Mission 2: "Getting Acquainted" - Challenger

[Andrew Kirk]

"I want you two to try and get into their computer systems and erase this footage."

"Of course sir." Kirk replied.

Kirk quickly made his way to the bridge to utilize the sensors at the science stations. He had a hunch that the way of communication was similar to that of Earth at it's same point in time. As Kirk stepped onto the bridge he quickly excused the officer manning the station and began his search.

"If I am right this planet should also be using radio waves to transmit data. If this data is broadcast it will have a momentary delay from the transmitter to the receiver, this would give us a chance to intercept the information." Kirk said to Jack not know if he know how radio technology worked, "There is a problem though, we did take a good amount of time to get from our locations to the shuttle and back up to the Challenger. Our information could have already been transmitted..." Kirk said letting his words drift off.

Pushing the scanners harder Kirk began to notice a intricate network of underground cables that ran beneath the surface of the streets in the city. Kirk leaned back and began to scratch the back of his head.

"What?" Jack asked as he too eyed the map.

"I didn't expect that." Kirk said at almost a whisper.

"Expect what? Andy?" Jack said turning to face Kirk.

"It seems they are more advanced than we thought. Although I am reading radio traffic, it seems all data is transmitted underground through fiber-optic cables. Our information is already secure in it's location and with out actually jacking into the main frame of those computer networks I don't think we can do anything about our situation. Besides, they might also have a hard copy of the images." Kirk said still fixated on the console.

Pushing the COM button Kirk opened a channel to Captain Adams.

"Captain Adams we have a situation you need to take a look at."

<Tag Captain Adams>

[Deleted]

"I want you two to try and get into their computer systems and erase this footage."

"Understood Captain," Jack said as he immediately headed towards the bridge and his trusted console. He would mann his station while, Andy used the science console. They would have to find the information before it contaminated the planet.

"If I am right this planet should also be using radio waves to transmit data. If this data is broadcast it will have a momentary delay from the transmitter to the receiver, this would give us a chance to intercept the information." Kirk said to Jack not know if he know how radio technology worked, "There is a problem though, we did take a good amount of time to get from our locations to the shuttle and back up to the Challenger. Our information could have already been transmitted..." Kirk said.

"Yeah, but our initial sensors didn't show any highly advance communications technology," Jack responded to Andy's fears," if its on its way it would be very possible for us to intercept it and destroy it before they ever see it."

"What?" Jack asked as he too eyed the map.

"I didn't expect that." Kirk said at almost a whisper.

"Expect what? Andy?" Jack said turning to face Kirk.

"It seems they are more advanced than we thought. Although I am reading radio traffic, it....." Andy said. As Andy said this to him, Jack himself did the scans that his friend had just recently done and he agreed with him. It was strange, Earth didn't work with this type of technology until the 21st century.

"Andy, I'm going to run more detailed scans of the entire planet," Jack said," I have a feeling that we missed something."

Andy seemed to agree has he quickly called Captain Adams to the bridge.

<Tag Adams>

[evoran]

Adams strode out onto the bridge to where Logan and Kirk were working.

"What have you got?" He asked them.

They told him. This made the situation more complicated and Adams was growing more anxious by the minute, but he didn't show it to his crew.

"So, what's the next step?" He asked.

<Logan/Kirk>

[rickman]

OOC: been rather busy, hence lack of replyingness.

'How did this happen?' Adams asked Rickman.
Rickman explained.
'You were told not to interfere!' Adams yelled in rage.
Rickman kept calm, after all, shouting about things would only draw attention to themselves.
'It was a calculated risk. Given the apparent social status of these people, their government will hide any evidence they can and look for us on their own. By then, we can be long gone.'
Besides, Rickman thought, it's not like these people appear very intelligent. Demon fire?? What century are they thinking in; either it's a local nickname or they really are stupid. Humans had lasers decades before this era and would recognise a phaser as a form of laser if nothing else.
'Now is not the time for this, there's bound to be some sort of surveillance device in there, we need to get the recording of you firing those phase pistols. Andy, can you find out where their security center might be?'
Rickman's mind performed a sarcastic seal clap. Indeed, now was not the time for shouting about things.

Later, they arrived intact to the ship and Adams went to sickbay to check on Sevik.
'You,' he addressed Rickman before he went, 'wait for me in my ready room.'
Rickman did as was told and went to wait in the ready room, but between here and there he stopped by to have a brief word with Atkins to make sure Sevik was checked up on. He still arrived before Adams though.

When Adams arrived, he addressed Rickman in a calm, but angry voice, 'What were you thinking?'

