Mission: It's Not Paranoia...

[Deleted]

"The lab's core should be down this corridor," T'Brel said as he took out his phaser.

Kirk noticed as T’Brel drew his phaser from its holster. He scanned the corridor but found his tricorder was coming back with odd readings. It was then apparent to Kirk that being prepared for anything was the logical plan of action. He wasted no time as he too pulled his phaser and readied it for action.

With each step Kirk could feel glass and other fragile plastics breaking from the pressure of his steps. The continued on at a slow pace, keeping a good defensive distance between them; a tactic they had been taught at the Academy.

In the distance Kirk could see a small pulsating blue glow coming from a damaged door. It seemed to follow the hum of the ship and each pulse arrived with a dim flash of the emergency floor lights.

“Is your tricorder picking anything up?” T’Brel asked.

“Nothing.” Kirk quickly replied without looking down at his tricorder.

“What about you?”

“I, like the tricorder am having problems with the ambient interference.” Kirk replied.

“What good are you then?” T’Brel joked.

A few more feet found them in the lab. The lab as with the other parts of the ship looked as if a bomb had gone off inside of it. The lab’s consoles were dead, view screens were black with dark burn marks running on the gray walls. Kirk could not image what would have caused this much damage with out destroying the entire ship.

"Commander Kirk, we have a signal coming from the end of the ship but we are unable to identify it because of interference. What do you recommend?" Kirk heard over a slightly distorted COM signal.

“We are having the same problem in the lab,” Kirk said as he tried to use his tricorder again, “Investigate the signal if you can, but proceed with extreme caution.” Kirk said.

<Tag Mrad>

Kirk knew the last thing they needed was to have people being hurt on what would be a simple salvage operation on paper. He did fear that there could be pirates on board trying to steal and any all-available technology from the derelict Vulcan science vessel.

“Any luck?” Kirk asked.

<Tag T’Brel>

[sfcmradj1]

"Investigate the signal if you can, but proceed with extreme caution."

Jamil checked the rifle in his hand, he signal private Mitri to follow the signal with caution. The 2 Marines slowly advanced toward the end of the corridor; The debris on the floor was making their move very hard, a damaged door half opened was blocking the way to the cargo bay. Mitri was standing near the door looking at his tricorder. Jamil approach him and saw that the signal was very high and show 3 life energy in the room.

Jamil switch off the light on his rifle and slowly took a look inside the cargo bay. He saw 2 humans like searching in the crates while the 3rd was standing guarding and holding his weapon in a position ready for fire. Jamil retreat slowly to Private Mitri position, he signal the Marine to drop to his knee, he reach a padd from his pocket and tape some bottoms, a map of the ship came around. The situation was not looking good, 2 Marines against 3 Pirates; he was sure that both of them can took on more than 3 but he was not sure if there are more in the ship and for him, the life of the TigerShark officer are his first priority so he tap his badge

"Commander, we identified 3 humanoid as pirates and they seems to be searching for something. i think they might be more of them on the ship;i recommend we regroup before taking any action"

Jamil closed his badge and waited for the response from his commanding officer. He already had plan in his head about how to eliminate the thread on the ship but if there is more than 10 Pirates on this ship, he might need help in controlling the area especially the ship is not capable in handling a fire fight.

< Tag all >

[Deleted]

“Any luck?” Kirk asked from underneath a console across the room.

He turned his head and saw that T’Brel too was underneath a console trying to restore some power to the lab and probably could not hear his question. Kirk was about to persist but his COM badge had beeped.

"Commander, we identified 3 humanoid as pirates and they seems to be searching for something. I think they might be more of them on the ship; I recommend we regroup before taking any action."

Kirk could not agree more with Mrad. The last thing they needed was to get into a firefight with Pirates on a derelict science ship.

“Captain, bring your men back to the science lab. We can secure this location much easier as it only has one way in.” Kirk replied.

