Rising to the Occassion
Posted on Tue Sep 7th, 2010 @ 2:00am by Commander Curtiss Drake & Captain Elsie Halliwell
1,779 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Stealth
Location: Starbase 97, Deck 30
Their group had been lucky...so far. The Level 1 Terminal wasn't guarded, perhaps because there weren't enough QAR guards to go around or perhaps because they were staying busy with whatever plans they had.
In any case, Freeman, Zhukov, and Lieutenant Davis, the Engineering officer, managed to gain access to Starbase operations with Freeman's backdoor codes. The only problem was, once they got access to the system, the QAR group in Operations knew, so Freeman had to work fast before he was locked out.
He managed to get control of internal communications, cut off access to all Security weapons lockers, restrict access to the site to site transporters, and disable exterior Starbase sensors before his access was shut off. He was sure that the QAR would try to get it all back, and it was only a matter of time before they did. The only solution was to try and regain access to the vital areas by force.
The group made their way to the bulk transporter and beamed up to a remote area on Deck 30. Freeman divided the group into three. Zhukov was given a dozen personnel and sent on a mission to retake Flight Operations. Freeman himself was taking a group to the main Operations area to try and overpower the group there. Lieutenant Commander Hester was given the remainder of the force to try and get to the main computer core. Zhukov told the others to be on the lookout for the away team from the Ranger.
If Freeman and Zhukov couldn't regain control of the Operations areas, Hester was to shut down the computer rendering everything useless. Freeman rationalized that if we couldn't regain control, then we were going to deny control to the enemy. It was a dangerous gamble, but it would put pressure on three different sensitive areas simultaneously, and Freeman hoped that the QAR wasn't planning on that.
Vladimir hoped that he would run into McAdams, Larkin, or Drake on Deck 30, but couldn't be certain of it. Their communicators weren't functional and trying to find them might lead the holograms directly to them, something Zhukov wanted to avoid if at all possible.
[Ceiling Access - Operations]
Commander Drake took a deep and steadying breath as he watched the feed from the small camera that was snaked through a gap in the ceiling tiles, spying on the goings on in Operations. No one was the wiser that he was there and they were all lazily going on about their duties as if there were no intruders on the ship at all. It was evident in every mannerism except those of the 'Admiral' running the station. Even through the holographic avatar Curtiss could tell the person beneath was agitated and ready for things to be finished.
Drake shifted slightly, setting his footing and keeping his rifle pointed towards the opening just in case he needed to snap into action before he pulled another data PaDD from his gear and powered it up. He had set up the encryption to contact Zhukov using the unique parameters of his holographic avatar to set up the comm with a nearby terminal. To a passing hologram, it would look like any other crewmen taking his orders from Ops.
[Flight Operations]
Down at the other end of the deck, Zhukov and his group stood ready to storm Flight Ops, while Freeman and his group were poised to enter Starbase Operations and take it back, by force if necessary.
Zhukov looked down at his watch. Ten seconds, nine, eight...he was sweating profusely now and his heart felt like it would burst from his chest...four, three, two, one... "NOW!" he shouted.
The door to Flight Operations exploded into thousands of pieces and he stormed thought the hole that it had made.
"Valeri, take the right, Hosmer, go left!" he shouted as he squeezed several shots off with his phaser through the smoke.
The QAR holograms began to fire back, but fortunately no one was hit...yet. Zhukov took cover behind a control terminal and took aim at an outline of a figure through the smoke...it was...himself. He hesitated for a brief moment then gently pressed the fire button on the phaser sending a red pulse out toward the QAR figure striking him directly in the chest, close enough to vaporize his comm badge. In an instant, the hologram disappeared.
It was an intense, but short firefight, much as it has been when the QAR stormed Flight Ops the first time. And just like the first time, the assault party was clearly the victors. There were no QAR survivors.
Zhukov checked around, and one of his personnel had been hit, but it was only a glancing blow and with medical care, the Ensign would recover.
Hester and his party were reporting in. They had secured the Primary Computer Core as well. Now to get total computer access back. That was up to Hester and his crew. The last obstacle was Starbase Operations.
Zhukov tapped his comm badge, "Zhukov to Freeman. Commander, do you copy?" he asked.
"Freeman here, go ahead."
