Staging Ground (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 30 Oct 2013 @ 1:55pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant JG Tykhin Vess & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Nenokah Ral & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Oliver Sylver & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Riley Cameron & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arthur Willis & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Petty Officer 1st Class Rhyan Davies & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Petty Officer 3rd Class Bo Chalan & Petty Officer 1st Class Siren Hex Saalm & Petty Officer 3rd Class Thanis Rothgra

1,721 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Transporter Room 1
Timeline: MD 06 - 1320 hrs

Previously, on Staging Ground (Part 1)...

Asahi was in charge? Oh boy. He was barely on the ship for more than four days, and already he was in charge of something? Taking a deep breath, he nodded and looked about for the others in this away team of his. The only person he seemed to recognize was the Scottish warrant officer. Another wave of nausea passed over him at the realization. "... Oh boy."

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Even in a crowded room with tensions running as high as they were, the presence of lieutenant beside Tykhin stood out to him. "Are you okay, Lieutenant?" Tykhin whispered to Asahi.

Asahi gave Tykhin a raised brow and bright smile. Swallowing down the nausea, he nodded. "Yeah. Just a little jittery." Aside from the warrant officer, the intelligence lieutenant was probably someone Asahi could at least recognize the face of. Not that the engineer had much reason to talk to the other, but he could have sworn they saw each other on the Venture at some point, even if in passing.

Riley had to contain his excitement. It wasn't every day that he would be able to wander around a Borg ship, hopefully undetected and get a peek at their engineering subsystems. He had played with a mockup of a transwarp coil before but never seen the real thing. Plus bringing back Miss Peers was sure to be a bonus for crew morale.

The captain continued with the briefing and turned towards the Nasat transporter chief and the remaining engineer. "Chiefs Yellow and Willis will remain on board Galileo with me to oversee the transport cycles. We have only a brief window in which we can penetrate their shields and transfer personnel, and they will keep a close eye on all of the teams to bring them back safely. Mister Jaqen will be with me on the bridge where him and I can better monitor your progress at the mission ops stations."

"Aye-Aye, sir." responded Willis

Lirha turned back to continue addressing the entire group and explain some of the logistics of the operation. "Obviously we cannot simply walk around the Borg cube without expecting to be detected, so our engineers have devised a very clever way to mask our biosignature. Mister Cameron?" Lirha invited the Scottish engineer to step forward and explain the 'cloak' they had developed as well has how to use it.

"Aye aye cap'n!"

Stepping forward, Cameron bent down to a large grey flight case that had been left in the transporter room an hour or so ago by a couple of errant crewmen with nothing better to do than follow Riley's orders. Flipping open the lid, he removed the small device, approximately the size of a cigarette carton and attached to a grey armband.

"These are what we're calling our bio-cloaks. Each one has been attenuated to your individual bio-signatures with a wee help from the transporter records. It produces an electrostatic shell that should mask your presence from the Borg sensors. Now if you walk into a drone or start playing with key systems that's different - they'll know something is up even if they cannae see ya!"

Reaching to the top of the device Cameron flipped a small switch, and the device whirred into life, a red circle illuminating on the front of the device with two smaller blue squares either side which pulsed one then the other like a heartbeat.

"We made sure to add a transport enhancer to each of the devices so we can get you out if need be - and a dispersion field generator which should help mask the transporter beam as and when it's time to leave."

"In addition," Lirha continued after Cameron was finished, "Our medical team has devised a rather potent sedative which should be able to incapacitate any drone within a matter of seconds. It will have to be delivered through a hypospray, but I believe it will be effective. Mister Wylde can explain the serum in more detail."

Alexion looked up from his padd, nodding as he watched the group. "The sedative has proved successful in all tests, and the mixture of different substances counters the adaption of the Borg, although this will be the first time it is used in reality. So I would advise being as swift as possible." He started to hand a med bag to each of the team leaders. "You have several preloaded hypos in there. You may be cloaked, but you will still need to be silent and subtle. The hypo will need to be pressed to the skin at the neck, stealthily and efficiently in one movement or you will be detected. Combat should be avoided at all costs, or it will alert the others of your presence; this way, they are simply - disconnected from the mind while unconscious."

