Attacked from within! Part 1

Posted on Sun Mar 23, 2014 @ 9:46pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

2,625 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: A Whole New World, Part 2 - Durbatuluk
Location: USS Victory, Deck 2, VIP Quarters

Two days had passed since the embarrassing incident which had left the Captain with a broken nose. Her mood had not improved at all.

Not even a little bit.

And now, with yet another complaint filed by their erstwhile 'guests'.. she'd had it. This time, after reading the latest complaint regarding the 'intolerable noise from the starship's ventilation ducts which created an unacceptable distract during daily mediation..'. Well.

She was going down to pay Imlad a personal visit.

Stalking into the suite of quarters assigned for the Ráeru Envoy and his entourage..she was a little surprised to find that the space was completely empty. There was no one present. That was very unusual, since coming aboard there had always been at least two members of Heru Imlad's entourage keeping watch in the front room of their quarters...

Irate and annoyed, now wondering what else the annoying group were no doubt contriving to complain about, she heard voices speaking from one of the other rooms in the suite. Moving towards the sound of voices, what she heard sent a jolt of shock followed by fury blazing through her veins!

"Set the device to full power...the humans are primed and will be so over-come by the energy waves that we will have no resistance at all to taking over and releasing the gas into the ship...once the crew are down we can take control of this ship with ease..."

Backing away fast, she tapped her comm badge and in a low, hissing voice filled with tension said "Kennit to Hunter! The Ráeru are planning an attack! They're going to try and take the sh--"

There was an odd muffled sound...and then nothing...

On the bridge Alec heard Rhea's frantic call, " The Raeru? Take over the ship!? Rhea where are you?" No answer, he reacted instantly, He opened the ship wide com "Red Alert! Security to the Raeru's quarters. Confine them there." Looking around the bridge, "Secure the bridge. lets........" the rest was lost as an explosion can be felt from somewhere in the ship.

Yarin ran towards the bridge, he felt something from his quarters. He tapped his combadge, "Captain, Commander anyone what is happening out there?"

The answer came.. a distant explosion somewhere on the ship.. power fluctuated for a moment and then was lost..

Elsewhere, Tom grabbed the sides of the transporter console as the floor buckled beneath him. "What the hell?" he muttered as the power cut out. Fortunately, an emergency light came to life, bathing the room in a deep red. Tom looked over at the main entrance, knowing the doors would have been automatically locked in the event of a power outage. For now, he'd be trapped inside, but hopefully that wouldn't last long. "Transporter Room to bridge!" he called out, tapping his badge. "What's going on?"

In the ship's armory, Dakar grabbed a phaser rifle as the deck rocked beneath him. An officer yelled, "Power failures all over the ship! Internal sensors offline."

"Kosst!" Dakar yelled the Bajoran curse as he glanced at a display flickering red. "Alright, you all heard the XO. Alpha team on me, we're heading to the VIP quarters. Beta team, secure the bridge. Gamma,engineering. Everyone else, get to battle stations. Get your rifles and move out!"

Blackburn was in the Omnicenter when power went down. The room was pitch dark for a moment before the emergency lights kicked in. Before she could issue the next order, Ens. James, who had been seated at a station below her now stood in front of her and landed a solid blow to her jaw. The blow sent her reeling to the deck. James was on top of her, pinning her arms above her to he deck. "I'm going to have fun with you." Blackburn quickly brought her knee up, landing on James' groin, causing him to loosen his grip. She then grabbed his wrist , twisting as she rolled out from under James. Coming to a knee, the landed a hard elbow to James' elbow. The blow caused James to cry out as mind-numbing pain seared through his arm. Getting up, she stumbled, leaning against the bulkhead, trying to regain her full senses as she wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. Her chin still throbbed with pain.

T'lok came to her aid instantly. "Are you alright, lieutenant?"

Blackburn nodded. "Yeah...secure Mr. Bishop. What the hell is happening?"

"I do not know," T'lok replied as he secured Bishop in a storage locker. "But I have been having a hard time focusing lately, requiring me to meditate more. Perhaps that is the reason for the strange acts of violence among the crew to one another."

"Let's make our way to the bridge," Blackburn replied as she exited the Omnicenter with T'lok in tow.


------------Sickbay------------

"And then, apparently, Ensign Gor shouted 'human filth' and takes another swing at him," Stavros said.

Nicole rubbed her eyes in frustration. "I should have left them in the brig with their bruises intact a bit longer; might have taught them a lesson about fighting next time."

