Compromised (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on 02 Jul 2012 @ 9:44pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III (KIA) & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant JG Kestra Orexil & Tarishiana Barel & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Scarlet Blake & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Chief Petty Officer Lucalin Mrina Ph.D. & Ensign Im'er Mor'an & Lawrence Gibbs & Ensign Rhett Brubwick & Rachel Hardaway Ph.D. & Anthony Hardaway Ph.D. & Justice Abernathy Ph.D. (MIA) & Eric Anderson & Emma Kennedy (MIA) & General ('aj) D'Grath Son Of N'Vor (KIA)

3,668 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Bridge, Cargo Bays
Timeline: MD 07 - 2015 hrs

Previously...

Feeling sorry for the woman, Eric picked up the PADD and took Emma by the arm. "Come on, Emma, let's double check your list to ensure nothing is missing." Tugging the secretary, he lead her away.

Lucalin couldn't see Hardaway's expression, but he heard when the focus slipped from him to someone else. That was fine. Giving his resume to the doctor seemed like a poor use of their time given the circumstances.

It was a credit to the years he'd spent hiding his feelings for Emma that Justice didn't snarl and punch Eric in the jaw for touching her. He turned away instead to conceal his expression; had she changed her mind? Had the fact that he'd failed to keep them both on 152 somehow registered in her mind as a weakness on his part? If it hadn't been for her, for his concern for her well-being, he'd have been able to stay. Couldn't she understand that? That he was risking years of planning for the possibility of another of her gentle kisses?

As Eric led Emma off, Anthony looked at Justice then the two Starfleet. "Well?" he asked, crossing his arms, "Are you going to tell me what happened or do I need to go to the bridge myself?"

And Now, the Continuation

[ON]

"I was here," Justice said, excusing himself from the indictment by going to check on the other containers.

Rice lifted her hands up, almost to defend herself from the question. "Above my paygrade, Sir...no idea," she said and glanced at Lucalin with interest.

Anthony started to move towards the door of the cargo bay, muttering something about "useless incompetents" as he went.

Looking up from Emma's PADD, Eric spotted Anthony walking across the floor. Sticking two fingers into his mouth, he let out a shrill whistle, drawing the attention to him and Emma, "Yo Doctor, quit being so grouchy and get over here. We may have a problem."

As her face went white, Emma backed up a few steps, trying to figure out why Eric had just done that. Couldn't he see this situation was bad enough without adding too it. The red lights were still flashing rapidly around there, the siren wailing out loud enough that they couldn't go unnoticed and now this... evidence that equipment was missing.

To the Starfleet crew, the doctor looked relatively calm as he turned around. But the scientists would recognize the look in his eye that showed how frustrated he was, even though his voice was cool. "What problem?" he asked as he moved to stand beside Eric and look at the PADD.

Ignoring his bosses' irritation, Eric handed the PADD over. In all honesty he was as equally frustrated as his Boss, this may not be the result of his thoughts and life's work but he'd still worked damn hard to make this a reality. He'd sweat blood and tears to bring it to life and that meant something to him, "Emma's right. Not just do we only have 2/3's of the equipment onboard, it looks like part of the research data is still not uploaded. From checking the data stream it looks like it's only 80% complete."

"It's all supposed to be complete already," Anthony said, taking the PADD. "I'll see to this."

Justice kept his head bent over one of the crates, noting pulsation cycles and core temperature, a small satisfied smile in his heart; his lips a studious frown.

Lucalin listened to the back and forth, standing just inside the door as he assessed what exactly was happening. No one had briefed him on these scientists or their work; he understood vaguely that they were being transferred elsewhere and that was where his knowledge of the matter ended. He knew they weren't crewmembers; he'd memorized the names of the people in his department. To the others, it might have looked as though he were staring straight ahead, his eyes twitching slightly as he listened intently to vocal patterns, pitches, and lilts.

"You," Anthony said, turning and walking towards Lucalin. "contact whoever you need to and get the rest of the data. Eric, make sure he gets it." He walked pass them and stood before the security officer. "You, ensign, escort me to the bridge immediately." He did not wait for her reply but turned and started for the door to the cargo bay.

Lucalin stayed where he was, unsure who was being spoken to from moment to moment. At first, he'd had the impression that it was him because of the first researcher's movement towards him, but then the human had passed him by.

Aria looked at his back and then just rolled her eyes. "Oh for the love of..." she muttered and followed, her eyes dark. If there was such a thing as a stroppy walk, Aria Rice had perfected it.