Dea listened carefully to what the others had to say. They had one chance at this. Get in and get out. No room to drag things out or miss their objective or there would be far more trouble for them all to deal with. She didn't want to think of the alternatives.

"And what happens if the plans goes to hell?" Luke was usually very optimistic and he had hope in the plan but someone had to ask what happens if things turn sour. "For example the Borg realise we're there? They might not hesitate on destroying the Ship and they may find a way of stopping us from beaming out? All of these the Borg are highly capable of" Luke liked the idea of having well laid plans but from experience he knew as soon as you hit the ground everything changes.

The Marine had asked a good question but unfortunately the captain didn't have a great answer. "We do not have many options given the current state of our ship." she began to answer, glancing around at the scorch marks still present on some of the overhead bulkheads from their battle two days ago.

"If you are detected by the Borg, your best option will be to retreat back to Galileo using your transport enhancer. Chiefs Willis and Yellow will maintain a lock on you at all times and I have confidence of their abilities." She sighed and rubbed her forehead before continuing. "That said...if all else fails and you cannot get out of there, protect yourselves at all costs. There is much risk involved, I understand...but if all goes well, all of you should be in and out of the cube inside of fifteen minutes without being detected. Be quick and efficient, remain obscure, and we will be successful." she reassured the group. "Avoid weapons fire at all costs unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Aye - and if it all goes tae hell, well let's just hope the guys on the planet surface are as good a set of diplomats as I wish they are."

Cameron replied, flicking the power cell on his phaser rifle to the active position, listening reassuredly as the rifle hummed into life.

"Aren't we jeopardizing that team and first contact with a species that has the naval power to decimate Starfleet?" Tykhin asked. "Whether they detect us or not, the Borg will realize they're missing drones. It won't be hard to figure out where they went. Have we tried negotiating with the planetary species for the return of our crew?"

"One of our away teams is making first contact as we speak," Lirha answered to the intelligence officer with a nod. "However, there is no guarantee they will succeed, and I have made this decision to retrieve our crew members as a contingency plan. We do not have the luxury of waiting for the away team to report back to us, for if they are unsuccessful in negotiations, it will already be too late at that point." she explained. "As for the Borg...we cannot say for certain if they will notice their drones missing or -- if they do -- what their response would be. These are obviously not typical Borg, and their behavior does not follow that to which we are accustomed."

There was no way Rhyan was going to speak up in a crowd like this, with a mission of such magnitude looming in the future. In fact, she doubted she could speak at a time like this.

Lirha glanced around the different faces in the room once there were no more questions. "One last thing before you depart...you will no doubt encounter assimilated members of not only our crew, but USS Venture's crew as well. Possibly even from other Federation starships. They should be rescued as well...I know they would do the same for us if the situations were reversed." She took a deep breath then clasped her hands professionally behind her back. "Good luck, and check in at regular intervals over comms. I will see you all soon, and sickbay will be standing by to assist with the de-assimilation process."

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Tykhin Vess
Intelligence Officer
USS Venture

WO Alexion Wylde
Doctor
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Scarlet Blake]

PO2 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Scarlet Blake]

CN Siren Hex
Intelligence
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Scarlet Blake]

WO Riley Cameron
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - John Holliday]

PO 1st Class
Keval Grayson
Operations
[PNPC- Jared Nicholas]

LT Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Crewman Bo Chalan
Nurse
USS Galileo
(pNPC Lilou Zaren)

Crewman Apprentice Thanis Rothgra
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
(pNPC Lilou Zaren)

Gunnery Sergeant Luke Wyatt
Marine Liaison
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Jr. Grade Asahi Kita
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Senior Chief Petty Officer Arthur Willis
Engineering Computer Specialist
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Markum Quinn]

Master Chief Petty Officer Markum Quinn
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Nenokah Ral
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Im'er Mor'an]

Lt. Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Oliver Sylver
Flight Control
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Aria Rice]

Chief Petty Officer Rhyan Davies
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Jacrux]

RSS Feed