’t know what exactly, he simply heard a voice.::

::His mind refocused on the flame throwing guard, and he instinctively fired, without taking a moment to aim.::

::Nate’s shot was on spec, but poorly aimed, and the shot left a trail, which danced up the soldiers armor, glancing across his backpack.::

::The chemical exhilarant in the tank was no match for the focused energy beam, and it super ignited. The shockwave rocked the man to his knees, and he screamed in pain as he was engulfed in flames.::

::The soldier screamed, burning alive. He hadn’t meant to kill the soldier, but the shot had missed…::

Wilmer: No… no…! No!!!

::The man was screaming in agony. None of his compatriots were attempting to put him out. They were just letting him burn. However, it soon didn’t matter. A second or two after the explosion sent shrapnel into the soldiers back, the screaming stopped.::

::The soldier was dead.::

::Nate felt a moment of serious guilt pass his mind. In all his years in Starfleet, in all the time serving in the Dominion War, and in the many away missions since, he had never killed anyone.::

::No one moved up the stairs. No more guards came. That one lethal kill scared the remaining guards, sending them retreating down the stairs in terror. No matter how much the soldier had meant to kill them all with his flame thrower, no matter how well intentioned Nate’s defense of his friends had been, he had killed someone.::

::He would never forget that man’s screams as he burned.::

TBC

Ensign Nathaniel Wilmer
Intel Officer
USS Apollo-A

[Wilmer]

Wow Rune, thanks a lot!