Iorte Clancy
Starfleet Intelligence
Registered: Mar 9, 2016 17:58:55 GMT
Posts: 252
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Post by Iorte Clancy on Apr 4, 2017 22:21:01 GMT
One of the controllers on Johnson's ramshackle bridge swung around in his seat; he'd detected sensor sweeps of higher intensity, operating on multiple bandwidths some of which Iorte was well aware didn't even lie in the EM spectrum, as far as conventional physics went. The sensor sweeps originated from the Kryan homeworld, in a heavily built-up area, and they were being directed at the El Alamein first and foremost.
"What kind of scans?" Carpoln paced impatiently, not frustrated however, not angry. His one eye fixed on Clancys', "How much was your pay-off? What got you out of Chertan [Theta Leonis] II that you left your sons and brothers at their mercy." Iorte deflected all sudden gazes. "What got you out of Chertan II that you'd join up with these spy good-for-nothings?" He gestured at Iorte's colleagues. It was offensive, but Carpoln's grin was disarming at the same time.
"Something about the scans, sir..." the controller was saying vaguely, "If we put people in the escape pod to send to Helofon Dominat, the Kryan's scans would reveal, without any doubt, those lifeforms, no matter how much masking grain we might try to put in there... There may be a way around it; if you would give me a few moments, minutes, perhaps half an hour, sir..." Carpoln looked at him. "An hour or more, sir."
Wearily, Carpoln nodded in assent and slung himself back into the command chair, accosting Iorte as his old 'colleague' walked by, "You're coming with me to the surface of the Kryan world, Clancy." And all this with phasers, while no longer pointed at Johnson, still very much held at the ready in their holsters. Carpoln turned his gaze to those with the weapons, "My friends from Intelligence, I want two of you to stay here, and perhaps your Commander... Lan, is that his name?"
"Van!" Milo made a rare outburst, "It's not hard to remember."
"Yes, Van... and two Intel officers, to remain here in the hope you can use the escape pod to get to the triclenidil and cryptobiolin facilities as fast as possible, which should become possible once my crewman has worked around the intensive sensor sweep and masked the biosigns of any of us who might want to use the pod to get to Helofon."
Johnson barked at some of his crew (disenfranchised Hururli Boks and Gams, associated misfits and delinquents) to join him in the cupboard-sized transporter room. "Clancy, and one other of you spies, I don't care which!" the Regulan barked, "Join me and my team. It's the only way you're going to stop the Hururl from posing any further threat to you. Trust me, destroying their performance-enhancing substances' facilities on Helofon Dominat will not be enough."
Persuaded, though keeping his very many reservations, Clancy, [Tan or de Luca or Noon], Johnson and a dozen of his crew including some of his Hururl made their way to the transporter room, while the other Intel officers and Van remained on the bridge and waited for the Kryan sensor sweeps to be inhibited enough they could take the escape pod to the Helofon Dominat drug processing worlds.
* * *
The Kryan landing party had forgotten one thing in their being swept up in their enthusiasm:
The 'watcher'. The agent placed on the trader vessel, by the Hururl/Kryan/Grazid to ensure 'fair' practice by Johnson's group of vagabonds, made his attack at the next intersection in the corridor - having now sensed in the team a very obvious threat to the Hururl authorities. A beam weapon sliced into one of Johnson's men, taking him to the deck, while what seemed like silver darts were thrown down the length of the corridor they were separated from the watcher by... Clancy ducked just in time; however, one scythed into Carpoln Johnson's arm - crimson exploded everywhere. Amidst the shouts and hurried orders, they hurried away from the intersection, firing backward as they went, and Iorte could see as he brought up the rear the 'watcher' touching the side of his skull, fingers playing in a particular pattern over the surface of his temple...
The implant - his ability to destroy Johnson's ship by remote courtesy of the neural interface in his head. Iorte levelled his phaser and fired - the beam found its mark, ripped off the fingers of the 'watcher''s hand that was about to press the side of his skull definitively... The 'watcher' crumpled, then screamed in frustration as he realised the proximity of the phaser impact had shorted out his remote access circuitry to the bomb whose detonation would've destroyed Carpoln's ship.
Then a new attack from Iorte's left, a sharp pain: a flash of steel, an ornate blade, a Clyna; Iorte was on the deck; what the hell...? While they'd known about the 'watcher', this one they couldn't have accounted for. A Hururl's insignia floated into view above him. All was blurry, scarlet fluid poured from Iorte's side... Stop that bugger, now, he thought grimly about his wound; he'd never thought he'd be in a position where he might just possibly die alongside Carpoln Johnson, of all people. The short, blue-suited HQ Hururl had the insignia Bok 725 emblazoned across - it seemed familiar; an assassin, Iorte realised, all in the 720s of Hururli designations were reserved for assassins, experts whose reach was astronomically far, seeing as they utilised phase-cloaked transwarp torpedo tubes.
He felt himself being picked up; his sight was blurry; going by the unevenness of his gait which wasn't accounted for by the wound, he surmised he was being carried by the assassin Bok 725. Then he fell again, and was once more picked up, this time by a friendlier face; "They're dead?" Clancy asked anybody; it happened to be one of Johnson's men.
"The 'watcher'? And the... newcomer?"
"Assassin," Iorte corrected.
"Yes. Get Carpoln!" the Regulan's crewmember called down the passage to a subordinate, where Johnson lay on the floor groaning, his arm, by the looks of it, partially detached.
Johnson's second-in-command (a Hururl) looked at the two Hururl-disguised Intel officers, "Is it wise for us still to go down to the Kryan homeworld? The 'watcher' could've got a report out before his expiry."
"If he did manage that," the other Intel officer present (the remaining two still on the bridge with Van), "Then it now doesn't matter if we beam to the surface or stay right here. The Kryan, Hururl... would now be right on to us." No more subterfuge possible...
