Home Front - Part VI
Posted on Wed Mar 17, 2021 @ 10:12pm by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Captain Tam "Demon" Haican
2,715 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: DS5, various
Timeline: MD04 0500
Previously in Home Front
Ensign Aranis looked up from the tactical station. "They're launching more fighters, sir. Permission to open fire?"
“Permission granted,” Caleb said. “Light ‘em up, Ensign.”
The Hekaran gave a brief nod, and then her fingers danced across the tactical station, and phasers flashed out, aiming for the tiny ships that dropped out of the Ghemor. She couldn't reach the capital ships, but the fighters had to pass into their arc of fire. Though hitting the small craft was far trickier than blasting a typical battleship. Then a handful of torpedoes streaked away. Aranis frowned. "Hardly any torpedoes responded, even from the upper batteries." She tried again. "Upper torpedo batteries are not responding at all now.”
Caleb cursed. “Keep firing. Hit what you can. We need to wait for Security to clear the torpedoes.”
And now the continuation
Main Science
The turbolift wasn't coming. She'd waited, and it hadn't arrived. Maritza couldn't afford to wait any longer. She had to get to the bridge. Beaming wasn't an option. She had to start climbing. The first two decks were easy. She came out on Deck 54 near Astrometrics. In a red alert there would be at least one duty officer there. "Report!" she barked at the lieutenant seated at the main console.
The Ktarian turned. "Nothing to report, astrometrics wise. But we picked up a disturbance near Xi'cadian space right before the red alert."
Sergeant Fel'tora stayed with the Captain each step of the way, keeping quiet and out of the way as much as possible, while still being close enough to protect Maritza, should the need present itself.
Maritza nodded. So the Cardassian’s new allies had some role to play in this. She wondered exactly what. Merely a staging post, or something altogether more damning. "Keep watching. Send written reports up to Ops." She had no idea if whatever was affecting their radio contact was also going to block the messaging server.
With a quick nod, she headed up to the next deck, and the science lab, knocking another twenty-five meters off the climb. "T'gan?" She saw the Vulcan in the main science area and jogged over. "What's happening?"
The Vulcan turned to the captain. To save time, she cut straight to what she just learned. "Temporal fluctuations on Pangaea have ceased. Chroniton and tachyon particle levels are at zero. The Portal Complex is under attack, and it is my belief that the readings indicate the portals have stopped functioning because of it. Indeed, it is possible that all temporal activity on the planet has ceased."
Maritza raised an eyebrow. "It's stopped? Just like that?" Then another thought. The sheer amount of rare particles in the atmosphere had made scans a nightmare. "Can we see what's going on down there? Do your sensors work?"
"Affirmative. They began to function the moment the levels dropped, ma'am," T'gan said. "The transition will bear study at a later date."
"You!" she called to one of the ensigns helping compile readings. "I need a uniform, a combadge, and a hairbrush, then get and hold a turbo lift for me." Her mind boggled. The bane of exploring the planet properly had just stopped. "Show me what's going on down there." If they could see, maybe they could at least help the people on the planet. She also needed to get up to Ops faster. She felt worse than useless right now, unable to communicate, not knowing what was going on. "And why haven't we got any comms?"
"The Cardassians have been quite thorough, both here and on Pangaea," T'gan replied. "The Marines on the planet are holding them off for now, but the assault is unrelenting."
Fel'tora felt a strong sense of pride, hearing that her brothers and sisters were making life miserable for the invaders. While she wished that she was down in the thick of it, she would not disappoint the Major. Her place was at Captain Soran's side, and it would stay that way until the end of the crisis and she was relieved of her assignment by Major Rixx.
Soran nodded in agreement. "They've certainly caught us with our pants around our ankles."
A breathless petty officer dashed past, calling for Lt. Oaxaca. "Crewman?" Soran interrupted. The young Vulcan looked blankly at her, hair half done, out of uniform, and took a moment to realise he was addressing the captain. "We've got saboteurs on the station. Commander Ryan wants everywhere scanned for Cardassians and Xi'cadians, and everyone arrested."
"Alright, go." Soran's blood chilled. Enemy troops on board. How? Any sudden arrival would have been noted. Turvan would have had to have built them up over time. How long had he been planning this? She shook herself. She didn't have the luxury of wallowing right now, and not over a Cardassian.