"Sir, Flight Ops is secure. I have located Commander Drake. He is one deck above you and on the other side of Operations. My advice is to go in first, then let him come in seconds behind you. Your group should provide the necessary distraction to be able to take them from behind. Do you copy, sir?" he asked.
"Acknowledged, Zhukov. We are proceeding with the assault plan as agreed. Assaulting in twenty seconds. Let Commander Drake know...I said good luck."
"I will sir. He will go in ten seconds after you breech the doors. Flight Ops out." he said.
[Operations]
Commander Freeman nodded in agreement, or at least his avatar did, as he looked back through the small feed at Commander Drake. Their plan was about to take action and all they needed to do was get through it without incident.
Satsified that Freeman knew his part, Drake terminated the feed and then reached to the panel beside him and the jury-rigged data connection he'd spliced. Taking a deep breath, he activated the command and watched as the lights in Operations flickered and then died. No sooner than they'd gone off completely, the door's to the suite exploded open and every hologram turned towards it with their weapons up, firing into the doorway. Hopefully Freeman had gotten sufficiently far enough away by the time the charge had gone off.
Seeing his window of opportunity, Drake dropped from the ceiling and landed lighter than anyone would have expected from someone of his size. With all eyes and weapons on the door, he spun about and saw the 'Admiral' barking orders from behind a terminal, pointing and screaming.
He never even saw Curtiss.
Drake hit the 'Admiral' like a runaway Mack Truck and sent him over a terminal and then hard to the floor with all two-hundred fifty pounds of Curtiss on top of him. Burying the nose of his rifle into the 'Admiral's' chest, the hologram flickered to reveal the weapon actually right between the eyes of the small non-human that was contained within. "Twitch and I'll split you in half." Curtiss growled, reaching into the man's pocket and pulling a small data PaDD. He gave it a quick glance and realized what it was - the controller for the holograms. Smiling to himself, he looked down at the creature frozen in the barrel of his gun. "Game over."
[Flight Operations]
Back at Flight Ops, Zhukov was trying to raise the Ranger on subspace, and wasn't having much luck.
"Lieutenant, Commanders Freeman and Drake report that they have taken back Starbase Operations and have a suspect in custody." said an Ensign.
Zhukov nodded. If there were anymore QAR on the starbase, they should be giving up or deactivated. The station, now, was back in Starfleet hands. He smiled a bit and took a deep breath, remembering all those friends he had lost in the initial attack. It seemed like it had happened so long ago.
As Zhukov turned his attention back to the controls in Flight Ops, something big came up on the sensors. Zhukov shook his head. "That can't be right." he said to himself.
"Ensign, pull up long range scanners at that terminal over there and tell me what you see." he shouted. He was, after all, still the senior officer in Flight Ops.
"Aye sir." the Ensign said as she scrambled to one of the terminals. She pushed a few buttons.
"Sir, these readings...they can't be right, can they?" she asked him.
"Well, I'm seeing the same thing here. Time to impact?" he asked her.
"Thirty seconds?" she said...more like asking Zhukov if that was a confirmation. He just nodded.
That was a lot of energy, and it was heading directly for them. Only two options now. Try to block it or deflect it somehow...or get hit with the full force.
"Ensign, is the main power coupling still linked up here for the lower half of the station?" he asked her.
"Yes, sir. Why?" she asked.
"All we have to do is reverse the polarity on it. It would send out a shockwave and deflect the energy coming in" he said.
"But, Lieutenant, that will fry the electronics in half the station." she said.
"It will. But if we don't do it, there won't be a station. Do it, and do it NOW!" he shouted back. Less than ten seconds to go.
The Ensign quickly worked the correct buttons, bypassed the safety overrides, and said, "Sir, at your command."
"Do it." said Zhukov. There were three seconds left until the station got hit. The bright light of the energy pulse was now in plain sight and heading directly for them. In an instant, half the station went dark and large wave of greenish blue discharge shot out from the bottom of the station colliding with the energy mass about 200 kilometers in front of Starbase 97. The visual effect was stunning, but Zhukov knew he would be filling out a lot of forms and have to answer a lot of questions.
The Ensign looked at him and smiled. "It worked, sir."
Zhukov nodded. It had worked. "Yes, Ensign. I just hope that whatever that was didn't take out the Ranger on its way to us. Keep trying to raise her on subspace. I'm going to report into Commander Drake. Ensign, you have Flight Ops." said Zhukov as he left and made his way towards Drake in Starbase Operations.
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