The Fall of Caleb Xeod (Part I)
Posted on Tue Sep 29, 2020 @ 3:15am by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Civilian Jason Haines
1,639 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Asteroid field near Xi'cadian Space
Timeline: MD08
[ON]
Listening post Lambda-251 was, by Starfleet standards anyway, a bit of an armpit. The small base, little more than a comms array and a couple of bunkrooms, housed a total crew of eight, and hadn't been refitted in thirty years. Things were dirty, chipped, and flaking, and the company was dull, a couple of operations staff who actually did the listening had been here far too long and were treating Jason and his Operation Starcatcher assigned bodyguard like they had two heads for the whole two days they had been here so far.
The bodyguard, a tight-lipped security officer from New London, was listening to his earpiece, nodding along with whatever instructions he was receiving. In his ear he was listening to Commodore Stewart: "Unidentified runabout has been seen in the sector. It may be a scout ship. Everyone confirm your positions."
Jason eyed the bodyguard with a frown. He knew the man was getting orders he wasn't privy. That said, he checked in. As they wanted Xeod to find him, Jason was the only one speaking on an unsecured channel and more openly. Still, he would use some coding and alternate wording.
"Hey, this is Haines," he started. "Tell the boss lady all is good, but the food sucks here."
That wasn't a lie. Like the rest of the station, the replicators hadn't been updated in ages.
Annora and the rest of the small strike team waited in a hidden runabout for word that their target had arrived in the system. Dressed in full tactical gear, they were ready to go within a moment's notice, needing only to grab their rifles prior to transport. "Acknowledged. Just let us know when to strike."
Caleb strapped on his tactical vest and attached a pair of Type 2 phasers to the chest before fitting on the helmet and picking up the Type 3 rifle. He glanced at the others for their readiness, and the lieutenant nodded. “Team Beta ready,” he said. They would try to board like Annora’s team and provide a distraction, pinning down some of the security response to give Annora’s strike team an easier time to get to the target, though they would also be heading toward the target when able.
Maritza was on the bridge of Commodore Stewart’s Sovereign class, USS Pioneer, holding back from the main area of operations, using an asteroid and a plethora of sensor baffles to hide their presence. It wouldn't hold up close, but Xeod would be in the minefield before he figured it out. Or so Stewart's Andorian security chief assured her. The scanners of the huge ship were sifting space all around them, hoping to get a lock on Xeod when he arrived. A moment after the runabout arrived, an Akira class pinged on long range sensors, holding up at four light years out. Xeod. She knew it in her bones. But he wasn't taking his ship closer. "What's he doing?"
"Scanning for traps, I suspect," Stewart replied. "Hopefully at long range, he won't find any of us. By the time he gets close enough to realise we're not another rock, it will be too late."
To prove the commodore's point, the Akira began to move again towards the listening post. "Comms?" Stewart asked.
"We've got the shuttle covered," an operations officer replied. "If they talk to Xeod, we'll hear it, and they won't."
Stewart nodded. "Won't you sit, captain?" She indicated the chair on her left.
Maritza didn't take her eyes off the tactical display on the main view screen. Too many of her people were out there for her to relax. Caleb, Annora, countless others, even Haines. She was too nervous to sit. "I'm fine for the moment, ma'am."
Stewart shrugged. "All channels, this is Commodore Stewart. Everyone standby."
----
The runabout swooped towards the listening post and pulled up in transporter range. It was all the warning Jason and his guard got before there were four figures materializing inside the listening post, each one marking the cardinal directions of the combination mess hall and lounge that served as a common area for the base, surrounding the two men.
Jason kneeled down to make less of a target and shot one of the boarders as they materialized.
"Sorry, guys, this is an invite only party, and you aren't on the list," Jason said. "We are going to have to ask you to leave."
Jason's guard cast a 'Really?' look his way as he took cover himself and fired, missing his target as the man moved from the beam in spot.
