Contingency Plans

Posted on Thu Oct 28, 2021 @ 4:31pm by Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant T'Lul & Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon

3,850 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Promenade- Gorment Alley
Timeline: Day 5 18:47 hrs

On:

As she had been in plainclothes long before the Cardassians showed up, Petty Officer Silje Carter was not swept up when they took the Starfleet crew prisoner. Over the last few days she had attempted to gather information on the situation at hand in preparation for a possible counterattack from within. Along the way she'd run into a few others with the same goal, but they had only briefly talked with them to avoid suspicion. If the coast was clear they had agreed to meet at Hogan's Hoagies that evening to discuss their findings in more detail.

Arriving at the restaurant, she was pleased at the low number of customers. While it wasn't good for business, it would provide more privacy. Approaching the counter, she looked at the large digital picture window behind the serving counter. It currently showed Suraya Bay at sunset, indicating it was safe to talk. After giving her order, Silje took a seat at a corner booth to await the others.

Ace strolled into the restaurant. He saw Silje sitting in the corner booth. Not knowing she had any rank or purpose for being there, he confidently strode up to her and asked, "Are you alone? I would be happy to buy you a drink and keep you company."

Andi Williams walked into Hogan’s Hoagies, telling herself to act natural. This cloak and dagger stuff wasn’t her bag of tricks. While she had worked in Intelligence, she was an analyst, not a field agent. She was dressed in jeans and sneakers, with a pink hoodie over a tight t-shirt advertising the B-pop Bolian girl band UltraBaroque. It wasn’t exactly her style. She preferred the upbeat punk and ska beat of the Millennial Sex Pickles to the saccharine B-pop, but it was what she could grab quickly from the trendy Sun Spot on the Upper Promenade. She’d had to ditch her uniform quickly, and the Cardassians had been searching the deck where her quarters were, so she’d had to do a quick change in the dressing room during the chaos. She hadn’t felt safe to return to quarters since then, so she’d been sleeping in out of the way corners and using the public facilities on the Promenade to keep clean.

The mocha-skinned Andi took a seat at the end of the counter with a good view of the restaurant. The colorful beads securing the ends of the multitude of braids in her black hair clicked quietly as she looked around the establishment. She ordered an ice water and pretended to peruse the menu. She had very little latinum on her; just her FedCred stick, and that could be traced if she used it. Her stomach rumbling, she considered the risks of a dine and dash. Would the Cardassians care enough to chase her down for such a petty crime? Maybe she could steal something from the Bajoran Garden Market in the Arboretum.

Jane Smith, the PMA Secretary's personal assistant arrived next, looking even more anxious and mouselike than usual, but seeing Andi she walked over. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asked. "There's not a lot of Human's left on board, and right now I'd feel safer in a group."

Coming from somewhere from the side, unseen by anyone as a woman with a cloaked face observed, "And less Vulcans." T'Lul sat down next to Andi. "We may be rather suspicious if we get too much larger as a group," the Vulcan continued.

Silje looked up as the young man offered to buy her a drink. While she didn't recognize him, the security officer wasn't aware of any Human sympathizers among those still left on the station. "I already ordered, but your company is welcome. Take a seat."

Ace did not have to be told twice. He gave Silje another once over before sitting next to her, deciding that she might be a good time. Call it life or death or using up adrenaline of potentially being caught, but if things went well here, perhaps Silje might be a fun distraction. "Thank you," he told her smoothly. "Your company is desired, as well."

"Glad we're in agreement." She slid the electronic menu across the table. "I'm Silje by the way."

Ace gave Slije a warm smile, slid next to her, took the menu, and said, "Ace. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. When we're not occupied, what do you do here?"

Her answer was somewhat vague, but if Ace knew how to read between the lines he could probably figure out her true nature. "To the general public, I'm a graphics designer. Need a sign or pamphlet made up, I can help you out. Most recently I redid the entire menu for the Title Palm. Once a week I teach martial arts at the Rugged Five gym. It's the only time you'll actually find me in uniform."

It allowed her to more or less set her own hours and freely move about the station without suspicion. When one knew what to listen for, it was amazing what info could be picked up simply by parking at a shop and doodling on a data padd. Working at the gym was a nice way to keep up her combative skills.

Ace was amused at Silje. "When this is over, you can toss me around," he returned. "Should be a good time."

She smiled at the man. "Deal. I'm usually there on the weekends and some evenings. Just inquire at the front desk."

