Bishop takes Queen

Posted on Mon Aug 19, 2019 @ 4:10am by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Major General Christopher Mitchell & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers & The Doctor

5,193 words; about a 26 minute read

Mission: Plaga Navis
Location: Golemon V
Timeline: Approximately 6 hours later

Nicole wiped her forehead and rubbed her eyes. The readings on her tricorder were beginning to swim in front of her eyes. After six hours of painstakingly examining nearly everyone in the colony, she was exhausted. Once her team had brought back the people they'd been sent to examine, the priority had been to wake the colony's medical staff. Once the hospital was up and running again, the slow, meticulous process began of examining every person and discharging them one by one. Even with Penny and the EMH lending a hand, hundreds of thousands of patients meant a long, tedious line of people.

As the crowd finally thinned, she handed her tricorder to Dasha and left the infirmary, making her way to the science labs, finding Logan and a base engineer going over readings from the meteor sample. "So, what are we dealing with?" she said.

Zack turned from his console and looked at the lieutenant. "From what we've been able to determine, and the evidence that was collected, this was not a natural or accidental event; this was a deliberate and calculated attack on the colony, but, as yet, unknown forces."

"Regolith mixed with some alloys for ballast, carbon fiber shell inside, and a medical-grade bio-storage container at the center to protect against reentry," she said, looking over his shoulder at his analysis. "Sneaky. Once it entered the air supply, it would spread throughout the colony, and the meteor pieces would simply deteriorate over time. The piece they got must have been larger than anticipated and didn't break down in time."

She scanned the sample and nodded. "This would be enough to hold the virus. When it was whole it would be about the size of the container we have now. Still, why leave something to chance like that? You'd think they'd want to monitor things to ensure the colony was completely infected. Remote detonation of a virus bomb is so impersonal." She looked over the sample again, then turned back to Logan. "Good work," she said. "See if you can get a fix on where the meteors might have come from and if we can track ship movements, hopefully that'll give us a clue."

"Acknowledged, lieutenant." Zack turned back to his console and started running simulations based on the meteors trajectory and impact angles.

Nicole nodded. "Carry on." She left the lab and walked back out into the open air interior of the base, breathing a sigh of relief that she could safely breath that sigh. "Anderson to Naroot."

"Naroot here. How're things?"

"How are the base's systems?" Nicole said.

"Fussy," she said. "Someone with a real attitude problem put in these security lockouts, but we're getting around it. So far everything looks secure, and the base should be clear to turn back over to their own people."

"Excellent. Let me know when the base's engineer returns to duty. Anderson out." Damn, but she was tired. With a little luck they'd be going home in an hour, she'd have dinner with her sweetheart and then a hot bath that her muscles were begging for. She returned to the infirmary and watched the goings on before hitting her combadge one more time. "Anderson to Kennit."

There was silence and it took Nicole's distracted mind a moment to process the lack of response. She hit her combadge again. "Anderson to Captain Kennit...please respond."

Another moment of silence and Nicole's radar was on high alert. "Computer," she said, moving towards a station, "access station's sensors and locate Captain Rhea Kennit."

"Captain Kennit is no longer on the base," the computer said.

The statement was like a punch to the gut. When the Captain had stopped bothering her for updates, she had considered it a blessing. Now she couldn't help wonder if it had been a warning.

"When did she leave the base?" she said.

"Approximately six-point-zero-three hours ago," the computer said.

"Oh no..." Anderson said. "Computer transfer the Victory EMH back to his portable storage block!" The computer beeped and the EMH disappeared. Nicole went to the Chief of Medicine's office and picked up the computer module they'd sent down, quickly putting it in her bag to restore the EMH to the ship later. She then rushed to the lab, grabbing the container of virions and slipping that into her bag as well. She tapped her combadge again, dreading what she had to say. "Anderson to all Victory crew members, report to the Valkyrie on the double. All previous orders rescinded."

She ran at full speed out of the infirmary, her staff not far behind her as they realized she was serious. She reached their ship about the same time Penny and Logan did and snapped her fingers. "Fire it up, Penny!"

"On it!" Penny said, flying into her seat and bringing the engines online and starting the checklist.