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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 Apr 8, 2017 15:03:56 GMT
Johnson's second-in-command (a Hururl named Rurk) looked at the two Hururl-disguised Intel officers, "Is it wise for us still to go down to the Kryan homeworld? The 'watcher' could've got a report out before his expiry." Johnson, still prone on the deck with two people trying to ensure he didn't loose his arm, instructed his Second in Command to accompany the Intelligence Officers, but both he and them had issues with the order: "No ..." de Luca said defiantly, "We don't know this person, or his true allegiances, you have had no less than 'TWO' people willing to sacrifice this vessel and themselves, who is to know how may more you don't know about. We will hold off until Aur 824 (Clancy) can be readied, then he will come to the surface." "The Captain is not going anywhere." the man treating his extensive wound said simply, "I care not who goes where, but this man is not fit to move unless to our Medical Room !" Elena looked at Clancy as he was being treated ... Thankfully, the clyna had not penetrated too deeply, and had by some miracle missed anything vital, he would be stiff and would need to be careful, but the Medic seemed to think he would be OK to continue in one hour providing he took the prescribed pain killers. This assignment was going to proverbial hell in a hand-basket quickly, and they needed to get what they needed before anything else befell the Intelligence Officers. She asked David to come to one side, hopefully out of earshot of anyone listening: "What do you think ?" she asked.
"I'd much prefer Iorte to be down on the surface." Tan said, "He has the covert skills and can improvise. I'm not saying you can't, but I feel you would be better up here. If these decide to play the double-cross, then you are here to ensure we get back, either to this or our own ship. But I'm open to debate." he said quietly.
"No, I agree, besides, a woman down there might attract too much unwanted attention." Elena conceded, glancing over at the now standing Clancy, holding up his jacket so the Medic could work on the wound in his side, "You think he'll be OK down there ? ... If it gets physical ......"
"One thing I've found with our Iorte, he's a damn sight tougher than he lets on." David said reassuringly.
"OK, lets get him fixed up ... As for Johnson's Second ?" she asked.
"We don't have any option. He will be able to get us through doors we would struggle at best with. I just wish I could trust him."
"If it even looks like he's not one hundred percent on our side I'll kill him myself !" David said defiantly ... One Hour later ::Despite their misgivings, Tan had to concede the inclusion of Rurk, Johnson's Second in Command. He had made his position on the man very clear, alas, all Johnson could reply was that should he meet his end, another Second would be found easily enough ... One thing was certain, the need to go to the surface covertly was moot now given they had no clue as to whether the watcher had managed to get a signal down. They would transport directly to the control Center directly, under the premise of being unhappy at their treatment en-route, and the fact that an Assassin had been discovered on board. Thankfully he had remained alive long enough to reveal he had been sen by a Hururl Consortium from this very planet ! David tapped his concealed comm badge: =^= Van .. Contact the Command Center .. Inform them we are transporting in immediately =^= =^= On it =^= "After you ....." David said to Nnorj, still not willing to trust the man. "We should send Gam down first. It s how these things are done." the man's contempt for the Federation Officers was plain to see, but David nodded and instructed six to transport down. He hoped that they weren't going to materialise with their own weapons trained on them. He wasn't sure of the extent of the loyalty of the guards given the absence of their Leader. They climbed onto the platform immediately it was clear and vanished from sight ..... Primary Command - Helophon Dominat ::The group, David, Iorte, Rork and three more Gam, materialised in what was obviously a stand off between the Command Staff and their visitors ..........
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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 Apr 17, 2017 2:06:46 GMT
OOC: I've split this into two posts because of overall length - definitely hadn't intended to make it this long lol
"Lower your weapons," Iorte demanded of the Dominat command staff, "These people are with us," he indicated the six Gams who'd beamed in before the two Intel officers, Rurk and the other three Gams.
"And who might 'you' be, that we should lower our weapons?" their evident leader said - a Grazid, towering over the Hururl around him; with a nod the Grazid had more of the loyal Hururl wheel on the newcomers and train weapons in the general areas of their thoraxes, necks, craniums.
"We're members of Commander Carpoln Johnson's crew, only lately added, as that may be... But we've been recovered by Commander Johnson from the ranks of the Renegades." Sudden palpable silence. "We infiltrated them..." oh, the irony, he thought, "... For the purposes of removing them from the Menkib system before they could pose any further threat there. Johnson's crew didn't believe us; they thought we were true Renegades, or previously operating as members of a separate unit of Hururl or Grazid on another Hururl-aligned trader vessel of dubious authenticity. Our documents soon allayed their fears."
"Why the Assassin, that Bok-720er?" Tan's question to the Grazid was quite pointed. "He nearly killed one of my compatriots, and Commander Johnson himself was injured."
The Grazid Dominat surface station CO squared his considerable shoulders, "We sent Bok-725 because we suspected Federation infiltrators had found their way onto your... Carpoln Johnson's vessel. Suspicions of which we still hold, particularly as we're aware a Federation starship of Defiant type is circling the outer bounds of our system, at the edge of the interstellar medium."
"The Federation know about this, us?" Rurk asked, commendably cautious and wary in the way he spoke, Iorte thought. While any positive views he may have on Federation involvement were at best circumspect, Rurk was playing his part well so far - could he keep it up? or would he want to keep it up?
"The Defiant class already made an attempt to sneak into the system towards the drug processing centres," another Hururl spoke - an Aur... ranking 003, from the looks of it. Good to finally meet the management, Clancy thought. "Their commander was sharply rebuffed, to put it mildly. I see no further threat from them, Base Commander," Aur 003 said, turning to the Grazid.
The Grazid nodded, with a loose wave of his arm having the defending Hururl lower their weapons. As the group were led into another chamber - this one appearing more like an inner sanctum: dark panelling, dimmed displays, a central suspended row of seats levitated over a situation table with real-time graphic update... Iorte studied it from a distance (still beyond the transparency of the 'sanctum's' walls): there were topological surveys, medical logistics, some of them pertaining to the Menkib world a few lightyears back, others to... well, where was that? A mysterious world of quite bizarre land relief was displayed on part of the table's graphic.
They reached the main entrance to the surface base's 'inner sanctum'. "You must leave your weapons here," a Gam told them.
"No fighting in the war room?" Tan quipped.
