Operation ROUNDHOUSE
Posted on Sun Nov 8, 2020 @ 9:13pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Commander James Holbridge & Major Victor Crowe & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD
2,831 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission: The Binary Suns
ON:
As AJ approached the Demeter through the inky blackness of the surrounding space, he adjusted his thruster approach vector and stopped, allowing himself to drift slightly while applying microbursts to his jets to keep from smashing into the massive pieces of superstructure scattered throughout the area between the Victory and his target. Grabbing onto the edge of one with a magnetic glove, he signaled his team to do the same and opened an encrypted burst channel to the Victory.
"Victory, this is Sierra Actual. Confirm target shield status. Over." he said quickly.
Kennit answered, distracted by the issue in Sickbay but still perfectly able to handle what she needed at the same time. "Demeter shield frequency has been identified and matched. Your team will punch straight through without resistance." she told him.
AJ responded to the affirmative. “All Sierra Victors, form up on me in a loose delta formation- our target is maintenance hatch three on the ventral side. Ready, break!” He launched off of the superstructure and left himself floating in space for a moment before he gunned his thrusters at the shimmering shield of the Demeter. As he punched through the shield, a flash of light blinded him momentarily and he felt a a jarring stop and a series of sharp pops several of the suit's circuits overloaded and exploded. Suddenly his Heads Up Display went dark, leaving him disoriented. Using his last bit of momentum, he floated 'down' and pressed his gloves into the hull plating of the ship and began forced himself to skim along the hull, narrowly avoiding the black, raised line of the phaser arrauy. After what seemed like eternity, he arrived at his destination and held on to a maintenance handhold- tapping the LCARS console to gain access, he watched the hatch slide open and pushed himself inside. Grabbing onto another railing, he felt his feet swing down and hit the deck as the gravity plating engaged and oxygen flooded the compartment.
Checking his commlink, he found it was still functional but barely. "This is Sierra Actual to all Sierra Victors, Check In."
Petty Officer 1st Class Lydia Artemievna Chepurina was the first to respond. “Sierra Wictor Eight, reporting. I’m on your deck, two sections sternvard, Actual.” The petite Russian-born security officer had only been promoted and assigned to USS Victory a few short weeks ago. This was her first away mission and it involved her being fired towards an enemy ship. She found herself in that balance point between exhilaration and fear, where she was at her best.
USS [i]WASHITA[/i]
"Actual, this is Bulldog-Six," Major Vic Crowe reported from his seat in the back of the gunabout. It was interesting to watch AJ do his thing. "Scans show nobody home at Ingress Point Alpha. You're a go for entry."
"Roger that. Bulldog Six, Entering now." AJ said as he began his carefully prepared routine.
[USS Demeter]
On the bridge, a small alert notification flashed quietly on the ops console. The indication warned that a maintenance hatch had been accessed and opened using the proper codes by an external source. The soft amber colored light flashed for exactly 81 seconds and then turned green when the external hatch was closed off, sealed and the airlock pressurized. It was this gentle green colored notification which the ops officer noticed when he completed his earlier task, a scan of the enormous ship they were attempting to intercept. “Captain our scans show no damage to the Victory. The Borg Cube has damage to its hull which is being repaired, as well as a fluctuation in its primary power systems however it is still operational. I’m unable to get a reading on the number of Borg aboard.”
It was at this point the ops officer paused, seeing the notification and said “Sir, this is odd. There’s an indication on the board that an external maintenance hatch was accessed using proper authorization codes from outside the ship. The hatch indicates it was opened, then sealed and the airlock pressurized and the internal hatch opened and closed. I ran an internal life signs scan, no unaccounted for signatures are detected.”
Captain Bolton frowned, “What?” He shook his head. He’d never met Fleet Captain Kennit personally. But he knew of her. Any command officer with a pulse knew about her. If even a minuscule fraction of the stories about that woman were true... “Send a security detail to check it out.” Bolton ordered.
Ducking into an alcove out of sight of the security scanners, he quickly shed the suit and hid it inside of a nearby closet. Picking up his rifle, he attempted to arm it but saw the lights on the power indicator flicker and die. Tossing it aside, he checked the Type II phaser on his hip and saw the lights on the grip power on. Satisfied, he holstered the weapon and checked his pack, revealing that the several ion pulse charges that he'd packed were intact along with a small medkit and a roll of what appeared to be thi. activated a map of the ship on the closest wall console- he was currently on Deck 15- three decks short of his intended destination- the secondary ODN and EPS trunks. Zooming in, he saw that there was a Jeffries Tube approximately 100 meters from his current location that could be accessed from the main corridor. This would leave him exposed but short of taking a turbolift, he didn't have many options. Zipping the pack, he made his way into the corridor, his hand on the phaser in case he needed to draw it quickly.
