Elena de Luca
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Dec 14, 2009 0:38:17 GMT
Posts: 266
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Post by Elena de Luca on Aug 9, 2016 19:09:43 GMT
The corridor was dimly lit, but well enough to see that they were alone ... While Larok watched the corridor ahead, Elena took her tricorder, set to distinguish the bio-sign of the cloned Clancy as well as whatever else may lay ahead.
"He's approximately twenty meters ahead of us." she said, tapping her Comm badge:
=^= De Luca to Clancy .. Status Iorte ?" =^=
The Comm remained unanswered, she attempted to contact the clone again:
=^= De Luca to Clancy .. .. .. Clancy .. Are you receiving ? =^=
She took her phaser and motioned for them to go look for the clone before they were discovered ...... Moving along the corridor, they were forced to duck into thankfully empty rooms on three occasions before they heard a scuffle from ahead. checking the corridor was still free of visitors, they rushed forwards as silently as they could and turned into the room where the noise was coming from. Both stopped in their tracks at the sight before them ... In the corner, a cowering clone was pleading for his life, while stood before him, it's gnarled back to De Luca and Tor Lorok, was ... Something !
Elena didn't hesitate. She raised her weapon and adjusted the setting to maximum before levelling it at the creature's back. Clancy realised that someone was there, his eye widened and he began to shout out, but the creature had also comprehended that others were close, and began to turn. De Luca fired into the midsection of the thing, it doubled over as if punched, but began to rise up, she fired again, the creature dropping to it's knees but still defiantly rising. This time, Lorok too fired in conjunction with Elena, the thing seemed to 'glow' eerily blue, then vanished from sight. They approached the completely traumatised Clancy, trying to settle his frayed nerves, and reassure him that the thing hadn't actually got to him ...
Ten minutes later ::
"You need to pull yourself together Clancy. We have a taask to perform here and we need you to accomplish that task, do you understand me ?" Elena asked quietly. Iorte nodded, regaining his senses, most likely due to the conditioning.
She took out the tricorder and turned through a full circle, the information she received was less that positive ... There were dozens of the 'hybrid' creatures roaming the corridors, and a mass of them in one immense decompressed room. Clancy, now on his feet was looking around the room as if searching for something.
"We need to get to the real Clancy, and to the the warp core, quickly." Lorok reminded them, "It is obvious that Kree and Litmus will discover our presence in due course."
"Then we need a way to keep them occupied." Elena said, pondering the idea of setting off an explosion close to the outer hull.
"I'll go." No-one seemed to understand what the Clone was getting at for a second, so he repeated himself, "I will go to Kree, you will need to come with me Ms De Luca."
They both watched as he raised his phaser, levelling it directly at Elena ... For a second, she wondered if this was all part of the overall plan, albeit one aspect she hadn't previously been made aware of, but something told her that the Cloned Clancy was far from acting out a role here.
"What are you doing ?" Lorok asked, inching to his left trying to put distance between himself and the ill-fated De Luca, but Clancy realised what he was doing and re-positioned the weapon to cover the El Alamein's Engineering Officer, "This isn't part of the plan Clancy, you don't need to hold us prisoner, we have already agreed that you will take Elena to Kree, while I head for Engineering, so lower that, before someone get's hurt."
"Or killed." Elena said, already having seen the setting on Clancy's phaser, "I think our close Clancy here has 'other' plans for us Commander." she said, raising her eyebrows to emphasise the comment.
"Drop your weapons, please ... I assure you, that while Kree and Litmus would be pleased at your capture, he will forgive my having to, dispose of you should the need arise, so I will say once again ... Drop your phasers !"
Elena was watching the clone closely, and for a fraction of a second she thought she saw something in him. She could have been wrong obviously, but ... She inched forward, bending at the waist to lower her phaser to the deck. rising, she instructed Lorok to do likewise, her eyes never leaving the clones ... There ... Something, something he wanted 'her' to see but not others ?
"What now .... CLANCY !" she demanded, defiance in every syllable. He raised the phaser to cover her once again, but this time his eye flicked to the left before focusing on hers again. She frowned, unable to comprehend what he was trying to tell her. He waved the phaser, motioning for her to move around him and as she did so his eyes flicked decisively over her head then back and she knew exactly what he was trying to say ... They were being observed ! ... DAMN ... Why had it never occurred to her that their phaser-fire could have been picked up on the Bridge. She could have kicked herself as she realised this was an act for the benefit or those watching, his capture of the Federation Officers would need to be totally genuine otherwise their plan would fail the instant they were in the presence of the two Alicor.
They needed to formulate a plan to remove Lorok from the equation and quickly. Entering the corridor Elena nudged the Vulcan, who glanced at her with a puzzled look, she nodded fractionally toward the corridor ahead on the left, then spun on Clancy ... He was genuinely taken by surprise as she threw herself at his phaser before dropping to the deck, Clancy's arm locked in hers. he fell atop his attacker but managed to transfer the phaser to his other hand, and before she could react he fired, hitting the Vulcan in the middle of his back. Lorok vanished from sight instantly !
Dragging Elena to her feet, clancy pushed her ahead roughly .....
In the darkened side corridor, a stunned, but alive Lorok, watched them pass out of sight ..........
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Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Aug 9, 2016 23:05:19 GMT
Iorte Clancy, Alicor holodeck
"Computer." The wind howled about him as he hugged his sides, having drawn back deeper and deeper into the recesses of the cavern - the machine beeped; he continued his queries, "If 18,000 tonnes of sulfur hexafluoride was injected into Alicor Prime's upper atmosphere over a period of three months how long after that would it take for the climate to return to Earth standard?"
"Approximately 90,000 years."
He sighed, swept away icicles developing on the growth of his beard as he lifted the animal furs he'd found further up round his neck, "Slightly off..." He sneezed and it felt like the punishing absence of exhalation after attempting to inhale vacuum, "And that mass over that time interval is the optimal?"