Zack sat in his seat and buckled up. Then he mentioned to Anderson, "Lieutenant, I was able to formulate possible locations where the meteors could have been launched."

"Good, keep that information handy," Nicole said. "Get us in the air, Penny we need to scan the colony."

"What's going on?" Penny said.

"We have a bad situation that I fear is about to get worse..." Nicole said, sitting down in the co-pilot's chair as they all scrambled in through the hatch.

Penny closed the hatch as the last of the medical team strapped in and Penny lifted off and brought the ship out of the bay and over the colony.

Nicole hit the communications panel and opened a secure channel. "Anderson to Victory," she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Hunter here. Is there a problem, Doctor?"

"You could say that," she said. "It seems the Captain is missing."

There was a long pause and then, "Doctor, please repeat that. You said the Captain is--"

"Missing," Nicole said. "The computer says she's not on the base. We're going to fly over the base and use the ship's sensors to scan for her Borg implants," she nodded to Penny and Logan to start implementing the plan.

"Do you require assistance?" Hunter said.

In her corner of the bridge T'Mira listened to the conversation raising an eyebrow. Missing? she thought.

"Not yet," she said. "But until we know more, I want us off the planet. We'll return to the ship shortly. Anderson out." She turned back to Logan as Penny brought the ship into a low flyover. "Please tell me you found her."

"Sorry lieutenant, I can't locate her." Zack responded.

"Confirmed," Penny said, checking her boards as well. "No trace of the Captain's signal."

"What about scanning for her tech?" Nicole said.

Penny shook her head. "There are still too many nanites on the planet. They're collecting into one place but I can't see any other large saturation zones anywhere." She looked at Nicole and shrugged sympathetically.

Zack turned and looked at Anderson. "We can't even be sure of she's even on the planet, Lieutenant."

Nicole digested that. "All right. Penny, take us back to the bay and let me off, then get everyone else back to the ship."

"You got it," Penny said, swinging around and heading back tot he surface.

Nicole hit the communications panel again. "Anderson to Victory."

Alec answered instantly. "Hunter here Doctor, have you located the Captain?"

"Sadly no. I need Tanaka and a security team down here immediately. There are security cameras to be checked, and evidence to collect. I'll get to her last known location and begin taking DNA samples."

"Done. They're on their way to you." Alec answered and hit his combadge. "Mr. Tanaka get yourself a security team and beam down to the surface to assist Doctor Anderson."

"Right away sir!" Arashi said as he rushed out to gather his team as soon as he got to his office. He and his team headed out to beam down to the planet. He rushed to meet Nicole and the others. "Check your weapons, make sure they are fully charged and ready to use. I don't want to be caught off guard." He said as he ran over to meet the away team.

Nicole closed the channel just as Penny landed the ship. The hatch opened and she jumped out, black bag in one hand, medkit in the other. Maggie jumped off behind her and Nicole opened her mouth to object, then acknowledged she'd need a second pair of hands (not to mention eyes) and nodded in acquiescence. "Lift off," she said to Penny.

As the ship flew back out of the bay, she nodded to Maggie and they set off at a run.

[Bridge]

Back on the bridge, Camille Lévesque arrived via turbolift and found Alec in command. One of her team monitoring ship sensors saw the scan the shuttle had made and informed her right away. She had pieced together what had happened. “Commander, what do you need from Science?”

Hunter turned to face Camille, "Ah. Camille. I need you to fine tune the ships sensors to the Captain's unique bio signature. Their stronger and more sensitive then those of the shuttle's. Perhaps they can at least establish a trail for us to follow if not actually locate her."

"Oui, chef," Camille answered before moving swiftly to her station. She sat down, pushed her glasses up her nose, and began working. "This will take a few moments, Commander. And I'll need the sensor array running at 110% of normal, at least to start."

"You'll have all the power you need. Just find the Captain." Alec urged.

As Camille worked on finding the Captain, Alec knew what had to be done next. "Open a secure channel to Major General Mitchell." He ordered. "Channel open sir." Came the quick reply. As the viewscreen's picture came into focus, showing the general sitting behind his desk. Alec spoke, "Sir, I regret to inform you that Captain Kennit is missing with a good chance she was abducted. We're currently running scans of the surface, her last known location as well as collecting DNA samples to determine who did this."

