Hailing Frequencies Open

Posted on 16 Dec 2015 @ 4:27pm by Captain Jonathan Holliday

813 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 1- Holliday's Quarters
Timeline: MD01 - 2345hrs

[ON]

With a heavy sigh, Jonathan returned to his quarters, the doors splitting in two ahead of him as he turned out of the corridor and into the almost perfect darkness that awaited him.

Sensing his presence, the computer automatically brought the lighting up to half illumination, the furniture and sparse decorations throwing shadows on the walls and ceilings as the exhausted Captain released another sigh as the doors snapped shut behind him.

"Computer, seal the doors." He muttered, the bleep from the computer the only reply as the magnetic locks hummed into place at his request. Reaching to his chest, he grabbed his commbadge and pulled it free from his tunic, depositing it onto the small desk in his central living space before heading wearily to his bed chamber.

Without saying a word he flopped down onto the bed, and reached down to remove his boots, before doing the same with his uniform jacket, tossing them both into the replicator for recycling as he did so, with the intention of replacing them in the morning. With just his undershirt and trousers left in place, he returned to his sitting area and collapsed into his favourite chair.

The last few hours had been exhausting. He hadn't slept since their incarceration by the Terran Empire, and as such he was running on less than empty. Rest had been a luxury he simply could not afford before now. Allowing his heavy eyelids to slam shut, he leant back in the chair and prepared to surrender himself to a cat nap, before being rudely interrupted by one of the computer panels on his desk flashing into life and audibly sounding for his attention.

Resisting the urge to reach for the phaser he kept in his bookshelf, he wearily reopened his eyes and headed to his desk. Collapsing into the chair there he looked down at the panel, recognising the Federation emblem but not the comm frequency that was being transmitted on. With a puzzled look he tapped in his access code to receive the call.

As he did so the rest of his desk quickly came to life, the panels one by one flashing into life before shutting down and being replaced by the Federation logo once again. With a confused look he tapped at a few of the consoles and found nothing happened. Looking towards the cabinet he had left his combadge on, he prepared to go and retrieve it to contact Ops or Engineering for support.

"I wouldn't bother Captain Holliday. We've disabled communications in and out of this room for the timebeing. You'll also find that your door lock has been made permanent for the duration of this transmission and your replicator is non-functional."

Looking back at the display he saw the face of an older human male, apparently of Asian or Indian subcontinent descent. He wore an insignia of some form on his neck, but no commbadge, and no decoration on what was otherwise a jet black tunic.

"Who the hell are you?! Why are you transmitting on a Starfleet frequency?" Jonathan replied incredulously. The face of his visitor did not move a micron and simply continued to stare back at him before speaking again.

"My name is not important. Who I represent on the other hand, is a different matter. I am here on behalf of the Federation security services."

"Which division? Good god man you aren't even wearing a uniform!"

"My division? Oh I see....the service I represent isn't exactly sanctioned by your superiors...those who know it exists anyway."

Jonathan went silent for a moment as he tried to figure out exactly what was going on here. Whoever this man was he obviously had in depth knowledge of Starfleet technology and procedures and had found his way through the ship's command protocols with ease from nothing more than a subspace transmission. It was then that the name hit him.

"Section Thirty-One."

The man on the screen smiled in acknowledgement and bowed his head a few degrees at the mention of the clandestine organisation's name.

"Well done Captain Holliday. I see your profile for intelligence is not overstated. I shall keep this brief - your communications protocols are closely monitored by your Security and Operations officers and I doubt that the tracing loop I have currently running rings around their security sweeps will keep them at bay indefinitely.

Suffice to say - we have need of your...services. Someone will be in touch with you....shortly."

And with that the communication terminated, the Federation logo reappearing on the screen before fizzling away to be replaced by the LCARS interfaces that he usually would have seen. Astounded by recent events, Jonathan could do nothing but sit back in his chair, and stare into the distance.

"Section 31.....what next?"


[To Be Continued.....]


CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

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