Fugal a carcere, pt 1

Posted on Thu Oct 18, 2018 @ 7:46pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Major Victor Crowe & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers

4,125 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Plaga Navis
Location: Victory

[Briefing Room]

Over the last few days, the Victory had remained at the Starbase to take on supplies, allow Cmdr Torres time to make a few repairs and service items which the station’s dock facilities made easier to accomplish. During this time, the Captain had been closeted away several times with Admiral though the topic of their meetings remained unknown, and she was certainly not talking about it.
The Admiral’s ship had departed the evening before, and Kennit had sent out a message to all staff requiring that they report for a mission briefing at 1300 hours in the conference room.

Included in the message was information that the ship would be getting underway no later than 1500.

Nothing else. The assumption of course, was that she would reveal what was going on at the briefing.

The minor repairs on the ship were just that minor, even by Miguel's standards. His people were done with them fairly quickly and they had begun work on preventative maintenance after that. Miguel even managed to have lunch with Sam and still arrive for the briefing before anyone, which wasn't normal for him. That should have been his first clue that things weren't going to be normal.


Brig:

CPO Summers rolled over in her bunk and looked at the ceiling. " Ohh no..not again! " The pounding in her head felt like two Klingons taking turns kicking it. She closed her eyes and whispered to herself, ' Why Me?! ' " She opened her eyes again, and realized she was in her quarters. She shook her head to clear any remaining cobwebs. She got up from her bunk..." Oh my, such a beautiful day..." She thought. " I'd best report to my station before I am missed..." Summers left her quarters, humming a happy tune...

The moment Summers entered the Master-at-Arms office, the junior officer on duty gave her a puzzled look. “That must have been a fast mission briefing..I figured you’d have been in there for a while...”

Summers' eyes went wide. "Oooh my goodness! I'd better 'hop to it' then!" Summers bolted out from the room, heading towards the Briefing Room. Along the way, she hit her Com badge. " This is CPO Summers, I am on my way to the Briefing Room. My apologies!"


[Briefing Room]

Kennit entered the Briefing Room, fully expecting to see the ship’s officers assembled as ordered. The expression of irritation which settled over her features was unmistakable as she looked about the room and noted that only her Chief Engineer had as yet responded. Meeting Miguel’s gaze, after a moment she said only “You have got to be fucking kidding me..”

Stalking to the comm console, she sent a message to Commander Hunter, Dr. Anderson, Lt. Naroot, Lt. Sanders, Lt. Casey, Lt JG Tanaka, Lt JG Remington, Major Crowe, and CPO Summers. Demanding to know exactly what level of an ass kicking was going to be necessary if they did it arrive for the scheduled briefing as ordered within the next 2 minutes.

Torres just shook his head. He knew when the Captain was in a mood and when not to push his luck by making any smartass comments.

Arashi had been getting breakfast in the mess when he got the message. Hurriedly eating his scrambled eggs and bacon he rushed to the briefing room when he finished. He had gotten to the turbolift when the captain sent the message and he made it just in time to see the captain's angry face. "Reporting as ordered."Arashi said with a slight crack in his voice due to fear.

As Arashi sat down, from where she stood by the small limited function replicator (it only provided drinks) Kennit watched him settle and then said only “Nice of you to join us Mr. Tanaka. Now if only the rest of your crewmates would be so obliging.” Turning back to the replicator, she completed her order and the retrieved the large mug of raktajino--double espresso--and moved to her own seat.

CPO Summers rushed into the Briefing Room, gazed at the slowly appearing crowd, and turned to the Captain. "Summers, reporting as ordered." She sat down and took in a deep breath.

The Captain nodded. Once. Just to show she had indeed heard the Chief’s statement. Kennit didn’t say anything, though there was a glint of something in her eye which suggested perhaps Zoe. It was wondering, not for the first time, why she hadn’t simply executed the Romulan the instant she’d been revealed as such rather than continuing to allow her not only to remain aboard the Victory, but as a member of Starfleet. And perhaps, a number of truly unpleasant ways in which to rectify the earlier oversight.


