Pod Racing

Posted on Mon Apr 30, 2018 @ 11:26pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers

4,307 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Divide et Impera ~ Chapter 2: Heralding the Chase
Location: USS Victory

30 minutes:

"...and by the time we got to the cargo bay, the Commander was missing," Nicole said, sighing as they walked out of the transporter room. "We searched the bay, but there were no traces. They beamed him out clean, probably immediately after he walked in."

It had been a bitter reunion in the transporter room. The Captain looked justifiably furious and everyone was tiptoeing very carefully to avoid drawing her attention. Knowledge of where the smuggler had sent his cargo was their only lead and hopefully following that trail would bring them to Hunter's kidnappers.

Summers looked at the Captain, then whispered. "Captain, when we find these...can I have 'fun' with one?" Summers raised an eyebrow and grinned evilly.

Before the Captain could respond, Doctor Anderson responded. Kennit merely gazed at them, her expression unreadable. Through the back of her mind however came a quiet, deadly thought.. ::There won’t be anything left after I am finished..::

Nicole raised an eyebrow. One psychotic on board was enough. "I will shoot you again," she said, glaring at Summers, then turned her attention back to the Captain.

Summers whispered to Nicole. " *I* think you like me. " And winked and slightly smiled.

"Captain," Cassandra said, grabbing Nicole's arm as the other woman stepped forward, cutting in before things escalated, "if what you found out about the automated pods is correct, then they may be en route to delivery the cargo to the party that abducted Commander Hunter. The sooner we find out where they're headed, the sooner we might intercept him."

“Did you check for security video in the cargo bay to see if there is footage of what happened?” the Captain asked, her voice deceptively calm and soft-spoken. “It’s a cargo bay on an open trading station, there must be security monitoring..”

"I scanned the few security monitors and they were disabled by whoever took Commander Hunter." Arashi said. "Whoever this kidnapper was, he knew to either cover his tracks or have someone who could disable the security monitors." He was waiting for the inevitable storm to blow him away.

Kennit gave a curt nod. “Prepare for departure. Set course to intercept the coordinates noted by Kelba’s dataset. Maintain low profile, I want the ship rigged for silent operation. No outgoing transmissions. All external lights off. Utilize the shields to disperse our engine emissions to reduce our power signature. Monitor long range sensors and track and identify every contact detected. I will be in my Ready Room.”

"Aye Captain," Penny said, and took off full speed down the corridor. She ducked into a turbolift and when it arrived, slipped in before the doors had finished opening. "Bridge," she said.

The Captain's voice was soft, too soft. Her calm demeanor was too calm. Somehow worse than if she’d exploded with the angry outburst expected. Anger was something familiar. This was..terrifying.

Cassandra took a subtle step to the side, placing Nicole between herself and the Captain. The last thing she wanted was a false step at a critical juncture.

Silent a moment, the Captain said “Commander Torres. You are acting XO. Take your station on the Bridge.”

Miguel nodded "Aye, Captain. I assume you want us using passive sensors during the Black alert in order to keep anyone from finding us."

She merely nodded in response. Once. And then departed the transporter room, leaving and making her way directly to the Ready Room. As she walked, a thought initiated an internal diagnostic of her Borg implants. A moment later, and she knew the phaser shots deflected by her shield system had caused no damage. Entering the Ready Room, the Captain door and initiated a secure comm channel by which she could contact Admiral Bennett and make her report. The first thing she did was call up the monitoring program she’d installed whicih would note and document all transmissions coming into and being sent from the ship. If the rogue spy which Bennett had warned her of was aboard, the Borg-based monitoring program would detect any transmission sent or received, regardless of manner or mode.

While the program compiled its data for review, she began swiftly drafting a sitrep detailing the recent developments.

Once the report was complete to her satisfaction, Kennit encrypted the data and sent it on its way.

Sitting at her desk for a moment, the anger and worry she’d kept bottled up began to leak through her self control. How the HELL did this happen?! The deep longing to strike out was very nearly more than she could handle.. fury and helplessness at not being able to do something was just not a sensation she liked.

Before she knew she was going to do it, a heavy glass paperweight which had rested on her desk as an ornamental feature was a shattered, splintered mess scattered across the far wall beneath a decided dent in the wall where the paperweight has impacted from the sheer force of her throw...