Rickman replied perfectly calmly. After all, if Adams chose to have him taken off the ship then it would be no skin of Rickman's nose and the Marine command would understand his situation.
'The same as any Marine is trained to. When innocent lives are in danger, they must be helped. There was no police presence at the time so we could not chance the thieves shooting hostages. We did what we had to and Sevik was given the option of staying behind. He chose to come and he chose to walk into the room and perform a Vulcan technique on the armed man. You took a Marine so you need to expect a Marine reaction. If you want people who will never interfere then take specially trained Starfleets, just don't end up in a fight.'
<Adams if it's not too awkward>

[evoran]

BACKPOST FOLLOWING ON FROM RICKMAN

Adams sighed and sat down in his chair. For the entire shuttle ride, he'd been asking himself what he would have done in the same situation. The truth was, he didn't know.

"I know that you did what you did with the best of intentions, but, we're not even supposed to be here. What if they'd caught you? What if they'd found out that you were an alien, or if they got their hands on your technology? We could do more damage that way. Besides, there was no guarantee that anyone would have been hurt anyway; as a military man, I'm sure you know that it can do more bad than good when outsiders get involved in a situation like that, take the law into their own hands. You shouldn't have interfered. Dismissed."

<Rickman>

[Andrew Kirk]

"So, what's the next step?" Adams asked.

Kirk looked first at Jack then back at Captain Adams, "Sir, if you want this information to be pulled from their system we may need to head back down to the surface once things are calmer and extract the information. As of right now it looks as if their important global information is running on a really secure wired network."

<Tag Adams and Logan>

[Deleted]

"So, what's the next step?" He asked.

"Sir, if you want this information to be pulled from their system we may need to head back down to the surface once things are calmer and extract the information. As of right now it looks as if their important global information is running on a really secure wired network."

Jack listened quietly as his friend explained the situation and gave his idea on how to deal with the problem. While he was listening, Jack couldn't help but wonder at the technological gap down on the planet.

"Mr. Logan do you have anything?" Captain Adams asked seeing that he hadn't said anything as of yet.

"Well sir, Andy's idea is good and sound, but what if it doesn't work?" Jack said," we might not be able to extract that information and if we can't we are going to have to destroy their planet wide communications systems."

"Do you know what your recommending?" Andy asked shocked that Jack could even recommend a terrorist action.

"Yes I know its rather extreme, but as Vulcan's say we cannot contaminate their development," Jack said as showed them something that he had been working on," Captain this is a malignant computer virus....."

<Tag Kirk, Adams>

[Andrew Kirk]

"Yes I know its rather extreme, but as Vulcan's say we cannot contaminate their development," Jack said as showed them something that he had been working on," Captain this is a malignant computer virus....."

The more the three men talked about it the more Kirk felt himself wanting to back out. They had no idea how much was caught on camera, for all they knew only phase fire was caught on camera.

"Jack if we send in this virus it will contaminate their development. It's still an outside act onto this civilization. You have no idea what will happen to that thing once it hits their system. It could change and then all of the sudden it's shutting down hospitals, and power stations." Kirk said as he started to feel some anger boiling up, "Sir, I think we should just leave. This situation seems to have to come to a point where if we leave now this incident might end up just becoming folk lore, it we take action we might end up changing this civilzations development."

[ajohnson]

OOC: Prime Directive doesn't exist yet.

[ajohnson]

Well, Enterprise didn't really adhere to any such directives. The most you could refer to would be the Vulcan guidelines which are somewhat like the Prime Directive. But the Prime Directive wasn't introduced until at least the beginning of the Federation.

[ajohnson]

No, it carries on from Enterprise, and they weren't near to making that law yet.

[ajohnson]

Yes sir.

[rickman]

Rickaman could sense the uncertaintly from Adams's reply by the way the pause after his explaination was just a bit too long. It was an old military trick; keep your eyes on the wall behind the person and listen very carefully to what they say and how. More than once he had seen people exploit the trick.

On the way out he heard the two ensigns discussing how to resolve the problem without making it worse. Rickman felt that a society with such a centralised government was likely to keep the story to themselves, cover it up and waste millions of local currencies on investigating it until finally they just give up on the wild goose chase. As it was though, if they insisted then he had one more direct idea.
'Is there any chance we could just steal the data? Disable the systems with an EM pulse and a few of my MACO's could sneak in with one of your engineers to download and destroy the data. Of course, we'd probably need Logan for this so we know what the hell we're poking about in'

Rickman reflected that if they were going to sneak in without killing anyone then they would have to either part the MACO's from their much loved rifles which didn't do the same sort of stun as the Starfleet guns, or go in close and stun them with the batons. Each one had drawbacks; phase pistols were the original problem and the batons required enemy not to have ranged weaponry.

