Musical Interlude (Part III) - Jailbreak
Posted on Sat Nov 30, 2019 @ 7:48am by Civilian Jason Haines
Edited on on Sat Nov 30, 2019 @ 8:16am
1,626 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Doors of Perception
Location: USS Marseilles
Timeline: MD 25, 1800 Hours
Sing brother sing, I can hear that rumbling sound
Pray brother pray, ‘til the walls come tumbling down
Shackles are broken, doors swing wide open
Can't you feel the Earth Quake?
Heaven’s calling for a jailbreak
Joseph Habedank – Jailbreak
[ON]
Previously…
“Tanya”, the woman said. “Now, here is how this will play out. In two days, same time, I will spring you. I will get you the information you will need to help our families and how to follow up. You will have to get from here to the shuttle bay to get away by yourself though.”
“Good thing I have been keeping in shape”, Jason quipped.
At that moment they were interrupted by another guard coming in who said, “Thanks for covering for me Lieutenant.”
Tanya turned to the guard and said, “No problem crewman. Make sure it doesn’t happen again. And don’t listen to him. He’ll try to get in your head.”
Jason smiled at the crewman and waved.
“Aye, Lieutenant”, the crewman replied.
“Carry on”, Tanya said and left the brig.
Now The Conclusion…
The next two days were a touch more stressful for Jason. Now in addition to thinking about Commander Soran or missing Alanna, he now had planning to think of. It didn’t help that he was having nightmares about the events on Mirror Risa which was also dredging up the nightmares he had about his mother’s death.
Another problem for him was that he hadn’t eaten since his ice cream with Alanna. He was slowly starting to notice how it affected him and the distraction his hunger caused. He meditated a lot more to keep his mind focused on other things besides food and anger. It also kept him calmer. Right now, he didn’t need anger and hunger overwhelming him.
Although he still had his back against the wall, at least he had something now that he didn’t have before. Hope, as slim as it was, he had hope.
Approximately five minutes before the time Tanya was supposed to arrive, Jason started to groan and held his stomach.
“Hey, I’m really sick”, he said.
“So what?” the guard said with a chuckle. “You won’t have to worry about it after tomorrow.”
Jason continued the show until Tanya, who was right on time, came in.
When the time came, Tanya was right on time. She went to the guard to relieve him and that was Jason’s cue. He stood up from the bunk and then feigned falling to the floor.
“Turn the field off”, Tanya said moving to the cell.
“But the Captain said don’t, under any circumstances”, the guard replied.
“Well then, you can explain to the Captain why he isn’t the one that gets to kill him tomorrow”, Tanya snapped. “Now drop the damn field!”
When the force field dropped, Tanya went to Jason and knelt in a way that Jason had access to her phaser. Pretending to check for a pulse, she put a data chip on the floor next to him.
Knowing what he had to do, Jason reached out and grabbed her phaser. Making sure it was set to low stun, Jason shot her. The crewman at the panel fumbled for his phaser, but Jason was well ahead of him and sent the man to the floor with a good shot.
Grabbing the chip, he looked at the unconscious form of Tanya and said, “Thanks.”
Taking a quick breath, Jason moved out. He moved out, knowing he didn’t have much time. He got to the turbolift without running into anyone. When the turbolift opened, there were two crewmen in the lift. Even though he didn’t make an imposing figure in his underwear and tank top, the lack of uniform did catch the two individuals by surprise. The delay was all Jason needed and a moment later the two crewmen were on the floor and he was heading down to the shuttle bay deck.
When the doors opened, a klaxon started to go off and a voice came over the intercom.
“Intruder alert, deck 12, general quarters. Intruder alert, deck 12, general quarters.”
‘Great’, Jason thought.
The pro to general quarters being sounded was that less people would be in the way. The con would be that anyone he ran into would be armed. When got to the shuttle bay entrance that was exactly what he found.
