It begins...
Posted on Tue Sep 29, 2020 @ 7:52pm by Admiral Alan Markus & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Major General Christopher Mitchell & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Commander James Holbridge & Major Victor Crowe & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant JG Aergad Halvor & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Lieutenant JG Sydney Friedman Jr & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Admiral Harv Bennett
5,662 words; about a 28 minute read
Mission:
The Binary Suns
Location: Sol System/Earth
Captain Alec Trevelyan
Commanding Officer
USS Demeter (Federation Battlecruiser currently located inside Neptune’s orbit, near the dwarf planet Ceres)
Captain Trevelyan was seated in his chair, eyes focused on the sensor data streaming across the console at his side when the comm chimed. “Away team to Demeter.”
Immediately the Captain answered, “Demeter here.”
“The station is secure. We met with resistance, as expected. Three casualties, but all resistance has been neutralized. We are attempting to determine what messages were sent during the event, however all transmissions are heavily encrypted; it’s going to take some time to determine which ships Bennet messaged, and what those messages revealed.”
“Understood. Initiate a data dump to our computers, then sync the defensive controls to our boards so we can operate the system manually if needed,” Trevelyan ordered. “The Admiral won’t like it if his plans for President Naxta and her supporters are interrupted.”
“We’ll have the data dump started in five minutes,” Trevelyan was told.
“As soon as you’re done get back here; there are still resistance ships unaccounted for. We still have a job to do. Demeter out.”
“Captain! Sensors are picking up a massive power surge bearing 12 point seven mark nine,” the helmsman on duty called out.
“Identify it.” Trevelyan ordered sharply.
“Trying, Sir. I think we've got it.”
“Put it on screen,” Trevelyan said.
The viewscreen shifted from the dark grey surface of Ceres to an empty point in space. It didn’t stay empty for long, as a blaze of emerald energy erupted and expanded into a swirling maelstrom the helmsman called out, “The signature is Borg! It’s a transwarp conduit!”
“Red Alert! Break orbit and be ready to fire. Inform the away team and send a message to Admiral Croft--oh my fucking God!” He ended abruptly as a massive Borg Cube erupted from within the maelstrom, its dark hull an ominous and terrifying silhouette against the blazing energy of the conduit exit portal.
“There’s a second ship coming though...it's a Starfleet ship!”
On the screen, the sleek shape which emerged was unfamiliar, the ship firing at the Borg Cube then executing evasive maneuvers as the Cube fired back, while at the same time over the Demeter's com system came a terrifying message.
“RESISTANCE IS FUTILE”
An urgent message was sent from the Demeter, calling all ships in the area to respond to the threat as the small Federation ship joined the fight, its weapons ineffective against the Cube’s shields.
—————
USS Castelnaudary
Bridge
As the Castelnaudary shook through the transwarp conduit, nearly everyone was hanging onto their console for dear life.
"I'm not going to go so far as to say this is the stupidest idea we've ever had," Amber said, holding onto her chair, "I'm just saying that it's up there."
"Noted," Tiffany said. Hitchhiking had been her idea, and so far it had worked. They were cruising along towards the Alpha Quadrant. If her guess was right, the Victory would bring them straight to Sol.
The edge of the conduit was licking at them as they sailed through, but soon, they heard something that gave them hope. "Approaching the exit aperture!" Jasmine said.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, then sucked it back in as a Federation ship fired directly at them point blank. Thankfully, the cube did its job and protected them and they skimmed off, blending into the starry night, and flew away, dodging the Federation ships that were swarming to attack the cube.
—————
USS Victory
Bridge
The Captain’s voice held an odd husky note as she said, “Mr. Taggart, Mr. Holbridge. Find our target.”
"Roger that, captain....tallyho! Contacts matching biometric IDs of Federation senior personnel. 35 kilometers underneath Syrtis City on Mars!" Holbridge sang out.