The one to the left of Jason, a whip thin Andorian missing the top inch of one antenna, shot at them, forcing them back. "You can come in on your feet, or we can stun you to oblivion and drag you in like the corpse you're going to end up as. Take your pick."
"Just let my friend be and I'll come along nice and easy," Jason said, waving his escort off. If he could prevent the man from getting hurt he would.
The Andorian's eyes slid to the security officer. "Alright."
Jason put his phaser down and then walked to them.
"What's this all about?" Jason asked, playing dumb. He didn't want them to think anything was going on elsewhere. "I'm just a nobody ensign stuck on a listening post. What the hell can you want out of me?"
"To sit still, like a good little cheese, so the mouse put his nosy little snout in the trap." The Andorian patted him down roughly for hidden weapons, pulling out the knife hidden in his boot. "Cute." He threw it to the side where it stuck itself into the floor with a twang. "Let’s go, people, we've got what we came for."
A transporter beam collected them all, Jason included.
“We’ve got transport,” the co-pilot of the runabout reported.
“Then beam us over!” Caleb ordered, his team ready on the pad. They needed to act before the Akira’s shields went up again. The hazy blue-white of the transporter effect claimed the shuttle, and then Caleb and his team were in a corridor on the Taki Akira.
As the runabout continued to move into the system, the primary strike team carried out one last check of their gear. The runabout pilot kept an eye on his control console. "Standby for transport."
Moving to the transporter pad, they waited to board the other ship. It wasn't long before they transported over, rifles at the ready.
"Clear," came the report from each member of the five person team, signaling that they were undetected, at least for the moment.
"Good. Let's move."
“Beta Lead to Alpha Lead. We’re on board,” Caleb reported to Annora. “We’re near main engineering. Status?” He glanced to his second to see if they had been detected. Security sensors should have picked up the beam ins by now.
At least that part of the operation went as planned. If they could take main engineering, it would go a long way to helping them gain control of the ship. Passing the senior officer quarters, Annora responded to the inquiry. "Alpha team is in place on Deck 2, headed towards the bridge."
“On your go,” Caleb told Annora. Hitting the bridge and main engineering at the same time would cause the maximum chaos, but they couldn’t wait long before the inevitable security response came.
Akira Bridge
"Captain," Eva Gordon looked around from her station, "I'm detecting multiple beam ins." Her voice was incredulous. "We're being boarded."
"Scramble all system access codes, reinforce security in engineering, computer core, and turbolifts. Erect containment fields on the decks of the beam ins as well as the ones below them. Let's try to channel them towards the assembly hall," Xeod said, looking at the security input on the screen.
Xeod pressed the button on his chair for shipwide broadcasting.
"Attention intruders. You are to immediately stand down and surrender to my crew. If you don't, I will beam you all out into space. In case you think I am joking."
He made a motion to his security officer. The familiar whine of the transporter could be heard and one of the crewmen on beta team was enveloped by a transporter beam and disappeared.
"You have thirty seconds to comply."
Any surprise the boarding teams had was now out the window. Not that it was unexpected, but it would have been nice to get a bit further before being detected. "Beta team from Alpha Team. Punch it," Annora said.
She had decided to keep the command simple. No need to bother with fancy code words for this operation. The team activated the sensor scramblers as they continued forward. It would make them easier to track, but should prevent any beam outs.
“Shit!” Caleb said, as one of his team members disappeared in a transporter effect. “Ryan to Seine,” he said, calling his runabout. “Be alert ta team members beaming into space. Catch them if ya can!”
“I got him, sir,” came the pilot’s reply.
Caleb breathed with relief. “Thank God,” he murmured. “We need ta take down internal sensors,” he said. “At least in this area, so they can’t get a lock on us. There should be an EPS junction just up ahead. We can knock out the power ta this subsection there.”
The sound of something bouncing along the corridor alerted them to people ahead. A few seconds later a pair of cylinders rolled around the corner, a ring of blue lights around their centers blinking out one by one.
To be Continued…
Jason Haines
Bait Extraordinaire
Deep Space 5
Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
Deep Space 5
Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer
Deep Space 5
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