MARINE COMMAND DECK

Vic was at his desk, patiently studying the endless reports being submitted to him. Corporal Levin was useful in helping him avoid most of the bullshit, having knowledge of how the captain of the ship liked things done. All of the weapons had been stowed, and Command had bestowed him with four brand new Arrow-class runabout troop carriers. Vic was pleased at this development as he hated beam-in insertions during heavy enemy fire.

A chime sounded, and Vic turned to read yet another memo, this one summoning him to the briefing room. Maybe I'll find out what the hell is going on aboard this ship, he thought silently. He read the last line and grinned. "Plucky gal, ain't she?" Crowe knew that most Starfleet captains were a mix of the diplomat, explorer, and warrior, Captain Kennit seemed to be more of the warrior, which appealed to him on a basic level.

Crowe's yeoman looked up as he left his office. "Anything I can do for you, major?" Levin asked.

"Yeah, requisition me an Orion hooker!" Crowe grinned at the youth as he left the bay and made a beeline for the turbolift.


BRIEFING ROOM

A soft pneumatic hiss announced the arrival of another tardy officer as Major Crowe entered and paused, determined which vacant seat he would fill and then did so.

In a very mild voice, one which those who knew her recognized as not a good sign of the Captain’s current mood, Kennit said almost idly “While I have limited personal experience with just how the Marines do business, in Starfleet when a Commanding Officer calls senior staff for a pre-mission debrief it is expected that those officers arrive on time. As you have only just arrived, I am willing to grant a pass..this time.”

Vic simply nodded, not wanting to ruffle another female's feathers. "Message received, captain." As he found a chair at the table, Vic sat down with a sigh.

The doors opened and Anderson walked in, taking a seat on the Captain's left. "Thank you for this lovely diversion from my stack of new crew physicals. Two thirds replacement and a 50-percent increase isn't what I care to deal with right now." She nodded at Crowe. "Major," she said, then turned back to the front of the room.

"Doctor," Vic grinned.

Other than a faint scowl, the only response from the Captain was a slow, deliberate swallow from the large mug of ratkajino.

A blonde flash dashed in and leaped up, sliding across the table and landing in a seat on the opposite side. "Sorry! Last-minute calibrations on the helm held me up!" she said, crossing her legs and sitting up at attention, batting her eyes.

Alec was the next to arrive he had hoped to sneak in behind Penny but the blonde was too fast and now he was like a deer caught in the headlights. Best thing to do was act like nothing was wrong. "Sorry Captain! Was going over last minute supply requests with the station master as well as the importance that we get resupplied as quickly as possible."

Kennit was however, was now completely focused on the Victory’s navigator. Not in a good way. "What did I just witness." She said, her tone soft, the question rhetorical. "Did I just watch you leap across and slide over my conference room table Lieutenant? I wasn't aware that my conference room had become a recreational area."

"Um..." Penny said, blushing, "less recreation and more a real-world test of the application of the Euler-Lagrange equation on the Euclidean concept that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?" She smiled brightly and tried to not look like she was expecting to be punted out an airlock.

"Uh huh.." the Captain responded. "Two.. no.. lets make it a full week of standing an additional 8 hour watch.. to remind you of proper expected decorum on this ship.." Her gaze swiveled toward where the XO was still standing by the hatch. "See to it that the duty rotation schedule is suitably revised Commander. And next time, be on time or I'll place you on report as well."

Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding Alec answered smoothly, "Of course Captain. I'll see to it." as he moved towards his seat. Surprised and greatly relieved that he had avoided Rhea's wrath in not suffering a fate similar to what had befallen the unfortunate Naroot.

Penny's teenage appearance didn't help her look as she gave a small pout and sank back in her chair. "Aye, Captain."

