Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jul 24, 2011 22:33:45 GMT
Andae watched nervously from his datalink console in Raven's engineering. According to the ship's scanners the away team had just arrived on Sanctuary, so all Andae had to do was wait for them to reach the computer cores.
The engineer was curious about what else the away team might've planned, as he was mindful of Watson's earlier earnest request to try and make the Vezi's sun experiment work. But Torek's orders had been given, and the stakes were simply too high to deviate from the Commodore's plan.
Bringing himself to leave the console, and leaving it for the time being in the hands of Milyanov and Taylor, Andae headed back to sickbay. It wasn't for himself this time, rather a member of his staff.
"Harton," his voice was full of relief, "I'm glad to see you're back aboard." His assistant was sat on the edge of the biobed, the junior nurse scanning her temple where the Vezi guard's rifle butt had connected.
Lieutenant Harton smiled. "Of course, we were all beamed back aboard at about the same time."
"Yes, I suppose. But I couldn't be sure until I saw you in the flesh." He cocked his head. "A funny obsession you might call it."
"I'd definitely call it something." Harton's face turned serious; by her eyes Andae could tell what she was about to ask. "Still no news on Catley?"
He could only shake his head. It was a torment to both of them, to all of those who'd been in the senior officer group over on Sanctuary. An officer had been taken away under the pretence that he'd receive treatment, but he hadn't been seen from again.
Blakus slumped slightly against the biobed, offering Harton support; as he understood it, the Lieutenant and the Ensign had been good colleagues.
He knew he soon had to be back in engineering, ready to deposit the Sanctuary data into Raven's information buffers. There was little more time to think on the loss of Catley, little more time to devote thought to another casualty of war.
<Tag Away Team>
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Jul 24, 2011 22:41:08 GMT
Calli watched the Executive Officer enter the transporter room. He dismissed one of the Security personnel and stepped onto the pad. "Everyone ready ...?" asked Will. Receiving all nods, he faced front himself, "Energize." Seconds later they all appeared on Sanctuary ... "OK Mister Watson. This is your show." Calli took a small device from her tricorder case and looked around their location. Her eyes settled on the plating above their heads, and she threw the device upward. It attached itself to the plate, and blinking three times fell inert. She scanned the locater and nodded, turning to the rest of the away team. "That ....." she said, pointing to the small device, "Has been programmed to emit an ultra-low frequency signal. Normal base scans shouldn't pick it up, but our tricorders will. It's just a precaution should we loose our bearings or the Raven looses their lock on us." "OK, good idea Commander." Will said, glancing at the all but invisible device then taking the phaser from his waist, "Set to heavy stun." he finished, watching the others follow his order. Valenti looked at the countdown on her tricorder: ... 03:49:52 ... "We need to get moving." she said, pointing at the small screen, "Given our location, and distance from both computer cores, it's going to take at least thirty minutes to reach either, So be quick, but be careful ... The 'LAST' thing we need is to get spotted. Understood !" Everyone nodded confirmation, knowing they were playing some sort of 'hide and seek' with the Sanctuary personnel. The two groups went their separate ways .......... < tag : Alex >
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Jul 26, 2011 20:25:45 GMT
Alex sat in his quarters, looking at the computer screen, holding his head in his hands. It had seemed like such a good idea when he'd suggested it, but he wasn't quite so confident any more. Still, it was his idea, and he had to follow it through. He was still convinced that it was the best plan in the circumstances, and that gave him some comfort. He was still dressed in his Vezi uniform, and he stood up and smoothed out a few of the creases, checking his belt for his concealed Type One phaser. He walked over to the mirror, looking at himself in it. He looked nervous, and he was sweating. This wouldn't do. He shook his head vigorously, and moved to the bathroom to wash his face. After a few minutes, he decided that he could really delay no longer, and moved to the replicator.
"Computer, replicate a cigar, Cuban, circa twentieth century."
"Are you aware of the health risks associated with smoking tobacco?" said the prim voice of the computer, "If you wish, we can help you st-"
"Just do it, computer," said Alex. The replicator whirred for a second, and Alex took the perfectly formed cigar from its tray and ran it under his nose, sniffing it, before depositing it in his top pocket. If he was going to go down, he was going down like one of the heroes in the twentieth century Western novels that he'd read: cigar in his mouth and a gun in his hand.