On the viewscreen, the massive Borg ship fired at an incoming arrival, its shields holding for now against the small warships which closed and circled it like flies .. Kennit controlled the massive ship easily through the connection she’d established, she didn’t want to kill fellow Starfleet officers--No..no. She did. She wanted to kill those who were unworthy. She wanted those worthy few to be bound to her, to become part of her. It was a primal need, like the need for food, for air...she held it at bay. Refusing to give in...
Walker grinned, but he did that in dangerous situations. Borg were definitely that.
Penny brought them from behind the cube and around side it, acting like they were trying to strafe it from the side. As the other ships closed in, the Victory angled away, dipping under them as if it were trying to get away and lick its wounds. Once past the perimeter, she swung them around and let out at full impulse towards the inner system.
Holbridge suddenly spoke up. "Captain, we have inbound fighters, bearing two-eight-three, mark three-zero-seven. Starfleet standard Gryphon-class warp fighters. Weapons hot and sensors locked on us, not the cube!"
AJ clicked his tongue as he adjusted the sensor feeds from a section of the auxiliary tactical console. "Ma'am, recommend we deploy electronic countermeasures and decoys to draw their fire. Once we do, I can deploy my teams where needed and potentially take out on the ships one by one. If we do it right, they might not know what's happening."
“Do it.” The Captain ordered.
AJ nodded and tapped his commbadge. "Taggart to SRU. Scorpio. Prepare for full deployment and tactical insertion. Meet me in Torpedo Room One and bring me a rifle. We move out in 10. Taggart Out." he said before walking towards the turbolift. Stopping for a moment, he walked over to Penny's station and handed her an isolinear chip. "When I give you the signal, load that over all bands." he said before turning to the turbolift.
"You got it," Penny said, grinning. She inserted the chip into a slot in her console and readied the program.
“What is happening with the search for the President?” Kennit demanded. “We only get one shot at this..”
"Search in progress, Captain," Camille reported from Science.
Summers looked up from her board; " Captain..I'm showing a drop on this whole frigging board here....currently reading 79-75 % Operational!"
“Recalibrate your board and verify. We haven’t engaged any ship, there’s no reason for a power drain.” Kennit replied.
“Captain.. I’ve got it. Sensors have isolated the President’s security locator beacon. He’s being held on Earth, in the security bunker located in San Francisco. Sensors detect a heavy security presence on the ground. Unable to get a transporter lock on him or the others with him. There’s too much interference from the building structure and the security fields. If we can get to him with a transport enhancer we can beam them out.”
Summers looked over her board and shook her head; then she suddenly brought her fist down on the control panel with a "BAM!" heard over the Bridge. She took a quick look then turned back to the Captain. "Board is recalibrated, and at 100 percent; we're good to go, Captain!"
----- Torpedo Room One, 5 Minutes Later -----
AJ sat on the bench in the torpedo launch control room, checking the equipment on his belt before he stepped inside of the silver and black suit that would protect him from the vacuum of space. Standing up, he walked into the open suit and inserted his arms into the extended arms. Hearing a soft series of clicks, he felt the suit tighten around his arms and close around his back and neck. Kneeling down, he picked up his rifle and attached it to magnetized bracket on his left shoulder. Looking over to the packs on the wall, he simply stepped backward, his boots clanging against the deckplates and felt the thruster pack attach itself to the connectors on his back. He activated his helmet and watched as the blue tinted transparent steel activated over his head and ran a Level Two Diagnostic to ensure all components reported ready. A stream of bright green indicators flashed down on a column as each system flashed it's status. Deactivating the helmet, he waited for the rest of the team so he could check their suits before they shot themselves into space.
From the bridge, the Captains voice came over the comm. “Mr. Taggart. Are you ready?”
Arashi and his security team reported to the torpedo room. "All right ladies and gents, we are going in hot and surly! We are going to support the SRU who are trained for this thing." He said and his team nodded and checked their phaser rifles and sidearms. He tapped his commbadge and talked to the captain on the bridge. "Ready to go here, on your orders, captain. What are the rules of engagment?"
“The personnel you encounter are to be viewed as enemy combatants. They are active participants in a direct takeover attempt of the Federations duly elected government. They can surrender, or be shot.”
