Compromised (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 02 Jul 2012 @ 9:45pm 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)

4,212 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Bridge
Timeline: MD 07 - 2020 hrs

Previously...

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..."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

There had to be a compromise between running in twenty, and having to fight in thirty... there had to be. Holliday just had to find it. They were not a combat ship, he knew that, but they had a duty to the Federation to carry out, and every nut and bolt aboard Galileo was going to be stressed to the limit to make it happen.

"Ok... start recalling as many of our shuttles as we can straight away... tell them to use emergency docking procedures - we need speed not for it to look great to anyone watching. Mr. Remington, I want you to squeeze every ounce of power you can out of every system we don't need and throw it into the shields - at least that way we can take a few more hits before we have to run."

Remington responded by carrying out the order. "Galileo to shuttle pilots, initiate emergency protocol sixteen." He turned to Mor'an and told her, "Cadet, you have the shuttles. Make sure they don't delay and don't leave anyone behind." The last thing they needed was to have the captain stranded on a space station because some pilot forgot he had more than himself to worry about.

"Aye, sir." Mor'an's voice was clipped and direct. She knew this was a crucial assignment, one that, if she failed, would spell disaster. Her eyes never left her console as she blocked out all the other commotion behind her.

Quinn ran out of the Shuttle bay past several other engineers and operation specialists and officers. "Make a hole!" bellowed Quinn as he ran into the turbolift. "Main Engineering." he commanded as he watched the doors close. =^=Quinn to Main Engineering. Initiate the emergency lock-down procedure.=^= Seconds later the door opened and Quinn enter his second home. "Willis, where the hell is Peers? Get the force-field up around the Warp Core." Quinn tapped his combadge, =^=Main Engineering to Bridge. We are locked down and ready to rock 'n roll Commander. =^=

Hearing the reliable voice of his chief engineer bellow through the comm system, John felt a little more than relieved to know that the belly of their ship was in such capable hands.

=^=Understood Chief - good work. Keep those engines warm, I have a feeling we're going to need to leave soon =^=

Ens. Rhodes stood to the side and out of the way on the main floor of Engineering. His security team had been deployed around Engineering and were ready for whatever might take place. He nodded to Quinn when he passed. There was no need for verbalization in a situation as this.

Looking around at her staff, and the gathered counselling staff, Pola hit the commbadge on her chest, ready to report in their status as prompted. She was proud of her people and happy to see the counselling staff so willing to help out in a time of emergency, between them all they would be prepared for anything.

=^=Sickbay to the Bridge; I can confirm we are ready down here and good to go if and when needed=^=

It seemed the recent battle drills and combat training session had worked wonders on the Galileo crew. The call from Sickbay was certainly reassuring, especially knowing the ferocity and penchant for physical combat that the Klingons possessed.

=^=Understood Doc - no offence but I hope we won't need to call upon your services. Stand by. =^=

Kiri spoke up as soon as she felt there was a space in the first officers attention, "Sir, no detections of any craft yet but sensors are only operating at half efficiency, power has been diverted to combat systems, I am attempting to compensate." Her voice shook at little, this wasn't her fault but it felt like it. At least she had been able to trace where her energy had been diverted to.

The XO didn't expect this to be easy. Starbase 152 had been built here for a very good reason - those nebula surrounding it were more than sufficient to make a mess out of sensors, and right now they were doing just that.

"Understood... Miss Barel, Miss Cho, I need every centimetre of sensor range you can get me..."

"Yes sir." Tarishiana replied as she worked in tandem with her team to do what they could with the sensors. She made a few modifications but it would it was a wait and see situation to see if that changes made any difference.

Thanks to operations providing the power and the chief science officer next to her Kiri was able to boost range back up towards maximum. Her scans were faster, more room on the computer core to compile the extra data. Even requesting an uplink with Starbase 152 for all of their sensor information. The static effected everything, it was hard to scan space for the normal signs. So she didn't focus on the normal things, the changes were what she kept her attention on. The plans they had put together would give them more of an edge. The Klingons wouldn't be able to just find them too easily, that was part of the point of the stations ECM. As soon as she picked up the slightest evidence of the now enemy, she'd let everyone know.

He could tell that the crew were generally not impressed by having to stay here too long. In fact, every minute they stayed increased the risk of the Klingons getting to them before they were ready to leave, and that was something he just couldn't put up with right now.