"Actual, this is Eight," came a quiet voice through AJ's comms. "I have eyes on you and the corridor. You're clear for now, and I'm vatching your six from here."
Lydia was tucked into a half-open door, jarred loose by a power fluctuation during the brief engagement between the Demeter and the Victory. Lowest priority repair job. Enough of a gap that the tiny woman could be out of sight, but still have a good sight line on the main corridor. Her sidearm was in hand, but at her hip, so she maintained as small a profile as possible. "I'll cover you and follow once you're clear, Actual."
AJ found a hatch leading to a convenient Jeffries Tube and quickly entered it, narrowly avoiding two Security crewmen armed with Compression Phaser Rifles. Now in the dark, he activated his Night Optic Devices, which turned his vision a bright blue and began his trek upward, phaser in hand, using his free hand to place small electro plasmic discharge devices on any open ODN and EPS conduits he could find.
USS WASHITA
Vic tabbed his comm. "Actual, you have four x-rays closing on your posit. Get hid!
[Bridge]
At the security console, Lt. Cmdr. G’kar frowned thoughtfully as he worked to isolate the life signs of ship’s personnel from the intruders. “Whoever they are..they’re damn good..” he said softly. “But..not as good as I am... I’ve got them Captain..” he announced, displaying the location of the intruders on the ship as a tactical display on the main view screen. Swiftly, speaking on a secure internal channel Captain Bolton quickly issued orders sending additional personnel to close on the intruder’s position.
USS WASHITA
Vic looked at the systems officer and grinned. "Good job, master chief! Keep 'em chasing their tails while AJ and his rapscallions run amok. Turning to face his troops, Vic simply nodded to MSGT Woodard. "Look alive, you bastards! It's time to earn your pay!"
"HOOAH!" The assembled Marines shouted in unison.
"Beam us over, master chief!" Vic ordered.
Master Chief Derrick Woods activated the transporter and three cargo containers vanished, then tried to rematerialize within the shields themselves, creating three holes in the enemy ship's shields. Woods activated a second matter stream and beamed the company of Marines into the Engineering section of the ship. The action was fast as various officers and enlisted men dove for consoles, only to be blasted into unconsciousness by the well-trained Marines.
Vic searched for and located the chief engineer, a Benzar woman huddled under the master situation display. Vic knelt down and held out his hand. "Commander Lehax, I am Major Crowe. I think it would be wise for you to order your people to stand down before we stun the lot of them."
Lehax simply nodded and rose to her feet, tabbing the intercom control. "Engineering has been breached...!" she shouted before Vic stunned her. "AJ, this is Major Crowe. They know we are here. I estimate forty seconds until the ship is locked down. We will hold Engineering and assist you any way we can." Vic turned to Woodard. "Isolate the transporters and the main computer from Bridge control! Use the ship's prefix code!"
AJ opened his comm circuit and spoke as he climbed down a ladder towards the glowing orb that functioned as the shield generator. Jumping the last few feet, he reached for the charge and armed it for remote detonation, slapping it onto the main control console. Taking another, he set the yield to maximum and placed it onto the generator enclosure- with any luck it would cause a complete loss of shield containment and take them out completely.
Before Taggart could respond, all power to the section they were in was cut off. The lighting went down, not even emergency lights illuminated. A moment later, the gravity fields were cut as well. Weightlessness overtook them.
Floating towards an open Jeffries tube, he pulled himself inside and gave his wrist tricorder a couple of quick taps and held on. Shielding his eyes against the iridescent flash, he felt his hair stand on end and his suit singe as a surge of energy pulsed through the Jeffries Tube and any open enclosures. In the distance, he could hear the signature Pop! Pop! Pop! of EPS and ODN conduits exploding as the energy exceeding their tolerance, filling the area with sparks and smoke.
Switching frequencies on his comms and began his climb to the nearest turbolift shaft. "Sierra Victors and Bulldog-Six, come in." he said as he adjusted his course as he checked the internal schematics. Turning a corner, he found the barrel of a Type III phaser digging into his cheek.
"Don't. Move." the voice in the dark growled.
Still shrouded in darkness, that voice said “Captain.. I have intruders located in turbo shaft TS-14, between deck 6 and 7..”
The Captain’s voice returned immediately, “Security is enroute..hold them there..”
Lydia was out of sight, but close enough to hear the exchange. She had been covering AJ in the shield generator room from a ceiling access panel, and she remained in the tube system above him. She’d begun to move forward to meet him at a junction ahead, but she was slowed by the explosion. In the darkness, nightvision ruined by the flashes of exploding relays, it would be impossible to aim safely anyway. The shapes of people were too unclear to tell Sierra Actual from the enemy.
