Your Mission, If You Choose To Accept It

Posted on Sat Apr 17, 2021 @ 6:10pm by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant Victor Morgan
Edited on on Sat Apr 17, 2021 @ 6:31pm

1,976 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: USS Lakota
Timeline: MD04 0600

[ON]

0430

For Victor, life on the Lakota had become...simple. Too simple for his tastes. He felt as if he was losing himself. Sometimes he believed he was happy where he was. He knew most everyone on the ship and he genuinely liked Captain Makette. But there were some days where he knew he was just pretending too. Pretending that Ensign Callita didn’t always order the same...bloody...thing, every morning. Or at exactly 7am, Crewman Yannit and Cutler jogged around the deck. Or how Ensign Templeton sang in the shower every morning. He was losing himself here. Losing his edge and he knew it. The problem was, where would he go? What would he do? He tried to go back to sleep but he knew full well what waited for him, in his dreams. The only place that he could recall what his dead wife Clara’s face even looked like. Or thought it looked like. He barely had any memories of his son now. Only Clara.

He had gotten over the pain of the loss long ago but he still felt it sometimes. That and hatred for the Borg that killed or took them. Hatred for all Borg. And he was lonely to boot. His room wasn’t large, it was modest and sparsely decorated. Victor was not someone that held onto material things. And what he did hold onto was inside of his overly organized brain. Maybe he needed a nice, long run? Perhaps but it would be morning soon. ‘I should try to sleep’ He told himself but then sat up and placed his bare feet on the floor. He wore only blue pajama pants and he rubbed his hands through his gray and silvery hair then placed them palms down on the bed at his sides.

His brow furled as he tried to banish the last cloudy tendrils of the dream that had awakened him. He stood and walked briskly to the bathroom. He shifted his hands under the faucet and cool water splashed onto them and he hunched down over the sink and splashed the cool water over his face. As he did that again he heard the ping of the ship intercom pointed to his room. It was then that he felt the ship come out of warp.

“Lieutenant Morgan, you are ordered to attend a meeting in the Captain’s ready room at 0600 hours,” the voice said. Beta shift’s communications officer was Ensign Olesk, did he sound excited? He couldn’t tell for certain. He grabbed a white towel off of the towel ring that hung from the wall beside the sink and dabbed at his damp face.

“Alright, I’ll be there,” Victor said as he wondered what this could be about. It likely correlated to why the ship had come out of warp. Someone is likely here and he is either invited to observe...or to be the subject of the meeting. He did not know which of the two he preferred. And did it matter? It was something different.

--------

0600 hours USS Lakota, Captain’s Ready Room

Dressed in his usual plain, dark uniform, Victor frowned slightly when he arrived onto the bridge. Beta shift was still on duty but everyone was there. He nodded to Lieutenant Commander Wright as he stepped into the Captain’s ready room with his hands neatly clasped behind his back.

There, looking grave was the Captain, Jessil Makette, her XO Terry Walters. The Captain’s ready room was what he always assumed a ready room would look like. Large screens and a digital board on the walls, a large oval table and comfortable chairs. The Captain and XO he knew and he also knew the face that was on one of the large screens. It was his handler, Commander Turak.

There was a time that he respected Turak but now he spent more time at a desk than anything else. Victor always assumed that the higher you were in rank and responsibility, the more you could do. Or to be more precise, the more you could get away with. Not so for Turak. He was a family man.

"Take a seat, Victor," Captain Makette indicated the chair next to Commander Walters, and then turned back to the screen. "Continue, Commander Turak."

"Victor." Turak nodded to him. "Forty Five minutes ago, we started receiving an emergency beacon broad cast from station Deep Space Five. DS5 is strategically vital as it controls an important asset, We started receiving details from responding civilian ships ten minutes ago. What looks like a combined force of Cardassian and Xi'cadian ships were attacking the station. Given the reports we're receiving, we're expecting the station to fall imminently. So we need to make sure we have someone reliable on board. I checked, and their CIO isn't responding to any channel. If there is an attack, its likely that even if she is still alive, she is a known quantity who will be watched. We need to put someone unknown on that station as soon as possible. As the nearest Federation ship, and your areas of specialisation, you are the obvious candidate. Any objections?"


“Commander,” Victor said and sat down as asked. As he listened to Turak’s op, Victor’s face did not change at all. His mind moved quickly as he tried to recall what he knew about DS5. Not a lot if he were being honest. But he did know that the Cardassians were mobilizing for something. That was one of the reasons the Lakota was out here. He knew that the station was Celestial Class and that Captain Soran was now the Captain of it .He also knew that there were some kind of portals on Pangaea and that information about them was difficult to find.