"Helm - lay in a course to take us out of here and standby to engage at maximum warp on my command."

"Aye Sir," Dea replied putting the commands into Galileo's computer systems. "Warp ready on your command."

Remington interjected, "Until then, follow this trajectory to collect the shuttles." He sent the coordinates and vectors to the CONN. It would put the Galileo right where the shuttles' flight paths would take them in a few minutes without requiring the science vessel to stop.

"Intersecting designated flight vector now," Dea responsed watching the data closely.

"Do we have access to the defensive capabilities of the starbase?" Kestra asked, crossing closer to Holliday so she wouldnt have to raise her voice. "Has anyone contacted the USS Nova? It only left Ensign Rice here a few hours ago. They should be made aware of our circumstances, if only to be able to carry news to the Federation."

Turning to his tactical officer, John appreciated her insight at this present moment. As it stood, they were in a tactically unsound position, but at least if necessary they could still escape, and head somewhere a little nearer to their reinforcements.

"Miss Coleman sent out a request for reinforcements just after we detected the Klingons crossing the border... if anyone's out there, they'll be on their way... the starbase however is being a little more cryptic - we're apparently... not authorised to know their defensive capabilities - but I wouldn't bet on it being much... would have drawn too much attention to have a fully armed station out here..."

Orexil arched a brow, "You think the Federation would have left them out here, this close to the border, cut off from the rest of the Federation, without defensive options? They may be very well concealed, but they'll have them. The question is: will they use them for our sakes? And will they see how doing so would be protecting themselves?"

"I'm sure their options are there Lieutenant, it's just whether or not they're going to be of any use to us. From what I saw from the briefing aside from their high level shield grid, they don't have a lot else to punch out with - I think Starfleet just never expected the Klingons to know about this place, and if they did, the plan was to sit behind the shields until help arrived...."

John didn't like giving away too much information if he could help it, in fact he knew that the briefing information he had from Command was essentially classified from one end of the document to the other, but sometimes the crew needed to know things that weren't necessarily their issue.

Meanwhile, on Starbase 152...

Running at a medium jog, Lirha swiftly moved down one of the starbase's long corridors, on her way from the main operations center back to the massive primary shuttlebay. She had accomplished everything she could in the twenty-five minutes since last contacting Galileo, and it was time for her to get off the station. The last of Project Sienna's data files had been erased and the remaining pieces of tech destroyed down in the computer core. She had assigned starbase personnel to take care of the rest. In addition, SB-152 was now at red alert and numerous gold and blue-collared personnel ran quickly to their alert stations. From the look of things, they appeared to be as prepared as possible for the potential confrontation.

The captain turned the corner hard and went into a sprint as she neared the large gray double-doors. As she stepped inside, she stopped and looked around in an attempt to locate her shuttle. There were so many of them and she had no idea where they had moved her smaller Type-9 personnel shuttle. She ran up quickly to a nearby console and brought up the display of the shuttlecraft manifest. It only took a few seconds before she realized that all of Galileo's other shuttlecraft had already been recovered aboard the ship, and she was the last one. Tapping her finger on the display, she scrolled down through the manifest to see what craft were available for her to pilot. Rather quickly, she found another available Type-9 parked at the far end of the hangar, then quickly skipped away from the terminal and went into a jog on her way to depart the station. Her dark hair bobbed back and forth across her shoulders, and sweat glistened down her forehead as she ran even faster.

Lawrence grimaced as he was forced to weave through uniformed personnel. He had just finished ensuring that all Sienna files had, indeed, been erased. The problem with most people was that they assumed that just pushing the delete button actually got rid of the data. He had spent a full twenty minutes ensuring that everything from Sienna had been written over with garbage code, and then he had set the computer to write over it again with the most inane sensory input he could locate.

Now he had a large garment bag over one shoulder and his computer case under the opposite arm as he tried to find the green-skinned woman he was supposed to shuttle over with. He finally spotted her running to a shuttle and he hurried over, not bothering to avoid hitting people along the way. He rounded the corner and stepped onto the shuttle's ramp moments after Galileo's captain.