The Intel officers checked each other for the signal. Receiving it, they rounded on their nearest enemies, Iorte unholstering his Hururl phaser and discharging its beam at his opponent; the Hururl collapsed to the floor, chest sizzling with the heat of the impact. Tan and... yes, Rurk, were firing about the chamber, and once the three felt they'd caused enough carnage, Tan shouted out to the remaining enemies they'd accept a cease fire. The few remaining Hururl and Grazid came forward. Around them, the situation table and the surrounding graphics, and also the set of chairs set side by side and suspended in the air, had been ruined.
Iorte sighed as he addressed the shellshocked loyal Hururl soldiers, "The Kryan, Grazid.... Councillors, or similar officials of whatever form of government exists on this planet, where are they?" The Hururl - minus the now curiously missing, and not dead, as they'd checked, Aur 003 - signalled mutely to another door tens of metres up from the now charred 'war room'. Iorte nodded his thanks and they pushed on, him, Tan, four of the nine Hururl who originally accompanied the away team (who phasered the surrendered Hururl unconscious)... and Rurk tentatively bringing up the rear...
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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 Apr 17, 2017 2:09:30 GMT
They burst into the council room; a small table with dignitaries set about it, they leapt up in shock, some - Grazid - knocking heads against the ceiling as they'd jumped virtually a foot in the air.
Chaos ensued as the councillors scrambled and screamed, Iorte and Tan establishing order, Rurk loitering at the back, casting glances back into the perhaps still semi-operational war-room... "You're our hostages!" Iorte shouted at the councillors and dignitaries, "You're staying 'here' with us, or..." he glanced at Tan, mouthing, 'or with us on the ship... somehow?', before resuming, "You're staying with us, until we get guarantees and... living proof! from the authorities responsible, that your triclenidil and cryptobiolin facilities, and the technological and medical means to synthesise more of those substances, have been utterly destroyed."
Meanwhile, Rurk had snuck out the back of the small council room with its pithily diminutive table, was now speaking surreptitiously into a hidden commbadge-type device, and summoning nearby guards. Seconds later - Tan and Iorte both unwitting - Rurk was gone somewhere into the bowels of the HQ centre. Then the blastdoors around the miniscule room bolted lightning speed into the floor, under lockdown... courtesy of Rurk.
"We're of no worth to you..." one unusually short Grazid councillor was mumbling in despair, "Not as hostages." Clancy directed the Grazid's trembling gaze to the Aur at the back of the room... Aur 003. "And him?" Iorte asked.
Meanwhile in another part of the base, Rurk was in a barracks in council with loyal Hururl soldiers - Aurs and Boks, three of the latter being Assassins (720, 724, 729). While these events were unknown to the Intel officers, if present might they think Rurk had truly betrayed them, or was he playing a double-bluff?
Rurk spoke to the masses, "My CO Carpoln Johnson's loyal, well, to an extent. He recognises what's profitable, he's pragmatic, he'll be happy to have me act in his stead, in what we decide here... I'd suggest ramming this surface base with your atmospheric-capable escort craft, wipe it out and those inside entirely: the councillors, Aur 003, all of them. Those Intel officers intend to hold the councillors hostage..." (Needless to say, he'd already told the loyal Hururl about Iorte and Tan's true affiliation.) "- ramming the base will give Intel no chance for escape, and thus we'll save the substance production centres. If they do find a way out... then the Assassins come into play."
Rurk nodded at the three Boks, who returned the nod and turned to depart - the rest concurred with the ramming plan, and all started departing to safe locations about this the Kryan homeworld. Rurk knew he had to be careful, however, in distributing orders so freely as if he was in charge, Aurs and others much more powerful than him were watching his every move...
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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 Apr 30, 2017 0:13:01 GMT
"We're of no worth to you..." one unusually short Grazid councillor was mumbling in despair, "Not as hostages." Clancy directed the Grazid's trembling gaze to the Aur at the back of the room... Aur 003. "And him ?" Iorte asked.
"Ah, well alas he does have some, importance." the man admitted. Tan immediately spun, clamping a hand around the Aur's throat and squeezing. Aur 003 dropped to the floor unable to breathe, eyes bulging as he grasped at Davids' wrist. But Tan was ready, he kicked the man in the gut, doubling him over, the Grazid Councillor looked at his colleagues for support but no-one seemed willing to put themselves in danger, or rather, more immediate danger. David looked at Iorte and nodded, Clancy approached and took a firm hold of the winded Aur while Tan walked to the short Grazid:
"Communications."
"What ... I ......" Tan punched the man in the mouth, almost knocking him over the desk, "I am not abl ....." Tan hit him again.
"Stop this." another of the Grazid Council demanded, stepping forward, "My friend is correct in what he says, we are worthless as hostages. The Authorities, as you call them, are themselves under instruction. The triclenidil and cryptobiolin are produced under duress, but produced nevertheless. You have made a grave error in trying to use us as leverage, and those responsible for making the decisions are not on this world, indeed, they are not even in this System, so again you have failed in your quest.." the man fell silent for a few seconds, the others waiting to see what he had to say next, "You see, you are as much a prisoner as we ourselves are."
"What are you talking about ?" Iorte asked, punching 003 in the carotid artery, knocking him unconscious.
"The facility is sealed, surely you realise that, and when those in charge are informed of proceedings, they will simply gas everyone and begin with a new Council, a new workforce, alas you and we, shall be no more."
"I'm going to ask once more." David said, as if he hadn't heard a word of the previous conversation, "Communications ..... If you are as you say Council Members, you will have a communications center close-by. I want to know where it is and how we access it to, make a call."
"Even if we had the facil ....." Tan shot one of the other Council members, his eyes never leaving the one he was talking with. he raised the phaser and adjusted the setting, making sure the Councilman could see what he was doing, "That setting knocked your Colleague out for an hour or so, the next one will be nothing but atoms, and when we're done in here we'll look for what we need ourselves .... Understood ?"
"Corridor. Three doors along on the right." the man said quickly. David looked at the door that stubbornly remained closed then turned back to the helpful Grazid, who approached and enter a string of inputs, finally the door slid aside .....
