Contingency Plans 2

Posted on Wed Oct 11, 2023 @ 1:12am by Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Jason Haines

1,036 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: DS5
Timeline: MD11

On:

Silje followed her guide through a Jefferies tube before they popped out into a large, half finished, room. There among the half dozen or so crewmen, she recognized Petty Officer Tihr who waved at her.
"Welcome to our humble abode. It's nothing fancy, but allows us to hide from the Cardassians. We haven't hit them too hard yet, we don't want to tip our hand until it's necessary. What do you have for us?"

Silije handed over the data rod to the Andorian security officer.
"I don't know what the actual actual message is. Guess we'll find out together."

Tihr motioned to the person who escorted Silje to the location.
"Huxley, grab the processor will ya. Let's see what's going on upstairs."

It didn't take long for the engineer to find the needed device and power it up. As the processor accessed the information, the group read the message.

"The Federation has declared war on the Cardassian Union. Am working on gathering more information from sources outside of the station about a possible Starfleet counterstrike. I advise waiting on any major sabotage operations until the appropriate time but suggest you start planning. If you need supplies I will see what I can do. Will send more information when it becomes available. Signed, Saul Hogan."

Tihr was the first to respond.
"It doesn't change our mission too much. Generally enemy saboteurs are frowned on in wartime. However, we still have the home-field advantage."

At that moment, an old Klingon woman, gingerly worked her way out of the Jefferies tube. She winced and stretched a bit. She was relatively short for a Klingon, had straggly grey hair, and her left eye was damaged and seemed to wander about on its own. It made her look like what some might view as a hag or a witch.

Her name was Chi'yo, daughter of Sh'okten. She was an employee at the Klingon bar Q’uit on promenade. Why she had stayed when the other Klingons left was unknown to most. The group had dismissed her at first, but over time she had managed to bring them information, certain substances that could do a number on the Cardassians, and strangely enough a cooked meal when the group had the time to sneak into Q'uit.

"So, what are we planning today boys and girls?", she asked in her scratchy voice.

The group looked up as Chi'Yo made her appearance. As no one else seemed concerned, Silje figured they were a regular visitor. It was Huxley who spoke up.

"The Federation declared war on the Cardassians. We're expecting a strike force at some point, so we just started planning how to best support them when the time comes."

"Well, we must prepare the dining room for the Chancellor", she said with a laugh.

Seeing the confused looks, she continued, "It is just a Klingon way of saying doing it with more care. When one cooks for the riff-raff or troops, one can throw together any old thing because most of the time they will have had their fill of bloodwine. When cooking for someone more important, one has to take care. My first suggestion would be for us to be good. Make the Cardassians think we have been put in our place."

"An odd but descriptive phrase. I like it."

Tihir's antennas dipped forward a bit.

"I agree that for the moment we should avoid making any overt moves on the Cardassians. No need to tip our hand earlier than necessary. Except for Silje and Chi'yo, our guests don't even know we're here. Speaking of which..."

Silje picked up the conversation from there.
"I will do my best to tamp down any active rebellion above deck. I don't hold much sway with the civilian population but I do know of some other resistance groups that didn't go underground. The less they see us opposed to the new leadership the more complacent the Cardassians will become. In theory at least. We also need to start thinking about how to strike back when the time comes."

Huxley had grabbed a Data Padd and started making notes.
"I'd be surprised if our new masters have completely locked down the computer core. If we can get access to some of the systems such as internal comms, environmental, and possibly internal sensors to scramble things it could confuse the Cardies and provide some assistance to the cavalry once they arrive."

Chi'Yo thought carefully, "I would say first we try to get into the backup systems. Then when you attack the primary systems and the Cardassians restore the secondary systems, they actually give us the system."

"When this is over, you sure you don't want a job with us engineering types?" Huxley teased their Klingon companion.
"We were already working on beefing up secure comms so it should be easy to access the backup systems. We'll have to be a bit more subtle when poking around in the sensor grid, but it is doable. We may want to look at securing some weapons too, although it's not as important. If we do it right, we don't have to stay in one place once we gain system access. By moving around it will be harder to track us while security retakes the station."

The old Klingon looked at Huxley with a smile, "Oh, my tinkering days are mostly over. The only thing I tinker on now is a nice pot of gorlik stew."

The engineer nodded.

"Understood. Once this is all over, I'm sure we can provide you with any engineering upgrades needed. We appreciate your help in whatever form it takes. Most of us will continue to stay low until the fireworks start. Ms Carter, I'm sure you'll provide us with any further intel as it comes through."

"Of course." Came the reply from the security officer. "Ideally we'd know when they plan to strike, but I'm guessing Starfleet will do their best to keep it a secret. We'll just have to be ready. Stay safe everyone."

"Q'apla!", Chi'Yo said, crossing her arm to her chest and then left the opposite entrance she came in.


Off
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Chi'Yo, Sweet Old Klingon Cook
Deep Space 5

Various NPCS (Tessaro)
DS5

 

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