In short order a few more people made their way in, most taking a seat at the main serving counter. After T'Lul mentioned the group raising suspicion, the owner, Saul Hogan, approached the counter from behind. "That is correct. However, the last patrol passed by five minutes ago. If they keep to their schedule, we'll be safe for a while. There's never been less than forty minutes between their passes, usually more. Not surprisingly, the Cardassians aren't a huge fan of my offerings, so they mostly ignore the restaurant. However, we should still exercise caution."

He motioned to a young Bolian standing nearby. "Miss Plouton here will get you what you want from the menu. It's not good to scheme on an empty stomach."

T'Lul nodded at Hogan's observations. "I am impressed with your keen observations, and your warning is timely and astute. A simple report reaching them could bring them all down upon us. I have killed one Cardassian and I do not desire a repeat experience," she confessed. "I also suspect that if that fact is discovered, I may not survive this occupation."

“The Cardassians are stretched thin,” Andi noted. “They only have the Sixth R&D Fleet here. They don’t have the numbers to really properly occupy the station, and the Xi’Cadians still have issues at home they need to keep a lid on after their coup. They can only spare so many soldiers to support the Cardassians. Reinforcements from Cardassia are weeks away on the other side of the quadrant. They’re all stretched thin.” She worried her lip. “Which means they might need to resort to less…humane methods of enforcement to maintain control, which will then feed rising tension. It’s a fine line they need to walk.” She sipped her water and ordered an Italian sub, chili cheese fries, and a Coke.

Plouton replicated the drink and fries before heading back to fix the sandwich. As she did so, Hogan responded to the comments made by his guests. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me and my staff."

He chuckled. "Wouldn't do to kill off your already dwindled customer base. Joking aside, I agree that the Cardassians' hold on the station is tentative at best, which would probably cause problems should certain groups start pushing back. We had a saying when I was in Starfleet that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. However, I feel we should at least have a basic plan for when everything hits the fan."

T'Lul nodded. "Every plan should have contingencies, though. While some behaviors are readily predictable, others may not be due to the emotional variables."

Ace seemed much more interested in Slije than he did in the meeting.

“Could we do to them what they did to us?” Andi asked. “Knock out communications, power?”

Ace heard something that resembled ops and came back to his senses momentarily and nodded. "I can do that. I have already rerouted torpedo control to the Arboretum. If they try to discover what's gone wrong, well, they will have more problems in the torpedo control room. After all, ops is my position here."

“If we could get some civilian unrest before Starfleet arrives, it could draw guards away from critical areas to help quell it,” Andi said. “Though I’m loath to involve civilians,” she admitted.

The rest of the food was delivered as the group started serious discussion about how to oppose the Cardassians. Silje agreed with Andi on involving the civilian population.

"We shouldn't involve the civilians full scale, but if some of them choose to join in then that's their decision. Either way, we should try and time it with any action from Starfleet; don't want to lose any momentum we may gain."

"I have had the assistance of a rather grouchy civilian scientist who works in the Arboretum. I'm sure she would help," Ace grumbled, regarding Paula.

T'Lul added, "Citizens may join once we create enough of a ruckus. Keeping things smaller will give more plausible deniability and not get citizens harmed unless they do something of their own accord. They also will be unable to pinpoint what we are doing. Conspiracies are more successful when less have the full knowledge."

“Okay,” Andi agreed, “we have some things we need to do, then.” She held up her fingers. “One, get control of communications. Two, get control of power. Three, somehow coordinate with Starfleet. Should we form teams to work on each?”

Silje nodded. "Sounds reasonable. My only other concern would be the crew that was rounded up by the Cardassians. When we start pushing back it may draw undue attention to them."

Ace interjected, "Your part two has already been implemented to some extent. I left some unique problems for our friends to solve in at least the torpedo control room."

T'Lul responded, "Two might need to be done before one in your plan. After all, if there is power, communications can be cut off both ways or rerouted depending upon how much the Cardassians have learned."

“The surrendered crew should be off the station soon,” Andi said. “Starfleet is coming to get them, so we won’t have to worry about them. But their departure will free up more Cardassian and Xi’cadian guards, so we might want to get our plans moving even more quickly, have a lot of it in place before that happens.”

"We should certainly at a minimum have everything in place once the hostages are off the station. Mr. Hogan, I understand there are a few other establishments that can help?"

Carter knew of one other, but wasn't sure if there was an easy way to tell who could provide assistance.

The former security officer nodded. "There are. The easiest way to spot them is to look at their Promenade Merchant's Association Logo. If it's light blue you're cleared to proceed, dark green means to keep moving. They'll do their best to make the change so as to avoid the attention of our new overseers. Still, I shouldn't have to tell you to proceed with caution."

T'Lul nodded at Andi. "Your logic is sound. Waiting will give us more opportunity to be noticed. We should get a good plan in place quickly."