"Make sure he can't surprise us." David said to Iorte, pointing down at the still unconscious Aur 003.
"What do you intend ?" the Grazid asked nervously.
"I intend to level this facility, and the surrounding one thousand kilometers with a good ole-fashioned fusion bomb." he said, eyes locked on the Grazid's, he just hoped Clancy wouldn't ask where he was hoping to acquire such a device. He grabbed the Grazid and entered the corridor, moving quickly to the door in question he pushed the man against the panel and waited. Finally the door slid aside as a three tone alarm klaxon began to sound.
"Rurk ?" David asked Iorte.
"Has to be."
"I do not understand ...." the Grazid said as they entered the room, "This alarm is warning us of an 'external' situation."
"Not evacuation !" David asked quickly, glancing at Iorte, "This is meant to keep us 'in' .... You, bring communications on-line and set transmission frequency to ...."
"David, are you planning to conta ...."
"The El Alamein .... Yes." ..........
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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 May 1, 2017 19:11:23 GMT
"David, are you planning to conta ...."
"The El Alamein .... Yes." Tan replied, eyes locked on the Grazid, who reacted exactly how he'd hoped.
"What is the El Alamein, a vessel in your service ?"
"Yes, and one that will destroy your production facilities easily, and if I am not satisfied you have given me all the information I need I shall have it destroy this facility too." David replied menacingly as Elena thought she heard something behind her.
She turned to come face to face with their erstwhile captive, Rurk. He had entered the corridor at the furthest end and was systematically having the rooms searched, no doubt for the Intelligence Officers. He was stood listening to proceedings as if curious as to the outcome. Elena brought her weapon up until it was pointing down the corridor at the mans midriff. Thankfully, Rurk had not seen anyone else, concentrating on replies from those he found in each room, his interrogations were slowing his progress down the corridor, giving them time, but not much. she risked a look back into the communications room and managed to catch Clancy's eye:
"We have company." she whispered, trying not to let the Grazid know how close salvation, or death, was to them. David had pulled the first Grazid Councilman over to the console and was watching as he worked.
"Enter Starfleet coded frequency one two four one ....." Tan instructed, the man looked at him suddenly realising how much trouble they were in. his hands shook as he entered the instructed frequency and stood back, Clancy motioned him over to the corner with his colleagues while David spoke:
=^= Tan to El Alamein .. Tan to El Alamein .. Are you receiving ? =^=
=^= El Alamein .. Captain Komin .. What is your status ? =^=
=^= Not good Captain .. We have a situation here that needs your attention .. .. .. We think a former prisoner of ours is rallying forces to destroy this complete facility .. Including all those currently occupying it .. Against my better judgement I would rather not allow the deaths of several hundred innocents =^=
=^= We have monitored several vessels on approach to the planet .. I assume they are the ships you are referring to =^=
=^= It would seem so yes .. We nee .. .. =^= he stopped speaking for a moment while Elena whispered in his ear, then continued, =^= El Alamein .. Can you intercept those vessels and delay their approach ? =^=
=^= Singularly they are no match for us but if they turn to combine their attack we could have difficulties =^=
=^= Do your best Captain .. We need time to ensure only the production storage and production facilities are thoroughly destroyed .. .. Tan out =^=
He looked at Clancy, telling him to stun the Council members unconscious so they wont get in the way, then he went to the door. Rurk was approximately fifty meters away now, with less than ten rooms between him and them. If he could have had the El Alamein come in and pluck them out then destroy what they needed to, he would have. There was no point in secrecy now, so retaining their persona's was moot, he needed to ensure one thing and one thing only.
"Any thoughts on how we proceed ?" he asked Iorte and Elena and Milo Van.
"We can't shoot it out." Van said, risking a quick peek around the door frame and seeing at least twenty heading their way.
"We 'could' surprise them though, possibly get the upper hand 'and' reach the end of the corridor before they begin firing." Elena suggested, seeing the others look at her with blank expressions, "One option: Use this communications equipment to contact Rurk, convince him we are his superiors and need him to keep us alive for questioning. not the best option in my opinion, so .... Option two: We set a phaser to overload and throw it down the corridor. If they have 'ANY' sense they will dive into the nearest room before it blows, we'd have the same amount of time to get to the end of the corridor and through the door." she finished with a wry grin ..........
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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 May 3, 2017 13:48:23 GMT
Iorte nodded, "It could work." Scanning as far as his Hururl-issue tricorder would allow, he found that there were only two lifeforms - both Hururl - in the room beyond the door at the far end of the corridor. Beyond that, his device would allow him to discern nothing further - they'd be going in blind past those two Hururl, that was if they made it past the overloading phaser...
There was the issue of how they might escape the entire HQ if, as the Grazid councillor claimed, all possible exits to the place had been sealed, though they would cross that metaphorical bridge when they came to it. Iorte looked at Tan who nodded to Elena who set her Hururl phaser to overload and lobbed it out into the corridor.
The high-pitched squeal, coupled with the fact the weapon had - at Iorte's glimpse - landed quite far from Rurk's group (thus the group wouldn't be able to reach it to throw it elsewhere or prevent the overload - in fact, they were now diving for cover in a nearby room), let the Intel officers know there was nothing that could now stop the detonation.
"Go," Iorte nodded at the team upon seeing the result of the throw, speaking quietly. They made a run for it, leaving the unconscious council members behind but - hopefully - able to protest their innocence to Rurk and co. upon their reawakening.
Somehow they got down the corridor and through the door at the far end before the overload process reached completion; with the contracting of the aperture once the last of the quartet made it through, blinding light shone its fingers through the closing gap, carrying with it deadly energy that - if it'd been allowed to make it through the gap in any greater quantity - may well have vapourised a fair portion of the back of the last officer to make it through, namely, Iorte's.
The Hururl present in the room that he'd already detected looked up in surprise, Tan phasering one unconscious before the Gam could reach for his weapon, while Clancy levelled his own weapon at the other Hururl but soon found - with his simultaneous realisation that his target was the previously unconscious Aur 003! - his thumb removing itself from the fire button... Some other presence was in his mind, a string of algorithms, of linguistic structures forcing its way through his subscious - an invader...