Inside the shuttle's cockpit, Lirha was in the process of quickly beginning the craft's pre-flight sequence when she hear a commotion behind her inside the passenger cabin. Craning her head around, she took notice of a tall, brown-haired man dressed in gold-collared Starfleet uniform with several pieces of luggage with him. There was no rank insignia on his collar, and his appearance looked rather disheveled for a Starfleet crewman. The captain blinked as she took in the sight of him and his accessories, then finally spoke. "Who are you?" she asked in a rather incredulous voice, wondering why the man had decided to step into her shuttlecraft at the last minute as she was about to depart.

The man's jacket was open revealing a rather wrinkled and stained uniform shirt underneath. "Lawrence Gibbs, Computer and Encryption Specialist with Project Sienna. I'm supposed to go with you to Galileo." He hadn't yet decided what he thought of the woman. She was a captain, so she was clearly at least decent at her job, but she was an Orion, too. They weren't the best at keeping non-fraternization regulations. Regardless, she was his ride out of here.

He dropped the case on the floor and hung the garment bag between two shelves. "You are going to Galileo right?" He sounded uncertain, though he was anything but.

The captain nodded curtly in reply, still somewhat socked by the man's sudden arrival and presence. She had thought that all of Sienna's personnel had been transferred, however it appeared that she had been misinformed. Lirha suddenly hoped that there weren't more scientists and technicians still waiting to come aboard Galileo, as they now didn't have the time to wait for anyone else. "Yes, I'm headed for Galileo," she replied, "I'm Commander Saalm, captain of the ship. Are there anymore of Sienna's personnel still left on this station?" she asked, "I had been informed that all personnel had already been transferred..."

"I was supposed to leave earlier with the rest of the project, but they didn't let me oversee the data-wipe. I had to re-do it. What's going on that we're rushing so much?" He brushed the sheen of sweat from his forehead and sat down.

Lirha shook her head to dismiss his question. There wasn't time to explain the intricacies of the situation to the man, nor did she have the patience to entertain any questions he might have at the moment. She was beyond stressed out. "We have possible Klingon ships en route to the station, but never mind that right now." she said, then turned back around and slid into the pilot's seat. "Close that hatch back there then come up front, I need you to sit next to me and man the operations console." she ordered over her shoulder, her voice firm in tone and slightly forceful. With several taps of her green fingers across the flight console, she brought the shuttle's main power systems online and the system panels came to life with a bright display of orange and blue colors.

Lawrence slid into the chair opposite Saalm and quickly booted up the console. Although he was not an operations officer, and had never had any desire to be, his fingers flew over the controls with practiced grace. He had the startup sequences complete in record time. "Systems are ready, and the bay has given clearance to undock."

The captain nodded in response, impressed with the man's LCARS savy, yet kept her attention focused on the console in front of her. With several delicate taps of her fingers, she input a series of thruster commands into the flight console and a jet wash of exhaust formed underneath the shuttle as it slowly lifted off of the landing pad. Looking back up through the cockpit, she took note of a group of pilots in jumpsuits running across the deck, most likely on their way to their support craft. Lirha took a deep breath and hoped that none of them would not have to see combat today, however likely that seemed at the moment. As they prepared to depart, she looked over at the new crewman. "Open a channel to Galileo." she ordered.

Dextrous fingers flew over the smooth surface, finalizing all checks, confirming the shuttle's departure, and opening a channel to Galileo. When the channel was open, Lawrence nodded and gave a go-ahead gesture.

"Saalm to Galileo, I'm departing the station now with one additional crewman aboard." she said. "What's your status and position?" she asked. Lirha hoped that John had followed her orders, and that her ship was still close to the station.

Hearing the voice of his CO over the comm gave John a calming sensation for just a moment, glad to hear that the last shuttlecraft had finally escaped the station. Looking down at the panel in his chair for just a moment, he flipped the comm channel open again.

=^=Galileo to Saalm - we're right where you told us to be, coordinates on the way now. As soon as you're aboard we're out of here =^=

Lirha piloted the shuttlecraft forward through the large bay using maneuvering thrusters, then engaged the small craft's impulse engines as soon as they cleared the main doors. With her body still tense and on alert, she looked down at her console and confirmed the receipt of Galileo's coordinates. Thankfully, her XO had followed orders and the ship was relatively close to her position, less than 200,000 kilometers away. She brought the shuttle up to one-half impulse and the tiny craft streaked through space on its way to the Nova Class. The journey would not take long, only a matter of minutes. "Understood." she replied simply, then closed the channel to focus her attention on the flight controls.