===
As he was walking down the corridor to the transporter room, he saw Commander Jamison and nodded. The commodore's voice came over the ship's tannoy, and Jamison replied.
"We're walking in now, sir."
Alex fell into step beside Jamison, and they had reached the transporter room before too long. After the jostling that took place over numbers, they were stood on the pad and Alex closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Here they went. Alex thought, ruefully, that even if this plan screwed up, it wasn't like anyone was going to be around to yell at him...or that he was even going to be around to be yelled at.
"Energise," came the commander's voice, and Alex suddenly found himself back on Sanctuary along with the rest of the team.
"OK Mister Watson. This is your show," Alex heard Jamison say. He took a few deep breaths while Calli busied herself installing the beacon.
"Alright, everyone. Team One, Commander Jamison, you need to get to the secondary control room. Its location and ours are all in the files stored on your hardware in case any of us gets lost and we have a live link with the Raven to update our position markers. Once you get there, you need to plug the linkup into the main computer terminal. That'll start a download to the Raven's computer banks of all the data stored on their drives. It should be undetectable."
"Should?" asked Jamison.
"It's the best we've got, sir," replied Alex. "I'll lead team two to find Jenny and get into the main laboratory. We'll do the same thing to the computer banks we find there. I don't know how long the download will take, I'm afraid, so we mind end up cutting it very fine.
"Very well, Mister Watson. We'll see you on board the Raven. And good luck."
"Same to you, commander."
The two teams turned and began to walk in separate directions. After about two minutes, Alex walked to a computer terminal and spoke. "Computer, Scientist Two James Watt requesting the location of Scientist Two Jenny Gerson."
"Scientist Two Gerson is in her quarters." Came the automated response. Alex too another deep breath.
"Hope she's not too angry that I kept her waiting..." he mumbled under his breath, before setting off in the direction of the habitation block.
<Tag Away Team One>
Modified: Forgot the tag.
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 25, 2024 22:43:58 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2011 1:28:25 GMT
Will brought up the rear as Calli led them to their destination. Just like the last time that he was sneaking around this place, he had a feeling of excitement being back in security mode. The feeling was short lived however as he quickly became all business. He didn't see anything, but something told him that they were being watched. "Garcia. Stay alert. I don't think we're alone." he told the young Lt. "Aye, sir." He looked ahead and noticed that Commander Valenti was on high alert as well. They walked alone in silence for a while until Will realized that they were passing the area in which he, Green and Lane had been held. "Pssst." he called to the others. They stopped and gathered around him. "I want you two to continue on. I will catch up shortly. There's something I need to do." he added. "Keep your eyes open." he ordered Garcia. The others nodded and began moving once again. Will quietly wondered around the cells and quickly found what he was looking for. Just not how he wanted to find it. Laying inside an unguarded cell was Catley. Will made his way over and checked for a pulse. There was none. Will gave a moment of silence, wishing his former crew member fare well before moving on. When he caught up to the others, they were already in the Control Room and Calli was busy working on the download. He quietly moved up beside her. "I found Catley. He's dead." he whispered. She simply nodded and continued working. Will knew they would discuss it more later after the mission. He moved over to the other side of the room to assist Garcia in keeping watch. When Calli was finished, she moved over to Will. They both checked their chronometers... 1:52:34 "Well that took alot longer than I expected." Calli said. "But I think I got everything we could from here." "Good. Let's move out." he replied. They motioned for Garcia to join them and the three of them headed back the way they came. <Tag Away Team Two>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Aug 5, 2011 23:56:19 GMT