<Tag Mrad>

“We need to restore local power to this ship, but how can we do that with out starting up the engines?” T’Brel asked out loud.

Kirk gave T’Brel’s question some serious thought and then the answer had come to him. They needed the portable power sources from the Tiger Shark. Kirk pushed himself from under the console’s keypad and walked to the corner of the room.

“Kirk to the Tiger Shark.”

“Go ahead Commander.” Thirteen replied.

“We need a portable power pack to bring back the computers in the lab. Main power is down and it seems that life support is only being run by the emergency power. If you could beamed right into the lab it would help us out; it appears there are pirates aboard.” Kirk said.

“Pirates?” Thirteen asked in more of an interested tone less than of a question.

“Yes sir,” Kirk replied. He knew there were galactic pirates but he actually never thought that he would run into some during a salvage operation, “Can the ships scanners penetrate the disturbance that is causing our tricorders to malfunction?”

“Stand by Commander.” Thirteen replied.

[sfcmradj1]

It was not long to reach the science lab but it took the 2 Marines some time to get there because they were retreating trying not to inform the pirates of their existence. Jamil approach the door of the science lab were the 2 remaining Marines, who were guarding the commander, standing at the entrance.

"Commander, we can't find how many pirates on the ship or from which are they might be coming if we don't disable or remove the interference from our tricorders" Jamil addressed Commander kirk while he saw T'Brel working with a panel trying to get the info they need from the ship core.

"The tigershark is trying to solve the interference problem, mean while i need you to guard the door and give us time to retrieve the information" Commander kirk give his orders and Jamil return back to his little group of Marines.

"OK Marines, it is our job to secure this room until we receive the orders to withdraw" Jamil looked to his team eyes who were waiting for their orders. Jamil pull a pad and show the area of their position. the science lab was in the end of a corridor and this corridor was the only way to get to it. in normal case, this place can be defended by only one person but due to the debris on all the path, who ever want to reach the room can find something to hind behind and shoot at the room. Jamil thought a little and then start giving his orders

"we will create 3 defense parameters, the first one will be on the half of the corridor behind this *show the area to Marines*; then if we need to retreat, we will retreat to the second defense block here *show the area to Marines* and in the end we will retreat to the room and make it our last stand, any questions" Jamil waited but all the Marine lock and load their weapons informing him that they wait for the go signal.

"OK team, i will inform the commander of the plan and i want the 3 of you to go to the first block and wait for the Pirates, i hope we can finish the job without a single fight" Jamil returned to the commander area while the 3 Marines moved to their positions. Jamil approach the commander ."Sir, we will give you as much time as you need to retrieve the data but in case we need to retreat to the room, it will be our signal to leave the ship"

Tag all

[Deleted]

“How are things coming along?” Kirk asked.

“Not good.” T’Brel had not moved from his position under the console, “What’s the word from the Tiger Shark?”

“Nothing so far.” Kirk replied.

Just as he finished his sentence Mrad and the other Marines came back into to lab to discuss the defensive scheme. It was a sound plan that was based on levels of retreat to a final position. Kirk hoped that it would not come down to the famous Alamo scenario.

“Commander.” Kirk heard over the COM, it was Commander Thirteen.

“Go ahead.” Kirk said.

“We are unable to sort out this disturbance. It appears as if it is being generated from with in the ship. Assuming that you would have the best chance at eliminating it.”

“Understood, Kirk out.”

"Sir, we will give you as much time as you need to retrieve the data but in case we need to retreat to the room, it will be our signal to leave the ship."

“Understood,” Kirk said, “Do you best to keep these guys off our backs.”

With that Kirk dove under the console to aid T’Brel in trying to restore some power to the lab. Once he was under the console he saw the problem that was before them. Somebody had gone underneath the console and started to rip wires out of ever section and computer connection. With damage like this it would take an engineering team several days to re-wire the lab.