Chris was barely able to get his bearings before the transmission came through. Tugging on his uniform, his eyes narrowed slightly as he took in Commander Hunter's words. How any Starfleet Captain managed to simply disappear in the middle of a mission was beyond him but now wasn't the time to begin assigning blame- that would come later. Opening his mouth, he chose his words carefully. "I understand. Now, I'm a curious man, so I want to know three things- First, how did this happen? Second, do you require any assistance or additional resources in order to locate her? And Third, what do I need to do, if anything, in order to keep this from becoming an intergalactic incident?" he asked. He'd previously read up on some of the Victory's previous missions and had been impressed with the work of her crew. He was also slightly aware, based on the codes attached to the massive redacted sections of Kennit's personnel file that she was probably working for Starfleet Intelligence, which immediately bumped this little rescue mission to the top of his priority list.

"The Captain was on the planet's surface with a medical to team to check on a 'cure ' our medical team had devised for the colonists. She apparently went to the admin building to check on ship traffic to and from the colony when her abduction took place. No sir we don't need any other ships or resources they would just slow down our investigation and clog things up. As of now. Just keep a lid on it and hopefully we'll have the Captain back in a day, two at the most

"Wait one, Commander." he said before placing the channel into a hold status and opened a channel to his Battle Staff area and addressed his Strategic Operations Watch Officer, a Starfleet Captain named Willis Raines. "Captain Raines, given Victory's current location, how long would it take for us to get resources to assist in the investigation and a potential rescue?"

Raines rapidly tapped his console, bringing up a list of Starfleet units and vessels in the area and correlating their speed and capabilities based on mission needs. Looking up, he brought up a shortlist of potential options. "Sir, the Ardent is roughly three days out from their position-"

Mitchell interrupted Captain Raines with a raised hand. "Scratch that off the list. They've got probably a day or two at most."

Raines went down the list. " Well, sir. Lieutenant Taggart is with the Strategic Response Unit on a training exercise aboard the USS Langley and they're about 13 hours if they use their Quantum Slipstream Drive. They can be retasked as soon as you give the word."

The General thought for a moment. He had met Lieutenant AJ Taggart upon his arrival to Forward Operating Base Anchorage as he had transferred, ironically enough, from the Victory to serve as his aide-de-camp but had found that he was much better suited to lead the Strategic Response Unit in order to help put out tactical fires or complete recon operations where needed. He was a capable officer, if not a bit quick to act, something that commanding the 12 Officer SRU had hopefully beaten out of him.

"So ordered." he said, cutting the channel and switching to address Commander Hunter. "Commander, I'm sending some reinforcements and a runabout to your position. I'm ordering you to hold fast and await their arrival. Mitchell, out."

Hunter sighed at the news. "Terrific." He muttered, thankful it wasn't anymore starships just a runabout which meant a specialist or specialists. He only hoped they could help find the Captain.

SCPO Summers scurried onto the Bridge and right to her station. " Summers reporting Sir. " She said to the Commander.

"Very good Chief, find a station and make yourself useful. Finding and getting the Captain are our only objectives right now." Hunter answered.

"Ms. Summers," called Camille, "if you can do something to improve the fidelity and resolution of the tactical sensor array and tie it into my station, it would help me a lot."

Summers looked up from her panel with an uplifted eyebrow towards Camille. " Right on it..." A few moments of concentration and work did it. She stated to Camille: " Lieutenant, I have rearranged some circuits heading to your station, this should improve fidelity *and* resolution. "

"Parfait, merci," Camille answered. "Resolution is looking good. The Captain has a very unique bio-signature. Part Human, part El-Aurian, full of Borg implants that should read differently from background. If she's on the planet, we'll know beyond any doubt shortly."

T'Mira walked over to the Commander. "I wish to assist sir. Is there a specific department you wish me to assist?"

Alec favored T'Mira with a look of gratitude. "Yes, T'Mira, use that Vulcan logic and think this through. Where would the kidnappers taken a high profile hostage like the Captain?"

"I shall take a moment to collect my thoughts and come up with some possibilities.