The computer beeped affirmative just as the door retracted and Galar Kree entered. Iorte watched warily, but surprisingly Kree didn't stand in the entrance, instead walking towards him, "Computer, deactivate Alicor Prime simulation." He stepped up beside Iorte, instructing, "Up. Up!"
"Alright..." A still frozen Clancy got to his feet, realising he was still wearing the animal fur. He looked at Kree accusingly, holding the fur before him, "This isn't holographic. Did you put it in there for me to find? Eh? Do you know how long I looked around for something to warm me up!"
Kree ignored his pointless questions, turning around and making for the exit, "Come with me." Iorte asked where they were going. "You're getting off this ship, before it gets any worse."
It seemed Clancy's suspicions - his hopes perhaps - about Kree were right. The Alicoran had been neglected, left out here in the Alpha Quadrant far from the Alicoran home systems for his superb Alicoran mind to slowly degrade, and it seemed that he did feel bitter after all, more bitter than Iorte was about being shut out from his true homeland that was for sure. The Alicoran rogue led him to an airlock, Iorte looking out the small window showing blackness and stars, "Uh..."
"Nothing to worry about. Beyond the inner door is a sheath that will enclose you and protect you from the vacuum. It'll direct you to the El Alamein's launch bay." Kree turned to him as the light came on in the airlock, illuminating what had once been the near pitch black space of the narrow passage way they'd found their way into. "You interfered with our programming of your counterpart," he told Iorte, "Planted suggestions of betrayal in him. For that you have my enduring hatred. The hologrammatic technology was my life's work in exile; now I won't even have the claim to its being foolproof to defend my name before my people; the tech which I'd hoped would allow for my return to the fold has been rendered useless."
"Guilty as charged," Iorte said quietly, starting to think Kree wasn't being entirely honest about the airlock thing. "What now? Are you sure you're sending me back to the El Alamein?"
"Now that I'm perpetually banished there is no use in exacting vengeance on you," Kree replied, "The only people deserving of my enmity are the Alicor themselves. Also, your counterpart has returned, along with two others."
"Not with Litmus and your other colleague's best interests in mind, I'm guessing." There was a silence. "You know about the hybrids?" Iorte asked.
Kree nodded, "I had planned to use them against your reprogrammed alter ego. Using the same hologrammatic brainwashing technology I developed, I can influence the hybrids' minds. Now however, I will take Litmus on myself, wherever I find him. You have my word, when I reach Litmus, one or both of us will perish."
"I can't leave my people, Kree. Whoever the two Starfleet officers are who've come to destroy your ship - that's surely what they're doing - they will also have come to rescue me. I can't leave them to their deaths, Kree. I must return the intended favour."
Kree said nothing for a while, then his hand went quickly - too quickly - to the airlock panel, "You have no choice. You go free before it gets any more confusing." He pushed Iorte into the airlock, the protective sheath swallowing the man up and miniature thrusters propelling him into space past the opening outer door.
Kree smiled grimly and stalked down the corridor that was once more plunged into darkness. Victor. Where are you? Know that I'm looking for you.
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Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Aug 9, 2016 23:19:08 GMT
Anti-Clancy, Alicor ship corridor - OOC: see post above. Sorry
Clancy progressed with de Luca towards the nerve centre of the Alicor ship, having left Lorok to make his way - hopefully after finding the actual Clancy - towards the engineering section, though Iorte knew it would be difficult for the Vulcan, despite his ability to hold his breath a long time, to effect any catastrophic damage on the vessel in the low-oxygen environment. "You know, I think," he whispered to keep his voice below detection limit of the audio machines strewn throughout the corridors, "It would've been better if Lorok remained in that cover."
Still it gave them two ways of destroying the ship: either Iorte and Elena succeeded from the bridge or thereabouts, or Lorok managed to cause a warp core overload in spite of all the hybrids crowding the airless engine room.
They made it to the bridge, passing through the gleaming and sterile white doors; it was deserted. Anti-Clancy made a show of shouting at Elena to stand away from all the consoles, keeping the phaser trained on her. Could it really be this easy? he was thinking, looking over at the console from which he could set the self-destruct. Wanting to test his luck he started edging towards it, knowing people would be watching.
The main doors to the bridge slid aside and Victor Litmus entered; surprisingly he seemed not to know they'd been there, "Clancy. You've found your way here already." They watched him make his way to the port side to access internal sensors, seeming preoccupied. "I see we have a guest," he muttered.
"Yes." Iorte pointed the phaser at Elena, "She's a Starfleet Intelligence agent."
"Like yourself."
Iorte blinked, "Yes. But I informed you that I, or rather my original, was alone on this assignment. I have identified another whom I was unaware was on the same assignment as I, from among the Starfleet officers on the El Alamein. Useful as a captive."
"Original? So he knows..." Litmus sighed and approached them, now circling round de Luca as if inspecting a new mannequin for the store front, "Well let's see... Do we create a hologrammatic counterpart for her too, do you think?" Iorte was at a loss; all he could think was that his programming was reasserting itself, and that his grip on the phaser was tightening, intent returning to the muscles that positioned the finger above the firing button.
Litmus was still circling, "You put up a lousy show, Mr Clancy. Would it surprise you to know I've only just reactivated your hostile programming? When you returned to our ship with this human everything that turned you against who you thought were your compatriots was deactivated; under normal circumstances only the anxiety programming would be functioning, but..." he sighed, still seeming as if he had something more important to attend to, "It would seem something has gone wrong with the coding. Still there's life in the -"
"There's trouble, Victor," words flowed uncontrollably from his mouth, his programming reasserting itself fully - there was a curious sensation of being able to analyse his actions as they were unfolding but being quite unable to affect them.