“Forget this,” Kirk said, he pushed himself up form the ground and started to look around for other means of information. He pushed his way through some of the debris and found undamaged PADDs lying in a pool of water. He held up his tricorder and scanned each PADD, storing its information with in the tricorder. He did not have time to read anything; he just simply scanned everything he could as quickly as he could.

“Sir,” One of the Marines said, “I hear footsteps coming this way.”

Kirk drew his phaser and took up a defensive position against a fallen cabinet. Down the hall he could hear the voices of the pirates. Even though Kirk could not understand what they were saying it was clear by their tone that it was a lighthearted conversation.

“Hold your fire until they spot us.” Kirk whispered to Mrad.

<Tag Mrad>

[sfcmradj1]

The first defense parameter was a bunch on broken doors and panels all over the place, Jamil knew that 4 Marines can't defend this place for long and he was thinking in requesting additional troops from the Tiger Shark. But due to the semi close area and the fact that the ship can’t handle a big fight and in case of a hull breach, transporting 8 people will be quick.

Jamil and Private Mitri were taking positions near the beginning of the corridor; they hear sounds coming to their position. Jamil send one of the Marines to inform the commander to be ready for a fight where he and the remaining ones locked their weapons and waited for the Captain orders. The minutes were passing very slow, Jamil heard Commander Kirk whispering to him “Hold your fire until they spot us.”

~is he crazy!!~ Jamil thought to him self, ~we must take them by surprise and perhaps we can take them all before they inform the others~ Jamil continue thinking but in the end it was his commanding officer orders and it was not the time or place to argue about. One of the Pirates signal his friends to halt, he was holding something in his hand that look like a radar or somthing; he pointed to the debris where the Marines are hiding and all the Pirates start running taking firing positions.

"Dam it" Jamil murmured when he saw one of them calling for back up. The Captain knew it was the time, so he aimed his rifle and signal his team to do the same and then he fired at one of the pirates who were trying to advance toward their position. The laser beams were all over the place, some of the pirates were lying down unconscious, while the other is trying to suppress the Marines. Jamil ordered his team to start retreating to the second defense area. He was annoyed because he was unable to use a grenade or a launcher in this unstable ship.

"Captain, what is the situation" Commander Kirk inquired while helping defending the Marines taking cover in the second block. "Sir, they seem to out number use 3 to one. In my opinion we wont able to stop them for long so I advise you to hurry up" Jamil respond and then continue firing trying to suppress the now hard to hit Pirates.

<Tag All>

[Deleted]

"Sir, they seem to out number use three to one. In my opinion we wont able to stop them for long so I advise you to hurry up."

“Hold your position.” Kirk shouted over the firefight.

Behind him at the console T’Brel continued to work on the dead console but it seemed nothing was to come, there just was not any power to support the computer.

“Tiger-Shark to Commander Kirk.”

“Go ahead.” Kirk replied while staying low to the floor.

“We’ve spotted a cloaked ship just off our bow.” Thirteen reported.

“My guess is that it is the pirates ship.” Kirk said.

“That is our guess also. What is your situation?” Thirteen asked.

“We are under fire right now, any chance you can drive off the Pirates?”

“Stand by.” Thirteen said.

This was the second time Thirteen had said that to him and he had hoped that this time he had better news when he came back. Crawling, Kirk finally managed to get back next to T’Brel. He could tell by the look on his face that it was futile to continue trying to force the issue with the console. They were just going to have to get the data elsewhere.

Suddenly out of nowhere a sudden shockwave stuck the derelict ship and with in a few seconds the firefight stopped. Kirk looked up carefully and saw that the Pirates had vanished. Down the hallway Mrad and his Marines brought themselves up from their positions to and began to sweep the area.

“Kirk to Tiger Shark, what just happened?” Kirk asked.

“We engaged the cloaked pirate ship and they withdrew with out incident.” Thirteen replied.

“We cannot get the main power up and running to get this lab to give us the information we need. I suggest we get a full engineering team over here to extract the data.” Kirk said.