... 01:37:17 ... Carl had almost decided that shooting the chronometer above the massive view-screen was much preferable to watching the seconds tick away. But figured someone might take it upon themselves to try to declare him 'unfit' in some mental capacity, so he let it tick away ... He'd checked, then double-checked everything he could think of in the last four hours. Ensuring that whatever action he took, the Raven would be safe ... Running through his mental check-list, he knew there was no-one to pester. These people knew their roles, and didn't need their Commanding Officer looking 'jumpy' so he kept quiet acknowledging reports as they were fed to him ... After what seemed an hour, he allowed himself another glance at the countdown: ... 01:32:41 ... "Hells bells ......" he said, realizing less than 'FIVE' minutes had passed as he stood up and scanned the Bridge, "OK ..... Tactical, re-check our firing location. I don't want any mistakes. Helm, contact Commander Blakus and make sure we have all the power we'll need." "Aye Sir." the Officers replied, triple-checking their already double-checked figures without argument as Torek turned to the Tactical Officer. "Lieutenant. You have the Bridge. I'll be in my ready room." ~~~~~~~~~~He had sat in his office for a full minute before speaking. "Alright 'Q' ..... Time to show your face. I have no intention of going ahead unless you assure me you will stick to out agreement." when there was no reply Carl reached his limit. He slammed a fist into the ornate desk, glaring at the countdown timer above his door ... The feeling of helplessness and frustration were reaching the limit of what Carl could take .......... < tag : Watson >
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Aug 12, 2011 17:00:32 GMT
Alex almost sprinted down the corridors of Sanctuary, hoping against hope that he wouldn't run into anyone and have to explain why he was in such a hurry. Mercifully, the hallways remained empty. Even the two security officers were panting and straining to keep up with the scientist, and Alex had a distinct feeling that they felt he was showing them up as being less fit. Too bad, he thought. He reached Jenny's quarters and skidded to a halt. He was out of breath, and he hadn't realised that he had a bad stitch in his side. He resolved to start psysical training again in earnest after this mission. If there was an after. Turning to the two security officers, he said, "You two wait here, I'll go in on my own." "Sir, I strongly suggest-" "Noted. But she doesn't know you. It might complicate things if I burst into her room with two armed guards." "Acknowledged, sir." "Thank you." He turned and placed his hand on the pad to open the door, and nearly fell inside as it opened. Jenny turned around, clearly cross. "You took your sweet time! Where have you...oh my goodness are you alright?" Her tone changed from anger to concern as she saw Alex red-faced and clearly in pain. "Jenny, do you trust me?" He asked her, looking at her imporingly. "Well...I guess-" "Do you trust me?" He repeated, slowly, looking into her eyes as he spoke. "Yes." She said, after a few seconds. "Then come on. We don't have much time. We need to get to the main lab, and we need not to be seen." "Okay...." Jenny said, perhaps regretting her previous statement that she trusted him. She stood up, moving towards Alex. He took her hand. "Thank you." He whispered. "What are we doing, James?" She asked quietly. "If this is illegal, we could both be executed." "If we don't do it, we're all dead anyway." He looked straight at her again, and she saw the truth and conviction in his eyes. She gulped, and nodded. They moved out of the room, and Jenny saw the two officers. She gasped, and looked like she was about to run. "It's okay," said Alex quickly. "They're with me. Now come on, let's get to the lab." ======= It took them twenty minutes to get to the laboratory, twenty minutes that they didn't really have. Alex's insistence on stealth robbed them second by precious second. Eventually, they reached the rear entrance to the lab. Alex looked inside. It was quiet, but not empty. He swore. He had been stupid to suppose that the main laboratory would ever be totally empty, but he had hoped... "Okay, we can sneak in and get onto Station Seven," said Jenny. "Nobody ever really