"Trouble?" Litmus laughed, "Like on my ore freighter shortly before I first acquired this thing? Wanting to seem a legitimate human in those days, of course."
"A rogue Starfleet agency has infested this ship with Tholian-Sheliak hybrids. They are depleting the fuel reserves as they feed; it was concealed because of the shutting down of main power." Stop! his helpless benevolent self screamed, reinforced but not enough by Lorok's mind-meld imparted discipline.
"So that was what came aboard when I made the acquisition," Litmus said to himself, as if the last piece of a puzzle he'd been working on a long time had dropped into place; he made his way back to the sensors console, apparently scanning for other Alicorans as well as the hybrids, "How many of them, and how to detect?
"I would give them Kree, that would keep them busy for a month, but I'm afraid he has other plans... I don't know if he can be trusted anymore. Unlike you, Iorte. Now, considering you're working again, kill the newcomer," Litmus went on, back turned as he worked the console, "No use having two of you when you alone have proven capable of fulfilling every duty we have need of."
Iorte struggled with his consciousness - now! working his way back in for just an instant and managing to throw the phaser to de Luca, he pointed to Litmus and the sensor console.
And dived towards the other console where he could operate the self-destruct. But what of the real Iorte? And Lorok? de Luca herself? His mind whirred with thoughts of the mortal peril of his colleagues, in these fractions of a second as the door to the bridge rolled back and Kree stepped in, who spotted Litmus and made straight for him - just as anti-Clancy's malevolent programming kicked back in and he found himself striding uncontrollably across the bridge aiming a punch at de Luca -
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Elena de Luca
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Dec 14, 2009 0:38:17 GMT
Posts: 266
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Post by Elena de Luca on Aug 10, 2016 18:03:39 GMT
Lorok ::
Having barely managing to understand what de Luca was attempting to tell him, Lorok watched as she spun, lowering her center of gravity before flinging herself at the Clone Clancy, obviously hoping there was something within him that would prevent his firing instantly. He began to run, heading directly for the side corridor she had signified. To his surprise, the phaser hit was not the last thing his body would feel and he was thrust into the darkened corridor, fighting to retain what little consciousness he had ... Seconds later he saw de Luca and Clancy pass, neither bothered to look into the darkness to their left ...
It took him several minutes to fully recover and regain his full senses, then, climbing to his feet he approached the dimly-lit corridor. given the Clone would have likely reached the ships Bridge by now, it was possible that this corridor was no longer being monitored. Either way, he had little option but to move while he remained 'deceased' ....
Recalling the schematics of the Alicor Vessel, he knew he was fifteen decks above Main Engineering, but only one deck above the real Clancy. There was no point logic in trying to work out the best time to move, so he moved into the corridor and turned right, back the way they had come earlier. Finding an access panel, he pulled it away and clambered inside. Thirty meters along he found a vertical shaft, he climbed down the one deck and back-tracked the duplicate crawl-way, reaching the mesh cover easily ... He sat completely silent, listening for the smallest sound or movement but thankfully the corridor was unoccupied. Recalling the schematics again he knew Clancy was in one of the rooms ahead and to his left. He was about to step out when someone approached, they opened a door and he could see one of the Alicor instructing the real Clancy to accompany him to see Kree.
hoping to remain undiscovered, Lorok quickly climbed out of the access tube and followed ... The two stopped at a door and Clancy entered, the man waited until for a moment then Kree approached, asking if their guest was inside, the man nodded and Kree informed him to return to the Bridge before entering the room. now he knew that Clancy and Kree were together, Lorok had no option but to conceal himself and wait, he would deal with Kree as they left the room ......
Twenty Minutes Later ::
The door opened and he was about to move when he realised something was wrong, Clancy was not with the Alicor so must be inside. He decided to allow Kree to leave and as he did so the corridor, seemingly of no further use, fell into complete darkness ... He began to worry now and ran as silently as he could to the door which opened at his approach. Stepping inside he was surprised to find he was in some expanded version of a holo-suite, this one ... EMPTY !
It was logical to Lorok that Kree had disposed of the real Clancy, so he was now required to go onto the second aspect of his assignment ... The destruction of the Alicor vessel .....
Retracing his steps, he again entered the service crawl-way and approached the vertical shaft. Thankfully, at every second level, the ships equivalent of automatic bulkhead doors were severing the possible fall of countless meters, likely to his certain death should he slip. Climbing down the first two levels, he sat next to the bulkhead and began to work. Bypassing the main controls, he needed to sever the link to the Bridge before manually opening the doors, this done he pushed them aside and almost sighed. Two decks later he began the routine over ..........
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Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Aug 14, 2016 1:48:00 GMT
- and missing as she completed destruction of the Alicor sensor console and the heat wave from the detonation blew three of them across the bridge. Iorte looked out from behind the helm console, trying to rise to his feet but finding one of his legs quite disabled. He grimaced with the pain and stopped himself from crying out, knowing he'd give away his position which, at the moment, was concealed from the others.
Kree recovered from the blast which had only made him stumble and loped across the bridge towards where Litmus had fallen; the latter now climbed to his feet and stood emotionless before Kree, bent at the knees slightly, arms tensed and ready for a fight; Kree copied the motion, the two Alicorans now circling each other.
Clancy rolled over, still in excruciating agony, and looked at the viewscreen. A graphic was overlaid on it showing a small torpedo-shaped object shooting away from the vessel towards the dark form of the El Alamein that partially eclipsed Procyon B. His brow furrowed at the sight, What is that?, just as blinding spectroscopic light lit up all the bridge in overbright vivid colours behind him; the lightshow was broken apart by shadows, cutting and slicing into the play of EM radiation, wherever it was coming from, in the shape of humanoids engaged in mortal conflict.
