The Trap, Part 3 - Discoveries
Posted on Wed Mar 24th, 2021 @ 10:39am by Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Hatham tr'Krotash
Edited on on Wed Mar 24th, 2021 @ 10:40am
2,082 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Chapter IV: Unravelling the Mystery
Location: Faraday Nebula, Neutral Zone
Timeline: 238702.10
"We have lost all power to primary systems, sir. Whatever they hit us with fried our relays good." The engineer on the bridge of the B'Rel shook his head as he continued his damage report. "If we had a matter-antimatter core, that would probably have blown by now. As it stands, singularity containment is down to 37 percent."
The Nausicaan Commander of the Bird-of-Prey grunted as the enemy warbird proceeded to make mincemeat of the other two ships. "Well, it's obvious what they are planning. All hands, prepare to receive boarding party."
"Scans indicate about a dozen or so on board, I'm betting they're ready for us with some trained Marine contingent. Same plan as last time? I play insurance as the rest of you get the immediate fun?" Ash said as she glanced at the rest of the team. They all seemed ready to board the enemy ship. She looked to Hatham, who was leading this mission for the final go ahead.
"Do what you do best," Hatham agreed with a grin. Then more serious, snapped, "Positions!" He and the other Romulans faced outward, some crouching down, some leaning to present nonstandard profiles, in anticipation of the enemy firing direct at the transporter beams. "Energize."
As expected shots cut through the glow of transport even before they fully materialized on the bridge. Two shots passed harmlessly above the crouching Ael and S'Tan, who shot up into the chests of two pirates.
Hatham, a bit on the large side for an effective crouch, felt the strange sting of fire passing through his shoulder before it fully consolidated. No lasting damage, but it fouled his aim making him miss the return shot. He rolled, ducking the next one and came up in front of the man, grabbing him by the throat and firing directly into his sternum.
Merik wasn't a lucky. A disruptor blast clipped his side just as he materialized, but he answered with the weapon in his other hand, taking the Nausicaan in the thigh. Hatham threw the body of his dead pirate at the Nausicaan, letting Ael finish him with a head shot as he went to Merik. "It's always someone," he remarked - which was as close as a former Galae would expect for comfort - applying pressure to the wound.
Stanley Ford and Kenneth Harrison were some of the only non-Romulans on the team, and they, to, had taken their positions as they beamed over. As Hatham went to give first aid to Merik, the two set themselves up at the corner, keeping an eye out for more Pirates. A split second after they had gotten there, a big Orion rounded the corner, with a Bat'leth in his hands. He howled and swung the weapon at Harrison, who had been taken completely by surprise. The Klingon-made blade sliced through the air and into the man's neck, almost decapitating him.
As his friend collapsed onto the floor, Ford roared in anger and let off a barrage of phaser bolts at the Orion, who was just retrieving his weapon from the body of his kill. Four bolts hit him in the back, two in the shoulders, and, finally, one square in the back of the head, which exploded, spraying blood and brains everywhere. The mercenary then hurried over to Harrison, but there was nothing that could be done. "They killed Kenny," he muttered, before screaming. "Bastards!"
Ash materialized in a non-descript Jeffries Tube one deck above where the rest of the boarding party beamed in. She dropped out of a hatch onto a Romulan, surprising him from behind, with a quick snapping of his neck. Then all hell broke loose with the ship's alarms blaring and her comms with the rest of the team open.
She opened a channel to Hatham, "What the hell is going on over there? Do you need assistance?""
Before she could even wait on a response, she saw some Marines heading towards a nearby turbolift, likely to reinforce those unfortunate enough to run into Hatham. She smirked and appreciated the luck as she fired 3 quick head shots in succession before the other 3 realized what has happened. They turned their attention to her as she took off running down the corridor.
As Hatham moved to the door, a not-quite dead Orion tried to crawl toward dropped weapon...
Wham! A knife nailed the reaching hand to the floor. The resulting scream was cut short by a blast from a very tiny disruptor. "Kenny bought it and Merik is going back, but no need for you to divert," Hatham replied, opening fire on the next group trying to rush the bridge entrance. "Go rip the info out of the core." He fried a Marine trying to pop around a corner, while T'San and Ael took two more. "We got this."
Ash laid in wait for the rest of the Marine unit to catch up to her, jumping out with her knife and slitting one in the throat before plunging it into the chest of another. The third one tried to fire at her but the weapon was knocked out of his hand before he could fire. She wiped the blood off of her knife onto her pants and finally responded to Hatham, "Copy that. I have 6, in case you forgot to keep score..."
She looked at the bodies at her feet and made her decision.
"Six?" Hatham frowned - he'd only gotten five so far. He looked hopefully down the corridor, but it looked like they might have run out of attackers. "Fvadt. The next ship better have more crew."
Ash got to the computer core and was met by a secure door. She looked at the security system and dug into her pocket for shoddily removed eyeball of one of the pirates. She chuckled to herself thinking how much Nancy would critique her lack of skills... maybe she should keep it for Kaol, but she couldn't bear to hear him brag about his surgical process. The computer scanned the bloody eye wad and the door opened.