"David," he said, struggling with even speaking as his body seemed to be seizing up under the attack, "I believe... that I'm being manipulated... telepathically by this Aur," and gestured as best he could at Aur 003 who glared back at him with silvery eyes modulated slightly by effects of triclenidil or cryptobiolin.
He watched as best he could - his eyes now becoming immobile - Tan glancing at de Luca who nodded and rounded Iorte to aim at Aur 003 from the opposite side to Tan, both Iorte's colleagues now aiming phasers at Aur 003's temples from either side. As they were about to fire at the Hururl and as Clancy was forced to his knees, a smug but curiously empathic expression developed on Aur 003's face as he glared at them, and in an extraordinary feat he jumped backwards onto consoles directly behind him; then, turning, the Aur burnt a hole through the thick wall courtesy of some hitherto unseen device strapped to his forearm, and dived through the unnatural aperture and out of the room, the rent formed closing up quasi-magically behind him. Perhaps the Aur intended to escape through some unknown gap in the perimeter of the currently-under-lockdown HQ... Under lockdown, but by whose order?
Rurk's? Gradually, Iorte found himself able to move again, the effects of the telepathic/telekinetic attack having faded with distance, or with the Aur 003's diminishing intent. He picked himself up, "Why would Rurk have wanted to go in there? If he has something to do with the lockdown, wouldn't he've been intending to stay outside, keep us in and eliminate us from without?"
"Assuming he's a turncoat," Elena said.
"He was searching for us in there. I think we should draw the conclusion he is." Though admittedly, he thought, and being in this business he knew it well enough, people could play both sides, not revealing their true intent until the last moment... Rurk may still have his loyalties to the four of them, could be leading those Hururl into the inner sanctum in order - not to destroy the Intel officers - but to liberate them... Had they just shut their would-be rescuer inside? Potentially killed him?
"We should get to the perimeter, near the blast doors..." Iorte said, "There must be some workaround - hotwiring... - to get out of here before they call in their bombardment." There was the question of whether that was to be the El Alamein's, or the loyal Hururl/Kryan's.
"How far are the drug processing centres from here?" Tan asked.
"Thirty kilometres. Any attack on this base on the Hururl's part - to remove the council, etc - wouldn't damage the processing centres, nor of course would be the Hururl's intent. If the El Alamein conducts its own attack, its phaser power and torpedo yield," Iorte did his best to recall his basic training in that area, "could be reduced sufficiently such that the processing centres' destruction wouldn't take this HQ with it."
"So if we don't manage to get out of HQ, we could still be safe from the El Alamein's assault on the centres," Tan concluded, nodding. Still they set off at a run to find the HQ's perimeter. Before they got very far - emerging into an octagonal chamber in this veritable labyrinth - they came face-to-face with that someone who was fast becoming their nemesis: Rurk... emerging from the shadows, from through one of the eight doors in the recesses of this chamber.
Iorte, Tan, de Luca and Van hadn't yet realised the fact of his presence. "You disappoint me, fellow allies," Rurk said; levelled a weapon, shot Milo Van in the abdomen.
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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 May 17, 2017 18:39:57 GMT
Elena dropped to knee beside the fallen Milo Van, surprisingly she declared he was still alive !
"Unfortunate." Rurk said, eyeing the weapon with a look of confusion, "They assured me this was set to kill, alas ...." he said, raising the weapon towards Van once more, but Elena stood, shielding the injured El Alamein Officer. Both David and Iorte too moved to put themselves in the line of fire, Rurk grinned, waving the weapon to signal his men, who stepped from the shadows each holding their weapon levelled on the Intelligence Officers.
".... and you were convinced he is on our side ?" Clancy said to Elena, eyes locked on Rurk.
"You are still convinced I am against you, well, it makes little or no difference now my friends, this facility and all within will shortly be a vast smouldering hole in the ground.
"You are going to sacrifice yourself to ensure it is destroyed ?" David asked, confused at the apparent constant switching of loyalties by the man, "That makes no sense ... Hours ago you were defending them, trading for them, running errands like a lapdog, and now here you are telling us we are about to die ... Mind explaining just how that will be achieved ?"
"Ships are on their way, you don't have long. Once they begin their attack I and my 'associates' will beam off the surface and watch the spectacle from above, you alas will not be extended an invite."
"You're ships are not coming Rurk." Elena said, turning her attention away from Van for a few seconds.
"You are I assume referring to the Federation Starship that was on the edge of our System, well, I am the barer of bad news on that, I'm afraid, it was deemed a necessity that the ship be destroyed before the attack vessels approached the planet. Having a Starship hovering in the region was a little too much of an inconvenience. So you see my friends, there is no escape, no reprieve for the occupants of this expansive facility." while he was talking the expression on his face was hardening and David knew that he was preparing mentally to have them murdered.
Raising his right hand slowly, the movement mirrored by two of the weapons:
I'm just reaching in my jacket, no weapon ... OK ?" he asked Rurk, who nodded. Tan took out his communicator and threw it to Rurk, "Just tap the badge and speak, the El Alamein will answer." he said, noticing several of his men making sidelong glances in his direction. Rurk kept eye contact with Tan, turning the Comm badge over and over in his fingers, he was obviously trying to weigh up if the Intelligence Officer was bluffing, playing for time, sowing the seed of doubt in his men, but he knew the ships had attacked and disabled, if not completely destroyed the Federation ship. Finally he looked down at the Comm badge, turning if face up in his hand, then he pressed it lightly with his thumb ... Nothing happened ... Rurk grinned, his men relaxing, then:
=^= El Alamein .. Commander Tan =^= ..........