Kree was fighting Litmus. Arms locked, their hands gripping the other's shoulders, forms lost in the blinding kaleidoscope of colour; streamers of light burst off them from some internal source of transhuman power as they turned about and strived to overcome one another, not in strength but in whatever attributes the expanded brain capacity of the Alicor allowed.
Struggling to his feet at last Iorte saw Kree get the upper hand. The Alicoran repelled Litmus from him without making contact, the latter knocked into a console and for a moment defenceless as his limbs were splayed back, involuntarily inviting attack. Kree dived at him, Litmus now pushed against the console; sparks burst from all around Litmus; Iorte and Elena's respective visions were saturated with white light, now flashing in strobes as blue sparks escaped from around a silently howling Litmus who was... extraordinarily, being pushed into the console. His body was dissolving from beneath him as he was enveloped by the metals making up the station, Kree using what remained of his strength to plunge Litmus's growling head the rest of the way beneath the controls - as if he was trying to drown him by pushing his head under water.
Iorte blacked out.
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Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Aug 14, 2016 1:48:44 GMT
When he came to, he was sitting in one of the bridge chairs, Kree resting against a rail by him with de Luca on the other side. The hologrammatic copy sat up, a fog over his thoughts, "What happened?" he asked, detecting a burning metal smell of ozone on the air.
"Litmus is dead," Kree answered, "Or he will be when we are able to destroy this ship. He has become one with the chassis, his molecular template or his essence, if you like, bonded at a subatomic level with the metals constituting the vessel."
"Why? But... thank you," Iorte said. Kree nodded. Iorte was breathing shallowly; he looked at his leg and saw the wound, still dripping blood to the deck despite Elena and Kree's best efforts. He found he could hardly speak, voice coming out less than a whisper, "How can this be...? I'm not biological... I'm holograph- hologrammatic, right?" Kree said nothing. "What will become of me?"
"The hologrammatic technology I developed depends upon a parent ship to allow for continued functionality," the Alicoran said at last.
That was as good as bad news. Kree went on, "To important matters. I have set the last Alicoran with us about reactivating the power relays in one of the airless sections of the ship. He should not bother us. It is simply a matter of destroying the ship from engineering, after we have sent you," he looked at Elena, "Back to the USS El Alamein." The Alicoran steepled his fingers, "I would also request... That I be allowed to leave the ship, with my guarantee that I'll not show myself among people of quadrant-wide importance again. I would wish to travel to Betazed that is nearby, to live out the rest of my days - before my brain degrades below the level required for conscious thought."
"First things first," Iorte spoke, voice cracking again with the pain; he took a deep breath and continued, "I assume you knew about the third of our boarding party... Here's a surprise, he's still alive, and presumably making his way to engineering once he's freed the real me."
"About that..." Kree seemed unruffled at the revelation that Commander Lorok was already seeing about destroying the ship. de Luca was already making for the door - they'd have to let her off the ship first, as well as on the way avoiding hybrids that may be stalking the dark halls.
Five minutes later, stunned and now realising what it was that he'd seen on the viewscreen heading for the El Alamein - himself - Iorte virtually ordered the other two of the bridge, "Go. Go! In common with Litmus, I will die with this vessel, having fulfilled my duty as your infiltrator, Kree. You two go on. And tell the original copy only good things about me," he called after them as they went through the doors.
* * * * *
Iorte was brought into the El Alamein launch bay by the sheath that'd protected him against the vacuum, now lowered to the floor and the gold undulating surface unwrapping itself from him.
Before he could set a forcefield about it - darting to his feet - his hi-tech EVA suit curled itself up in a hurry like a film on fast forward, turning itself into something like a sliver of tin foil before it erupted in a sort of quantum combustion, as he'd later find out, and blotted out of existence. No new technology to be gained there.
He headed to the bridge, surprised slightly to find security closing about him, Komin calling over her science officer and having the man scan Iorte with a tricorder. Still not convinced, Komin sent him to sickbay, where he remained for forty minutes while Dr Adams verified his identity, asking him questions that only the cloned Iorte and questions that only the original Iorte would know the answer to.
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Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Aug 18, 2016 23:19:38 GMT
Once cleared to return to duty, Iorte made his way to the bridge where he located Tan, "Adams let me go early," he explained, "No sooner do I arrive by means of novel alien technology in the launch bay that I'm called away to sickbay for tests. I can tell you I am who I say I am."
He turned to survey the viewscreen, it showing the dark mass of the Alicoran vessel floating in an interminable darkness, like a blue whale in the depths of the ocean. Its cabin lights where active concealed whatever endgame was being played out on the bridge, in the engine section, and in the corridors of the ship beset as they were by the hybrids he'd twice glimpsed.
"Kree freed me," he said to Tan who'd been about to pose the question of how exactly he'd escaped, David now looking at him in puzzlement, "He's had a change of heart, shall we say... When I was leaving, not of my own choice I might add, he told me he was going to confront Litmus, and that one or both of them would be killed in the encounter." They could only hope he came out on top, that was assuming he could be trusted once they had the victory.
"What about de Luca, Lorok?"
"I don't know," Iorte admitted, "I was trapped in a holodeck; they didn't find me, thus would've gone straight to the bridge to continue the mission. If Litmus was on the bridge when Kree attacked him, then de Luca, my counterpart and Lorok could've been caught up in the fight." He started thinking on whether his counterpart would be able to survive the destruction of the vessel, at that moment though he saw scores of cabin lights go out in the active part of the Alicor ship on the viewscreen.
There was an urgent beeping from the Ops officer's console, "Detecting a power drain within the engine compartments of the Alicor vessel," the officer reported, hands flying across his station. Iorte knew it was impossible to read lifesigns within the vessel; somehow their hull was able to disperse waves from sensor detection systems on certain frequencies; only scans pertaining to major ship's systems could penetrate.