The ensign she'd sent for clothes came back with the requested items. "Get a good look at the portals and the colony. Make sure Ops is hooked up to the feed." She pinched her nose, trying to ignore the flashing lights. "Keep an eye on it, and tell Ms. Oaxaca to look for alternative communications systems too." And time to acknowledge reality. "She is also to secure all the research on Pangaea, and make sure everyone is armed, and that Science is sealed until further notice. I'll get security to come down here too.
"All research on Pangaea has already been secured," T'gan replied calmly. "I have taken care of the data on the station. Alanna secured the research in her cabin several weeks ago. I believe the portal complex currently has information on the portals explored. From what I understand, that will be corrupted when the complex is breached," the Vulcan replied. "For the rest, I will inform Lieutenant Oaxaca and assist her as I am able." She began to mentally calculate the time needed to perform all that the captain required. If the Cardassians were already here, she might have to come up with alternatives. Perhaps Brianthe would have some suggestions.
"Good work, Ms. T'Gan. I'll be back shortly." Maritza hoped those words wouldn't be a lie. "As soon as I can. But it could be a long morning." She hurried off for the turbolift.
The Vulcan inclined her head in acknowledgement and went back to talk to Brianthe.
In Main Science, Brianthe was glad Alanna had taken care of most of her data before she went to Pangaea. It meant that her information on Pangaea, the portal complex, and her personal research were carefully locked away and not accessible, even to Brianthe. Then again, Bri was a botanist and spent most of her time in the arboretum when not required to do the administrative work. She left the encryption to Alanna and T'gan as they were far better with it than she was.
She made sure everything was backed up to the external database, removed access to the backup and any sign there even was a backup. She then began deleting any experiments and papers the Cardassians might find of interest from the science computers. Alanna's insistence on redundancy and secondary backups stored where they wouldn't be located was making her job right now a lot easier.
T'gan strode into the room. "A wise precaution." She succinctly relayed the information from her conversation with Captain Soran. "I suggest we conceal the backup power generators and make preparations to protect the other scientists."
"I've sent word for the labs to be secured. I don't think there's much of interest there, anyway. It's mostly information that's readily available elsewhere. You've taken care of temporal science, and Alanna took care of the rest before she left. I've removed access to the backup databases and am deleting any research that could be important."
T'gan removed the connections to the backup generator in the lab so it wouldn't draw attention and nodded. "Indeed. I do suggest that some of the labs be set to fail if attempts are made to access the computers."
Bri looked at the Vulcan and smiled. "You know, it's been a while since we had an experiment fail. Might be a good idea. Start here. If any Cardassians or Xi'Cadians try to use the computers, I want them to have an accident."
The Vulcan nodded, a brief smile lighting her eyes. "I will see to it." She went to a nearby computer and set up a chain reaction.
Bri nodded. "When you're done here, spread the word. Just stay out of trouble for now -- and don't get caught."
T'gan raised an eyebrow. "I am Vulcan."
That didn't really answer Brianthe's question. She finished her task and sealed Alanna's office and the lab beside it. There might be some things she could use in the arboretum. There were ten decks with trees, plants, and workrooms. Surely there would be something that Cardassians were allergic to.
When they were done, they walked out of the lab together.
"And you'll be a dead Vulcan if you take another step," Xn'kah said as he raised the disruptor to the faces of both T'Gan and Brianthe as they were walking out of the office of the Chief of Science. Elsewhere in the Science Department, the other Xi'Cadian Guardsmen had either incapacitated or neutralized the other science personnel that were still within the area.
The scientists didn't put up much of a fight, mostly because scientists weren't known for their fighting skills. Xn'kah was grateful since his team was missing the Cardassian fireteam that was supposed to meet up and provide tactical support. If he had the backup firepower, then he would've been able to grab the station commander as she was sprinting through the department for the turbolift. He silently cursed at the missed opportunity. He would've loved to rub it in those Cardassians' collective faces.
"Seal the doors," he said to the other Xi'Cadian as he forced the two officers back into the office. "You!" He pointed to T'Gan. "Which terminal is used to access the Pangaea Portal Research Complex information," he demanded.
"The information was removed from the station a month ago," T'gan replied, "when the Chief Science Officer left." It was true, to a point. "You may look for yourself, if you wish."
"She's telling the truth," Brianthe said. "The Chief isn't on the station right now. She didn't trust me with the information as it doesn't belong to DS5. Check for yourself." She indicated one of the computer consoles.