Staring after Anthony, Eric tried to figure out how the hell he was meant to manage that. He didn't have any authorization codes which would allow him access to the systems outside of the Sienna Project. Cursing under his breath he looked across at the scientist his Boss had deemed fit to assign to him, "Right you, Galileo scientist, let's find an LCARS terminal."

Lucalin tipped his head to the side at the words 'Galileo scientist' and recounted the bodies in the room. One, two, three, four, five, six. Although he wasn't entirely clear how he was meant to assist in this matter. Surely, this other researcher was as capable of using an LCARS terminal as he was. More so, as he wouldn't need to connect through his PADD for the information. "What is the problem, exactly? A data upload failed?" he inquired from where he stood. There was a terminal directly to his right, so he felt no need to move as yet.

Frowning as the scientist made no effort to move, Eric leaned his hip beside a crate beside him, folding his arms across his chest. He'd be damned if he'd jump because Starfleet were too almighty to come down to his level. Raising his voice slightly, to ensure no words were lost, he attempted to stare down the man infront of him, "The ship has just gone into red alert. Important information pertaining to our project has not been completed in the up..." Suddenly Eric's words were cut off as a blaring message appeared on the LCARS screen, to the right of Lucalin, "What the hell..." Rushing across, Eric shoved the scientist to the side, pressing a few buttons on the screen before clamming his hand down on the panel.

Lucalin stumbled back against the door as he was shoved. He'd been unprepared for the sudden move and had no sense of what was around his feet without checking first. Awkwardly, he pushed himself back to standing and whistled low to give himself a clearer sense of his surroundings. "What happened?" There had been no sound, no sense of movement of the ship, no change in the room's temperature, so he could only surmise that there was a visual cue he'd missed.

"The damn data transfer has stopped at 92%" As his fingers ran across the screen, Eric found that he kept encountering messages telling him he didn't have the level of clearance required to reactivate the data stream. Kicking the panel in frustration, he ran both hands through his hair. "Can you make this thing work? Do you have the clearance to reactivate the upload?"

Clearance? Lucalin wondered. He was a researcher. In genetic engineering. He very much doubted he'd be able to do anything to the LCARS terminal besides call up genome sequences of various species. If he could even communicate with the thing. He clicked quietly, a sound that sounded quite a bit like 'tutututut', searching for an input into the terminal and connecting his PADD to the slot. His PADD registered raised sequences for letters, translating data for him to read by touch, and he could do that quite quickly. "There can be no reactivation," he announced. It turned out he didn't need clearance after all. "The data on the other end of the transfer has been wiped. It is no longer there."

Justice lightly touched his collar, thinking of the drives of data he'd already secured and protected amid his things. If only the bloody Klingons would hurry up already and get to their end of the bargain. The waiting was driving him quietly insane.

Going white, Eric took in what Lucalin had just said...wiped...it couldn't be possible. They hadn't analysed everything which had already been transferred, what is something vital had been missed? Spotting Justice, he yelled at the top of his voice, "Justice get the hell over here."

Justice carefully shifted his expression into one of consternation as he crossed the cargo bay. It wasn't hard. All he had to do was think of Eric's hands on Emma. "I don't know what you think I can do about it," he said, his usually quiet voice tinged with frustration.

As the words escaped John mouth, the once relaxed Bridge atmosphere dissolved entirely, the lights darkening and the red glow of the battle lights bathed the Bridge in an eerie twilight as officers around him moved quickly and efficiently as they had done in so many tactical drills beforehand. Now he had to get his crew back aboard. Looking down at the arm of the chair, he quickly thumbed the communications control.

=^=Galileo to Saalm - ma'am we have a problem - I strongly recommend you get yourself and any remaining personnel back to the Galileo now.=^=

Standing on the upper deck of Starbase 152's main shuttlebay, Lirha had been waiting with growing impatience as she finished supervising the departure and arrival of the remaining cargo shuttlecrafts. All of Sienna's science personnel had been transferred, however there were still several cargo lifts packed with crates which were awaiting loading. The final crates contained a mix of personal belongings and equipment, including one specially marked container which Lirha assumed contained a vital component of the prototype.

As her XO's voice sounded with urgency through her communicator, her heart skipped a beat, and she thought of the possible problems which could have manifested aboard her ship in the last few hours. First and foremost on her mind was the problem with the warp nacelle which they had encountered several days previously. Or... perhaps the computer core was malfunctioning again? She remembered Ensign Cho had mentioned that the core malfunction had been related to the nacelle troubles. "What kind of problem?" she quickly asked after tapping her commbadge. "Are we experiencing more malfunctions?"