"Main engineering?" Komin asked, standing. Iorte moved forward alongside the Captain's chair.
"No, sir. Very close by it, at what seems to be the interface to a transformer. It is unknown how the Alicor engines function, perhaps therefore whoever is doing it believes the engine room not to be the best place to disable the ship."
"It's more likely that the engine room is near-inaccessible," Iorte said, "It is almost a vacuum, and from what I was told by Galar Kree the Sheliak-Tholian hybrids have infested it." Still, he thought, at least we now know that someone is trying to shut down the rest of the ship. It remained to be seen if that person or persons were looking to cause a collapse of antimatter containment. Clancy had a horrific image of Litmus - having defeated Kree - manipulating the power system to put the ship into a sleep-mode, perhaps prior to activating the inexplicable drive system that would propel the vessel to the S-C Arm. Hopefully it hadn't worked out like that...
"As soon as you detect any anomalies in the anti-matter containment pods," he said, eyes focussed on the viewscreen, "I'd recommend a wide beam transport across the entire ship - pick up anything with a commbadge."
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David Tan
Starfleet Intelligence
Suum Cuique ...
Registered: Dec 11, 2006 10:56:04 GMT
Posts: 792
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Post by David Tan on Aug 20, 2016 0:29:15 GMT
Larok ::At the last bulkhead he came to a halt ... It seemed that this one was sealed from the other side, and no amount of 'tampering' was going to open it. he had no option but to move into the ship itself, hoping that whatever residual atmosphere remained would be enough to keep him alive until he could complete his task ... moving out of the maintenance crawl-way he inched forward, listening for the minutest sign that he was not alone, but thankfully the Alicor didn't deem it necessary to patrol this area, likely thinking no-one would be stupid enough to enter given the atmosphere availability, 'Or distinct lack thereof' he thought, already beginning to struggle breathing. He came across what he believed to be Main Engineering, but again realised that there was vacuum beyond the doors ... He needed another way in ... He again risked moving further along the corridor, coming across another room, above the door he could see writing:
کنترل سیستم های ثانویه Having no way of knowing what it described, he placed a hand on the door, an almost wry grin forming as he realised it was warm to the touch. Looking left and right along the corridor he placed his interface device alongside the access panel and waited. A second later the doors slid silently aside, the rooms illumination rising as he entered. 'Auxiliary control ?' he wondered as he moved around the room, then found what he was looking for ... If he was reading this right, and truth be told, he had no idea if he was or not, this panel controlled the matter / anti-matter intermix protocols, while the next was the warp core ejection systems, none of which he could begin to implement without the Bridge seeing, and thus overriding his inputs. Then it came to him, if he wanted to destroy something before he could be stopped, the best way was to cripple something else to keep those who may be trying to prevent him from doing so, busy !
He looked around the controls, all marked in the Alicor language, but thankfully, most control systems tended to look similar, to an extent. Working quickly, he accessed shield and weapons control, first he isolated the controls from the Bridge, easy enough to do unless someone was sat looking at the appropriate screen when it happened, and inverted shield polarity, basically allowing anything in, but nothing out, or at least he hoped so, given it had never actually been tested in his experience. Then he began a fifteen second countdown to fire the vessel's phasers. With luck, they would slam into their own shields and, that's about where his theory evaporated ...
Running back to the core ejection controls, he accessed the intermix override systems, he did all he could apart from deleting all protocols. Then heard the phasers begin their continuous firing. Whoever was on the Bridge would be able to disable them within a minute, but that was longer than he needed. closing his eyes he hit the activate pad ....... El Alamein ::"Detecting a power drain within the engine compartments of the Alicor vessel." "Main engineering ?" Komin asked, standing. Iorte moved forward alongside the Captain's chair. "No, Sir. Very close by it, at what seems to be the interface to a transformer. It is unknown how the Alicor engines function, perhaps therefore whoever is doing it believes the engine room not to be the best place to disable the ship." "Whats that !" Demik said, pointing at the view-screen ... The Alicor vessel was lit up like the proverbial Christmas Tree !, her shields were pulsating as continuous phaser-fire, from their own weapons, slammed endlessly into them. That was what was causing the power drain ! ... The shields were drawing more and more power to counteract the ever growing power curve of the phasers, it was an endless loop that would see the ship destroy itself if either the shields were not deactivated, or the phasers deactivated, and quickly. "If that continues, a cascade failure will destroy their core, or whatever they're using for a warp core. We really do need to be anywhere but here !" Milo Van, the Exec' said worriedly. "The drain is beginning to level off." Demik said, frowning. "Could it be whatever was designed by Section 99 ... They thrive on power, right ?" Tan asked, glancing at Broski. "Their shields are collapsing." Demik informed them, "I'm picking up two faint Human life-signs. One close to the Bridge, one on the Engineering level. I can't identify either." "Get a transporter lock on them .. NOW !" Komin snapped, leaning forward in her seat. "Ma'am. I am picking up an object heading away from the Alicor vessel. It's their core." Demik said. "Lock phasers onto that thing. Have you got our people back yet ?" she asked, Demik shaking his head unable to confirm a positive bio-signature lock, she looked at the Alicor ship, realising that this may be their one and only chane to either cripple or destroy it, hopefully halting their incursion into Federation space and the abduction of countless. "You need to fire now Captain, they know the risks and take them willingly." David said, referring to de Luca more than Lorok. She glanced at him for a fraction of a second then returned her attention to the main view-screen: "Transport what you have ... Raise shields ... Fire on their core !" ..........
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Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Aug 26, 2016 18:41:22 GMT
The pulsing green core shattered into a million pieces as the El Alamein's phaser reached it, leaving a colourful trail across several million kilometres, the zero point shockwave traversing the vacuum in subspace faster than the El Alamein could warp.