Arashi was surprised by this revelation, but he had a job to do and he would see it done. He strapped his wakazashi to his uniform and inserted a power cell into his phaser rifle. If the enemy was an active participant in a coup attempt against the Federation, he would give them a chance to surrender but if they didn't take it, he had no compunction about taking their lives.
"Roger that." He said.
He checked the tactical pods that they would be using and made sure to check systems for any errors. "Like they always say in the old earth western...SADDLE UP!" he said and boarded the pod. All right, head'em up and move'em out!" the pods with the security team launched and waited for the order to launch.
AJ responded to the Captain's query as he checked his HUD. Giving a thumbs up that was returned, he stepped onto a loading platform that lifted him and placed him in the torpedo tube, bathing his suit in eeerie blue light. "Sierra Team reports ready.Starting countdown. Victory Ops, start the music."
"Three."
"Two."
As he hard the final click of the magnetic accelerators, AJ heard the strains of a distorted guitar joining into one discordant note- this was the sound of an ancient song by a band named Motley Crue. It would serve as a useful distraction and a hopeful way to jam the communications frequencies of their new hosts.
"One."
He was a part of the second group fired out of the tubes into the inky darkness of space. Fighting the urge to flail, he engaged the thrusters on his suit that sent him flying towards the first ship of the group- the Demeter.
Arashi's team were ready for the mission. "My team are good to go. Launch when ready." Arashi said, determined to help with this mission. There was no fear in his mind as they got ready to launch in the pod and head toward the enemy ship.
"Three," The team was thinking about strategies to use when they boarded the ship. He knew that it was going to be a fight even if he wasn't supposed to take over the ship.
"Two," the team would kill if he had to do so but these were citizens of the Federation and members of Starfleet. He would give them a chance to surrender but he knew in his heart that they probably wouldn't surrender. Arashi steeled himself for the job that he knew that he would need to talk to someone about after.
"One, Happy hunting." The pods launched and the team felt the lurch of the launch. He was headed toward the ship called the Demeter. They banished all thoughts from his mind save one, to stop the terrorists from completing their coup de'tat.
USS Victory
Engineering
"Got that stabilizer locked down! Last thing we want right now is losing weapons power!" he ordered as he kept an eye on the Victory's shield status. He wasn't so much worried about the computer auto rotating the frequencies as he was the power levels. He took a moment to look over and smiled as he saw the warp core humming and then he looked to see that it was operating at 99.7% efficiency. They had more than enough power as long as other parts of the ship held up. He also made sure the core's shield was up in case someone decided to try and take it out.
USS Victory
Bridge
Penny's Ops board lit up. She checked, then rechecked the readings. "Captain, the computer registered a small power drain when Chief Summers' board malfunctioned. It reads as a power transfer from the defensive systems to the life support systems, but I don't read life support being altered." She frowned as her board beeped again. "Captain, transporter rooms are reporting that all the transporters are in a diagnostic mode, but they didn't initiate it."
"What? What the hell is going on with this ship.. identify the source.." Kennit ordered sharply.
"If I had to guess? Someone bypassed computer control via Summers' terminal, then used their access to trip the diagnostic commands in the transporter rooms to keep us from beaming down."
Summers' head shot up. "Who?" She asked with anger in her voice, while looking between Penny and the Captain.
"Its a good thing we didn't plan to beam down to begin with.." the Captain retorted. "Locate the access code.. who is behind this.."
"If someone on board is causing an issue, it's unlikely they are monitoring us," Penny said, watching the traffic in their path and speaking over her shoulder. "Otherwise they'd have ignored the transporters and disabled the torpedoes."
"Their access rights must be incomplete, too," suggested Camille, "or they're just not as good as they think. Killing our sensors would be at least as useful as Transporters or Torpedoes, but they're still operational."
"Trace the unauthorized access Ms. Naroot.. and do it quickly.." the Captain growled out, getting tense because she had an away team off the ship, and was about to launch a strike on a Federation facility in order to retrieve hostages from the terrorists trying to overthrow the lawful government and now was just not the time..