25 minutes:

Bridge

A few minutes later Miguel walked on the bridge. "Status report?!" he asked as he walked over to the big chair.

"Warp 5, tracking the pods along their projected course. So far their trail is still fresh and we should overtake them soon. Ships leaving the station are largely heading for the more populated areas. No one but us seems interested in where we're going. No significant contacts yet, but a signal buoy ahead was flirting with us briefly." Penny said.

He looked at the panel on the chair as he replaced the officer there. The shields were dispersing the engine emissions efficiently. Passive long range sensors didn't seem to be attracting any undo attention. Of course flying this way at warp wasn't ideal. "Continue at Black Alert, steady as she goes." he said as he continued to monitor things from the command chair.

"Roger that," Penny said. "Quietly sneaking up on them now. We should overtake them in about 25 minutes."

"Very well, I'll inform the Captain." Torres said and got up from the command chair and made his way the door on the port side of the bridge where the Captain's Ready room was located and pressed the door chime to announce his presence.

After a moment, the door parted to grant him entrance. Standing by the viewport, without turning as she heard him enter the Captain said, “Report.”


Holodeck

Arashi had some time to kill before his investigation began on Liutenant Grayson's death so he put on his martial arts outfit and headed to the holodeck. He arrived and set up his program. He found two swords sitting on a table and pick them up. He placed them in to the sash of his hakama that he had changed into and walked in to the forest where several ninja and samurai awaited him. He drew his katana and wakazashi and assumed a fighting stance. After a few moments of clashing swords and death screams, he cleaned the blood off of his simulated sword and placed them back in their saya. He left the holodeck after shutting down the program.

Security Office

He arrived at the office after taking some time to relieve some stress at the holodeck. He began to look up information on what had happened to Grayson. He was going to get to the bottom of this and he was going to go all night if he had to. He went to the replicator and replicated himself a mocha latte and sat down and got to work.


Bridge

From her station on the Bridge, Summers looked at her board, then slyly looked around the Bridge crew. She knew she wasn't trusted by them, but she knew in her heart that she would do her best to prove her trust and worth. Dang she wanted to get to the holo deck and work out a few 'kinks,' but that would come later..


CO's Ready Room

Torres walked up to the desk and stood at attention. "The ship is at Black Alert as ordered, no current signs that we've been detected by anyone. Lt. Naroot has informed me that we'll be arriving at the coordinates in about 25 minutes." Miguel told his Captain.

Gazing st him as he stood there ramrod straight at attention, the first thing Kennit said was “At ease Commander. Before I decide to throw something at you..”

He smiled as he went into at ease and looked around and saw the dented wall. "Seems you already have a target for throwing things at." he commented

Seeing him relax, she grunted “Better..” then, “What do we have on scanners? Anything and everything must be assessed and tagged for possible threat, from a rock drifting along to warp exhaust trails..”

"Nothing as yet, just the usual. Though when we first started we were nearly targeted by a signal buoy. But the crew have their eyes pealed and are looking for anything that might be a threat." he reported.

“A signal buoy attempted to lock on...isn’t that unusual in itself? What was it’s ID?”

"From what I could tell it was just your standard navigation buoy." he told her and then reached over to her terminal and called up the sensor log information so that she could see it for herself.

“ Standard Nav buoys don’t try to lock on and ID ship’s which pass through their region...” Kennit commented.


15 minutes:

Cassandra's Quarters

The compact was one of her first experiments after meeting the Megas-Tu descendants. She'd been getting used to her newly-acquired abilities, and that, combined with her knowledge of iconography, symbology, the occult and her cards had given her a million ideas to try at once. She'd researched what she needed and focused her energies. The result was a solid gold compact with a thin silver-like mirror inside. On the outer casing was the symbol of the all-seeing eye, surrounded by a triangle consisting of three wooden tree branch wands. On the inside was her symbol, the chalice of the Queen of Cups, in the center of a laurel wreath.

The first time she'd looked into it, she didn't know what to expect and was surprised to see herself looking into it. With some practice, she began to see the house and farm around her, the town and before long she was getting it to show her any vision she wanted. She'd used it to keep tabs on her loved ones, occasionally peek in on those she was concerned for, and in general keep her ear to the ground. It had become her proverbial white snake and kept her abreast of the goings on of her kingdom.

