Tunnel Rats

Posted on Fri May 19, 2023 @ 6:09pm by Lieutenant T'Lul & Civilian Dorian Torel

2,080 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Lasuma's - Beyond the Veil (under construction)

Dorian had been using the office in Lasuma's new shop as a base of operations. With everything still under construction, it had been kept locked up even before the Cardassians had shown up. With their arrival they had swept the area and resealed the shop. There was a maintenance hatch in the office to a crawl space that led to a larger jefferies tube, and the rest of the station.

The message he received let him know that someone needed to meet with him so headed out into the maze to wait for whoever Geral was sending to him.

Keeping the fire bug in line had been quite the task. Organizing a revolution was time consuming. If she were human, she might say that she was exhausted. However, she was Vulcan, and T'Lul knew that she could push herself a little longer without much strain on her body.

Keeping Geral rational had been a bit of a task, but now that the merchant was focused and had agreed to work with her to coordinate the elimination of the Cardassians from the space station, she estimated that their chances of success increased. Granted, the odds were still slim without some outside assistance coming in but T'Lul had to believe that the Federation was not going to allow a space station of this nature to simply be handed over to the Cardassians.

Her ears perked at the sound of light noise coming from nearby. She left her makeshift headquarters and headed towards it, spotting Dorian. Calmly, she asked, "How can I help you?"

"Hmmm, really? From the word I got I'm supposed to help you." He motioned for her to follow him. "Come on. I have a place where we can talk more comfortably."

T'Lul tilted her head slightly and squinted her eyes skeptically, then followed her messenger curiously. "Do you?"

Lean up against a bulkhead folding one arm over the other. "Yes, I do. Do you always disbelieve everyone you meet?"

"I believe things when I have proof," the Vulcan responded simply.

"Hmmm. Requiring proof for belief, sounds like an illogical way to live. Follow me." Leading her back to the crawl space and to his hideout. He emerged from the maintenance hatch and into the office space. Once the Vulcan had stuck her head out, "Welcome to my hideout. What was to be Geral's second store front on the station."

"Your use of logic is inaccurate. Logic dictates forming hypotheses and proving them based upon data and facts. Even in psychology when we can identify a set of behaviors, we can then predict likely outcomes. It is quite logical. What is not logical is believing something without anything provable, like superstitions which can be a product of confirmation bias," T'Lul politely lectured as she followed her host. Upon coming out of the hatch, she looked around. "It seems that this store front is bereft of goods. Is that because of the embargo or because Geral had not completed his plans?" she wondered aloud.

His eyes rolled at her comment as she looked about. He was about to reply to her statement but decided to wait. The office area was completely enclosed but like in his original location there was a one-way wall that, in this location, looked out onto the upper level of the shop. "Plans were complete. They never finished the construction of the shop before the Cardassians attacked so things are still in disarray as you can see."

"I do see," the Vulcan observed. She got the impression that she somewhat exasperated this man. Then again, she noted that was a common trait for Terrans. They simply did not have the patience or exactness of Vulcans. Yet, time was of the essence if they were going to coordinate an attack to finally rid themselves of the Cardassians and take the station back for the Federation. "Am I to assume this place is safe to discuss our plans, then?"

"Completely. In addition to me meeting with you Geral let me know that he had put together some agreement with Turvan and planned to use it as a cover to get items we might need. So whatever is planned, we need to get him any materials we might need. Have you had any contact with the Marines still on the station?"

"As discreetly as possible, yes. There are many more on the planet. I was considering methods by which we could get them up here without notice. However, I would like to avoid as much violence as possible. There also is a smuggler, though she prefers to call herself an entrepreneur, named Livia Sagan. I believe she has had some dealings with Geral. I know that she has been smuggling officers down to the planet...."

Nodding. "I know of her." He didn't want to expose the relationship she and Geral had started so he let her believe whatever she wanted on that front. "Agreed Livia needs to reverse she operations and bring and survivors on the planet to the station. Is she aware of how many people survived the attack?"

"My contact with her has only been indirect," T'Lul admitted, her eyebrows deepening towards her nose. "I have had my proverbial hands occupied on other matters."

"Oh?"

"Let us not speak of those things," T'Lul concluded, unwilling to discuss Anghrad, Ace, or any of the difficulties in leading a revolution after having killed a Cardassian during the takeover. Likely, there was a bounty on her head, even if they had not yet announced it.

"Secrets? Not a good thing when we are to be working together. Well perhaps you can link me with those that pulled the attacks on the Promenade? We should redirect their efforts to focus on the Cardassians themselves."

"We all have our roles to play, Mr. Dorian. Neither of us need know everything. Logically, that is dangerous. After all, if either of us were captured and we knew everything the other knew, it would be much easier to topple the movement we have put into place here. However, it seems that greater coordination is necessary to achieve our ends, hence the need for cooperation." She paused hesitantly and said, "Understand, it is not personal, just logical. "As to the promenade attacks, those were coordinated by myself," T'Lul replied looking downward. "I enlisted the aid of an individual named Angharad. She has an affinity for fire."

