Post 374: Getting Out of Dodge Part Two

Stardate:70810.1400
Title: Getting Out of Dodge Part Two
Author: Lt. February Grace
Scene: Symbiosis Commission/Various
Time: Following Part One
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Simon was standing inside the opened back doors of a hover ambulance.

Apparently, they were about to add vehicle misappropriation to their mounting list of offenses. With the way that the Commission was disregarding Federation law in this situation, though, TC didn't have a problem with it.

He handed February off to Biggs, and Simon strapped her onto the gurney in the back of the rig. Then he jumped into the pilot's seat, Blane took the passenger seat in the cockpit and Hood, Trind and Rigin all piled into the back.

Soon as they were all in, Ashlyn smacked the ceiling twice to indicate they were all loaded up and ready to go.

"Have you ever flown one of these before?" TC asked nervously as Simon seemed to be getting acquainted with the controls literally on the fly. The ambulance lifted up, hovered in the air a moment, and then sank back to the ground with a thud.

"Um," Simon didn't want to answer that question.

"Come on, lets GO!" Rigin shouted from the back, his adrenaline pumping faster than it ever had in his previously predictable, dull life.

"You heard the man!" Ashlyn added, thumping the ceiling again.

Simon took a deep breath, and then began working the controls as if on auto-pilot. The ambulance shot up into the blue sky, and then they realized something important about the skyways above the surface of this planet.

A lot of people had hovercars. And apparently every single one who did was out taking a drive this morning.

"Oh no," Ashlyn groaned, looking out the back window. "Rush hour."

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Reece, T'Ana and Gilmore made their way as discreetly as they could to the transporter hub and were soon standing just beyond the location of the Hiawatha. Gilmore cursed softly as he realized there was another Commission security team watching the runabout.

"Oh, bad." Reece whispered.

"We'll have to beam aboard remotely," Lily decided.
"Then what? They'll come after us." Reece objected.

"If they do they'll make a public spectacle of themselves, which is exactly what the Symbiosis Commission doesn't want."

"We're lucky that Trill secret service is no Obsidian Order," Reece remarked. "We're lovers, not fighters."

Gilmore ignored the comment, and indicated for Reece to tap his badge. "You and Lily get on the runabout, and wait for my signal."

"Captain," Lily objected.

"That's an order, Lieutenant! Go!"

"Reece to Hiawatha,"

The computer beeped acknowledgment, and Gilmore stepped away from them. "Two to beam aboard."

A moment later Reece and T'Ana were seated in the cockpit of the runabout.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Now, we watch and see how good the old silver fox really is."

Gilmore blended into the surrounding crowd of tourists easily, largely due to the fact that he was not wearing his uniform.

He heard his com badge chirp suddenly and he stepped into an automated latinum dispensing alcove to answer the call.

"Gilmore here,"

[This is Salvek aboard the Callisto, Captain.]

"That was fast!"

[You did say to hurry. I am prepared to land at your specified location.]

"Belay that," Gilmore instructed. "Listen carefully, this is what I want you to do instead."

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Aboard the ambulance, Simon and Blane exchanged glances as they looked at the seemingly endless line of hovercar traffic in gridlock above them.
"Run lights and sirens!" Ashlyn demanded. "And get us the hell out of here!"

"You sure you want to draw that much attention?" Blane asked.

"You do want to leave, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Then do it!"

"You heard the lady," Blane nodded to Simon, and Simon grinned. All those hours of flying bi-planes on the holodeck were about to pay off, because this thing seemed to handle just like one.

"Hold on," Simon warned, and turning on the ambulance's lights and sirens, they made a very questionable merge into traffic, and cars began to part to give them the right of way. Jaine, Rigin and Trind held on for dear life in the back as Simon weaved and dodged between cars, large public transportation vehicles, and at least one waste reclamation tanker.

Blane could barely make the sound out, but he realized that someone was calling his name, loudly, over the com.

"This is Blane, repeat?"

[I said, this is Commander Salvek aboard the Callisto. I am to beam you all aboard from the ambulance, per Captain Gilmore's orders.]

"We were supposed to meet him at,"

[Security at the landing site has been compromised. How many do you have aboard your vehicle?]

"There are six of us."

[Copy that. I will transport on your mark.]

"I do not want to transport this girl!" Trind shouted over the din.

"No choice, Doc, sorry." TC explained.

"What do we do with this thing?" Simon asked, realizing that he couldn't just let a flying ambulance crash into oncoming traffic. TC hurriedly scanned the horizon.

"There's a body of water, see it? We'll have to ditch."

"Understood." Simon altered course, and flew toward the small retaining pond in the distance.

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Lt. (jg) February Grace
Helm/Flight Controller
USS Independence NCC-90791