"Already tracing," Penny said, her fingers flying over the Ops console. "The commands originated from.....Sickbay."
"Lt. Tanaka I want you and a team of security in Sickbay yesterday!" the Captain ordered instantly. Then, she said "Bridge to Sickbay!".
Summers' head shot up..' Captain..request permission to join the team..I have an score to settle with whom ever fiddled with 'my' board! " Summers flexed her muscles and stretched her full height.
“Get a replacement up here to take your place on the bridge Miss Summers. Then get your gear ready.” Kennit answered.
Summers flashed an wicked grin then hit her console. " Brady!! Get up on the Bridge to relieve me, yesterday!!" Summers smiled inwardly.
USS Victory
Sickbay
Nicole was snapping her fingers at a medtech. "B'tal, over here," she said, directing him and his cargo. "I need an update from Beta team! Are sprint teams in position?"
"Yes, Doctor!" Doctor P'k'ala said as he hurried in. "All teams report ready. All decks covered and trauma teams on standby."
"Good. Get Gamma and Delta ready to--"
The Doctor's orders were drowned out by a sudden hail from the Bridge. "Bridge to Sickbay! We are detecting an unauthorized access to the ship's control systems and have isolated it as coming from your location. Find out who is on the computer and secure that person now!"
Nicole turned and surveyed the people in her part of Sickbay. Three were at computer terminals, but only one hadn't looked around in shock at the Captain's announcement. "Doctor Meldor," Nicole said, her voice hardening. "Step away from your station."
Meldor continued to type quickly, ignoring her and the two medtechs who had veered away from their work to try and intercept him. Nicole was closer and approached the Benzite quickly, her hands balled into fists. Meldor was quicker, however. With no trace of hesitation, he stood up and swung around, backhanding Nicole and sending her backwards onto her ass. He input one final command and reached behind him, pulling out a Type-I phaser.
Arashi had arrived at sick bay with a security team and ran inside. He saw that the doctor who had subverted the ship's controls was pulling out a phaser. "Don't do it! Surrender now and we will show mercy, but if not and you turn and fire that phaser we are authorized to kill you as a member of the coup de'tat forces!" Arashi said "Put down the phaser and put your hands..." He never got a chance to finish as the saboteur turned and fired his phaser. The security team put him down as fast as he fired and Arashi sighed.
"I gave you a chance, why didn't you take it, you crazy son of a bitch...?" He asked. The saboteur, now revealed to be a young Benzite, in his twenties "F-for a b-better future..." he said and slipped into silence. Arashi sighed and turned to the other doctors in Sickbay, as he thought about what he said. Did this man really believe that or was he brainwashed to believe so? That was a question to be answered some other time. He tapped his comm badge and relayed information to the captain.
"Captain, Sickbay is secure but I am going to add more security to the sensitive areas of the ship. We may have more saboteurs on board and if this plan didn't work I am sure that they have contingencies," He said. "Someone get a body bag and wrap this body up. We need to wrap this up. I need his personnel file if I have access." Arashi said and walked over to the Doc. "You guys okay?" He asked them. after a few moments of silence.
Nicole took Arashi's offered hand and got to her feet. "Nothing hurt but my pride," she snarled. She dropped and scanned Meldor quickly. "Get him on a bed!" she shouted, suddenly. "He's not quite dead," she said. She looked at Arashi and his team. "Get him restrained, we'll get him ready for interrogation. I'll get you his file, but I'm betting it's fake."
"Roger that Doctor." Arashi said in response. "You heard the doctor get him up on that Biobed and strap him in! Make sure that you watch him and make sure that he doesn't assault the doctor again. He is a member of the coup so if he does assault anyone here, you make sure that he doesn't do it again. I will not have my friends and fellow crew members hurt by people like this." Arashi voice had changed, it went from being friendly and happy to angry. He tried not to show it and be calm but it was hard.