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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 Jun 4, 2017 16:44:20 GMT
=^= Commander Tan .. We have picked up your communication .. Are you inju .. .. .. =^= Rurk pressed his thumb on the communicator effectively shutting off the link, but he must have known that wouldn't be the end of it, David half expected the thing to chirp to life any second ... He wasn't disappointed: =^= El Alamein to Away Team .. Please respond immediately or will will consider you compromised and commence our attack .. .. .. =^= "I'd suggest you let him reply Rurk." Elena said, a wry grin on her face as she watched the man's entourage already making space between them and their apparently former employer, "The El Alamein's Captain is under very strict orders ... If Commander Tan fails to answer that communication this place, and all within, will cease to exist in moments." "You included." Rurk said, trying and failing to put on a show of confidence. Elena shrugged. "The risk comes with the job alas." she said casually. "Your men seem a little restless all of a sudden Rurk, maybe you should try reassuring them, they still have lives to live even if you don't." Clancy said, smiling at the now obviously worried guards. "I AM ON YOUR SIDE !!!" Rurk insisted, louder than necessary, then turned to his men, "Our ships will not allow this intrusion, I guarantee it." "You are running out of time Rurk, if that Comm closes you can kiss your life goodbye." Tan said, taking a tentative step forward, Rurk's men making no move to stop him as their former employer mirrored Tan but back towards the wall. David reached out, his hand only centimetres from Rurk's waiting for the Comm badge. =^= Away Team .. You have ten seconds to reply .. .. Helm .. Use the Comm badge for targeting and begin run .. Warp three .. .. .. =^= Rurk looked at Tan then the others, who all seemed resigned to their fate, but his men were another matter entirely, one then a second turned their weapons on Rurk, insisting he hand the device over, or die holding onto it. During this exchange, Elena had been able to put her hand in her pocket and take hold of her own Comm badge, she had tapped out a pre-arranged code indicating that the Away Team were alive but in possible danger. Captain Komin had obviously received the code and had purposely left the Comm channel to Tan open while she issued orders to attack. Tan took the badge and stepped back, the two men pushing Rurk to the wall and then down onto his haunches. Tan spoke: =^= Away Team to El Alamein .. Enter orbit but hold off on attack until ordered .. If you fail to hear from us carry out your attack and return to Federation Space to report .. Tan out =^= He closed the Comm and turned to face the now broken Rurk, dropping to one knee to be at eye level. "We never wanted to level the Moon, or kill those working here, but we 'ARE' going to destroy all the manufacturing facilities on and below the surface. We cannot allow the production of Cryptobiolin and Tricenidil to continue. You, and you former men here, have two options Rurk ... You can sit tight, and once we're done you can flee to wherever you think those responsible won't be able to find you, or you can turn yourselves over to the Federation, we'll take you aboard the El Alamein, under heavy guard obviously, and face the proverbial 'music' when we get back into Federation Space. What will be your pleasure ?" .......... < Tag : Iorte >
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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 Jun 15, 2017 9:34:28 GMT
Rurk paused before giving his answer. It seemed he was about to begin with a request to be taken up to the El Alamein and be taken back to the Federation, however before he could finish his sentence an unusual transporter effect like none which Clancy recognised cascaded over the Hururl, and he dissolved into nothingness.
Seconds later, while they were casting about bewildered and on the verge of querying the El Alamein if they'd preemptively grabbed him, their commbadges chirped and the quasi-nauseating voice of Carpoln Johnson resounded over the comm, "Apologies for that, lady and gentlemen. I can't let my best Hururl turncoat get away, or be turned over to the Federation, specifically Starfleet which I had the dubious pleasure of working for for a long time... Iorte will know about that; you should ask him."
It appeared Johnson had used a multiphasic transporter to crack through the jamming and interference patterns that'd been designed - as part of the lockdown, along with the sheer thickness of the lowered blast doors - to prevent anyone from entering or leaving, whether that was on foot or, as in this case, by matter stream transportation.
"Carpoln - " Iorte began.
"Honestly, lady and gentlemen, you shouldn't waste your time. You know full well I have to protect my employers' processing centres from attack, and Rurk is the best person for the job, given his ample experience in handling rebellious people amongst his own species and his expertise in Hururl affairs in general. He's what allows me to get inside their minds."
"Their minds? Who are you referring to?"
"Hururl Renegades, of course. Can't your own ship detect them? They're currently swarming round the moon in vessels not dissimilar to the Hururl and Grazid's own slight suborbital craft, trying to line up for an attack on the processing centres," they could hear Johnson's low whistle over the comm, "You really should see it, David, Elena, Iorte... umm, Milo, there's an almighty firefight in low orbit between loyalist and Renegade Hururl... Boarding operations, too. Ah, a ramming!" They heard something almost off-comm, and were sure Carpoln hadn't intended for them to hear, "Rurk, ahead full, drive us between the lead Renegade and the Kryan President's flagship... Hurry! Broadside... now - "
The channel cut-off abruptly. Iorte glanced at Tan and de Luca, "Assuming they've only lost a comm transceiver or the like and they're still intact, I doubt they'll be able to damage the El Alamein. Whatever is going on between these Hururl factions, Komin should be able to make her run on the processing centres."
From the floor, now sitting up and panting, holding his abdomen and bowed over, Van spoke, "The Captain knows how to do it. She used to be a pilot, the best shuttle pilot in the Sector," - Sector 11, that was, Iorte believed - "She'll thread the El Alamein through the eye of a needle, through Hururl ships of whatever affiliation on either side."
"We've got to get out before she does that," Iorte said, "If she'll be busy at the helm, it'll make synchronisation of the processing centres' destruction with our beam out that much more difficult to execute correctly. We should be safe here regardless, yes, but I'd rather not be on the surface of a world which a Federation starship is about to start bombarding."
One of them tapped their commbadge, "El Alamein, this is away team. Our transportation as soon as you can, please - before or after your run on the centres, we know it may be difficult to think about with the Hururl craft in the atmosphere. We've lost Rurk, a possible Hururl traitor," - possible but dubious, Clancy thought - "Who gave us information then shot and nearly killed Commander Van."
"I know Rurk's CO, Captain Komin," Iorte said, "He's a Regulan, Commander Carpoln Johnson; I'm a former acquaintance of his... I'll catch up to him, and thus to Rurk, myself." They had to hurry; telepathic Aur 003 was winding his way through the base and was fast catching up to them.