Power flow from the core of the Defiant class was interrupted for an instant before the light from the explosion reached, Iorte now gripping the console strut to starboard of the captain's chair to steady himself, gritting his teeth and watching the viewscreen, the lights flickering and the vessel rattling about him.
Something had been opened up at the heart of the explosion, some tear into a subspace layer he realised, from looking at the Ops officer's display and recognising the readings; several years ago he'd witnessed the same during a training operation, a sort of rite of passage he'd viewed it as at the time, like when coming of age being ordered to a neighbouring village to steal one of the women.
He was no longer sure it'd been a wise idea to destroy the core, especially having been so close to it. The ship barrel-rolled twice more before lateral thrusters were reactivated and attitude was stabilised; Iorte recovered his bearings, shaking off the disorientation arising from the monumental and constant shifts in distribution of inertial dampener direction of action.
"Is the Alicor ship still there!" Komin was shouting, on her feet with the bridge's illumination still intermittent.
"Affirmative!" Coolant sprang from three places around the tactical and helm consoles, tactical officer Demik continuing, "It was 300,000 km from the core at the time of its destruction." Iorte looked to and from the man as Komin kept questioning him; he answered, "Confirmed, we have recovered the two lifeforms detected earlier; the transporter beam tried to lock onto a third that wasn't there before... odd..."
After several secondary explosions including from eddies still arriving from the core's explosion epicentre, power flow was made regular again throughout the Defiant class. Clancy righted himself, calming his stomach and lurching over the bridge to Tan who was standing beside Broski sitting at the helm, "Let's not do that again."
The rent in the very particular and hard to access set of subspace layers remained there, and would as far as Iorte knew for the following 300 stardates, "Quarantine it perhaps; allow science vessels access to the site as long as it remains accessible," he said over Komin's shoulder. The Alicor vessel remained intact albeit coreless, a large segment of the main hull torn away where it'd shuffled back to allow for the core's ejection.
"The hybrid creatures the other..." Demik cleared his throat, "That agent Clancy informed us of, are now registering on sensors, Captain. There are over 400 of them over there."
"Perhaps they won't be able to survive with the loss of the only power source," Iorte observed, "Despite being able to live in vacuum. Speaking of the 'other' me... What exactly happened to him?" he looked mischievously at the others; he knew his alter ego had told his colleagues of his true origin and of the plans Kree and Litmus had, however he didn't know the hologram-type clone had returned to the Alicor ship and witnessed one of the Alicorans destroying the other before inevitably expiring himself. Original Iorte had done his best to counter the Alicor's bodysnatching while over there, learning about the species' homeworld through the holodeck, and Kree had redeemed himself near the end, assuming he'd gone through with the fight with Litmus as he'd told Iorte he'd intended.
The door to the bridge retracted, people from the transporter room now returning.
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David Tan
Starfleet Intelligence
Suum Cuique ...
Registered: Dec 11, 2006 10:56:04 GMT
Posts: 792
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Post by David Tan on Aug 26, 2016 23:44:17 GMT
"The hybrid creatures the other ..." Demik cleared his throat, "That agent Clancy informed us of, are now registering on sensors, Captain. There are over 400 of them over there." "Perhaps they won't be able to survive with the loss of the only power source," Iorte observed, "Despite being able to live in vacuum. Speaking of the 'other' me ... What exactly happened to him ?" "He made a choice, one that we should be grateful for ....." David said, wiping a trickle of blood from the side of his mouth. 'Must have caught my face when the ship was battered by the shock-wave' he thought. "..... The Alicor vessel ?" Captain Komin asked as Elena and Lorok entered the Bridge, "Welcome back." "Thanks, close call over there, we actually 'felt' the explosion before the transport got us." Elena said, relief in her voice, "To be honest, I thought we were done." "I'll recommend a full quarantine of the System." David informed them, "Captain, is there any way we can situate several passive mines, just in case they decide to try and get off the ship. To be honest, I'm not too happy at leaving it hanging there with those things still roaming about, however starved they may become. to be perfectly honest, I'm thinking that it would be better to force the thing to the surface, let any Science teams scrabble through the wreckage, that way it wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon." "Comms, contact Command on sub-space. Commander, you can use my ready room for the conversation, I'll have Engineering prepare the mines. Mister Lorok, that's you." Komin said, David headed for her Office, Iorte and Elena in tow .... Thirty minutes later ::The three of them left the ready room after the sub-space Comm was concluded: "Command has agreed on the system-wide quarantine. They agree it would be best to crash the ship, but until the Science division has had a chance to look it over, and no doubt snatch several of the hybrids in the process, it's to remain in orbit ..... They are also commencing a full investigation into Section 99 ....." Tan said, with a glance at Broski, "They recommend Mister Broski be taken into custody immediately, once back at Earth he'll be questioned by the appropriate authorities." "That would be you I take it ?" the Navigation Officer said, looking at David. "No ... Not my area of, expertise." he said, turning once again to Komin, "Whether or not you lock the Lieutenant up isn't up for debate I'm afraid Captain." Elena motioned to lieutenat Massa, Head of Security. The two Security Officers she had requested while still in the ready room, approached Broski. While not actually drawing their phasers, it was obvious they would do so should the need arise. Broski looked at the people around the Bridge, then at Security: "You won't have any problems Captain." he said rising and accompanying the Officers off the Bridge and eventually down to the Brig. "He's been a loyal Officer of mine, hard to think he was working for some super-clandestine organisation all this time." Komin said, shaking her head. "Ma'am, the Chief Engineer say's the mines are ready for deployment." Lieutenant Massa informed the Captain. "Tell him to go ahead, unless you want to go over there for anything ?" she asked David, who shook his head in reply. ...... The USS El Alamein turned away from the Alicor vessel and put distance between them ... In Engineering, Lt Commander Lorok began to deploy the first of the one hundred proximity mines around the massive Alien ship. At the same time, one of his Deputies deployed twenty signal buoy's ... These would move out to the edge of the System and begin broadcasting the quarantine information. Any vessel breaching the perimeter would trigger alarms, leaving the Commanding Officer in no doubt of the consequences should they continue. Ninety minutes later the mines were in place, each in constant contact with it's neighbour, and permanently monitoring the vessel they had effectively cocooned. With the mines set, they waited for final confirmation that the quarantine buoy's were actively broadcasting their warnings, then Komin ordered the El Alamein out of the System ...... "So what now ?" Elena asked. "Well, we go back to 'Forty Seven, unless the El Alamein is ordered elsewhere, in which case we'll be hitching a lift." David said. "Think we'll get some down time, I could certainly use the rest." Elena pondered, Iorte nodding in silent agreement. "Knowing Intelligence, they will have something ready for us. I'm sure we'll manage a drink or two at O'Tooles before we ship out though." he said, grinning at his colleagues ...... < tag : Iorte >
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Elena de Luca
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Dec 14, 2009 0:38:17 GMT
Posts: 266
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Post by Elena de Luca on Aug 29, 2016 18:56:18 GMT
On the second day of their return to the Star Base, Elena was sat with David, Iorte, and Captain Komin and her Executive Officer, Milo Van, in the galley of the Defiant Class El Alamein ...