"I want security outside the sickbay. make sure that the Doctor and her crew are protected. I don't think that there will be retaliation but I want to be damn sure of that! No one gets hurt on my watch at all, understand?" He said to his security officers and they nodded, securing the area. "Also get security to the Engineering and Bridge. There might be more saboteurs on board. Make sure that they do not hurt the ship any more than they have."
Walker tapped his comm, "Security to Sickbay and Engineering. King to Sickbay. Halvor to Engineering." He sent them there based on their Starfleet Personnel Files."
Arashi sat down, suddenly exhausted.
"No rest for the wicked, Arashi," Nicole said, slapping his shoulder as she passed. "We have another issue." She sat down at the terminal Meldor had been working on. "He's cut power to the transporter rooms, and locked down the shuttlebay. I think he was trying to override shields and weapons too." She picked at the board. "Think you and Engineering can undo his handiwork?"
"I think so but it is going to take some work." Arashi said to Nicole. He started to punch in some codes but he was getting access denials. "Firewalls...heh....Who does this guy think he is trying to fool. This is so old school." The console started beeping. "Oh crap." He said silently "Virus is starting to...shit, he must have programmed a tamper prevention protocol in here!"
"Arashi to bridge, we have a problem. There is a computer virus that is about to spread throughout the ship. I do not know if the virus is targeting anything specific but be prepared for issues!" He said in to his comm badge." Arashi went back to work. He typed in a command to trace where the virus was going to first and he cut off access to the target. "This thing is moving too fast. I need to do something to stop it."
“Isolate it and shut it down Lieutenant, I need my ship at full operational readiness.” The Captain replied. “If you need to pull additional personnel you have complete authority as required.”
"Roger that. I am working on it!" Arashi said, sweat dripping off of his forehead.
"Doctor!" Maggie said, rushing over with a padd. "Casualty reports."
"We haven't had much of a battle yet, how are we getting casualties," Nicole said.
"Turbulence through the corridor caused some minor injuries, as did a few rushing accidents during the firefight. Teams are addressing them now. No one with serious injuries so far."
"Good," Nicole said. "But this is just beginning. Keep everyone on alert until we hear otherwise."
"Yes, Doctor," Maggie said, veering off to get back to her station.
Nicole headed back towards Tanaka. "Arashi," she said. "As soon as the computer's clean and transporters are online, I need to know," she said.
"I am doing the best that I can, this tamper prevention program is a bit slippery. I will let you know as soon as I am able to stop the virus." Arashi said and then got back to work.
"Good. I'll be on the bridge." She hurried out of Sickbay.
The doors to Sickbay opened to admit Jim Holbridge, who immediately hustled over to Tanaka. "Step aside, sonny!" Jim said with a smile as his fingers input a rapid series of commands. Thirty seconds later, the computer in Sickbay beeped comfortingly. "That should do the trick." Jim said as he straightened out.
"Thanks for that, sir. Didn't have expertise in this kind of thing. " Arashi said. "This virus seems a bit outdated and dangerous, I wonder why they would use something like that." He went back to fixing access to the transporter, made easier by the fact that he didn't have to worry about tamper prevention programs.
Jim looked at Arashi and exhaled. "The virus that idiot was trying to upload hasn't been used in ten years due to its unpredictable nature when set loose. Scary stuff!" Jim leaned over a nurse to check a reading. "Somebody better activate your holographic doctor and make sure he didn't get a piece of that virus." Jim tapped a comm-panel. "Captain, I need to have a word with you ASAP."
Meanwhile, Summers bounded into Sickbay, wearing battle armor and loaded for bear...or lion...or what ever. " I'm here to help, where do you want me?" She shouted. She then repeated herself.. " Hey..I'm here to help...where do ya want me?!?!?"
"Stand there," Doctor P'k'ala said, pointing towards the biobed holding Meldor. "If he attempts to escape, restrain him."
Nicole double-timed her walk around the bridge and onto the dais with the Captain's chair. She stepped up behind her and leaned in close, lowering her voice to a whisper. "We've got Doctor Meldor secured on a biobed," she said. "He'll be ready for interrogation shortly."