Back on Galileo...

The breath caught in Kiri's throat. Sure she had been looking for them all this time but she hardly wanted to find them. Compared to them not coming at all anyway, while she wanted to speak out more than anything, the words were caught behind dry lips, "Sir," Her throat rasping slightly, "Six cloaked contacts bearing zero nine zero by zero three five, eighty nine point seven five one kilometres." Kiri took a gasp of air, trying to think if that in any way helped them, she was meant to have answered. It went without saying that the ships were well within weapons range, but would they realise they were detected? They couldn't get a very accurate target lock on them. Now was the best possible time to attack, if there was going to be any fighting at all. A flush of confidence flicking through her frame she turned around to the rest of the bridge, "Can we launch a photon torpedo? Or can the station?" There was a footnote she had read at some point at the academy, if an antimatter explosion could be powered to the right extremes, the blast would be more than enough to damage ships without shields.

The idea of using a photon torpedo to illuminate the Klingons was an interesting one, having an idea of where they were was fine enough, but getting a weapons lock was an entirely different ballgame. Thinking for a moment, John furrowed his brow in contemplation - did he really want to be the one who essentially fired the first shot? Thankfully, he would not have to think on that decision too long.

Remington winced slightly when he saw his small tactical readout pop up with the hailing panel. They didn't stand a chance against a ship liek that... "Vor'cha class to starboard, Commander," the operations officer announced, "They're hailing."

It seemed that the small science ship had been given her answer. The arrival of one of the mainstays of the Klingon fleet was more than a match in direct combat for the Galileo, and John knew it. Taking a moment to steady himself before the inevitable, he called back to his Operations officer in reply.

"Open the channel."

The viewscreen flickered for a moment before the face of an ageing Klingon appeared ahead of them, seated in the robust, metallic command chair of a battleship. The lights around him were dim, indicating that the vessel was ready for combat, the fact that they had actually bothered to decloak and hail them before just opening fire however, was enough to give John hope.

Realizing that he was indeed going to have to deal with this himself, as Commander Saalm was still not yet back aboard, he looked up to the viewscreen and did his best to meet the Klingon in his eyes.

"This is Lieutenant Commander John Holliday, USS Galileo - can I be of assistance? I'm sure you know that this is Federation territory? Unusual for our allies to be sneaking around under cloak I would have thought?"

Whether that was a wise move or not, John had no idea. Usually the Klingons responded to threats and action more than anything, but combat was really not going to be the way to go here, at least for now anyway. As he made his identity known, the Klingon in front of him didn't even bat an eyelid, his eyes locked onto the Bridge of the Galileo (as his disruptors probably were as well) before making his own reply.

"I am General D'Grath of the Klingon Defence Force - the Federation has been developing advanced technology without involving it's most trusted ally. I'm sure you know yourself Commander that this is a violation of the Khitomer Accords"

That sealed the deal as far as John was concerned. The Klingons did indeed have knowledge of the Sienna project, much as the crew of Galileo had been thinking for quite some time. It seemed almost pointless to try and lie, but nevertheless, it seemed to be worth a try.

"General" John began, shifting himself in his seat and placing both of his hands firmly down on the arms of the command chair, trying to make himself look a little more authoritative.

"I'm afraid you are in error - this is a resupply and repair station - there are no research or scientific development facilities here whatsoever, if you would like to scan the station you'll see that there is--"

"Do not lie to us petaQ! We know exactly what this facility is for, and we know all about your Project... Sienna. You will prepare to transfer all materials and technical information pertaining to the project immediately."

"Or you'll do what exactly?" John threw back - knowing that the best way to deal with Klingon rage was to hit back with just as much, something that the XO rarely had trouble doing. In fact, it was difficult for him to not just throw every torpedo and phaser volley he had available to him at the General's flagship - not that it would have made much difference based on the probable reinforcements sat under cloak around him.

"Or..." The general replied, taking a moment to smile, or at least as close to one as a Klingon could do, bearing his fang-like teeth at the XO as he did so.

"We shall cripple your vessel and take it for ourselves! You have thirty minutes to make your preparations!"

Before the XO could reply, the General closed the channel, with the viewscreen changing back into the menacing image of a Vor'cha class cruiser hanging in space... ready to strike.

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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