“That will not be necessary,” Thirteen said, “The Doctor is coming around and apparently he wishes to speak with the Admiral about what he was doing here. Stand by for transport. Tiger Shark out.”

[KezTrek]

KezTrek headed to the infirmary to check up on their guest. "Doctor," she greeted.

"Admiral," the young Doctor said.

"How is our guest?" KezTrek asked.

"Irritable. I administered a light sedative. Not enough to knock him out, simply to calm him," the Doctor assured.

"He's clear minded enough to talk?" KezTrek asked.

"Aside from being extremely aggravated, he appears quite self aware," the Doctor said, leading KezTrek towards a bed at the back of sickbay, away from other patients.

"Doctor Jiral, I am Rear Admiral KezTrek of the U.S.S Tigershark," KezTrek introduced herself.

"Admiral, my work..." Jiral asked, panicked.

"Is quite safe. My best scientists are looking it now," KezTrek said.

"No it's... top secret, they can't..." Jiral said.

"You asked to speak to me Doctor, if you have an explanation for all this, I am willing to listen, otherwise I will return you to Earth and..."

"No! No... I can't... go back there... I'm... I'm not crazy, it was... they..." Jiral stuttered, mumbling more to himself than KezTrek.

"Perhaps you need more rest," KezTrek said gently. Artim Jiral was once considered a genius. Even as a traitor, he was one of the brightest minds the Alpha Quadrant had known in recent years. It was a pity to see him in this state.

"I do not need to rest! I need to get back to my ship!" Jiral said.

"Your ship is barely intact and it most certainly will not fly," KezTrek said.

"Then it was all for nothing..." Jiral said sadly.

"I have been ordered to return you to Earth Doctor, unless I have sufficient reason to believe that would be against your interests or the greater interests of the Federation, I see no reason when I shouldn't do so," KezTrek said.

Jiral nodded slowly. "Then I suppose I shall have to give you one."

[sfcmradj1]

"Welcome back, Sir"

Jamil nodded to the Sergeant and head toward his quarter, he stopped at the door and looked to the Marines. "Job Well done Marines, you all have 48 hours free time". he then entered the room while the Marines were happy and preparing them self for the free time.

Jamil remove his gear and put it near the wall; he then head to the shower. half an hour later, he exit the shower and approach the replicator; he ordered a new cloth, put them on and head out from the barrack heading toward the mess hall.

Entering the hall, he head approach one of the food replicator and requested a chicken Breast platter with a cup of orange juice. the machine hum and the food is materialized on a plate. Jamil pick up the plate and start searching for a table to sit on. He noticed a table ,were the Ensign Errica Maro ,the female who met when he first joined the tigershark , is sitting eating her plate. The Marine Captain approach the table and asked her if he can join. she smiled and happily approved him to join her on the table. Jamil sat and both person start gossip about different stuff while eating their plates.

[Deleted]

Kirk walked straight from the transporter room to the bridge to get a report on what the situation was. It didn’t take him long to reach the bridge and when he arrived he was greeted by Commander Thirteen.

“This just came for you.” Thirteen said as he handed Kirk a PADD.

“What is it?” Kirk asked.

“They appear to be transfer forms.” Thirteen replied.

“Now?” Kirk questioned. He knew that transfers came at bad times but this was pushing it. He knew he had more pressing matters to attend to so he put the PADD down at his OPS station and walked side by side with Thirteen over to the Captain’s chair.

“What were you able to find?” Thirteen asked.

“Nothing,” Kirk replied, “We need to send a full engineering team over with power supplies to get the entire ship back up and running.”

“Noted.” Thirteen said.

“Shall I inform Captain Mrad to have his men ready then?” Kirk asked.

“That will not be needed.” Thirteen replied.

Kirk could feel where this conversation was going and he took a step back. He had a gut feeling that whatever it was that the Doctor might know he was not about to just divulge that information to the Admiral, no matter how hard she asked.

“I doubt the Doctor will tell Admiral Keztrek anything.” Kirk said.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because by the looks of the damage in the lab.” Kirk said.