She'd kept a close watch on some members of the Victory, a necessity given her role, and she kept an extra close eye on her friend, the Doctor.

That was the subject of her current viewing as she stared into the scry lens inside the compact. The doctor was on the holodeck, putting her energy to productive use. Nicole was an accomplished gymnast, the result of growing up among climbable trees, and Cassandra was getting dizzy watching her friend swing around the uneven bars.

She watched Nicole land and grab a towel before turning back towards the parallel bars. It was then that the other person stepped out of the shadows. Cassandra stood up quickly as Ensign MacKenzie stepped up behind Nicole and grabbed her, injecting her neck quickly with an old-fashioned syringe, then running towards the door of the holodeck.

Cassandra let out a strangled cry of panic then slapped her combadge. "Sanders to Sickbay: Medical emergency in..." she paused when she realized she wasn't sure which holodeck Nicole was in. Then she realized she could kill two birds with one stone. Computer, locate Ensign Addison MacKenzie."

"Ensign MacKenzie is in Sickbay," the computer said.

That gave Cassandra pause. "Where is Doctor Anderson?"

"Doctor Anderson is in Holodeck 2," the computer helpfully supplied.

"Sickbay to Doctor Sanders," the strained voice of Doctor Osika said suddenly over the comm system, "please confirm your request. What is the emergency?"

"Holodeck 2. Doctor Anderson has been attacked," Cassandra said. "Tell me...is Doctor MacKenzie there?"

"Yes, she's here with me," Doctor Osika said.

"For how long?" Cassandra said.

"We've been going over patient files for the last half hour," Doctor Osika said. "I will be happy to discuss this with you after we attend to Doctor Anderson. Osika out."

Cassandra sat down on her bed, shaking. Their attacker had moved to framing crew members. Whoever it was, they were running scared now. She didn't know if Nicole was the next random victim, or a strategic takedown, or if Nicole was suspecting something, but it was now completely on her to find out. "Sanders to Security," she said, "report to Holodeck 2. There's been another attack."

"Roger that. On my way." Arashi said. He looked to a group of security officers. "I want searches done now. I want to know who did this and soon. Send security to the armories and senstive parts of the ship. This is the last straw." Arashi said angrily. He headed down to Holodeck 2.

Arashi grabbed a PADD and downloaded any available security video and reviewed it on his way down to holodeck 2 as the security officers did what he had asked them to. "Lieutenant Anderson, I am going to need your help." he said after activating his comm badge.

"This is Doctor Osika," a harried voice said. "Doctor Anderson has been injured and is being taken to Sickbay. I'll have someone report to the holodeck for forensics shortly. Osika out."

10 minutes:

Cassandra stood up and left her quarters quickly, tapping her combadge again. "Sanders to Captain Kennit: Doctor Anderson has been attacked. She's on her way to Sickbay."

CO’s Ready Room

Startled and instantly alert, Kennit snapped a curt “What? Who attacked her? Where did this take place? Is the culprit in custody?”

"It happened a few moments ago," Cassandra said, it sounded as if she was running. "It was in a holodeck while Doctor Anderson was exercising. The attacker appeared to be Doctor MacKenzie, however Sickbay reports that she's been on duty there for at least the last half hour. It could be a holographic facsimile, but I don't know for sure."

Listening to the Counselor relate what happened, upon hearing that the suspect was somehow able to mask his or her identity so as to appear to be someone else, Kennit muted the comm as she looked at Torres and said immediately, “scan for known shapeshifter species life signs, and look for signatures consistent with the Founders as well. Also, check the holographic systems and verify we don’t have a rogue holographic program running undocumented.”

"If it is a Founder, or another Changeling that will be extremely difficult since they literally become what they shift into." he reminded her. "However we'll do what we can." he told her.

“Do better than that..” she answered. “I want to know who is behind this ..no more excuses!”

Miguel felt like saying he wasn't giving any excuses. However he bit his tongue. "I'll get the information from the computer and program it into the internal sensors and start scanning ASAP." he told her.

“Keep me informed...” she told him.

To Sanders, she reactivated the comm and said, “has security locked down the video and sensor data and initiated a review?”