"Good little ship this." she said, grinning at David.
"Captain ... We've been thinking." he began, seeing Komin raise her eyebrows in anticipation, "Don't panic Captain, We were talking about our assignments, and how Intelligence would benefit from having another vessel at their disposal ... As you know, we tend to 'hitchhike' from place to place unless a ship can be arranged for our use. I contacted Admiral Tetsutaro earlier, suggesting the El Alamein be assigned to Intelligence for the foreseeable future."
"Assuming of course that I would actually 'want' to be assigned to your Division." Komin commented.
"We worked well on this assignment Captain." Elena said.
"That's besides the point. But I'm not too sure my crew and I are cut out for Intelligence work."
"So if your secondment to Intel became official, you would go to Command and have it overturned ?" Elena asked.
"Why us ... Why the El Alamein ?" Komin retorted.
"Like we said, it's a good little ship. fast, manoeuvrable, rugged. You and your crew are easy to work with, you know when to ask questions, and more importantly, when not to. All the traits we need to get in, get the job done, and get out safely. It could be a feather in your cap if you agreed to the offer."
"You are giving me a choice ?" the Captain asked, Elena shrugged, Fran turned to her Exec, "What do you think ?" Van admitted it was an opportunity, and better than what they had been given of late, "If we agree, then I retain command, Milo and my Officers remain in their assigned positions."
"No-one's trying to take the ship from you Captain. Obviously you have sole Command in all things ship-related, we would obviously expect you to respect our position, and our right to supersede should the situation warrant it. After all, you will be on Intelligence assignments, and we have the final word. I'm afraid that if you can't accept that then we wil be forced to go back to our normal mode of transport, and you will go back to logging stellar anomalies." Elena said.
"You three don't wear rank insignia." Milo Van said casually, "But I suspect you out-rank both the Captain and therefore myself." the three Intelligence Officer remained silent.
"We're due to dock at Star Base forty Seven in, three hours. I'll let you know my answer before then." Fran said, standing, her Exec' following suit ....
On Final Approach to Star Base Forty Seven ::
"Thank you Dock Master ....." Komin was saying as tractors caressed the El Alamein, easing her through the space doors and down to one of the lower pylons, "We've talked about your, offer, and decided it might be fun."
"Good to hear." Elena said, handing her an Isolinear Chip, "The El Alamein's reassignment orders, which include her Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and current crew, courtesy of Admiral Sato Tetsutaro ..."
"Welcome to intelligence." David said, grinning, "We'll celebrate once docked. There's a great bar on the 'Base." ..........
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Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Aug 31, 2016 21:42:12 GMT
Following the others on the station, Iorte found himself bringing up the rear, finding himself talking to one of the junior helm officers who from how he spoke obviously wanted to be selected as the new CNO following Broski's departure. He assumed the infiltrator would be put into the hands of Starfleet Security. Or Starfleet Intel, he thought, seeing it as a very real possibility considering how a part of the organisation had been after S99's ringleaders for a few years.
They made their way to O'Toole's, Clancy thinking he would be happy with an early night, and realising that his place of rest would again not be his home. It was one of the elements of intelligence work that he was surprised he'd not got properly used to, even though it'd been over two years since his first assignment. Even officers serving on starships had a permanent home of sorts, in the very vessels they served on; such was not the case for Intel officers, though the permanent addition of the El Alamein would change that slightly.
Sitting at the bar he ordered from the same person he'd ordered from before they'd left for Averalan III. He didn't seem to recognise Iorte. Several others of the El Alamein crew made their way in, having followed the senior staff in a long disjointed line with clumps like light quanta. He sipped at his drink and spilled some of it on his trouser leg, losing more of the liquid as he hurriedly returned it to the bar surface.
2400
C walked down the broad silver-glinting corridor, turning to the right into a room through an open door. A panoramic window at the room's far end, sweeping as a segment of a perfect arc of a circle through about 110 degrees, showed the vast cityscape with its many beige spires and block-like towers, airships and jet-propelled repulsor rickshaws darting back and forth, nearly silent through the glass. A crescent shaped table with a circular one adjoining it was in the centre of the room, half the seats occupied with humanoid individuals, some of which turned and smiled at him as he entered.
He had not even been on the planet for a full day, and here he was, having to act as if he'd been here his entire life. The hotel room had been satisfactory; he didn't like the voice and fingerprint identification system though, somewhat antiquated to require actual touch but advanced enough to cause him and the people who'd designed his genetic and surgical alteration some not inconsiderable anxiety. It'd cleared so far, he had to trust it would keep working.