“What about it?” Thirteen asked before Kirk could finish his sentence.

“It looked as if somebody did not want us to be able to pull any data from those computers.”

“How so?”

“There was intentional phaser marks on key power sections with in the lab. Those phaser blasts probably caused electrical feedbacks that might have erased the memory of the lab, but it would have been backed up some place else we just need to get a crew over there to find out.”

“I will make sure to inform the Admiral of your opinion in this matter. I would like a full report before you go.”

“Go?” Kirk asked.

“Read the PADD.” Thirteen said.

Kirk stood motionless for a second before moving away from Commander Thirteen. He walked slowly back to the OPS station in the back and began a quick systems check to make sure nothing was out of place because of the brief fight. Picking up the PADD Kirk pressed his thumb to the screen and suddenly everything became clear.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Kirk said out loud as he looked at the information in front of him.

[KezTrek]

"I have been ordered to return you to Earth Doctor, unless I have sufficient reason to believe that would be against your interests or the greater interests of the Federation, I see no reason when I shouldn't do so," KezTrek said.

Jiral nodded slowly. "Then I suppose I shall have to give you one."

Jiral started to speak, muddled secrets and lies. Weapons that seemed impossible. Weapons that according to everything KezTrek knew *were* impossible.

"Well, that's an interesting tale Doctor," KezTrek said when he finished.

"It's the truth, you don't understand!" Jiral said, getting aggravated.

"Admiral, I believe Doctor Jiral needs his rest," the young female doctor approached again.

"Of course," KezTrek nodded.

"Admiral... please..." Doctor Jiral begged.

"We will speak again later Doctor," KezTrek said, nodding before she left.

*~*~*~*~*

Returning to the bridge, KezTrek found Thirteen waiting to speak to her.

"Commander?"

"Might we have a private word Admiral?" Thirteen asked.

KezTrek nodded, leading him into her ready room.

"While you were with the Doctor, we received a communication from Starfleet," Thirteen said.

"Yes?" KezTrek didn't see what was so odd about that.

"Orders for Commander Kirk, transfer orders," Thirteen elaborated.

KezTrek nodded thoughtfully. She'd suspected this was coming. Kirk was an excellent officer. He had great prospects for promotion, but not aboard the Tigershark.

"I see. I suppose we'll be saying goodbye to him when we return to SBA then," KezTrek said.

"We're returning?" Thirteen seemed surprised. "Kirk believes the Doctor destroyed his own lab, surely we should investigate further."

KezTrek sighed. "The Doctor is quiet mad Commander, I doubt there is anything of interesting among his ramblings, at any rate, we'll tractor what remains of his vessel back to SBA and leave it up to Admiral Magellan to figure it out."

Thirteen seemed surprised, he'd never known KezTrek to let go of anything.

"Dismissed Commander," KezTrek said, without explaining herself further. "Tell Commander Kirk I'd like to see him, before we reach Assailant."

Thirteen nodded. "Yes Admiral."

KezTrek watched him go with a sigh. Something in the pit of her stomach was unsettling her, but she couldn't place it. "Coffee," she ordered from the replicator, taking a seat by the windows, letting her mind wander.

[Deleted]

Kirk looked hard at his new orders and saw the signing name at the bottom of the form, Captain Luke Drago. It was a name that he had not heard in some time now. A name that brought back memories of a future that Kirk hoped would not be. Drago was the man who replaced the former first officer of the Tiger Shark, Commander Dowding, a man who Kirk had come to respect in his time aboard the Tiger Shark.

“Commander,” Kirk heard from in front of him. Pulling his eyes from the PADD Kirk saw Thirteen standing before him, “Admiral KezTrek would like a word with you.”

“Of course.” Kirk replied putting the PADD down on the OPS console.

He had just looked over the transfer orders and had not had a chance to work on the report Thirteen had wanted about what had happened aboard the Doctor’s science ship. Kirk hoped that he would have a chance to plead his case for the mysterious intentional damage done to the labs computers.