"Well, you know Tellarites," Stavros said. "They'll fight at the unwrapping of a birthday present if it isn't unwrapped their way." He shrugged. "But for now they're patched up well enough, and if they do it again, then you can--"

The Red Alert klaxons sounded, making everyone stand up fast.

"Medical teams stand ready," Nicole shouted, pushing off the console she'd been leaning on. "Computer, secure Sickbay doors, authorization Anderson-Epsilon-Blue."

"Acknowledged," the computer said, but Nicole barely heard it as she opened a weapons case. "Sidearms, everyone," she said, tossing hand phasers out.

"What for?" a nurse said. "Did we get boarded?"

"Call it a hunch," Nicole grumbled, stuffing a phaser into her holster just as the ship rocked with a hit. "I want every emergency exit covered and at least one person on the doors. If anyone walks in that isn't in uniform or bleeding profusely, shoot them."

The teams scrambled to get into positions as Nicole ducked into her office and grabbed her bag, running their numbers and frowning when they didn't turn out how she'd have liked.

---------------------------------


[VIP Quarters]

*AHH! The back of the Captain's head hit the bulkhead an instant after her shoulder struck with a solid *THUD!*. She ducked down, dropping to one knee and semi-rolling as one of the Raeru guardsmen swung what they'd referred to as a ceremonial staff with a vicious swing aimed at her skull. The hard wooden staff missed by mere fractions of an inch as she dove out of the way and then rolled to the side, lashing out with a hard kick that shattered the guardsman's knee sending him crashing down with a cry of rage and pain. She didn't get much of a break however, as there was a second guard.. equally determined to see her dead!

He attacked from behind, grabbing hold of her by the hair and slammed her head into the wall .. hard enough to make her ears ring and stars burst through her vision while a ring of black edged her vision. The guard locked a hard, muscled arm around her throat.. trying to cut off her ability to breath. Instead of struggling to get away, she kicked up and back with her legs while slamming her head back into his face. Something back there made a decidedly gross *crunch* sound and the arm around her neck loosened enough for her to wrench free. Blood streaming from the guard's broken nose, she picked up a heavy ceramic vase and brought it crashing down to shatter over his skull sending the guardsman sprawling.

STILL not done..the other blasted guardsman was on his feet somehow, his broken knee clearly causing him pain and while it definitely slowed him down.. with the odd weapon he now held in his hand she had a feeling she was in trouble!

A sharp pop of sound, and the appearance of a short bolt buried in the wall 3 inches from her was confirmation.. some kind of compressed air weapon that fired short, deadly bolts of metal..

The Captain dove for the dubious cover offered by a tipped over table, eyes searching for anything that could be used as a weapon.. something..anything with which to defend herself..

All she had was the table..

Grasping the table's edge, she gave a huge heave of effort and sent it tumbling towards the guard.. The guard jumped out of the way, the distraction all the time she had to lunge towards him.. grab hold of the hand holding the weapon and fight for control...



[Corridor outside VIP quarters]

The door opened, a pair of struggling forms bursting out into the passageway.. The guard's unusual weapon (which had not been recognized as such due to it's archaic nature) out of ammunition, the Captain and Guard now locked in a furious hand-to-hand fight which.. she seemed to be in real danger of losing..



[Bridge]

On the bridge Alec was worried about Rhea. After her first harried call, he had heard nothing from her. =Hunter to Security, go by the Raeru's quarters and check on the Captain, I believe she may be in trouble. MAKE it on the double!=^=




[Engineering]

Crewman Joe Wallace was sitting at the automated systems monitoring and integration console when one by one, the control systems began to turn from green to red. Systems were going down all across the ship!

"Engineering to Bridge! I'm showing a cascading systems failure.." he reported in an urgent voice. "No idea what is going on.. according to the computer there's been a series of instructions input ordering everything shut down!"

"Can you stop it or at least slow it down? We've got to keep control of the ship." Hunter's voice came back.

"Not directly.. no.." Wallace answered. "We haven't been able to identify where the commands are coming from.."

"Then stop it indirectly! Do whatever is necessary to stop the system failures. We can't lose control of the ship." Hunter shot back.

"Doing our best Commander.." came the terse, irritated reply.

"I know you are. Keep on it." Hunter volleyed back.