He adjusted his Exogenesis company nametag and took his appointed seat, opening the briefing case and looking around. The chairman was yet to arrive.
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David Tan
Starfleet Intelligence
Suum Cuique ...
Registered: Dec 11, 2006 10:56:04 GMT
Posts: 792
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Post by David Tan on Sept 9, 2016 22:20:53 GMT
They had been in O'Tooles for only half an hour when the remainder of the El Alamein crew entered, the ones already there asked Sean to pull two of the large tables together so they could all drink together ... "The ship is apparently undergoing extensive updates, thanks to your Admiral Tetsutaro." Milo Van, the ships Executive Officer informed them as he accepted the offered drink. "Well, at least they can't send us back out first thing." Elena said, waving a steward over and ordering another round of drinks. David had been watching Iorte, not directly, but peripheral observation, and he wondered why the man seemed a little preoccupied. For the time being he was putting it down to this being his first 'official' Intelligence assignment, maybe once he's loosened up and relaxed, he'll be OK, but Tan decided to keep a wary eye on him just in case he was affected more than he first thought. The new drinks arrived and the Junior Officers from the El Alamein were told to help themselves ... An hour later the 'party' was progressing well ... A steward approached David and Elena, asking them to go to the back room, the man didn't give any further information, so they had little option but to do as asked: "It is agreeable to see you both back safe and well." Sato Tetsutaro said, embracing both of them in turn before taking a seat and instructing them to do likewise.
"Admiral, good to be back ...." David said, a frown forming, "Is there a problem ?" unable to wonder why Clancy had been excluded from the impromptu meeting, but Sato seemed to know what he was thinking:
"Before you begin to worry, Mister Clancy wasn't asked to join us as I wanted an honest review of his conduct during your assignment."
"He was exemplary." Elena said instantly, David agreeing.
"Good." Sato said, asking his Adjutant to get him a glass of iced water, "It was curiosity only. Commander Clancy is now an integral part of your team, and will remain so."
"So you didn't really need our input then ?" Elena asked, continuing as the Admiral simply grinned, "Then why the cloak and dagger meeting ?"
"Oh, no reason, in fact I see no reason why we cannot continue this in the midst of your new, associates." he said, getting up and moving to the door, which his aide opened obligingly. They re-entered the main room and moved to the now bigger group. It was only then that Tan realised that the only people on the Bar were the El Alamein Officers and crew, themselves, and the Head of Star Fleet Intelligence ..... Sato's Adjutant, Captain Nia Lemond, picked up a glass and looked at O'Toole's owner, who lowered the volume of the music, she tapped the glass until she had everyone's attention: "Admiral Tetsutaro. Head of Star Fleet Intelligence. Would like to say a few words ...." Sato stood up, a man of small stature, who seemed to tower over everyone: "Firstly, I would like to thank Mister O'Toole here for the loan of his fine establishment, but would ask him and his adorable Assistant Manager, Chloe, to retire to the rear room for the moment." he waited as Sean and Chloe left the room then continued, "We have done something, unique, and something that I would hope if successful will expand beyond our one vessel ... I have long petitioned Command to assign vessels to Intelligence rather than having to co-opt the assistance of Star Ships that frankly, have better things to do than ferry my Officers around the Galaxy. So, thus the El Alamein ... you could say this operation was a 'trial run' if you will, and despite teething issues early on in the assignment, it was completed to our mutual satisfaction and I was permitted to begin the roll-out of a new and hopefully much more mobile Intelligence Division ... You !" "You received the transfer of duty orders Captain Komin ?" Lemond asked while the Admiral took a moment to sip his water. Fran confirmed she had, then Sato continued: "This is our first truly independent Intelligence cadre. One that can operate and move with complete autonomy in their investigations. At this point in time I have not been able, despite some rather imaginative suggestions ..." he glanced at Lemond with a wry grin, "to come up with a title, if one is even needed, for our new enterprise, but I'm sure in time we shall come up with something, but for the moment, you are what you are. Essentially anonymous. The numerous modifications to the El Alamein will take approximately one week, you are free to do as you wish in that time, everyone currently cleared to serve on the El Alamein will be brought to my office individually. There, you will be issued with a unique access code. you will also sign various documentation regarding confidentiality. If anyone here is uncomfortable with that, then feel free to voice your concern, there will be no repercussions, I can assure you of that ..." Sato waited, but no-one spoke and more importantly, no-one headed for the door. David grinned inwardly. "While word of the El Alamein's re-assignment will get out, you are to say nothing regarding her activities. This must be fully understood and adhered to." Nia Lemond interjected, "It must also be understood that any and 'ALL' orders issued by the members of the Intelligence Team, regardless of your opinion on said instructions, 'WILL' be carried out. You are Star Fleet, and will act as such despite the situation. Again, the door is there if you feel you cannot comply." "OK OK .... Enough of the official stuff." Sato said, nodding to Nia, who tapped her Comm badge. Sean and Chloe came out of the back room, both went to the bar and lifted several large tray's from below, each contained several champagne flutes, they asked everyone to take a glass. Once done, Chloe nodded to Sato: "A toast. Ladies and Gentlemen." he said, raising his glass ..... The El Alamein ....." "The El Alamein." everyone said in unison, drinking the champagne. "To continued success against those who wish us harm, and to the well being of the Federation." Nia Lemond offered, again everyone repeated the toast and drank. "I am sure you will do the Federation proud." Sato said, placing his empty glass on the table before looking at those around him, "Remember, you are doing only good. God speed on your travels." with that he instructed Sean to supply anything, within reason, that his guests required, then he bade them goodnight. The newly formed initiative was Official .......... ~ TRANSITEC ~
~ Assignment Concluded ~
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