"It appears that Counselor Sanders has better things to do, and I am not willing to delay further awaiting her to grace us with her attendance. First order of business: Lt. Casey has been reassigned and is no longer with us. Mr. Tanaka, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and promoted to the position of Chief Security Officer. Congratulations. I was unwilling to allow Starfleet to foist a new chief on us at this point in time and refused to allow them to add an additional unknown at this time."

Tanaka was rather surprised but he stifled it and then allowed himself a smile. "Thank you ma'am. I shall endeavour to be worthy of the position and trust you are putting in me." He took his seat and waited for the briefing to begin.

The doors opened and everyone looked at the final arrival. Cassandra's face was paler than her usual pink-golden glow and her shoulders were slumped slightly. She walked in silently and sat down in the last seat next to Anderson and folded her hands in her lap.

“Now that everyone who has a need to know is present,” the Captain said. “No doubt the recent visits by a high ranking officer have not gone unnoticed.” She didn’t name him, but there was no doubt she was speaking of Admiral Bennett, whose recent visits had definitely not gone unnoticed, or had the long private meetings in a secure room between the Captain and Admiral.

"We have been tasked with an .. unusual assignment," the Captain continued, glancing sternly at the counselor. "There is a secure detention facility on Heouron V. This is not a Federation allied system, however it's current controllers are friendly with the Federation and while they remain unwilling or perhaps just uninterested in membership, they are quite happy to take on the occasional criminal element for whom currently Starfleet has no suitable place to put them. One such individual has been deemed a necessary asset, and we have been tasked with the responsibility of going to Heouron V and breaking him out of their holding facility. Due to his activities in the Delta Quadrant, it is a foregone conclusion that they won't let him go willingly. He broke several of their trade laws as well as caused trouble for the Federation and Starfleet.”

Tapping a control, the image of a civilian vessel appeared. "This ship is being transferred aboard as we speak. It is specially modified for our needs and will be the vessel which enters the Heouron star system. The Victory will remain outside of their sensor range. We don't want them to know who we are. A strike force comprised of Marine and Security forces will go in using this ship, which cannot be traced back to Starfleet or the Federation, to retrieve the asset and return him to the Victory. Make no mistake. This mission doesn't exist. If we fail, Starfleet never heard of you."

Penny raised a hand and commanded every ounce of her willpower to wait for acknowledgement. When it came, she said, "Permission to use some of my new-found work time to crawl around it and have a heart-to-heart with its computer?"

“What purpose would that serve?” The Captain asked. “The vessel has been extensively retrofit by Section 31s Theoretical Research Department utilizing technology which is a blend of Borg and Romulan design. This will facilitate the cover to prevent identification of components leading back to Starfleet and the Federation. It’s power systems and onboard weapons are uniquely designed. Flight controls and weapons systems utilize a standard layout.”

"Oh, well," Penny said, shrugging. "If it's just that."

Summers piped up then, one had raised. “Excuse me, but are we allowed to 'crack heads' if necessary?” Summers then paused and smiled at everyone.

Looking as if she was debating cracking a head or two herself, after an instant the Captain said only, “We can expect considerable resistance from the guard force, thus the need for a Marine strike team to assist in pushing into the facility, through to the high security area where we will find our target, and back out. My orders were, and I quote, 'Don’t kill half the guard force getting him out”. That statement was however, directed at me. Which leaves ample opportunities to crack heads, or get your own head cracked.” She added.

“The security area where our target will be held lies four levels below ground, we will undoubtedly need to breech the computer at each level on the way down as it is believed they utilize separate systems which are not networked as added security measures. At last update, intel indicates each level is monitored by 12 guards per level. The guard force is armed with a variant of a phaser, as well as a specialized weapon which fires a dart that allows them to immobilize a prisoner through the release of a power stun jolt. Avoid those.” She added.