"No idea," Cassandra said. "I'm on my way to the Sickbay now. I'll fill you in when I know more. Sanders out."

Rising with a muttered, not quite audible curse Kennit growled, “I’m going to Sickbay..”

Miguel nodded and then turned and exited the ready room to go do as he was told.

Following him out, she headed for sickbay as planned.


Bridge

Having returned to the bridge Torres ordered the on duty Operations officer to call up the bio signatures for the Founders and any other changeling type race they had in the Federation data base and then to come up with a subroutine to add that information into the ship's internal scanners. Once that was done he called down to engineering. "Sam, I need you to run diagnostic on all holo emitters ASAP. We might have a rogue hologram running around."

“A rogue hologram?” Lt Raylen echoed. “That’s unexpected..I’ll get right on it.. any information I need to know about it, what it’s doing..etc..?”

"For now... just that it's possible that a hologram or something else attacked the CMO. We're looking into all the options." he told her.

Summers turned from her station. " Request permission to get to Sick Bay; if something is attacking the CMO, I want it..." Summers flashed a 'slightly' evil grin. " That is..with your permission?"

"Well the attack on the doctor is over she's in sickbay right now." Miguel told the Master at Arms. "However if you want to assist in the investigation you have my permission to check in with Casey and Tanaka and offer them your assistance." he added.

Summers nodded and shyly smiled. " I will first go to my cabin to pick up a few 'implements' just in case we do run into what ever it is that attacked the good Doctor. " Summers hit her PADD. " Summers to Lt. Tanaka and Lt. Casey. I have been granted leave to assist you, in your investigation. May I join you?"

"This is Tanaka. I would welcome your assistance, Summers." He said, glad for some help. "I am holodeck 2 if you want to meet me there."

Summers replied, " I will be right there, but first I am going to pick up a few 'implements' in case the need arises. Summers out." Summers arose from her seat and departed the Bridge; first to her quarters to ' pick up a few things,' and then towards holodeck 2.

Matt walked into Holodeck 2, moments after Tanaka. "Update Lieutenant?" He asked, looking around the room.

"Standard gymnastic equipment here. Nothing else. The only DNA found on it was Anderson's. There was nothing else to suggest anything else." He said, handing Casey a PADD with the relevant data. He turned to the medtech who was examining the holodeck. "Ensign, any idea how was Lieutenant Anderson attacked?"

Ensign Kelson shook his head. "Analysis indicates a hologram attacked Lieutenant Anderson. It used an old-fashioned syringe so it wouldn't alert any of the safety systems." He held up the syringe in a sterile evidence case for them to see. "Naturally, it has no fingerprints, due to being used by a hologram," he said.

"Computer," Arashi said. "When was the last time this program was edited?"

"Program was edited remotely via transfer signal approximately forty-five minutes ago," the computer said.

"Trace the signal and let me know who it was please?" Arashi asked. The computer responded rather quickly. "Program was modified via Holodeck 1, authorization code belonged to Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka," the computer responded.

"That can't be right. I don't have that..." he said. "I don't understand...I could not have..."

He slowly took his phaser out and handed it to Casey handle first so he didn't look like he was going to attack anyone. If he did this then he would have answer for it but if he did it without being aware he needed to find out what had happened. "I just want you to know, Sir, that I am and always will be loyal to this ship. I don't if I did this unknowing, but if I did I will answer for my crimes," he said and waited for Casey to send an escort to take him to a holding cell.

From down the corridor, Summers ran into the holodeck, brandishing a sword. "I am ready to join what fight is necessary..." she shouted. Summers took a few deep breaths, her heart pumping. "We must kill the human...the *thing* that attacked our crewmen..." Summers looked at her fellow crew and then glanced at her hand holding the sword.

The security officers looked at each other, then at her. "Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but unnecessary," Casey said. "We're wrapping things up here for now. Maintain position outside the holodeck. No one but myself or the Captain is allowed to enter from this point forward."

The Casey, Tanaka and Kelson all stepped out of the holodeck, Casey locking it with his authorization code as Summers took up a guard position.

7 minutes:

Cassandra arrived at Sickbay just as Doctor Osika's team arrived with Nicole on an anti-grav gurney. They pushed her through the doors and swung her around to the nearest biobed, lining her up with it, MacKenzie coming up to the other side of the bed. "One..two...three," Osika said as she and MacKenzie lifted Nicole onto the biobed.