uses it because it's tucked away in a corner. We can do whatever you need to do there." "Right...You two will need to wait here again. You don't have clearance to be inside the lab and the last thing we want at this point is to blow cover." Alex said without thinking. "Cover?" asked Jenny, seemingly frightened. "You mean...you're an agent?" She looked petrified at the sound of the word. "Not exactly...something like that...we need to do this now!" replied Alex, shaking himself back into work mode, taking Jenny by her trembling hand, and walking into the lab. They snuck around, unspotted by the other scientists, until they reached Science Station Seven. Both of them sat down in the chairs behind the consoles, hidden from view of the main floorspace. Alex pulled out his tricorder and connected it to the console. He keyed in the download code, praying that Commander Blakus knew what he was doing when he modified the tricorders. "Link to Raven established. Sending Data." Came the cool voice of the ship's computer from the console. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. It was working. "Raven? Who's that? Your boss? You ARE an agent, aren't you?" said Jenny, clearly getting more and more uncomfortable by the second, she looked like she was on the point of tears. "Please, Jenny. Stay calm. We're safe here. Once this has finished, we're done. We can leave...together." "Leave...leave and go where?" "I can't tell you...but it's a safe place. And if you stay here..." he tailed off, letting his implicit warning hang in the air. Jenny let out a sob. Alex turned away, hating himself for what he was doing to her. But the stakes were too large, and right now he couldn't afford the luxury of comforting her. ======== A couple of uneventful hours passed, uneventful except for Alex's jumpiness at everything that made a noise, and Jenny's continuing quiet breakdown. Alex hoped that the two security officers had enough sense to pass themselves off as being meant to be standing outside the main lab's back entrance. He wasn't too sanguine about their chances at bluffing their way out of a serious line of questioning, though. Just when he was ready to shout with frustration, the computer's voice chimed in again. "Data Upload Complete." Alex let loose a deep sigh of relief, and stood up, gesturing for Jenny to do the same. "Come on," he said, disconnecting the tricorder. "We need to get out of here." She wiped here eyes and stood up, nodding weakly. Alex looked down at the timer readout. ... 01:12:14 ... An hour and a quarter. What could he do in an hour and a quarter, he wondered... <Tag Away Team One, Torek>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Aug 14, 2011 14:22:15 GMT
Carl had sat in his ready room for almost thirty minutes, waiting in vain for the elusive 'Q' to turn up. But the entity was playing his usual game ... Standing, Carl went back to the Bridge. The Operations Officer vacated the Command chair as the Commodore approached. "Reports." Carl said, receiving an update on the situation, "We still have transporter lock ?" "Yes Sir ... I'm showing Commanders Jamison and Valenti, along with one Security Officer approximately three hundred meters from the rendezvous point ... Lieutenant Watson, two Security Officers, and an unknown, presumably the woman the Lieutenant was meeting are one thirty meters from beam out point." the man frowned slightly before continuing, "They have stopped and separated by five meters for some reason." Carl checked the countdown as the report was given: ... 00:14:52 ... "OK Helm ... Bring us back to transport distance ... Slowly ... We'll take them off the base done or not." Torek ordered, sitting quietly as the massive vessel glided silently, unseen, toward her destination. Like an alligator, patiently edging forward, hidden from sight by the murky water, watching an unsuspecting antelope drinking at the waters edge ... "You're going ahead without me then .... I am hurt Captain, hurt !"
Torek found himself on the other end of a twentieth century child's playground seesaw slowly rising and falling as 'Q' pushed off the floor.
"Your preoccupation with children's toys is getting a little alarming 'Q' something I should know ?" Carl said, sarcasm oozing from the statement, "I want your guarantee that the members of the Vezi and K'vern will all be safe before I destroy their base."