"That ship's vanished, Mr Clancy," Komin's stressed voice came over the comm, "Not destroyed, just... vanished; Massa reports its the most seamless cloaking device she's ever seen. We picked up a warp trail emitting small numbers of anti-tachyons... Your Regulan and... Rurk are gone."
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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 Jun 15, 2017 21:56:51 GMT
=^= I know Rurk's CO Captain .. He's a Regulan .. Commander Carpoln Johnson; I'm a former acquaintance of his .. .. I'll catch up to him and thus to Rurk .. Myself =^=
They had to hurry; telepathic Aur 003 was winding his way through the base and was fast catching up to them.
=^= That ship's vanished Mr Clancy =^= Komin's stressed voice came over the comm, =^= Not destroyed just .. .. Vanished; Massa reports its the most seamless cloaking device she's ever seen .. We picked up a warp trail emitting small numbers of anti-tachyons .. Your Regulan and .. Rurk are gone =^= For the first time in his career that he could remember, David was almost speechless ! ..... The fact that someone had advanced transporter technology was disturbing to say the least, but the thought that they had other technology, possibly weaponry, made his skin crawl. But they had other, more pressing issues. They needed to get off this rock, preferably 'before' the El Alamein begin firing on the adjacent facilities. Ordering Komin off was out of the question and he knew that, they couldn't allow the production of the enhancement drugs to continue. If that meant their sacrifice then it was a relatively small price to pay he decided for the group. =^= Komin to Away Team .. Standby for transport .. .. El Alamein .. Out =^= They had all heard the transmission and all adopted the same worried expression, Captain Komin was under a great deal of stress. She was fighting off vessels from both factions, cloaked and uncloaked, and was having to attempt a transport while firing on almost the exact location she was destroying. "Do you think we'll be able to track that ship ?" Elena asked as they waited, stood in the middle of the room, phasers aimed at the remainder of Rurk's men, now lined up against the far wall. "It's going to depend on anti-tachyon emissions." the still injured Milo Van said, "If they disperse, then no." "What about them ?" Elena said, pointing at the three former guards that had formally been in the corridor but ahead of those hunting them down, "If we leave them here they will not survive." "You seem to forget Commander, that if 'WE' don't manage to get out, we won't survive either." Van said, pointing out the startlingly obvious. The building shook for a few brief seconds, "Was that us ?" "I doubt it." David said, hoping he was right, "I think once the El Alamein opens up we'll be in no doubt it's her ... You three, you have a simply choice, stay, or come with us under arrest." "You and you like will perish here Federation. We shall prevail." one said defiantly. "Suit yourse ....." David began as the tell-tall caress of a transporter took hold ..........
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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 Jun 26, 2017 18:37:26 GMT
Materialising on the Bridge of the El Alamein, David looked at the viewscreen ... The planet was close, much closer than expected, but Captain Komin had an explanation: "We were picking up some decidedly strange readings as we entered high orbit, I decided to take us as low as possible without entering the atmosphere, speaking of which, you need to make a choice regarding the production facilities ..." "Do we still have the anti-tachyon trail ?" Tan said quickly. "For the moment yes Sir, but tha ...." the Tactical Officer replied. "Take us back to high orbit and target both facilities." he ordered. "What about Rurk's men ?" Elena asked. "They had their chance." David said, eyes still on the planet now slowly growing smaller as they put distance between them, "Besides, I have the feeling they had a way out they were not keen to share ..... lock photon torpedo's on both facilities and stand by." "Sir, we're loosing the anti-tachyon trail." Demik said from Tactical. "Fire !" Tan ordered. As the four torpedo's lanced through the thin atmosphere they homed in on the two locations, the first two slamming into the ground simultaneously ... The second two, less than a second behind the first, plummeted into the void and they watched as the combined devastating explosions obliterated everything within the super-heated maelstrom ... From their position, almost two hundred kilometers above the surface, it appeared to be some silent apocalypse, the screen turning white before compensating, then they saw the shockwave as it passed at supersonic speed around the globe. Komin ordered shields raised seconds before the 'wave hit them, pushing the vessel a further seventy kilometers out before dispersing ..... "I'm going to say that those facilities won't be producing anything but a radioactive cloud for the foreseeable future." Lieutenant Tom Demik. his comment receiving no reply. "OK, Captain, let's go after Rurk." Tan said. "We lost the trail." she replied, "Whatever tenuous hold we had on the anti-tachyon's vanished when the shockwave left the surface and passed into space." "But we know the direction they were travelling, we'll head that way and see of we ca ....." "My Ready Room please. Lieutenant Demik please join us." the Captain said, getting up and leaving the Bridge, the others following. As they entered David began repeat his last comment: "Commander." Komin interrupted quietly, "With all due respect. The chances of re-acquiring the trail are astronomically high, even if we knew a heading we would need to be unfathomably lucky to drop onto it in our lifetimes. I'm sorry, but it's useless, and dangerous to try. We are aware that there is fighting going on all around us, thankfully they are too busy with each other to give us a second thought. I have the ship and crew to think about here David, and given that ship vanished practically without trace means they have advanced technology, possibly only shielding, but we cannot risk coming up against something that out-weapons us." David knew he had a decision to make. He could order her to go after Rurk, but he'd prefer her to make the decision: "Captain .... If we allow Carpoln Johnson and Rurk to escape, it is likely, very likely, they will continue elsewhere where we stopped them today. You said yourself that they obviously have superior tech' to us, don't you think we should find out where they acquired said technology ?" "What do you suggest ?" she ceded. "We know all this started when the Hururli, a humanoid race located in the Zee-Phyos Star Cluster, applied and were refused membership of the Federation. It is highly possible they are behind everything thus far, including providing the manufacturing facilities, 'and' the advanced cloaking for Johnson's ship. We know one hundred percent that 'they' didn't have the technical prowess to produce such equipment, so who did .... We have been out of contact with Command since we entered this system, I could sit back and ask you to request a second opinion on your decision, but that would be bringing your experience and expertise into question, I could also overrule your decision given you are technically seconded to Intelligence, and I am the Senior Intelligence Officer aboard, but I'm going to do neither ..." "There's something else we need to consider." Elena said in the lull, both Officers turning in her direction, "We have no idea how much of the pharmaceuticals have already been processed and shipped off-world, possibly to locations much closer to Earth than we are currently. We can never know that without getting our hands on Johnson or Rurk." "So you would suggest we go back and begin the investigation closer to home ?" Komin asked her. "No .... Well, no, it wouldn't be practical, and Intelligence is already exploring every piece of information close to home, so it would be moot for us to go back and replicate what has already been done. Besides, we can get the information and look it over out here." she said, glancing at Tan, de Luca, Demik, and finally Iorte, who had remained stolidly silent throughout, "Rurk is getting away, every sentence could put him further away." ..........