"She's lying. That's what Vulcans do best," Dinsak said, keeping his disruptor trained on Brianthe as he sealed the door. "There's no way they completely offloaded all of the available information from the station."
"Vulcans are known for not lying," T'gan replied. "The portal site is not under Starfleet, it's under the Chief Science Officer. She removed the information when she left for a lengthy sabbatical." She entered a command on the console to cause a catastrophic failure. "You are welcome to look for yourself."
"Well, it looks like you are going to have your hands full trying to retrieve every scrap of information this station has detected regarding the portals and the planet itself. There's no way this facility would allow all information to be removed without some way to retrieve it," Xn'Kah said as he walked over to a nearby console.
"Otherwise, we might have to re-think the usefulness of all those scientists out there," he said as he gestured towards the other personnel that had been restrained and placed into a corner of the larger foyer.
"I did not say scientists are not of value," T'gan replied. "I said that the data on the portal complex is not here."
Once Xn'Kah began to look at the data on the computer, it exploded, knocking him backward. He hit the deck hard enough to bounce.
Brianthe, who was not as restrained as they thought, tackled the other Xi'Cadian by knocking into the back of his knees.
T'gan grabbed his arm with the disruptor and, forcing it to shoot into the wall, used a Vulcan nerve pinch to render him unconscious. Then she went to the other man on the ground and did the same so that both men were now unconscious.
She helped Bri to her feet. "Tie them up. I will take care of the computer."
The computer was still sparking and smoking. T'gan shut down power to all the consoles and put out the fire.
Brianthe tied up the two men. She had plenty of experience with knots and took pleasure in making sure they wouldn't be able to move any time soon. Then she searched them and took everything that could be removed.
T'gan watched her for a moment. "You appear to be taking more pleasure out of that than is seemly."
"They threatened to shoot us," Bri said. "You can't blame me for taking a little poetic justice. So, what do we do with them?"
"I do not recommend leaving them here. Perhaps we could put them on a turbolift?" the Vulcan asked.
"Are they working?" Bri wasn't sure, with all the power issues right now.
"Irrelevant. Barring that, we can lock them in a storage closet until security can pick them up."
"I think I like that better," Bri said. She grabbed a hovercart and brought it into the lab. "How about this?"
"Good enough." T'gan piled both men on the cart, making sure they wouldn't fall off.
Bri handed one of the Xi'Cadian weapons to T'gan. "Just in case."
T'gan looked at it distastefully. "Very well." She opened the door and stepped back for the botanist, then shut off power to the lab and sealed the door. There was nothing of interest here, but she didn't want any more Xi'Cadians damaging the lab.
They gave the cart to the first Starfleet officer they found and separated. Bri went to see who was in the arboretum.
T'gan went to check the other labs to lock them down and look for a way to get the captain her communication with Pangaea.
Kural was beginning to get anxious. It had been over ten minutes and he had not heard back from Xn'ah after he said that he was going to secure the head scientists of the department.
"Something went wrong. Xn'Kah and Dinsah should have been back by now with the other scientists!" he said to the other two Xi'Cadians. They were only operating at half strength since the Cardassian team did not meet up with them. They too were probably incapaciated. The plan was starting to unravel at the seams.
"I'm going to go see what happened," Kural announced as he began to make his way down the corridor towards the office of the Chief Science Officer. As he did, he made out a lone figure about a dozen meters away from him. At first he believed it was one of his team members; however, he was able to see well enough in the low light to recognize the taller and slimmer form did not belong to his team. It belonged to a Vulcan.
"ALLEK! ALLEK!" he shouted back to his remaining team members in their native tongue. He jumped to the side of a barrier and fired directly at the Vulcan coming down the corridor.
She dodged to a shoulder roll and came up on her knees with the disruptor aimed at the Cardassian and fired twice. Then she sprinted around the corner. She palmed a door open, but continued on to an access panel and slipped inside. Anyone coming after her would see the door close, but not the panel.
She bent a pipe across the door so it couldn't be opened from the outside and made her way through the maze and then down, away from the science labs and toward the Vulcan embassy where she might be able to open communication with the planet. The Cardassians wouldn't find any information on the temporal research or the portal complex, but now T'gan couldn't access it, either. Not until it was safe to do so.
To be Continued…
Sergeant Fel'tora
SFMC
NPC-Haican
T'gan
Temporal Scientist
Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca
Assistant Chief Scientist/Botanist
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