"Sweet," Ash said to herself as she made her way to the core. She placed a bloody disembodied hand on the console, "I wish I knew it was just a retinal scan... didn't need to lug you around..."
She looked at the components in front of her. She's an assassin, not a computer engineer, but even she can figure out that none of this is normal. Is this Klingon technology on Romulan systems? Or Romulan technology in Klingon systems. Ash picked up the dismembered hand and poked at the core, "Okay... what would Mila do...."
Ash then opened a channel to Hatham, "So... how's it going up there? You sure you don't need... an extra hand?" She chuckled to herself as she tossed the thing around.
Ford was looking around the small pile of bodies, and frowned. "Orions, Nausicaans, normal pirate fare," he observed, when he noticed one body that seemed out of place. He called out to Hatham. "Sublieutenant! Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this guy look Romulan to you?" He turned the body, which was lying face-down, around with his foot, revealing the pointed ears and ridged forehead typical of Romulans. "Yep, definitely a Romulan."
Then, he noticed something on the Romulan's collar, and bent down to have a closer look. On the collar of his shirt, which bore a somewhat familiar checkerboard pattern, the dead pirate was wearing what appeared to be a single, golden crescent.
"Faelirh ih'wort nnea mogain!" Hatham swore. He knelt down and sliced off the man's ears. "When I find whoever is running this, I'm shoving these down their throat!" He tapped the comm for Ash. "Get that core and get out. This is fvadt Tal'Shiar op."
"Shit...." Ash responded. "Secure the ship Hatham, we need to to bring Mila in... I can't make heads or tails of this core." She wiped down the console of the blood and tossed the eyeball and hand under a piece of equipment. "Rogers to Ourainavassa, I'm going to need Mila over here..."
A few moments later, Mila materialised in front of the computer core. "I hate transporters," she muttered, before looking at the core. "Well, whoever put that thing together didn't bother reading the manual." She smiled at Ash, and made her way over to the main access console. "Right then. Let's see what we've got."
The young Lieutenant played around with the console for a bit, and suddenly, the core was bathed in a dim, green glow. "There we are, that's that unlocked. Lynn to Ourainavassa, I am initiating a full tr-" Before she could finish her sentence, the ship was rocked as if by an explosion. "Fuck. Now what."
Ash wrapped herself around Mila in case there was any falling debris. What the hell was that? "Are you okay?"
Ford felt the ship shudder. "What the fuck was that?" He looked around, but there was no sign of anyone in the vicinity. "Something must have triggered something. Orders, Sublieutenant?"
"Take Merik back. S'Tan, get in and check ship status," Hatham ordered. "Rogers, did you unlock that thing without checking for booby traps?"
Ash looked over at Mila, "Booby traps?"
Mila tapped her combadge. "Lieutenant Lynn to Sublieutenant Hatham. It happened when I accessed the computer core, must be some hard-wired failsafe." She glanced at the console, and her fears were confirmed. "Singularity confinement has been shut down. The ship has gone into self-destruct, I reckon we have about three minutes until she blows. Evacuate. Now. That is an order."
She closed the channel, and turned to Ash. "You, too. I can't pull rank on you, but get yourself out of here." Without waiting for a response, she turned back to the console. "Lieutenant Lynn to Ourainavassa, initiating data transfer. I'm sending over all logs and navigational data."
Ash furrowed her brow at Mila, "Oh hell no! You are not getting yourself blown up. You get out of here!" She yanked Mila away from the console. Ash had never laid a hand on Mila or raised a voice to her, but this was well justified. "I'll stay to make sure the transfer gets through. You keep a transporter lock on me when you get back. I trust your magic over anything I can do any day."
Mila pushed Ash away. "Exactly. Time is ticking, this ship is blowing up. What if there are more failsafes in the systems? Do you know how to work this thing? Decode it, break its locks, make sure the data gets over? Are you the one with the engineered brain or am I?" She shook her head. "Thought so. Now let me get back to work, you are wasting seconds we do not have." She turned back to the console.
Sensing that Ash had not moved, Mila turned her head back again. "What part of get the fuck out do you not understand?"
Now I'm getting orders from a teenager. One that I told there was a booby trap... Hatham's mood wasn't helped by hearing the chatter on the other end. "If a singularity goes critical we all need to get out NOW." He switched channels to the Orianavassa. "Emergency beam out. The engine's going critical. Be ready to hit warp the moment you have us."
Raven's voice came through the comm channel. "Acknowledged. We are currently receiving data and will be ready for emergency warp out the moment the transfer is complete. Transporters are locked on, beaming out in six seconds."
Ash watched at the transfer take it's sweet time to finish, mentally ticking down the seconds. She glared at Mila, how dare she think she should sacrifice herself! She wasn't angry at the kid, but more angry at herself for putting her into this position. She asked for her to beam over... if she had....
The familiar feeling of a transporter beam engulfed her and when she rematerialized, she looked around the transporter room and saw the rest of the away team... even Kenny's body. She didn't care who saw but she felt Hatham's gaze on her when she grabbed Mila into a strong hug, "You don't ever get to sacrifice yourself for me... Ever... I don't care how much you curse at me."
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