<Kirk/Logan>

[Andrew Kirk]

Kirk listened to the Marine Captain's suggestion. It seemed with the complex communications network this world had going in with a team seemed to be the only option to retrieve the data.

"I'm not too sure we should investigate the usage of a EM pulse. For all we know this central hub is the main distributor of power through out the city. We may accidental shut down a hospital and have the blood of those lives stained on our hands." Kirk said trying to add to the decision to simply leave the system.

The conversation seemed to continue to go around the group, regardless of rank or position on the ship everyone's opinion mattered in this issue. Then Kirk began to think about Earth's own past, it's own encounters with UFOs.

"They might react the same way we did when it came to all those cases back in the 20th and 21st century about alien ships creating crop circles and such. We now know that it was indeed alien's landing on Earth, but there was a good amount of people back in that time that simply just didn't believe the stories. This society might react the same way." Kirk added.

<Tag Everybody>

[rickman]

'They might react the same way we did when it came to all those cases back in the 20th and 21st century about alien ships creating crop circles and such. We now know that it was indeed alien's landing on Earth, but there was a good amount of people back in that time that simply just didn't believe the stories. This society might react the same way.' Kirk suggested.
'The trouble isn't so much them seeing us arrive since we managed to avoid that the first time, but what happens once we're in there. They have cameras in public buildings and so probably have cameras in the main hub one too. What we need is some way to knock them out whilst we go hunting for data. Does anything spring to mind?'
<Kirk>
'Also if we are to go in, we need plans of the building; every room, door, window and if possible which room the computer we want is in. Also, can your sensors pick up guard patrol routes or will we need Atkins there with a local sensor?'
<Kirk>
The sensor Rickan referred to was a small box with a sensor node. It could scan directionally to essentially work out which direction a person was in and linked to an orbital scanner could work out their exact position in a room to within a couple of feet. Since his injuries, Atkins tended to be the one who operated it and kept in contact with the men inside via their helmet communicators to make sure they didn't run into any surprises. The helmet communicators were obviously silent to anyone but the user and were one of many ways the Challenger MACO's were better equipped than their woefully inadequately equipped Enterprise predecessors.

[evoran]

"Okay," said Adams, "going in and destroying their global information network is not an option, nor is going in there with a fully armed team of MACOs. I want as few people down there as possible. Andy, Jack, if we have people on the surface, can one of you access the database from here?"

<Logan/Kirk>

[Andrew Kirk]

Kirk was just about to answer the Marine Captain's questions when Captain Adams finally interrupted the conversation.

"Okay," said Adams, "going in and destroying their global information network is not an option, nor is going in there with a fully armed team of MACOs. I want as few people down there as possible. Andy, Jack, if we have people on the surface, can one of you access the database from here?"

"I would say since Jack is the communications officer I would advise that he stays on the ship and observe and extract the information we need," Kirk said then he continued after pointing at the map on the ships console screen, "I think if we beam a team of 4, three MACO's and myself down to this location I might be able to wire us in using a mobile connection device. The satellites are all running on a certain frequency so we should be able to easily gain control of them and use them as a eye in the sky if we want to. I doubt they will have the range and resolution our on board sensors and scanners have though."

<Tag Captain Adams>

[desauma]