“I’ll take a stroll along the Prom,” Andi said. “Make some mental notes.” She considered it for a moment. “Security has two big blind spots on the Promenade. The Box and the Lotus Lounge. No cameras in either, and the security camera in the public corridor outside the Lotus Lounge is also conveniently inoperative. The Box is very public, though. But the Lounge is...discrete.”

Ace gave Andi a wink and replied, "So I've noticed. But if we need cover and I were so inclined, I could make the security cameras think they're seeing something. repeat old footage through them so nobody would notice unless they were really looking for something."

“That will require access to the security feeds. Might be difficult.” She bit her lower lip. “If only we could get our hands on one of those Dominion jamming devices Security was searching for,” she said. Someone had a couple of them on the station. I haven’t gotten any reports that they discovered who, but they completely static out security feeds in an area.” Normally that was not something the intelligence analyst would have revealed, but it was the kind of information that came across her desk in the routine course of her job. “Engineering was working on countermeasures.”

"Where's the former Chief of Security?" T'Lul asked curiously.

Andi shrugged. “I assume she was rounded up into the POW camp in the shipyards with the rest of the senior staff,” the analyst said. “Not my department, unfortunately.”

"But not Assistant Senior Staff," Ace replied with a coy smile. "Assistant Chief Ops at your service."

The Chief Counselor raised an eyebrow at the cocky Ace. "I believe that she meant that present company excepted, Lieutenant Cannon. Also, it might not be wise to advertise that fact, especially when discussing a conspiracy."

“Technically we’re all in breach of orders,” Andi reminded. “We were ordered to stand down and surrender by our superiors.”

T'Lul gave a nonchalant shrug. "I do not believe that you can be in breach of orders for which you had no knowledge." T'Lul stretched the truth, having spent some time injured and occasionally drifting in and out of consciousness. "Furthermore, if such an order was made under duress, it would be illegal and we would be duty bound to resist it. Would you not all agree that Commander Ryan was under duress?"

Ace laughed at the Vulcan. "I like this Vulcan. She basically said rules are made to be broken."

Silje chuckled at the comments about surrendering. "The nice thing about my job is you don't fall under the normal chain of command. My main role is to observe and report. Only a select few, and now you folks, know I'm actually Starfleet. If the brass want to court martial us after retaking the station, then so be it. Until then, we shall continue to offer resistance."

After being silent for a long time, Jane Smith raised a hand very tentatively. "Excuse me, but I think something else to consider." She hesitated a little when the other's attention to her. "The Cardassians are not being passive, and collaboration, willing or otherwise is happening. The PMA has been asked to provide details on locations likely to be centres of unrest. The Lotus, The Box, and the Dilithium Chamber were top of the list, but they've asked after the owners of other establishments, and leaders of various societies. Even the AmDram group. And Ms. Tah intends to comply."

"Why?" T'Lul asked curiously, raising her eyebrows.

Andi considered that. “Matriarch Dalav’ni has always played strictly neutral,” she said. “Many Rowa’ni aren’t exactly on good terms with many species. We should also consider that Ambassador Qinee is still in residence,” she mused.

Jane shrugged at T'Lul's question. "I do not know. She hasn't given me her reasons, only asked me to compile the files." She looked at Andi. "And I suspect neutrality will not be enough for these Cardassians. Ms. Ibalin is well known for her...warm welcome to Cardassians, and they still asked about information on her."

"It may be something worth investigating," T'Lul responded thoughtfully.

On the other hand, Ace asked, "Why? Look, all we have to do is space these spoonheads and we've got our station back. Just need an irresistible lure, right?"

“We need to avoid reprisals against civilians,” Andi pointed out. “We should talk to the station’s Bajorans. Some of them would have fought during the Occupation,” she mused.

"There's no reprisals if they're all dead from being spaced," Ace observed bluntly.

Hogan listened to the conversation as it flowed back and forth. "Unless we feel the hostages are directly threatened, we should strike soon after they're off the station. Miss Carter, you can get some weapons if needed, correct?"

The security officer nodded. "I can. Just give me an hour's notice. As for the timing, I agree we shouldn't act in haste. If our visitors force our hand early then so be it, otherwise we should make sure we have some semblance of a plan in place."

"Indeed. Without a plan, we are almost certain to fail," T'Lul responded simply.

Disappearing into the back for a minute, Hogan reappeared with several small packs.
"Unless anyone has anything else pressing, enjoy your meal and don't worry about payment. If you so desire, I threw some non-perishables into some packs for you to take with you. If you need anything else, you know where to find me."