The two guards there brought their weapons up immediately and fired. Jason hit the deck and then fired quickly and hit one of the guards squarely and he collapsed. The other guard decided that standing still wasn’t the best option and ducked into the shuttle bay.
Jason got to his feet and moved to the edge of the door. He stuck his hand out to see if any one was right there. He pulled it back just in time not to get shot. The angle of the shot was up at an angle and hit the right edge, so he moved to the left side and rolled in. He managed to shoot before the guard in front of him. A phaser shot zinged over his head. There was an armed shuttle pilot. Ducking behind a tool and part container, Jason moved to the other side of it and quickly popped up. He caught the pilot looking slightly in the wrong direction and hit him squarely in the chest.
Moving quickly, knowing more guards would be here soon, he darted onto one of the runabouts and tried to start it up. It wouldn’t start and then it hit Jason, he didn’t have a communicator on him with his credentials. He knelt to access some of the isolinear chips and switched some around and then removed the one that held the runabout’s transponder code. He didn’t need the Captain shutting him down before he could get away. Sitting down and taking the time to strap himself in, he tapped in the start sequence and the runabout came to life.
He looked up and saw the hangar bay doors starting to close so he launched a little prematurely. The runabout’s computer beeped protests about all pre-launch sequences not being completely.
Jason ignored the warnings, muttering, “You are going to like this even less computer.”
He increased the runabout’s speed to maximum. Jason wondered who would win the runabout or the doors. With proximity alarms on both the runabout and the ship blaring about potential collisions, the runabout slipped under the bay doors with only centimeters to spare.
Jason knew he needed to stay on the dorsal bow section of the ship. It was the only place where the tractor beam had minimal coverage on this class. That said, it was where most of the ship’s phasers were, so it was a bit of a trade-off. Placing most of the spare energy to the shields, Jason started prepping for his escape run. The big thing would be stopping Daniels from tracking him.
At that moment, the runabout’s communication system activated.
“Mister Haines”, came Daniels’ voice. “I can see I underestimated you. I should have known better given your last name. You know, I could use someone like you on my ship, truthfully.”
“Sorry, Captain”, Jason replied, a thought entering his mind as to how to get away. “I heard about a garbage scow that has an opening that I would rather be on. At least the stink there washes off.”
“Sorry you see it that way son”, Daniels replied. “Guess I have to move your demise up a day.”
The communication channel broke and phaser fire started to lance out at the runabout. As Jason started evasive maneuvers, he began working out a way to get away in a manner that Daniels couldn’t track, a sub-space corridor. The Enterprise NX-01 was the first to encounter one that the Xindi had created. The idea was never really explored all that much by the Federation then. Most research had focused on the improvement of the warp engine.
In his studies, Jason found the idea intriguing and had almost used his own adaptation of the mechanics in his Kobayashi Maru test, but really didn’t have the time to do the math for it, given he was commanding the rescue ship. It would be extremely dangerous. He figured he had more chance finding his head going through the control panel than succeeding. A small chance of success though was better than certain death.
The runabout shook as a phaser beam from the Marseilles hit the ship almost squarely in the rear, knocking shields down about fifty percent.
Jason altered course and speed, and then started entering his computations into the system. They controlled a sequence of his need for a power fluctuation, speed, and a medium to tie them all together; a low yield torpedo, a tachyon beam for just the right amount of time, and going to warp six as the tachyon beam hit the torpedo explosion as it started. One slight miscalculation and he wouldn’t be coming down for breakfast.
He adjusted the formula a few times in between evasive maneuvers and adjusting shield power. Two phaser strikes knocked the runabout’s shields out.
Shaking his head, he said, “Fortune favors the bold and the stupid.”
He pressed the button that would execute the commands he programmed in. Now it was up to his math and a little luck. The torpedo fired, the runabout lurched forward, and as the torpedo exploded, a tachyon beam lanced out. When the explosion subsided, the runabout was not there.
[OFF]
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Ensign Jason Haines
Escaped Prisoner
USS Marseilles
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