Doctor MacKenzie activated the biobed's scanners and shook her head at the readings. "She's all over the place," she said, scanning the readouts. She quickly reached over and grabbed a hypospray and pressed it to Nicole's neck, then opened her tricorder and scanned her quickly.

The biobed's readings began to stabilize, but quickly began to plummet. "She's crashing," MacKenzie said. "I need 50 ceecees of--"

Nicole suddenly let out a huge gasp for air, her skin turned grey and began to necrotize then turn back to its standard pale, and then bruise all over again. She collapsed on the biobed and passed out again, her readings dangerously low, but hanging on by a thread.

"What the hell," Osika said, scanning her. "The nitrogen levels in her blood are borderline fatal."

"I'd say they're over that border," MacKenzie said. She nodded to the nurse across from her. "20 ceecees of cordrozine." The nurse filled the hypo and handed it to her and she pressed it to Nicole's neck. Some of the readings improved, some stayed the same.

"I'll begin researching what we can do to reduce her nitrogen levels," Osika said.

MacKenzie nodded and looked over Nicole's readings again as the doors to Sickbay opened again. She glanced over and straightened up as the Captain came in.

“Report.” was all Kennit said.

"Doctor Anderson is suffering from acute nitrogen poisoning," MacKenzie said. "We're not sure of the cause yet but--"

"Bridge to Captain Kennit," Penny's voice said over the comm system.

“Kennit here. Go ahead.”

"We've encountered the pods," Penny said. "They're just beginning a return course to the station. Scans show they're empty. There's a fresh warp trail, possibly from another pod, or a shuttle. It's got a head start on us, but we can follow it."

“Set course and follow. Run an analysis on the warp trail. Find out who we are dealing with.” Kennit ordered.

"Already started," Penny said. "Trail leads to a system about two light years away. Signature doesn't match anything we have on file."

“Transfer data on this system to me here in Sickbay.” Kennit ordered as she crossed to an available computer and logged in.

"Aye, Captain," Penny said.

Kennit pointed at MacKenzie. “You were saying? ‘But’ what?l

On the spot, with the eyes of the medical staff either on her or Doctor Anderson, Doctor MacKenzie had no choice but to step away and address the Captain. She straightened and put her hands behind her back. "But her body chemistry is reacting to it in a way we've yet to explain. We're concerned that our efforts to neutralize it might make it worse."

“No one else on this ship dies as a result of the traitor among us.” The Captain answered, her voice soft but the underlying warning clear: Don’t let Doctor Anderson die.... “Any change in her condition, I expect to be notified.”

MacKenzie swallowed hard, for the first time wondering if she'd gotten in over her head in this assignment. "Aye, Captain."

Nodding once, Kennit said “I’ll be on the Bridge.”

She left, walking quickly toward the lift, noting with displeasure the number of crewmen in the corridor.


Bridge

The moment the Captain arrived on the bridge, as she approached Torres she spoke. “As of now, due to the presence of our unknown assailant, all personnel not on duty are restricted to quarters. No one wandering about. All holodecks and recreational facilities are off limits. I want internal sensors set to trigger for any unauthorized movement. Personnel on watch are allowed to move about as required. Anyone not identified as being on watch or with proper authorization will be immediately auto-transported to a holding cell in the brig. I don’t care if it’s one of those goddamned crickets that escaped from the bio lab.. any unauthorized movement is to immediately trip an alert and the source is to be transported into holdings. Effective immediately.::Get my corridors cleared.”

Torres nodded and then activated the comms and relaid the Captain's orders to the rest of the crew.

Stepping close to him, in a low voice pitched so only Torres could hear she added, “Additionally I want 24 hour surveillance on Doctor Anderson. And, even though she has a viable alibi, have one placed on Doctor MacKenzie as well. Eyes only; they are not to know.”

"Aye Captain." Miguel said with a nod and typed in the orders for security that he had just been given. This way only Casey and Tanaka would know and could decide on the people that they trust on those assignments.

“We need random, roving security patrols as well. Whoever is behind this has had it too easy. Let’s make it impossible for them to stay hidden.. Flush the bastard out..” Kennit ordered.

 

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