Down in engineering, Wallace nodded though the XO couldn't see it. "We're trying Commander.. We have a new problem though.. the primary power feed from the ship's power systems is showing a massive increase.. we're going to have a.." the communication suddenly cut out, accompanied by a low shudder which rumbled up through the ship's structure while at the same time, power to multiple systems throughout the entire ship went out.


"What the hell!?" Alec questioned into the now suddenly dead com. "Engineering! Wallace!" No answer. "Freakin fantastic." Alec muttered, "I should have stayed in bed."


[Corridor outside VIP Quarters, Deck 2]

Nina heard a commotion around the corner in the corridor. Peering around, she saw the captain a Raeru guard struggling. "Shit, the captain's in trouble." Blackburn ordered T'lok as she rounded the corner and went into a full sprint. She tackled the guard from the side. She wrapped her arms around the Raeru's neck in a sleeper hold. The guard spun and threw his full weight against the bulkhead, causing Nina to lose her grip. Fortunately, she moved into position quickly and executed Neck Pinch, almost immediately rendering the guard unconscious.

The impact of the chief intelligence officer's tackle had not only knocked the guard into a spin, it sent the Captain soaring into the bulkhead as well! She staggered a moment, almost falling but regained her equilibrium and then whirled, quite obviously about to launch a counter-attack at the doctor before recognition kicked in and she drew up. "We have to locate the other Raeru aboard. .they're trying to take control of the ship!" she said, her voice ragged from the effects of the fight..

"How so?"

"I'm not sure," the Captain admitted. "But there's been a steady rise in the number of incidents between crew members and now what just happened."



----------------Sickbay----------------

Nicole was trying to contact anyone on the ship, but systems were starting to shut down everywhere and the ship rocked with an explosion. She stood up to go check her office terminal just as the lights went out. Her visual acuity was such that she was still able to see even before wrist beacons began snapping on, but unfortunately one flashed right in her eyes, threw off her balance and she felt her hip make a very painful contact with a biobed. "All right, that tears it," she shouted, her anger again coming to a head and her patience snapping. It seemed the same thing happened to the rest of her staff as they began pushing and shoving each other away.

She moved past the medtech who was shoving a nurse into the bulkhead and approached the Sickbay doors, grabbing a hand actuator, pressing it against the door and pulling them open. She snapped her bag open, pulling out a thick black rod and walked menacingly down the corridor. She knew a takeover attempt when she saw one; she'd been through three of them.

A fast climb up five decks dropped her onto Deck 2 outside of Environmental Control. She moved inside and said a small thank you to Providence that the systems hadn't faltered yet. Life support was always a double-edged sword. Everyone knew if you tampered with it, you could bring down a crew, but you also risked taking down your people as well.

She still wished she'd had a chance to take deeper scans of their 'guests' but she knew enough to cause a little mayhem. "Computer," she said, "add twenty parts per million of cinnamon oil," she said. The computer asked for her authorization code and she entered it quickly, smelling the aroma in the air.

"Harder to take over a ship if you're itching to death," she said, happy maliciousness in her voice as she left to make her way to the bridge.



[Elsewhere - on the Bridge:]

Yarin made his way to the bridge surprisingly without incident. The doors opened and he saw the Commander. "Sir what has happened here are you alright?"

"Mr. Yarin! Good to see you. We're fine..... so far but there are damage reports coming in from all over the ship as well as those explosions we've felt. Not to mention there's been no word from the Captain after she sounded the alarm about Raeru."

"Why am I not surprised," Nicole growled, shoving the jefferies tube hatch closed under the science station and standing up. She moved swiftly down the bridge, almost dancing on the balls of her feet, her eyes looking all over the bridge, nostrils flaring like a predator hunting. She stopped in front of the Commander. "May we PLEASE shoot them now?"

Hunter turned at the sound of the CMO's voice as she stood and exited the jefferies tube, then moved to stand in front of him. His answer was elegant in it's simplicity, "Absolutely."

"Only if I am allowed to vivisect the brain after." Yarin said calmly, unsheathing the four 12-inch-long tri-bladed daggers he had retrieved from his room. "Behavior this odd deserves to be studied."

"Very nice," Nicole said approvingly, looking at the knives. She pulled the same black rod from her bag she'd carried before, and snapped her wrist, the rod extending to a long baton. "Lead the way," she said.

Hunter looked at the pair and decided that the CMO was the most blood thirsty doctor he had ever encountered and Yarin was a close second. "Subdue the Raeru with extreme prejudice. I repeat subdue, yet still defend yourselves. I want to know the reason for this."

TBC in part 2

 

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