“Thank you,” Andi said. “That’s a lifesaver!” Living in jeffries tubes and keeping on the move didn’t exactly allow for a pantry, so she had gone without more than one meal in the last couple weeks. Occasionally she could get food from the Bajoran temple, but she didn’t want to put the Vedeks at more risk than necessary.

Ace smiled mischievously at Andi. "I'll go with you."

“Um, thank you,” Andi said, brushing a couple of her braids out of her eyes.

"Someone has to make sure you miss no meals." His eyes twinkled with mischief as he smiled at Andi.

Andi blushed and ducked her eyes at the attention.

Jane Smith coughed politely, disrupting the moment. "I believe we should not linger. I suspect any Federation citizen will likely garner unwanted attention in the days to come and we should not get used to being together. Discretion is protection."

T'Lul agreed. "And it would be unwise to get distracted from our tasks." The Vulcan pointedly looked at Ace and Andi. "However, I am uncertain that we have agreed upon what everyone's tasks are. This should be our last attempt at joint coordination. We would not want to know too much about another's plans because if caught, that individual or individuals could not reveal much about the rest of us."

As she was more or less responsible for the meeting, Silje felt she should have some idea of who should do what. However, she didn't have specific plans for the gathered resistance group.

"I've mostly been observing the various units and working on a pattern to their movements and numbers. As mentioned, I should be able to get weapons with a bit of a lead time. If you want to subtly impede the Cardassians’ progress, by all means, go for it. I think our biggest concern is how to know when to take the proverbial gloves off."

"Agreed," T'Lul responded. "We must have a coordinated plan. While I am a counselor and not a scientist, I was given a Vulcan education." If anyone did not know better, some might say there was an air of superiority and pride in that statement. "I could create a peer to peer network that will not interface with the computer's frequencies. Of course, it should be used sparingly or else the computer or the oppressors may be able to hear some of the chatter at some point."

Ace looked at the Vulcan and frowned. "You do realize that I'm from Ops and could do that."

"Likely," T'Lul responded. "But you seem more interested in Ms. Williams than the resistance."

"Now you listen here, you pointy-eared know it all..." Ace started, turning more red.

“Hey!” Andi said, blushing. “I can work up an encryption for if they do detect it,” she added. “They won’t have the most recent Starfleet encryption, and I made sure to wipe the intelligence computers after I downloaded them.”

Approving, T'Lul said, "That is good. I hope others had your foresight." T'Lul stared at the fuming Ace as she finished that sentence. She then continued, "Unfortunately, it would be impractical to delete everything on the station. And it would likely be inadvisable to do much now, as it could lead to our discovery. Perhaps we can intercept some of the Cardassian communications, both internal and external."

“That should definitely be easy enough.” Andi nodded. “We’re more familiar with the station than they are. We could find the out of the way access points, or places to access the comms that aren’t technically access points. I grabbed a few listening devices when I locked down Intel, too.”

"You do your department honor, Ms. Williams. You and I will meet soon and I will give you a device so we may remain in contact. I would estimate that I could have it completed in 2.345 hours. If our test of these first devices goes well, then I can prepare more. Should my calculations be correct, I could create additional ones thereafter in 7.892 minute stretches. We will need at least as many to go around this group," the Vulcan counselor considered.

“Okay,” Andi said, blinking at the Vulcan’s precision. “I’ll get you the listening devices then.” She had hidden them away, so that if she was caught they wouldn’t be found. “I have a full case, so a dozen.”

"Give me a meeting spot and time. We should not take the same route to get to an exchange." T'Lul looked around at her compatriots, realizing that somehow she had taken charge of this revolution. Mentally she shrugged, considering that it had a greater chance of success now that logic was involved. "Does anyone else have questions?"

Andi nodded. “The Lotus, Friday,” she to T’Lul. “Come after lunch. One? I’ll be there earlier.”

"Thirteen hundred, then," T'Lul answered. She then held up her hand in the Vulcan greeting and departure gesture. "Live long and prosper."

Carter observed the interactions between those in the gathered group. She may have called the meeting, but others had taken the reins, which suited her just fine. It still achieved the same purpose of starting to create a plan to take back DS5 from the Cardassian invaders.

"Sounds like everyone knows their role in our little resistance cell. If there's no further questions, I suggest we leave before drawing too much attention. If you need me, you can get word through our friend here Mr. Hogan, or Riesia down at the Rugged Five gym. Thank you all for coming, and stay safe out there."


Off:

PO3 Andi Williams
Intelligence Analyst
NPC Caleb Ryan

Petty Officer Silje Carter
Undercover Security Officer
NPC Annora Tessaro

Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant (jg) Ace Cannon
Assistant Chief Operations Officer

 

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