"I gave you no guarantees Captain. I simply said that they could be sent back with no knowledge of their previous lives, SHOULD I wish to do so ..." 'Q' said, pushing off the grass once more, "But I did say no-one would survive from this, or your own dimension should you fail to stop the destruction of the nearby Sun. So if I were you, I'd give serious thought to just 'who' you wish to survive !" Carl found himself back on the Raven, his absence from the Bridge apparently had gone un-noticed ..... The deadline was fourteen minutes away. He would need four of those minutes to move to safe distance without lighting up his location. Leaving ten .... He would beam his Officers back to the ship in nine, That would give him a simple sixty seconds to decide the fate of countless lives .......... < tag : ALL ... If you are posting anything else on the base please do so >
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 25, 2024 22:43:58 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2011 6:54:01 GMT
Will couldn't believe it. As he, Valenti and Garcia were approaching the beam out point, they heard voices coming from around the next corner. The readout they were receiving told them that Watson and his team were just on the other side of their destination. He checked his chronometer next... ... 00:06:27 ... "We have got to remove those men from the equation." Will whispered to his team. There were four of them standing almost directly on top of the spot where the crew of the Raven needed to be. They couldn't take the chance of contacting the other team so Will took it upon himself to resolve the situation. He turned to face Valenti and Garcia. "Okay, Garcia. You and I will go out firing with phasers on stun. According to the Commodore, Q says no one will be injured, so let's keep it that way. With any luck, Squires and Thompson will catch on and help us." Will said. Seeing the defiance in Calli's eyes, he quickly continued. "You, Commander, will NOT engage the men. You will collect up Mr Watson and get all that valuable information back the Raven. That's an order." he added as she looked about ready to argue. "Aye, sir." she replied solemnly. "Ready?" Will asked Garcia as they both checked their phasers. As they approached the corner, Will silently prayed that the others would get the idea sooner than later. He and Garcia would be exposed as soon as they turned the corner. With a nod of his head, Will gave the signal and they went out. Will immediately didn't like what he saw. He had completely forgotten about the bulk head beams. The same beams that now covered three of the four men that they were approaching. "Damn it!" he muttered as he brought his phaser up to fire. The Vezi men were briefly stunned but quickly recovered as they finally realized what was happening. Garcia had gotten off a shot that caught the one man that was obscured by a beam square in the chest. Just as Will was thinking what a great shot it was, one of the other Vezi produced his own weapon and returned fire on Garcia. He too found his target and Will saw Garcia fall back with a gapping hole in his chest. Jamison ducked behind a beam himself as they opened fire on him. "So much for no one getting hurt, Q!" he screamed. It all seemed to last forever but the entire encounter was over in a matter of seconds. No sooner had Will taken cover, when he heard phaser fire from the other end of the corridor. Squires and Thompson had come through. The other three Vezi were rendered unconscious and the coast was clear. Will wasted no time. As needlessly approached Garcia and checked for a pulse, he was barking orders. "VALENTI. WATSON. LET'S GO!!!!" =^=Jamison to Raven. Six to beam up. NOW!=^= He hated leaving Garcia's body behind but he saw that Watson had found the woman he had mentioned and he himself had given the order for one transporter to stayed locked on them. A few seconds later they were back aboard the ship. =^=Jamison to Bridge. We're back on board, Captain. Do what you need to, sir.=^= He than turned to Lt. Watson. "Get her secured and report to the bridge, Lt." He and Calli were out the door and on the move. <Tag>
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Alex Watson
Commander 1C
All that glitters has a high refractive index.
Registered: Apr 10, 2011 14:30:46 GMT
Posts: 102
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Post by Alex Watson on Aug 15, 2011 22:29:48 GMT
Alex stood for a few seconds, unsure how best to spend the next hour or so aboard the base. Then it came to him. He'd seen a number of encrypted directories in his various forrays into the Sanctuary computer system, ones that he hadn't been able to break through as of yet, and ones that wouldn't have been uploaded to the Raven. Unfortunately, the only place he could realistically hack into the system was the computer core itself. The odds on THAT being deserted were astronomical. He stood in indecision for a further few seconds, before resolving that he had to try. It was his duty to gather as much information as he could. He gestured to Jenny to follow him.
"Come on. We're going to the computer core. I don't know where it is and I can't use the directional indicator without alerting security. You'll have to lead the way."
"O...okay, follow me," she was sounding more and more reluctant by the second, and Alex had a nast suspicion that she was going to try and run for it. He fervently hoped that she was made of sterner stuff.
+++++
A while later, Alex and Jenny were in a secluded corner of the main computer core, with Alex running a manual hack on the encrypted database. The two security officers assigned to him had not been there when they left the lab, but Alex was counting on the fact that they had enough sense to make the rendezvous. There was every chance that this hack would be detected, as he hadn't had time to create a stealth algorithm to mask it, but it was a risk that he'd decided was worth it. Jenny stood by him, looking around jumpily every few seconds.
"Aaaand....I'm in!" said Alex quietly, but happily, tapping away at the console. He began to copy the encrypted data onto his tricorder, smiling like a child. THIS information was surely paydirt. He began to scan through the files almost idly as they copied, pausing as he reached one with an unusual name. He opened it. He stared at the screen for a few seconds, then looked down at the countdown displayed on his own screen, then back at the other screen.