One of Victor’s specialties was insurgency and that particular station had what, 50,000 civilians on it? That should be a fairly easy implant. Victor looked at Turak and then looked at the XO and finally the Captain before he looked back at Turak’s images on the screen.

“No objections sir,” He said plainly. His voice held a slight european accent. “I’ll need the latest intelligence on the station and its personnel. Including those that are not aboard the station. And I’ll need a cover. The Cardassians are fairly thorough regardless of how many civilians remain on the station. If there are any contacts I’ll need that as well,” he said and did not look at the Captain or the XO. He had been working with them for years now and if they did not expect this, him leaving without a hesitation...he knew they should have.

"We don't have much." Turak admitted. "Communications lines appear to be cut. No one can raise the station. We don't know who is or isn't on board, so we're sendng you the last known Roster. Cover ID has been transmitted. As for contacts on station? That will be up to you. But i'll include a list of key civilians who may assist you. For better or worse, Melvyn Raddon has a prescence there, i can't imagine you won't find a friendly face amongst his people. There's one large bar in particular, The Box of Delights, which most of the stations VIPs and usual suspects will poke their noses into on at least a semi regular basis. The Ferengi, Romulans and Klingons all have a substantial diplomatic prescence, including consulates."

Turak glanced breifly to his notes then continued. "The Cardassians were ejected frlom their own consulate some 6 weeks ago, following a long history of provocations. The then Ambassador was Legate Hydel Turvan, and man of lofty ambition and unbending dedication, but something of a fanatic over seeing Cardassia restored to its former glory." Turaks eyebrow twitched upwards slightly, an indication that if he had been human, that last statement would have been delivered with a gallon of sarcasm. "The Lakota is the closest ship, but its on its own, we won't be engaging the Cardassians, but if they rescue anyone after you're inserted, we will try and get you updated information. But only if its safe. Questions?"

Victor nodded as he tried to envision the station under siege and how much pandemonium was going on. However, what he wanted to know but wasn’t offered more than anything else was information on the Pangaea portals.

“Commander, is the Cardassian attack to be considered an act of war? With Pangaea and the portals at stake, Starfleet and civilians dying, what is Starfleet’s response to the situation?” Victor asked.

He glanced over at the Captain and XO again then turned back to look at Turak.

"That's for the Secretary for Defense to declare." Turak shrugged. "None of us in intel have seen anything to say whether this is a targeted attack, or prelude for something bigger. Either way, it is unlikely to be treated lightly."

Victor nodded. He expected an answer like that. Likely that is why they are tossing him into the firepit. Victor had no love for Cardassians and he knew them well. Their motivations, behaviors, even what they liked to eat and drink. He believed it was a targeted attack and he thought he knew why.

"Has there been talk about destroying the portals? If the Cardassians are interested in them then you can bet they're going to try to use them to their advantage. I know very little about them myself but I can guess that they could be weaponized in some way. If we can think of it you can bet that they have already as well," Victor said. His voice and demeanor never changed. He was cool and laid back as he ever way. And he did not sweat. He never did.

"I've not been briefed from signals," Turak said. "But it is likely they are the driving force behind whatever action is going on over there. They do represent an unparralled strategic opportunity."

Well this wasn't something that Starfleet would likely sanction. Not until there was proof of the Cardassians doing something that threatened more lives. And maybe not even then. He assumed that the portals existence, to Starfleet at least, was far worth the cost of a few lives. Though he did not believe that to be right. As of late Starfleet has been more...pragmatic. More...flexible. Victor could remember a time when one life saved was worth risking an entire ship of people depending on the person. Now though the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few...or the one. Victor was morally aligned with that notion...but only in a general way. Danger and risk was part of the job. And perhaps that was the reason he was willing to put himself in dangerous situations. He would go in with little more than a bit of currency and a false ID and history. Lest he get caught or scanned with a weapon or a communicator. He would need to make contacts while he was in the Station to give him what he needed. He would function as a pin prick that festered into a wound that poisoned the body that was the Station's new hosts. And he nodded slightly to Turak as he thought he knew of a way how to do it.

"Very well, once I receive the information I will...prepare," Victor said then stood. "If there is nothing else, may I be dismissed?" he asked no one in particular. He could feel the Captain's eyes on his back but he ignored that.

"Good Luck, Victor," Turak said.

Makette nodded. "Let Commander Walters know if there's anything you need. We should reach DS5 in two hours."

[OFF]


Captain Jessil Makette
CO
USS Lakota
[NPC by Soran]

Lt. Victor Moran
CIO
DS5

 

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