[Turbolift]

Upon hearing of the Captain's disappearance, Cassandra stood up from the rear station of the bridge and made her way to the turbolfit. Once the doors closed, she hit the emergency stop and the lift shook as it froze in place. She reached into her bag and pulled out her gold compact, looking at it in earnest, tapping her combadge. "Spectrum to Trojan," she said.

"Go ahead," a female voice said.

"Emergency. Red Queen has been taken."

"By whom and to where?" Trojan said.

"Ironically, the Red Knight," Cassandra said. "No indication players are off the board though."

"Understood," Trojan said. "Where do you need us?"

Cassandra thought for a moment and half-sang, "strolling down the av-en-ue."

"Understood," Trojan said. "Eyes on the Red Queen?"

"Can't locate, but I'll keep trying. I'll update when I have something," Cass said. "Spectrum out."

[Colony Headquarters]

Arashi's team beamed down near the colony headquarters and they broke into a run as well, quickly catching up to Nicole and Maggie, who slowed to let them match pace. "I heard that you needed help Doctor. What do you need us to do?" he asked as he ran along side her. "I brought my security team with me. What happened?" he asked concerned about the situation.

"Captain's missing," Nicole summarized. "Her last report said she was leaving the HQ center for the administration complex. We're going to try and retrace her steps and see if we can find the crime scene and determine who took her. Have your people split up and cover corridors and see if they can find where she went. Sadly, there won't be witnesses. We also need to access their security system and see if there's video of the abduction."

"Roger that. Kenneth, Tagara you guys take the corridors on the right. Detain anyone that could be of help in our investigation. Dragath you take the corridors on the left. " He said and they pulled out tricorders and headed to their assigned places. Meanwhile Arashi had found a security terminal and looked for footage of the abduction. He couldn't find video of the abduction so he knew that whoever did this was professional and was able to delete the footage. Either that or they threatened whoever worked here to erase it.

As they rounded a corner, Nicole skidded to a stop. "Hold!" she said, looking at a large, standing display. Her nostrils flared and the tell-tale scent of death tickled her senses. A map of the station was glowing on it, and there was nothing there to make her think something was wrong, but her nose didn't lie.

She walked over slowly, pulling her tricorder out and scanning the area. She went around behind the display and scanned the floor. There were small amounts of bodily fluids and waste material, and a few drops of blood on the back of the display. "I think we have our place of interest," she said, beckoning them over.

"I couldn't find any footage of the kidnapping on the monitors. What did you find?" Arashi asked. He looked over at what Nicole had found.

"I'm detecting a few trace nanites, and there's a small bit of skin and hair in the crevice of this display," she said. "Someone hit their head on the way down, and the body was releasing its waste when it was moved." She put her bag down on her knee as she knelt down. "Maggie I'm going to need some sample containers."

Maggie opened her kit and Nicole scanned the DNA remains. "Whoever grabbed her, the Captain fought back," she said. "This DNA is from the alternate reality." She looked up at Arashi. "We need to know who was here, and where they've been for the last 48 hours." She took a sample vial from Maggie and began collecting samples.

"I can do my best to see if the logs in the computer have any information but I am not going to guarantee finding anything. They are professional and I doubt that they would leave evidence of them having been here. " he said as he headed back to the security station.

"Maybe," Nicole said. "But they can't erase everything without someone being suspicious. So we'll have to see if we can find anyone who the base doesn't recognize and trace from there. She began taking samples to bring back to the ship.

A few minutes later, while the Doctor and her staff were still carefully collecting evidence, two colony security officers appeared. Both looked disgruntled and out of sorts. After being told that they’d been victims of a biological attack and that some insane Starfleet medical officer had used Borg nanites to cure them through what the senior of the two considered to be damn near barbaric voodoo doctor ideas.. they were likely to remain disgruntled for the foreseeable future.

Spotting a Starfleet officer poking around on the building security console, The colony headquarters security officer - Captain Davos Grayson scowled. “What are you doing?!” He snapped as he reached where Tanaka was working, promptly pushing the ‘fleetie away from the station.

"One of our people went missing and we are trying to find her. We found traces of DNA that seems to be, well, not from around here." Arashi said and stepped away. "We think she may have been taken by someone."