"Are you alright?" whispered Jenny, "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Alright! Hold it there!" came a sharp voice from behind them. They both froze, Alex facing away from the source of the voice, Jenny towards it. Alex noticed out of the corner of his eye than Jenny had gone deathly pale and was trembling.
"Turn around, now, and keep your hands up!" barked the voice. Alex slowly turned around, making sure his empty hands were clearly visible.
It was Taarh.
"I thought so," he said, a look of barely supressed triumph on his face. "One of the outsider saboteurs. Well, I guess I can just shoot you now, and your treasonous accomplice. Dead or alive, it doesn't really matter..." His gun came up before Alex had even had a chance to reach for his own. He heard the noise and saw the flash of a phaser blast, and felt something like a sledgehammer crash into his left shoulder. He fell to the floor, certain that he was dead.
++++++++++
"Get up....get up you idiot! Now!"
His vision swam back into focus, and his ears began to once more make sense of sound. He looked up and saw Jenny's white face above his own.
"Wha-" he began.
"No time, get UP!" she almost screamed in frustration, heaving at his right arm. He stood up shakily, looking around, and it took him a few seconds to realise what was going on. Taarh was lying face down two metres away from where he had been standing, and was not moving.
"I sh...shot him," whimpered Jenny. "He had his gun and he was going to kill you and...and kill me and..." she seemed hysterical. "When I shot him, his...his gun fired and...it just clipped you but...but I thought you were dead!"
Still feeling a little dizzy, the only question that came to Alex's lips was "Is he dead?"
"I think so..." she said, uncertainly.
"I hope so..." said Alex, a little more stubbornly. Then, in a flash, it came back to him, what he had seen just before Taarh had interrupted. He tapped his commbadge, but there was no signal. He tapped it again. Still nothing. Then he looked at it. It was little more than a twisted lump of metal, that was where Taarh's shot had landed.
"Crap! We have to move, now! Come on, this way!" he hissed at Jenny, grabbing her hand and taking off at a sprint towards the rendezvous point.
+++++++
Twenty metres away, they came up on the security officers.
"Welcome back, sir. We thought we'd lost you," said one.
"I'm touched by your concern, Squires," Alex replied with more than a little impatience. "Come on, we have to go. Now."
"There are four Vezi standing right at the beam-out point-" the other officer began.
"I don't care if there's a legion of them armed with turbo-phasers, Thompson. We're going, now!"
"Yes sir," said both of them in unison, readying their phasers and charging round the corner.
If Commander Jamison's team had not begun their attack at that exact same moment, Alex thought in the seconds that followed the exchange, all four of them would most certainly have been dead. As it was, only one officer was down.
He heard the commander's voice shout out "VALENTI. WATSON. LET'S GO!!!!" and felt the familiar tingling of the transporter beam. A second later, he was standing on the transporter pad in the Raven, and Jamison was issuing orders.
"Get her secured and report to the bridge, Lt."
"Yes sir. Squires, Thompson, please show Miss Gerson to my quarters, I will debrief her in a few minutes."
"Secure? SECURE? What does that mean? You mean....I TRUSTED YOU! I BELIEVED YOU!" Jenny started to scream. Alex winced, trying to block out her accusations, even though every one drove a spike into his heart. The two security officers led her out, still shouting at him.
"Transporter. Beam me directly to the bridge."
"Lieutenant-" begain Jamison.
"Sir, please believe me when I tell you we don't even have time to take the turbolift. Transporter, now."
"Then I'm coming too," said Jamison, taking the pad next to Alex.
"Energize!"
+++++++++
Alex and Jamison beamed directly onto the bridge in front of the main viewscreen. Commodore Torek was sat in the Captain's chair, and looked most surprised at the sudden appearance of his First and Chief Science Officers.
"What's going on?" he demanded "We've got just over a minute left to us and-"
Alex rushed forward, still panting with the exertion of running all the way to the rendezvous on Sanctuary.
"Commodore...we don't even have that. I saw...on Sanctuary...in the encrypted databases. A countdown...Sanctuary is set to fire thirty seven seconds BEFORE our countdown expires!"