But the fact that the gravity was off could be an ally.
She floated quietly to the junction that was directly above where she was supposed to meet her superior officer. She withdrew from her belt a grenade. Despite the darkness, she could tell it was the right type. She gently set the timer and gave it a gentle push down the vertical tube shaft.
Then she shielded her eyes and ears.
She had pushed it with just enough force. The flashbang grenade had not quite reached the bottom of the shaft when it detonated. In the narrow space, the sound was deafening and in the darkness, the bright light blinding — to those unprepared. Lydia was prepared. She launched herself down the shaft and quickly tangled with the enemy. At close range, it was easy to figure out which was Actual and which was her foe. It took little effort to take the rifle and knock him out with its butt.
“I hope that wasn’t too loud, Actual,” she said with a smirk that he probably couldn’t see.
AJ was caught completely unawares by the explosion of the flashbang grenade- it made everything in his skull vibrate and his sight was drowned out by another burst of incandescent light that his optics weren't prepared to compensate for. As his optics went black during the blast as the shutters closed, he unclenched his jaw to help relieve some of the pressure in his head. Removing the optics from his head, he turned towards the barely intelligible shape of Petty Officer Chepurina. "Cool trick. Let's keep that in the bag for later, yeah?" he said playfully. Pulling up a schematic on his wrist comm unit, he projected it into the air above his hand. "We're on Deck 12, we need to get to the bridge and take it over but I don't think we can just walk into the front door. We might need some help in that regard, so we'll need to get everyone redirected to-" he stopped and zoomed in on the junctions surrounding the bridge. "- these four junctions around the bridge and the Captain's Ready Room. If my math is right, it should take us less than two minutes if everything goes the way it's supposed to. Thoughts?" he asked
“Only that it won’t go the way it’s supposed to, sir,” she observed. “But that’s most operations like this. We can make it there within two minutes if resistance is minimal, and we can’t predict resistance in the Tubes.”
"Sierra Actual to all embarked units. If I'm hearing some rumbling over here- I'm hoping that was you. All units, stand by to take the bridge outside of junctions 01-A, 01-B, and 01-C" he said quickly. "I'll stand by outside of 01-D. Codeword to execute is "Blackjack." Confirm, over."
On the Bridge, Captain Bolton was issuing orders to his security teams to close off access to the turbo shafts and stage for an assault on the enemy forces which had invaded his ship. He wanted the intruders taken into custody, but if they put up a fight.. then use of deadly force was fully authorized.
====== Ten Minutes Later ======
His face dripping with sweat from the seemingly overheated Jeffries Tubes, AJ pulled himself up into Junction 01-D. He had managed to narrowly avoid his share of guards and had managed to neutralize at least two with a heavy stun setting. He was attempting not to kill any of the crew if he had a choice in the matter- after all, it was going to be hard to determine who was truly just following orders and who was doing this out of a misguided ideal.
Placing a small charge on the hatch, he armed it and slid back, his phaser in hand.
"This is Sierra Actual to all teams. Report Status." he said, whispering into his comms.
Checking his wrist comm, he saw each indicator square turn green indicating that all teams were ready.
Giving a short nod, he opened comms. "Blow the hatches on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark.", he picked up the detonator and tapped the button twice. Triggering a bright flash of light as the hatches flew outward, with one or two catching the occupants of the stations in front of them in the chest and sending them flying backwards.
Climbing out through the wisps of smoke and gouts of sparks, AJ pointed his rifle. "SRU! Put your hands behind your head! Do it now!" a few of his teammates gave a few of the bridge crew no time to comply and simply stunned them without delay. Hopping over the rail, he turned his weapon to Captain Bolton. "Captain Bolton, I'm placing you under arrest for sedition and treason. You can come quietly or I can roundhouse kick your ass to the deck. Your call." he said evenly, adjusting the setting from a heavy stun to kill.
Bolton sneered slightly, the expression in his eyes one of pure hate as he slowly raised his hands to his head and said “Stand down.”
"Glad you made the right choice, sir." turning to one of the other Team Members, he held out his hand. "Let's get the man his jewelry." AJ quickly slung his rifle and stood the man up, bringing his hands down into a set of thick, metal cuffs. Using his free hand, he tapped his wrist tricorder, which caused the links to snap together.
"Taggart to Command. Target is Secure. Kennings- Two to beam out."
A moment passed, then over the comm came “Acknowledged.” At the same time, the familiar tingle and whine of the transporter took hold and in a shimmer of light the away team was gone, returning back to the Victory
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