Walking up to the door to the Admiral’s ready room Kirk pushed the chime and waited for the command to enter.

<Tag KezTrek>

[KezTrek]

"Enter," KezTrek called.

"Admiral," Cmdr Kirk entered, standing at attention.

"At ease Commander," KezTrek said.

"You wanted to see me Admiral," Kirk said, changing his stance.

"Commander Thirteen informed me of your transfer. I wanted to extend my congratulations," KezTrek said.

"Thank-you, it was... unexpected," Kirk said.

"I am sure you will be happy aboard the Scavenger, I am sure Luke manages to find trouble regularly. You certainly won't be bored," KezTrek chuckled.

"No..." Kirk agreed, seeming to relax.

"Just promise me we'll get the odd communication. All my kids, they leave home, they never call, never write," KezTrek chuckled again.

Kirk nodded and chuckled as well. "Of course."

"Dismissed Commander," KezTrek said, raising her hand, in the typical Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper."

[sfcmradj1]

The Tiger Shark was heading toward earth in its normal warp speed, the mission was success in the Marine point of view. They were able to find Dr. Jeral and retrieving some of his work. Captain Jamil was citing in his quarter reading a padd which contain the Marine statistic about their last mission and their encounter with the Orion pirates.

The fight was almost over before any casualties done; the intervention of the Tiger Shark lead to the retreat of the pirates and the engagement with them was very minimal. "I will schedule more training time" Jamil thought to him self, he typed some info into another padd, get up from the chair and head to the door. His quarter was on the same deck as the Marines living area so he head directly toward the Sergeant office and enter.

The Sergeant was sitting working with lot of Padds, he didn't notice the Marine Captain until he heard a voice standing near the desk; "I thought i told every one that I'm busy working and i don't need to be disturb" Sergeant Ayoub Stand angrily and was going to shout on the person standing near the desk thinking it was a Marine when he noticed the Marine Captain. He snap in attention saying "Sorry Sir, i thought you were one of the Marine"

Jamil smiled "Carry on Sergeant, you are doing a good job. Now i need you to prepare these training programs for the Marines; try scheduling the times when the holodeck are free, we don't need to take the fleeters their enjoying time" The Sergeant received the Padd and took a look at it the he addressed his commanding officer "Don't worry sir, i will update you on the progress of the Marine and you will get a full report early tomorrow". Jamil exit the room and was heading to the mess hall to take a snake when his badge beeped. Jamil hit the badge
=/\= Captain Mrad, you have a coded transmission from the SFMC =/\=

=/\= Thank you Lt, i will take it in my office =/\= Jamil tape hi badge to close the channel and turn back heading to his room. he enter the room and directly sit down and turn on the screen. the logo of Starfleet was filling the screen but after typing some keys, this logo was changed to show the SFMC logo. then a message start playing on the screen and it was containing the following:

" To captain Jamil Mrad from the SFMC
You have been promoted to the rank of Marine Major, you will keep serving on the Tiger Shark as SMO until you receive a new orders. Congratulation Major."

Jamil verified the message and it was confirmed to be genuine. it was a surprise to him but non less a good one. he switch off the screen and head off the room heading to the mess hall to celebrate.

[T'Brel Peers]

T'Brel couldn't help but sulk, well sulk as much as a Vulcan could sulk on the news he had just heard. His best friend had just been transferred off the Tigershark to the Scavenger. T'Brel had never thought that John would leave the Tigershark especially after meeting there counterparts only a year ago.

For now he would do as Vulcan's do and mediatate. He knew that things were changing, hopefully for the better. ~Live Long and Prosper, Jonathan Kirk~ T'Brel thought as he lit a candle, hoping his friend safe journey on a new path.

OOC: Was seriously sick for a while and was unable to get online. Sorry about that and I'm ready to start posting Jamil. So if you want to start something, I'll gladly join you.