Arashi thought for a moment and spoke up. "Are they able to communicate between floors? If so I suggest something to either jam or disable communications completely between floors until we are done with the mission. If we can keep them from coordinating a defense then we can do this job a bit easier." He said. "We also need to block out anything that might record us during the mission as well. We need to do this as quick and efficiently as possible and hopefully with as less collateral damage as possible I assume and the best way I see to do that is what I suggest. Unless there is another plan?"

Vic spoke up. "If I may, Captain, I think there is an alternative. Why not send an infiltration team made up of myself , our new security chief and ops officer along with a couple Marines for show. We could dress them up as mercenaries bringing in a high-value mark. Once we're in we get to the level our target is housed in, take out the guard force with something non-lethal, such as anesthezine, pick up our target and exfil.”

The Captain listened, and when he’d finished she asked, “And your plan in the event of premature evacuation...?”

Penny snickered.

Vic grinned. "That's where the additional Marines on the transport come in. They wait on the transport, dressed in prison emergency response armor and pretend to nab the extraction team in the hangar. We all beam out to the Victory and set off a low-grade explosion in the hangar to keep the prison personnel busy while we get out of dodge." Vic paused.

Kennit just laughed, “I can argue that the Admirals order that I not kill half the guard force could be upheld by blaming your marines for the explosion rather than me ..”

"I can also keep the station's computer occupied," Penny offered. "Discovery could be contained if they can't sound an alarm."

Cassandra looked at the Captain carefully. "Are we permitted to know why we're breaking this criminal out of prison?" she said, quietly.

“That’s the question I was waiting for...” Kennit answered. “And while the Admiral might not like my giving you the answer, I don’t much give a flying rats ass what Bennett does or doesn’t like anymore. So I’ll tell you.” She touched a control on the console and the display on the wall lit up with sensors data.

“This is sensor data from the station. These ships..” she said, walking to point out the relevant data on the large display. “There’s something odd about their readings...specifically here..and here. A deeper analysis found a shift in the quantum signature of the ship’s drive which tells us.. these vessels don’t belong here. These ships are from the Mirror Universe.. the quantum signatures here don’t lie.”

Nicole turned and looked at Cass, whose eyes were staring at the screen. *Damn, I'm going to have to scan everyone again,* she thought.

She turned, “they have been regular visitors to this station, taking on all manner of supplies from medical goods to food to construction,, and these records show they’ve been here for a while. There’s no indication of where the ships are coming from, or where they’re going when they leave. But.. we need to find out. Which is where our target comes in. He was first identified almost 10 years ago..and allowed to remain in the belief that he was alone, and while he’s a fairly obnoxious person we couldn’t force him back so..we just monitored him. He pissed off the wrong people recently, and wound up in prison. Now, we need information which it’s a good bet he has. So, we’re going to go retrieve him and find out what he can tell us about these ships, their crews, and where they’re taking all of the materials they pick up and carry off.”

"Splendid," Nicole said, giving a wry smile. "'Obnoxious' will be such a pleasant change of pace around here."

The Captain slowly slipped her coffee, eyes on the Doctor for a moment and then said “Not everyone is a bright ray of sunshine and rainbows, Doctor..”. She paused, then said, “This particular individual is very misleading. He isn’t obvious at all about his motives or actions. Nothing is ever what it seems..”

"Like we don't bloody-well get that enough either," Nicole deadpanned.

SCPO Summers rose and spoke. "Captain..." Summers smiled and lightly brushed some loose strands of hair away from her face. "I would like to be the first to 'sign up' for this dangerous mission. It would be part of my apology to you and the rest of the crew for my past 'indiscretions.' " Summers waited patiently and with reverence.

It was on the tip of the Captains tongue to answer no, this mission was too high priority to risk having an unstable element such as Summers with the strike team. At the same time however, a subtle whisper of thought flitted out from the dark places deep within her subconscious parts her mind and reminded her, a mission such as this one, if she crosses the line it would be a simple thing to simply retire the Chief...permanently.