=^= No ma'am - nothing wrong with Galileo this time - Miss Coleman has just informed me we may very well have hostile Klingon vessels on their way to the station as we speak... it's time to leave Captain. =^=

Lirha blinked. Hostile Klingon vessels en route? Were they suddenly at war with the Empire now? Had Sienna's location been compromised? Her mind worked frantically to understand what the lieutenant commander was telling her. "I need more information, Commander." she replied, her own voice now containing a strong tone of urgency as well. "Is this report confirmed?" she asked, somewhat incredulously. "How many vessels and how long until they arrive?"

=^=We're not sure right now Captain - based on the intelligence reports that Lieutenant Coleman has, we could be talking dozens of signatures - they were picked up by our border detection grids so I'd take that as a pretty good source =^=

Taking a moment before answering her question in it's entirety, John looked down at the terminal beside the command chair to estimate the quickest possible route from Klingon space to the station.

=^= If they come at full speed....we've got maybe 45 minutes before we get an answer....maybe as little as 30. Whilst they're under cloak that's the best I can give you.=^=

Thirty minutes?! Lirha looked around wide-eyed at the busy shuttlebay, still filled with Operations personnel scurrying about. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she realized that there was a good chance that the Sienna transfer would not be completed within that time. There were still several shuttles waiting to be loaded which then had to depart, arrive at Galileo, unload their cargos, and return to SB-152. Fourty-five minutes would be cutting it close; thirty minutes would be performing a miracle. Hesitantly, she responded, "We're still in the middle of loading the remaining shuttlecraft... I estimate it will take at least thirty minutes before we are finished." she replied with concern, then paused for a brief moment in thought. "Have you contacted Memphis?" she asked. Lirha prayed that the large Galaxy Class and her escort were still in the sector, but the chances of even a nearby starship being able to arrive on station with such short notice was slim.

=^=Already tried that one ma'am - she's about four hours away at full steam, nowhere near enough... Commander I recommend that we transfer everything we can now, and destroy the rest - as long as we have the scientists responsible we can rebuild components back on Earth. =^=

The idea of having to wait for such a protracted length of time simply to finish the loading of remaining personnel was frightening - in fact it was terrifying. From the minute they had left Earth John had always thought that this mission should have been assigned to a vessel with a little more punch in it's torpedo tubes.

=^=I've taken Galileo to red alert as a precaution - if the Klingons do come in all guns blazing we'll be able to take weapons fire for a short while if we still have any birds in the air but you know as well as I do that our shields won't last forever out here in a firefight =^=

As she listened to Commander Holliday give his assessment of the situation, the captain moved quickly to the nearby lift which took her down to the lower level of the bay. Her target the was Assistant Chief of Operations who was currently the senior-most starbase officer currently involved in the transfer. She had to speak to him... immediately, and then contact the Admiral to let her know what was transpiring in their region of space. Lirha thought about John's words. Transfer what they could, destroy the rest. It was far from the ideal scenario, but seemed to be the best option given the circumstances. As for Galileo's chances in a firefight against a Klingon task group, SB-152 would be able to provide them with some support and cover for a short while, but she doubted that her ship would be able to hold off a sustained attack for very long. Even with her strong armament, Galileo was simply too small of a ship to withstand multiple disruptor and torpedo strikes. "I must notify the personnel here so that they can prepare their defenses, after which I will do what I can to destroy the remainder of Sienna's files and technology." she replied in agreement to her XO, then paused and rubbed her forehead in frustration. "But this is still going to take some time..." she added, "Can you bring Galileo into closer orbit to minimize the flight times for the remaining shuttlecraft?"

With the order from his captain received, John looked down to Lt. Mialin at the conn, hopefully they would not have to call upon too complicated a set of flight manoeuvres any time soon, but if they did, he was glad to have an experienced officer at the helm.

"You heard the lady, Lieutenant."

"Moving us closer," Dea reported as the pilot moved Galileo closer to its destination; keeping a close eye on the situation she did so.

=^=We'll get as close as we can Commander but we still need to hurry... not to mention if there are indeed Klingon vessels I'd appreciate having the rest of the senior staff at their posts.=^=

Frowning as he looked around him, John took a moment to centre himself. The junior officers at the various Bridge stations were indeed competent enough to carry out their roles, but a lot of them were relatively green, fresh from the Academy and lacking in battle experience.