Listening with considerable suspicion as explanations were made, he finally said “uh huh. Maybe she just got sick of it and decided to retire.”

Arashi was getting a bit annoyed but let it slide. "I just want the video data so that I can try and match faces to whoever those people are. My captain is missing and I do not have the time to deal with a jackass such as yourself. I mean it seems that you are going out of your way to avoid helping anyone that has an issue." He was done dealing with this asshat and wanted to get as far as he could away from the guy.

Again, Grayson scowled. He was good at it. “Uh huh.” Was all he said while using the tip of one beefy finger to push the ‘fleetie out of the way. Accessing the console using the proper security codes, he easily pulled up the last 24 hours of security vid data and it didn’t take long to find activity. An attractive female in a ‘fleet uniform exited from a turbo lift and crossed the lobby, pausing by the colonial map display. She rubbed one hand at her temple as if massaging a headache. Grayson rather thought it likely the poor woman had a constant headache if she had to deal with these clowns under her command on a daily basis. Especially that medical officer ...

Two figures appeared on a separate recording, taken from a different camera. They approached her silently, the sensitive audio detectors did not even register their footsteps. Grayson was taken back by the assault. A burly male injecting something into the Captains neck without warning. Her lightning fast reaction, killing her attacker so swiftly and with such apparent ease it sent a chill through the surly security officers spine. It was even more terrifying to realize whatever had been injected into her system worked so fast, she was collapsing down as she tried to call for help.. missing her comm badge with a loose slap toward the small golden device as she called out in a slurred voice to someone named ‘Alec’.. it seemed she knew the second male staying well out of her reach (wisely so in Grayson's opinion).

After verifying the Captain was down and out, the second man seemed not at all bothered by his companions astonishingly swift and violent death as he made a mocking little remark and then all three figures vanished in a haze of transporter energy.

“Looks like you know what happened..” Grayson commented.

He nodded in thanks but was a bit angered by his flippant attitude. "I am going to need a list of the ships and crew that were here in the last 48 hours. I need it as soon as possible." Arashi said a glare just barely avoided as he wanted to be as diplomatic as possible. "Because I do want to find this person or persons that were involved so we can get out of here." He really wanted to strangle this incompetent buffoon but he didn't want to get arrested for murder and especially a security officer. This man was talking bad about his captain, and he wanted to punch him so bad. He knew he had to play nice but he was angry. He downloaded the video to his PADD so that he could show it to Nicole when he was finished with Douchebag McAssface.

Grayson grunted a reply, “uh huh. In between being infected with a biological warfare agent and then assimilated by some randomly altered twist in Borg nanites, then reawakened to find you lovely intruders poking about where you don’t belong. We are supposed to know what ships came through in violation of the red zone warning ... other than you.. and then whether or not any left. For that, you need operations. Not governmental agency. Which is where you are.”

Arashi had tried to be nice, he was absolutely livid now and he hauled back his fist and decked Grayson right in the face. "I have a captain who is missing, and we are trying to rescue her so we can stop whoever did this! I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR YOUR BULLSHIT, EITHER GET THE INFO THAT I WAS LOOKING FOR OR GET OUT OF MY WAY AND I WILL FIGURE IT OUT!" He shouted. "I have tried to be diplomatic, you incompetent buffoon! I am done trying to be nice. So it leads me to suspect two things, that you are an incompetent jackass, or you were bribed to let my captain get kidnapped so that you didn't have to lift a finger. So which one is it? And besides that, I am Chief of Security, so unless what the Doctor does violates Starfleet Rules and Regulations, I really am not giving a damn! What I do care about is my captain being missing and the security officers of this station not doing a damn thing about it, instead acting like he is cock of the walk." He picked the man up by his collar and pulled him close so he could look him in the eye.

Nicole and Maggie came running full speed at the sound of the shouting. Nicole saw Arashi holding the security officer to the wall by his collar and raised an approving eyebrow.

"I suggest that you do what you are told...captain. I am not in the mood to deal with whatever issues that you have with us." Arashi said to the captain in a deadly calm voice. "Get away from me, or actually do your fucking job, you stupid incompetent fart of a monkey." He let the man go and waited for his response.