The faintest ghost of a smile drifted across her features as she answered, “I’m sure a spot can be found for you.”

Summers nodded her head and slightly smiled . " Thank you, Captain. In our 'dealings' with these 'people,' we will have to be strong, for they will show no delay in destroying us if necessary. *Or* if it pleases them. "

Alec had been sitting silently as the others either made a comment or a suggestion in regard to the upcoming mission. "Excuse me Captain, once we break this so far unnamed prisoner out of this facility. Just how do you plan to get him to tell you what you want to know? I don't believe asking nicely or saying pretty please is going to work."

"You would be surprised what saying 'pretty please' can do," Cassandra said, turning towards Alec. "I think getting into his head may be where I come in."

The Captain was still staring hard at Summers. In a thoughtful, but decidedly ‘do not fuck with me’ tone of voice for Summers’ benefit, she said “Counselor Sanders, I would like for you to conduct an interview with Chief Summers and give me your recommendation as to whether or not she is fit for duty with our upcoming mission prior to allowing her to join the strike team. All things considered...”

"Aye, Captain," Cassandra said, looking decidedly grim.

Summers glanced at Counselor Sanders and then back at the Captain. "I understand your caution, Captain. Counselor, I will be happy to be 'interviewed' by you when wish."

"1700 hours," Cass said.

Still with her eyes locked on Summers, the Captain said “As for how we’ll get him to talk...” She looked at Torres then, seeing his dislike for the entire situation clear on his face, she asked “What do you think Miguel. You knew Nathan almost as well I did, or...thought we did, will he talk to me do you think?”

"He'll talk to you in an attempt to figure out what it is you really want. He'll try to manipulate you from the moment he sees you. So if he thinks talking to you will allow him to do that, then yes he'll talk to you," Miguel replied.

She just smiled at Miguel’s words and looked toward Alec. “There you see? We’re old friends of his, Miguel and I. And we’re getting him out of a situation I can promise you, he isn’t happy about. Gratitude goes a long way...with old friends.” she finished, her eyes meeting Miguel’s again.

Miguel practically choked at the use of the words ‘old friends’. But he said nothing and just acted as if he had a dry throat and got up and got a small glass of cold water from the replicator.

The Captain chuckled as if Miguel’s actions amused her. “Oh he wasn’t that bad...he had some good points to him..” she said.

Alec watched the byplay between Rhea and Miguel. It was like they were sharing a private joke, one he knew nothing about. He turned his head and looked at Rhea, "Oh really? Do tell Captain." His voice even and calm. Carry an inquiring tone and not an accusing one.

"Be careful what you wish for, Commander," Cass said, quietly.

Alec glanced at Cass as she gave her warning before he turned his attention back to Rhea.

The Captain shrugged her shoulders, “Some years ago.. we worked with him on a mission. Our cover was as smugglers. He played the part quite well. Maybe a little too well. He caused some problems. Miguel still wants to break his legs I think..”

"It wasn't over the mission that I wanted to break his legs. It's what he did to your marriage." Miguel said before realizing he had said it out loud instead in his head.

“Don’t start on that again I didn’t know that’s what he was up to and since I didn’t know it was a ceremony like that he told me it was just a business deal so couldn’t be called legal anyway...” she retorted slightly hotly.

Alec listened intently. One question had been answered Rhea and Miguel's meeting had happened before he (Alec) and she met and became involved. He made a note to ask Rhea more but at a more opportune time. It was clear she was still angry over the incident.

The expression in Alec’s eyes told her a great deal. And the Captain after a moment t looked back at Torres, her expression one of ‘Now look what you did Big Mouth.’

After a moment, when no one spoke the Captain let out an exasperated sigh and said “Fine. In that case, you all know what to do. So go do it. We will be reaching the staging point in 3 days. So let’s get ready. Dismissed!”

Not waiting, the Captain exited the conference room without a backward look.

~*~

 

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