=^=Ma'am I recommend the immediate shutdown of the starbase's transport inhibition system - that way we can use the cargo transporters to hurry up proceedings before the Klingons arrive=^=

Lirha shook her head, despite the fact that John was several thousand kilometers away on Galileo and could not see her. "Negative, Commander." she replied, "If Lieutenant Coleman's report is accurate, there's no telling what the exact positions of the Klingon ships are, or if they are the only threats in the area." she added. The stations transport protocols were in place for a reason, and if they deactivated the scattering field, any potential cloaked Klingon ship within range would be able to obtain a clear transporter lock as well. On top of that, there was the situation with Ensign Cho which had yet to be resolved. She could be a possible saboteur, and the risk was too great, in Lirha's opinion, to sacrifice the starbase's safeguards. She looked back across the huge shuttlebay as Operations workers finished loading the first of two final cargo shuttles. "I need thirty minutes." she reaffirmed.

=^=Understood - but if you're a second longer I'm coming over there and dragging you back myself ma'am - you can court martial me later. =^=

As the Galileo moved closer to the station, John watched as distance that the shuttlecraft would have to carry reduced to a much more manageable distance. At least from here they would be able to receive shuttles in an emergency, giving them precious time before having to jump to warp and avoid the wrath of the Klingons.

=^=But that's the best I can do - any longer and we'll be target practice for their ships =^=

"Acknowledged." the captain replied with a final tap on her commbadge to close the channel. Turning on her heels, she rushed to find the Operations manager, after which she needed to contact the starbase commander and inform them of the impending threat.

Sighing to himself as the comm channel closed, John leant back in the command chair, surveying the scences of organised chaos around him as the crew continued to prepare for battle if it were necessary. With the arrival of his senior staff, John felt a little more at ease.

"All stations - status report."

Commander Remington was the first to speak, his voice calm despite their alert status. "We still have shuttles on the station and some personnel," he said, "but the Project Sienna team is already aboard. Commander, I suggest we leave behind the remaining equipment for the starbase crew to destroy. We already have all files and essential equipment aboard. The rest we can do without. We can get our people and the shuttles back with the rest of the equipment in twenty minutes and depart before the Klingons arrive, or dock inside the starbase and allow them to weather the first assault and open a window for us to escape, but that's riskier than an immediate departure."

Nodding in reply to Remington, who in the absence of the captain, and John's temporary position in the central chair had in fact become first officer until Saalm's return, John thought over in his head the same conclusion that he had come to and reiterated to his CO only moments before.

"I said that very same thing to the Captain - she wanted to stay behind to supervise the remaining staff. Coordinate with the starbase - I want all our people back on board within thirty minutes, I have no idea how well equipped for combat that starbase is considering how... deceptive it's purpose is. We can't rely on their shields to hold for long."

"We can't rely on ours either," Orexil told him, keeping her cool, though she was irritated, more than irritated, that they'd been waylaid so long at the station. "Not if Coleman's report is accurate. Thirty minutes might be too long. Our highest probability for mission success and minimal damage is to move and move quickly. If there are enemies in transporter range, they are in range to attack as well."

"I agree," Will replied, "We can't afford to wait that long even. Twenty minutes is pushing it. We need to get the shuttle back as quickly as possible."

The situation wasn't exactly one that John wanted to find himself in - he was now stuck between following the orders of his captain, and following the wishes of his crew. Generally, it was his job to be the chief advisor to the captain, and make sure her orders were carried out, but alongside that, he needed to remain a voice for the crew. Rubbing his forehead for a minute, John came to a decision.

"The Captain said thirty minutes... and I'll be damned if we don't at least try to give her that long..."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

All Player Characters
All Positions
USS Galileo

ENS Rhett Brubwick
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Lawrence Gibbs

MCPO Lamar Darius
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo
NPC'd by Lirha Saalm

Rachel Hardaway, Ph.D.
Lead Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Tarishiana Barel

Anthony Hardaway, Ph.D.
Lead Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Chauncey Remington III

Justice Abernathy Ph.D.
Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Lilou Peers

Eric Anderson
Scientist
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Pola Ni Dhuinn

Emma Kennedy
Dr. Hardaway's Secretary
Project Sienna
NPC'd by Pola Ni Dhuinn

General D'Grath Son Of N'Vor
Head of Intelligence
Klingon High Command
NPC'd by Jonathan Holliday

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