The Captain nodded, “It won’t take long.” Her voice was mild, but in the depths of her eyes was a dire promise which did not bode well for Dr. Meldor at all.
Nicole nodded and stepped down to the main bridge, standing near the rail, watching the viewscreen, arms folded.
Sydney turned from her station and watched the other ship on the viewscreen as they pulled away towards Earth. "What could they possibly want?" she said, half to herself.
Hearing the Counselor’s question, Kennit turned. “What does who want?” She asked.
"Well, I mean," Sydney said, "they went through the trouble of seizing power in relatively peaceful society. They wanted control immediately, and are banking on the public, and other factions of Starfleet, to accept their new authority. The only reasons for that are either the current power structure is so corrupt, they cannot trust, or wait for, a fair election, or their motives are so corrupt they know they could never win an election. Hostages, public trials in kangaroo courts and stoking civil war, though, that points to bad motivations on their part. So what is it that they want? Control of Earth? Starfleet? The Federation? How could they hope to maintain that? This would have to be one domino in a very long line. Do we even know who this rogue group is?" She looked towards the Captain for answers. "These actions speak to a far-reaching, long-term plan to destabilize the Federation, without them finding out. What "faction" of the Federation has that kind of ability?"
“Never underestimate the depths of corruption to which some will sink in their quest for perceived power.” was all the Captain answered.
"Captain, I need to have a word with you ASAP." Holbridge's voice came over the comm.
“Kennit here.” Came the Captains reply. “What is it Mr Holbridge?”
"You have a leaky ship, captain. Chances are good they know we are coming, and the virus that was uploaded into the ship's main computer is a nasty piece of work designed to cause mayhem until a counter code was uploaded. If I was a betting man I'd wager that Meldor was promised a place in the operation if he took out Victory. I recommend changing the prefix code to the ship before someone else thinks of it.”
“Agreed.” The Captain handled that task personally, it required her command authorization for the security overrides.
"Promised a place?" Sydney said, the wheels turning. "I'm betting he has one. He's most likely a mid-level operative. They wouldn't send anyone too high-ranking to take out one ship on the other side of the galaxy, but they wouldn't trust someone in a probationary status with a 'nasty virus' to take out the ship they're on. He's someone established. He may not know their plans, but he'll get us to someone who does."
Sydney thought about it more. "This was too easy. The other ship hasn't caught up to us at all, and the virus was found and countered just like that?" she looked at the Captain. "This from an organization that could stage a coup under the Federation's nose?"
“Easy for us, because the Cube has kept four starships busy dealing with it instead of us; as it was intended to...” the Captain retorted. She’d been controlling the Borg ship, linked to its systems and deftly attacking the defending Starfleet ships, making sure they had to focus on the Cube and not her as the Victory made its run into the Sol system.
"And yet we sent our people to the fifth one with no resistance," Sydney said.
"It won’t stay this easy for long. The Cube’s shields are not going to hold forever and once it looses its defenses even with the automated repair functions without drones to handle more challenging repair tasks it will fail. We need to have extracted the hostages and be well on our way out of here before that happens. We can find out the answers to your questions later. Right now I would prefer to stop the unlawful execution of the lawfully chosen President and the others with him wouldn’t you?”
"Yes, I'd just prefer to know the other shoe has dropped before we attempt it," Sydney said.
USS Victory
Engineering
Torres was looking at the power utilization curve from the reactor to the engines, the shields shields. He had also prepared a program to pump some extra power into the SIF or IDF if needed. He hadn't heard anything from the bridge, he looked at his instruments all internal communications were operating normally. So far things seemed to be going far better than planned. It was almost too easy.
"Captain," Penny said, interrupting the conversation, "we're approaching Earth."
She pulled up an image of Earth on screen, and gave a small smile. The smile quickly faded as the ship lurched and Summers' console sparked and blew.
"What the hell was that?" Nicole said, grabbing a rail for support
"The other shoe..." Sydney said, holding onto her console.