Desauma hadn't been paying too much attention to the conversations going on as the gave the captain their reports. He instead occupied himself with taking readings of a passing comet. He took a few quick sensor readings. "Science department functioning fully Captain Adams," the ensign commented as he noticed something on long range sensors. "Sir we have detected a class M world at the edge of long range sensors.," said Desauma. "Lifesigns?" asked Adams. "We can't tell at this range sir." replied the ensign. "What's our ETA at Warp 4?" asked Adams. "2 days, 6 hours," he replied. Adams had Ensign Sevik change course. "Your attention please," said Adams and they all looked up at him, "you're all invited to dinner tonight at the Captain's table. I'd like it if you could all come; it'll give us all a chance to, get acquainted." What an honor, this will be a good chance to meet the other senior officers Desuama thought to himself as he started getting some more detailed sensor readings of the planet.
Near as he could tell it was Minshara class, similar to Earth in many respects, including the atmosphere content, he would have to wait to get a more detailed scan. He would finish his shift and go to dinner with the other senior officers. At 1845 hours Desauma was relieved from his post by another science officer, he headed for his quarters to get changed. I hope I am not too late to dinner he thought as he headed for the Captain's dining room in his dress uniform. He looked at his watch damn, he thought as he arrived at the door. "Sorry I am late Captain," he said after Captain Adams answered the door. Captain Adams nodded and Desauma entered the room. Once they were all gathered, Captain Adams said, smiling, "You know, this isn't a formal occasion, dress uniform wasn't required." Well I could have been early if I had known that, Ensign Saberwyn said as he sighed to himself.
After some banter between Ensign Sevik and Ensign Logan, Captain Adams asked the others to share a little about themselves. When Richard Benzin was done the captain looked at Desauma. "I am sorry Ensign ,I don't remember your first name," he said courteously. "It is Desauma Captain , I was born in Alberta to a couple of career navy officers. I am the first Saberwyn to join Starfleet. Before this assignment I was posted at Starfleet Command," Desauma commented right before the food was brought to the table. The ensign smiled as a plate spaghetti was placed in front of him.
He listened to the ensuing conversation and particularly interested when the topic turned to humans relationships to non-humans. Desauma thought about when Paxton had threatened to destroy Starfleet Command. I can't believe there are supporters of Terra Prime on this ship, Desauma thought as he finished his meal. The conversation continued on with suggestions about a movie night, the evening went by rather quickly with Captain Adams saying: "Well, that about concludes our dinner, I suppose, I hope you all enjoyed it, and I feel that we're all a bit closer now. Well, I know you're all busy people so I won't keep you."
Two days later they entered orbit of the planet. When the landing party returned from the surface, there was a bit of a problem. Desauma had moved away when Ensign Logan had come by but he had an idea. "Sir I have another option, "Desauma commented after Captain Adams jumped in the conversation. "I could plant a computer worm in their system to extract the surveillance," he suggested. The other officers started in blank amazement. "Elaborate, Ensign Saberwyn," Captain Adams said with a bit of a grin. "Back when computers were new on Earth my family delved into hacking. My great-great grandfather started working on this worm program that can extract information from a computer system without being detected or causing any damage. I finished the program before I joined Starfleet," the ensign said excitedly as he began searching for the program disk.

[Deleted]

Jack was listening into Captain Rickman's conversation, but stayed quiet. There was nothing that he could say that would actually help.

"Okay," said Adams, "going in and destroying their global information network is not an option, nor is going in there with a fully armed team of MACOs. I want as few people down there as possible. Andy, Jack, if we have people on the surface, can one of you access the database from here?"

Jack was about to say something, but Andy stopped him mid breath. Jack let it go, but was mad that Andy suggested that he stay on board. Jack was the only one who knew the language and he knew that the planets computer system would be encrypted. Jack's attention was brought back to reality as Andy finished speaking.

"I doubt they will have the range and resolution our on board sensors and scanners have though."

"I don't think so," Jack said," we underestimated these people and look where it got us. Their communications system is highly advance and if we do want to break into their satellite system I think it would be prudent to get me close to one of them."

<Tag Captain Adams/Kirk>

[Andrew Kirk]

"I don't think so," Jack said," we underestimated these people and look where it got us. Their communications system is highly advance and if we do want to break into their satellite system I think it would be prudent to get me close to one of them."

Kirk was starting to get irritated with Jack's constant contradictions and it probably showed. Who's the engineer here, you or me? Kirk thought to himself. Letting it go Kirk took a moment to step back and really give Jack's statement some thought.

"We really don't know what those satellites do," Kirk said, "They could be defensive, or they could simply be radio signals. Either way information travels at a very high speed through these types of systems. How about this? Let's first break into their satellite network and find out what it's used for. If we do indeed find out that we can extract and delete our information from here then we saved ourselves from any danger. If indeed we need to head down to the surface we can make that play also. Information knows no time sir, and I think Jack is right. We should get close to one of those satellites and take a good look at them."

<Tag Adams/Logan>

[evoran]

"Alright," said Adams, "you both have good reason to go, so I think you should both go. I'll stay here and operate the communications station and extract the data. Captain Rickman will go with you..."

Adams wasn't sure this was an entirely good idea, but he did think it was a good idea to have a MACO, and Rickman was the best they had.

"...and the team will be lead by Ensign Saberwyn."

<Tag All>

"Know this, gentlemen," said Adams, "we don't have enough time for another shuttle landing. We'll be using the transporter to get you all there and back. Does anyone have any objections?"