"Attacks on the promenade create a greater chance for collateral damage. Granted such attacks may be need as a diversionary tactic, repeated attacks on public areas can be self-defeating. Keeping their personnel in sickbay and hampering their command and control should be a priority. The Marines had managed to disable the internal sensors and I have been working to keep as much of the system damaged as possible. Fortunately for me I can more about without detection but the Marines and other like yourself would be quickly discovered if those systems were restored."

"I calculated the risks and found them to be acceptable," T'Lul countered. "It was an attempt to free Yolanthe and to overstretch the Cardassian resources. As to operations, we have Assistant Chief Operations Officer, Lieutenant Ace Cannon. He seems to be preoccupied between two things at the moment: working his side job at the box, and lurking about the Arboretum."

"Well, it seemed your efforts were successful. Geral let me know of her release when he arranged for this meeting. Thank you. We need to continue to undermine the Cardassian efforts wherever we can. Where do you think we should strike next?"

T'Lul had a dual answer to that. "If I knew that we had assistance from the Federation, I would put Mr. Cannon into action and commence taking down various vital functions of the Starbase. However, we do not have known assistance yet and such a destructive card likely should be saved for the end game. However, it seems that the Cardassians are not getting reinforcements, so any losses they take will be permanent. It seems logical that building a rift between the X'Cadians and Cardassians might do the work for us."

He mentally went through a couple of options, most would take too much time, a more direct approach on several fronts should do the trick nicely. "Should be easy enough to get that ball rolling. I could also set up a series of accidents that help deplete their numbers."

The thought of causing death was not T'Lul's desired course of action. However, it was logical that if more of the enemy were incapacitated or deceased, that the easier would be to take the station back. Her mind whirred. How could she make sure that people would not be healed.... The answer was as obvious as logical. "We need to shut down sickbay. Make it hazardous for anyone to enter until we are ready. If there are accidents, we cannot allow them to heal easily."

He merely shook his head. There was no reason to debate the reasons for her viewpoints; they were most likely rooted in a combination of her culture, her profession, and her lack of combat experience. Regardless of her reasons he could only offer his experience, tactfully, and go from there. "I understand your desire to keep any operations as bloodless as possible, but it just won't be possible to retake this station, even with help from the outside, without lives being lost...on both sides. Besides, shutting down sick bay would hurt the civilian people on the station just as much, if not more, than the Cardassians themselves. The Cardassians could easily relocate their injured to a ship for treatment, but I highly doubt they would do the same for anyone else."

He took a step closer and put a hand on her shoulder. "I understand, truly, but while passive resistance can achieve certain goals it will never retake this station." He took a deep breathe. "I can move about without detection and ensure that any loss of life will be...", he paused for the right word, "...as quick as possible."

The Vulcan counselor did not remove the hand from her shoulder. She understood it as a universal non-Vulcan method of comforting, which was illogical when a Vulcan was a recipient. However, if it made Dorian more comfortable, she was not adverse to the touch. "We can set up another sickbay, one for our civilians and personnel," T'Lul insisted stubbornly. I can have what's left of our medical staff replicate many of those things or remove equipment. While there is a high certainty of some casualties, there is no logical reason that we cannot make efforts to severely reduce that number. That brings me back to inciting the X'Cadians and Cardassians to fight each other."

He still believed attacking sickbay was a bad idea. Hopefully the others in their resistance would also see that as a bad idea.
"Like I said earlier the infighting should be easy enough to get started. I will recon some areas to find any issues we can exploit."

"That would be most satisfactory," T'Lul told him simply. "Is there anything else we need to discuss or coordinate now?"

"Not as yet. If things change or I need to contact you how do want me to reach you?"

The Vulcan counselor reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metallic, pill-shaped object. "I have taken the liberty of creating a solution to that problem. Put this behind your ear." T'Lul placed her hand outright and upwards for Dorian to easily take the item. "Touch it and I will be able to hear you. You need not speak above a whisper."

Dorian hesitated but took the device. "Even if it is encrypted, which I assume it is, signals can still be traced. With the internal sensors down that's less of an issue. But if that were to change I will have to leave this deactivated, stashed here, or destroy it so I can remain undetected."

"That is an accurate assessment. As situations change, we will have to adapt."

Placing the device behind his ear, "Very true, some will have to adapt more than others."

Their mutual departure for his hideout was interrupted by the station wide announcement from Lasuma and the Gul Kyren. After it was finished Dorian looked to T'Lul.

"What the hell..."

T'Lul's response was only one word. "Intriguing."

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Dorial Torrel
Bodyguard and Henchman to Geral Lasuma

Lieutenant T'Lul
Chief Counselor
DS5

 

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