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Aug 17, 2011 22:59:11 GMT
"Sir, Transporter Chief reports away team have beamed back to the ship." "About time !" Carl said, regretting the comment instantly, "Helm, start to back us away from Sanctuary. Once clear of the nebu ......" he stopped mid-sentence as his Exec' and Science Officers appeared in front of him from nowhere ... "COMMODORE ... !" Watson said, still fighting to get his breath back, "I saw ... On Sanctuary ... In the encrypted databases. A countdown ... Sanctuary is set to fire thirty seven seconds 'BEFORE' our countdown expires !" Torek's eyes locked onto the countdown in disbelief: ... 00:01:53 ... "HELM .... BRING US ABOUT .... FULL IMPULSE !" he ordered instantly, "Lock 'ALL' weapons on the base. Target the cores." The ship rolled over almost seventy five degrees and changed direction, heading away from the base and out of the nebula, but they were detected instantly by Sanctuary. The shields began to take a battering and the Raven shuddered under the impact of so much raw energy. The count-down had been re-set and he knew he had to act quickly: ... 00:00:47 ... "We're not going to escape the nebula Captain, and firing will ignite the gasses ... We'll be destroyed along with the base in the subsequent cascade explosions." the Tactical Officer reported, his voice neutral, "Aft shields are failing Sir." ... 00:00:14 ... Carl closed his eyes. He could feel Will looking at him, remaining silent, allowing him this moment. Will of course knew his Commanding Officer was making the ultimate sacrifice for humanity, the humanity of unknown dimensions. Knowing he was about to allow a thousand or so lives to cease, rather than the countless trillions, should he not do what was needed.. "Bethan, please forgive me." he whispered, then looked at the screen. "FIRE PHOTON TORPEDOES ... FULL SPREAD ... All phaser banks continuous fire !" The presence of torpedoes in the nebula was enough to begin igniting the gasses, but when they impacted with the now out of sight base the result was spectacular ..... Sanctuary vanished in less than a micro-second as her matter-antimatter core chambers ruptured, renting a hole in the very fabric of space itself. Carl had an eternity ... An eternity of one single second, for his mind to process his actions, before the the shock wave, traveling at incomprehensible speed smashed past the ship like some stray grain of sand, transformed to nothingness .......... ..... ooooo00000ooooo ..... "Sir ...." "Sir ...." Carl opened his eyes. He looked at the stars slowly moving on the view-screen, letting himself take in every point of light, each a Sun in it's own right, each providing life-giving energy to some fortunate race ... "Carl ..... " Will whispered, somehow getting his attention, "Star base forty seven is asking if we are going to dock, or are we going to sit out here for the duration ?" He looked more closely at the screen, and could see the blue-silver gleam of the Star base. He stood up. "See to docking Commander. I'll be in my quarters." he said, leaving the Bridge ... In the turbo-lift he requested deck eight, then leaned against the bulkhead almost exhausted. "So you finally made your decision then ... Very close call in my opinion. I actually thought there that you had decided against firing."
"You took everyone off as promised ?" Carl asked the omnipotent entity beside him.
But 'Q' hesitated ....
"WELL !"
"Let's say the Vezi, or K'vern will not be doing any further 'experiments' .... Oh come now, don't get all excited. I made you no promises, but I was interested to see if you would actually let me, oh, or rather 'you' destroy so many to save yourself. Let's say the outcome was, unexpected ..."
Carl suddenly realized the implications of what he had just heard.
"Get the HELL off my ship ...... NOW ....... Do you understand me !" he said, tears flowing uncontrolled down his cheeks.
"Say hello to those lovely girls of yours Captain, we'll meet again, I'm sure." and with that 'Q' vanished from sight. Entering his quarters, both girls ran to him, thanking him for the unexpected present. He looked at Chloe in complete puzzlement, but she said nothing as he walked in .... There, right in the middle of the living area, was a bright red, yellow, blue and green
.......... SEESAW .......... ooo000ooo ~~~ Mission Concluded ~~~ Thank you everyone for an exciting, enjoyable mission Please post on the 'New Members / Shore Leave thread until we begin our next outingRegards Steve
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