"Computer's reading widespread failures!" Penny shouted over the alarms. "Sickbay, Bridge stations, Computer control, transporters, shuttlebay, all showing system failures!" She worked her boards for a moment and swallowed. "Impulse engines offline. Thrusters aren't responding." Earth began getting big on the viewscreen.
“Engineering..what’s happening..”. The Captain called via the comm.
No reply came from Engineering. It was almost as if they never got the message.
Kennit said again, “Engineering!” Still no reply. On the view screen the Earth was looming, the planet’s beautiful blue and white surface filling the screen. “Miss Naroot,” the Captain said, eyes on the view screen. “If you wouldn’t mind regaining control of the ship and not crashing us into that rather large rock out there.”
"Attempting to reroute the thrusters," Penny said, one hand on Ops, the other on the helm. The Earth started to tilt and drift to the left as she slowed them down and adjusted their course. "Going to take a pass around but we'll achieve an orbit shortly," she said. "But if anyone shows up to challenge us, we're in trouble."
"Are the turbolifts working?" Nicole said. At Penny's nod, she retreated to the back of the bridge. "Sickbay!" she said as the doors closed.
“Our transporters are down..” the Captain said. She paused, querying the Cube. “Transporters on the Cube are operational. Scanning the surface for the President’s subcutaneous locator.” Another pause. “Target acquired. Unable to establish a transporter lock due to interference from local shielding in the area. Away team to the bridge. We are going to have go down there, using get the hostages clear of the shield and then get them the hell out of there.”
She turned, “Mr. Walker. The ship is yours. Keep them off our backs until we have the hostages and ready for retrieval.”
Walker nodded. "Departments check in." He sent Penny a couple of flight instructions that. The flight manual says they are not to be done in a ship this size. "That is for later." He trusted her piloting ability.
Sickbay
USS Victory
Nicole ran in at full speed, threading her way through the patients being brought in. "Report," she said, helping a medtech get one onto a biobed.
"Sprains, burns, a few shards from an exploding console!" Doctor P'k'ala said as he continued triage. "Nothing life-threatening. Mobile teams are handling most of the remote injured and those nearby have been brought here."
"All right. We've arrived in orbit around Earth. Therefore we need to--"
"Away team to the bridge," the Captain's voice rang out.
Nicole sighed as she realized she'd have to do an about face again. "Keep on it," she said, rushing back out to her quarters to change.
Corridor outside the Transporter Room
USS Victory
The Captain arrived precisely 4 minutes after issuing orders for the away team to gather immediately at the Transporter Room, several personnel were already present though not in the transporter room itself, but standing outside of the space as the doors were sealed and inoperative. Dressed in tactical gear, it was very obvious the Captain was intent on joining the away mission to rescue and retrieve the hostages. In her point of view, she had spent her entire career training and taking part in actions like this, for her to not join the away team was illogical.
Nicole came around the corridor, similarly dressed in her personal suit. Her lenses were in and she was already scanning the Captain, frowning.
“Captain, there’s something wrong with the doors to the transporter room..” one of the security staff started as she approached.
“There’s a great deal of things wrong with this ship, the transporters are inoperative so the doors being inoperative really doesn’t make a difference.” Kennit replied. “Is everyone present?”
Arashi and a small security detail had arrived. "Permission to join the away team?" He said "I would like to help."
LCDR Holbridge entered the room in full battle gear, a load-bearing Starfleet vest, a phaser rifle and a very mean look in his eye. "I'm in, captain."
Kennit just nodded at Holbridge’s arrival, “Are we ready?” She asked the gathered assembly.
"Ready and able captain." Arashi said with determination.
Nicole looked at the others and nodded.
“Good. Let’s get this party on the road shall we?” Kennit said.
A few puzzled expressions met her words, and she actually smiled, though, somehow, that smile was enough to send a chill down the spine of those it focused on. “There’s more than one way to achieve an objective,” she answered as the ship’s interior dissolved in a shimmering green haze as Borg transporter systems locked onto the away team and moved them away from the Victory, and down to the surface of the Earth, within a secure facility located in San Francisco.
TBC
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