Now see.. here he’d been doing his job despite the nightmare of the last few days he could remember, and the ongoing pain in the ass since he’d awakened. They could not access inbound and outgoing starship data from here which he had just told this little scrawny ‘Fleet punk and the little bastard had the unmitigated GALL to hit him!

Reaching around with one beefy hand, Grayson grabbed hold of Tanaka’s ear and proceeded to wrench it into a twisted curl of flesh as if he hoped to pull it off. The moment he had room, Grayson’s other hand now curled into a sledgehammer fist proceeded to slam into the Starfleet officer’s face with a solid th-WHACK!

Nicole tossed her bag to Maggie as Arashi's security team pulled their phasers on the colony's security captain. Nicole walked up, grabbing his hand as it pulled back for another punch, and met his angry-bull stare with one from her blazing red eyes. "Drop him," she said. The officer shuddered, resisting his hand's urge to release it's grip, but as her eyes bored into his, he let Arashi stumble backwards.

Nicole held his gaze as she stepped backwards a few paces and snapped her fingers at the security team. "Get him back. Maggie, get to work," she said. Maggie pulled out her medkit as the security men pulled Arashi away and she began repairing the damage to his face as best she could. The security team raised their weapons again, pointing them at the colony Chief.

"Now," Nicole said, calmly, never breaking eye contact, and her hold as she stepped out of his reach. "I think introductions are due. Tell me your name, Captain....?"

The man struggled but eventually, reluctantly, grunted out the name, "Grayson."

"Captain Grayson," Nicole said. "You are in charge of security on this colony. You failed. The colony was infected by a virus contained within a fake meteorite. We could have left you to die, but instead we saved your life. I know you lodged complaints with our ship's counselor at the time, and I'm sorry your objections were overruled. But if you're terribly inconvenienced by your current vitality, I made a promise I would remedy it, if that's what you desire."

She took another step back. "Do we have what we need?" she said to the team.

"I believe Captain Grayson got Lieutenant Tanaka what he needed," Ensign Tagara said.

"Excellent," Nicole said. She blinked and her eyes returned to their normal icy blue. She watched Grayson shake his head as it cleared and she took a breath. "I'll expect a written apology for the assault transmitted to our ship, and I'll be in contact with the colony Commander." She tapped her combadge. "Anderson to Victory: six to beam directly to Sickbay."

"Understood Doctor. Energizing now." Came the voice of the transporter chief.

[Sickbay]

As the transporter beams washed over them, she gave Grayson a smile. Once Sickbay appeared, however, she nodded to Maggie and helped her haul Arashi onto a table. "Lie still," she told him. "Anderson to bridge: we're aboard," she said.

Alec's voice came back to her in an instant. "Very good Doctor. Were you able to find anything that gets us any closer to finding and getting the Captain back?"

"Unknown," Nicole said as she worked a bone-knitter over Arashi's eye socket and Maggie pressed a hypo to his neck to stop the pain. "I've got DNA samples from someone not of this universe, and Lieutenant Tanaka has security footage of the attack. Unfortunately, the base's security chief decided to start a phaser-measuring contest, and the Lieutenant's skull has been turned into a jigsaw puzzle so analysis is on hold. I'll have him stitched back shortly."

"Understood Doctor. Please keep me informed." Alec's voice held a tinge of disappointment as he worked to stay in control and be effective in getting Rhea back to where she belonged her home on the Victory.

Arashi winced in pain as Nicole worked on his face. He wasn't expecting it to hurt as bad as it did but it was worth it to hit that pompus ass in the face. "Sorry if I caused any trouble. That was behavior unbecoming of a Starfleet officer. But damn did it feel good to hit that doofus in the face." Arashi said to Nicole. "Though I suspect that the XO will have something to say about it. I tried to be diplomatic but he just kept acting like...well I tried to be diplomatic with the security officer but he kept pushing my buttons and I lost it. Like I told him, I did not have time to deal with the bullshit but he seemed to not care." Arashi sighed.

"Oh, believe me, Arashi," Nicole said, healing the last of his cuts. "We have so much more bullshit to go, and so little time."

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