<Tag All>

[desauma]

"...and the team will be lead by Ensign Saberwyn." Desauma looked up as he found the disk. "Me, sir I am sure there are other people more qualified to lead this mission than myself," he commented sounding a little surprised. "The worm program is yours, your family was into hacking and you're the most qualified to hack into this system," Adams added. Desuama was about to say something but decided against it. "Aye sir," he said instead as he gave the disk a once over.

"Know this, gentlemen," said Adams, "we don't have enough time for another shuttle landing. We'll be using the transporter to get you all there and back. Does anyone have any objections?"

[Andrew Kirk]

"...and the team will be lead by Ensign Saberwyn."

"Who the hell is Saberwyn?" Kirk said to himself.

Looking over his shoulder Kirk spotted the new officer, he had never seen him before but being an engineer he never really saw much of the bridge crew. Shrugging his shoulder he turned back to face Captain Adams.

"Know this, gentlemen," Adams continued, "we don't have enough time for another shuttle landing. We'll be using the transporter to get you all there and back. Does anyone have any objections?"

Kirk watched silently as the crew thought hard about the usage of the transporters. Kirk felt they were safe, but transporting cargo was one thing. Transporting a living, breathing person was another. It had been done in the past during emergency situations and such, but never something that anybody simply opted for on a whim.

"No sir." Kirk finally said breaking the silence of the room.

[rickman]

'...and the team will be lead by Ensign Saberwyn.'
That set red lights flashing in Rickman's head. Saberwyn was needed as the expertise on this mission, but that was no reason for him to lead the mission. This was a dangerous precedent for Starfleet methods if it was more than a single oversight. But then Rickman had noticed several operational anomalies in Starfleet already. Still, there were ways of correcting the problem without resorting to anything extreme. Simply put, if any problems came up then the team member most suited to the challenge could and should just take over.
Rickman couldn't help but think though that this may have something to do with the fact Adams used to be the ship's scanner man. A brotherhood of Scanner men perhaps? Either way, Rickman would trust Kirk to do the right thing in a hard situation if Saberwyn was unable to.

'Know this, gentlemen,' said Adams, 'we don't have enough time for another shuttle landing. We'll be using the transporter to get you all there and back. Does anyone have any objections?'
Second bout of alarm bells now.
'I have two. One is that I need another Marine with me. One Marine is not much good on his own. We are trained to fight in teams and that is how we are most effective. Two Marines are more than twice as good as one.'
<Adams>
'Secondly, I need to know that transporter is 99 per cent safe before I or one of my Marines step on it. Of course it can't be 100 per cent, but I wasn't signed up to this to be teleported into a rock or dispersed around the landscape by some sort of interference. Kirk, can you vouch for it, and can you guarantee on landing that we won't come under fire as soon as we're down? You can't fight out of a teleport like you can out of a shuttle'
<Kirk>

Rickman had managed not to bring up the issue of the rookie Saberwyn taking command of the mission. Besides, if a second Marine were able to come then the damage done to the Starfleet party could be safely reduced if Saberwyn made a royal screw up.

'Will we have a shuttle pick up when we're done or will we have to resort to the teleporter again?' Rickman asked as his final question. It was necessary to know what to plan for afterwards.
<Adams>

[Deleted]

Jack truly like Captain Adams, he seemed as a fair and loyal man, but Jack couldn't help, but question his decision. Why would you put someone so unexperienced to lead this mission. Jack the rookie before him had hours of command experience, but he knew that not even he could pull this off.

Jack saw that Andy and Wolf were thinking the same thing. Jack didn't agree with MACO's all the time, but this time he thought that Captain Rickman should be leading this mission. He was well trained in these situations and he could get them through this.

'Know this, gentlemen,' said Adams, 'we don't have enough time for another shuttle landing. We'll be using the transporter to get you all there and back. Does anyone have any objections?'

"So I'm guessing that I'm to find a way to control the satellites from down there?" Jack asked knowing that it would be much easier to do it with a direct link to the control systems.

<Tag Adams>

Everyone had said there piece and walked out of the bridge very quietly. They were getting mentally prepared for what they were about to do.

"Andy you ready to do this?" Jack asked trying to calm his nerves

<Andy>

It seemed that Captain Rickman didn't approve of the conversation, and Jack totally respected this. He was a military man who was about to go into a hostile situation without knowing everything. It must be unnerving.

"Captain, I don't know what's going to happen down there, but if anything does, we will follow your orders," Jack said knowing that Andy felt the same thing. Jack was glad that the Ensign was not with them right now, cause Jack hated making people feel bad.