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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 Jul 2, 2017 8:13:47 GMT
"But we don't know where he is, or where he might be going," Komin responded eventually, seemingly unwilling to - at least symbolically - give in to the Intel officers who ultimately had sway over her decisions as they pertained to the mission. Yet she would have to acquiesce eventually, Iorte thought, just as he would if it was resolved that Johnson - and his craft with which he'd deceived them - wasn't to be allowed to get away.
He spoke at last, "One angle we haven't considered: there is something that ties us to Johnson that doesn't involve ion trails, anti-tachyons or signatures of advanced technology... And that is me." He cocked his head, "You may recall that he wanted to recruit me... at least I believe he did... for a private assignment. I know I haven't been particularly forthcoming about my history with Johnson," he took a breath,
"But we used to work together, when he was a civilian employee of Starfleet Security and I was in my first year as an Intelligence operative - note the six month gap in my record during the first year, the truth is unknown even to operatives of Captain-level clearance. After an ill-fated assignment in which we failed to capture a Romulan diplomat, Carpoln, blaming me for not coordinating with him while he was on the surface of Remus, attempted to kill me by betraying me to the Romulan Senate: a scout ship rendezvoused with my own and I was boarded by Romulan marines, Carpoln with them.
"In the close-quarters fight on my ship I accidentally blinded him in one eye with the bayonet of an ancient ceremonial weapon... Afterwards he fled from the Federation authorities who wanted him for treason - he was acquitted, in absentia, two years ago by a special tribunal convened by Intelligence - after which I reconciled with him... It's likely, however, that he believes I owe him a debt, that I must do penance, therefore he wants me to work for him..."
"Iorte, If you think you can just contact him and present yourself for service..." Iorte looked blankly at Elena. She waved her arms, "Well, do you really think he would be so stupid? That he would reveal his location by speaking to you, say, via subspace, when he's just managed to shake -"
"No, of course not. In fact, if I may speculate - bearing in mind what I know about Carpoln and his methods - I would say he's already made planetfall somewhere and is preparing to ditch his vessel, presently stripping it of all its advanced technology."
"And what might your knowledge of his methods tell us about his destination?"
Iorte shrugged, "Zee Phyos star cluster is a possibility." The others looked exasperated - there were hundreds of planetary star systems in Zee Phyos. "But there's another advantage I - and we - have over him... I have in my possession a small containment unit that holds - in EM stasis - the remnants of his mother's DNA. He gave it to me for safekeeping when he embarked for Remus, believing he wouldn't be coming back. Believe me, at the time, Remus did seem like a suicide mission. He's going to come back for his mother eventually - who if he wished could be reconstituted, cloned rather - perhaps not immediately, but..."
They still had a decision to make: did they continue with their attempt to track down Johnson and Rurk? If they did, would they risk losing sight of the arguably larger issue of the Hururl and the pharmaceuticals that would've already been shipped off the planet in the direction of the Federation? Or did taking the Hururl to task also entail hunting down their favourite Regulan?
"I can attempt to make contact with him," he suggested, "Drop a hint that I've misplaced his relative's DNA... or am willing to offer it in a bargain." It was somewhat ludicrous; he wracked his brain to think of other options.
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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 Jul 2, 2017 15:55:17 GMT
"I can attempt to make contact with him ..." Iorte suggested, "Drop a hint that I've misplaced his relative's DNA ... Or am willing to offer it in a bargain?"
"We don't have many more options." Elena said, the frustration and annoyance obvious a,d mirrored by those in the group.
"We will need to make sure Rurk or Johnson can't trace the comm back to us."
"We could leave the Commander on a nearby planet, fake damage to one of our shuttles ..." Lieutenant Demik, the ships' Tactical Chief suggested, "He could make out that his previous 'associations' were beginning to cause suspicion and he felt it best to get out while the proverbial going was good ?"
David looked at Iorte, who seemed less than convinced.
"What about this possible location ..." Tan said, side-stepping the previous idea for a moment, "Are we confident Johnson will head for the Zee Phyos Star Cluster ?" de Luca shrugged, answering for everyone when she said they were only guessing given previous information they had, in fact he could have doubled-back and be on his way to Earth for all they knew. It was hardly encouraging, but it was all they had to go on.
"I'm not sure Rurk, or Johnson for that mater would be convinced we simply left his possible employee to his own devices after practically decimating the majority of the planet." de Luca commented.
"The Zee Phyos Star Cluster is eighteen hours away at sustained high warp. Ifw we're going anywhere then I suggest you make the decision, Commander, lest we sit here while he set's up new production facilities." Komin said, raising her eyebrows. She knew she was out of line, but it had to be said, and if Commander Tan had any issues with her then he could voice them en-route, because in her opinion, sitting here was doing them no good ! ... David too knew that she was probably testing the water to see exactly how much control she had over her own vessel. He didn't rise to the bait, instead he nodded:
"Agreed ... Captain, if you will ..." he said, a smile on his face. Komin nodded and opened a Comm to the Bridge.
=^= Helm .. Set course for the Zee Phyos Star Cluster .. Warp Six and engage .. .. =^=
They watched the stars as the ship traversed to the nether realm of warp speed then got back to business. The conversation soon returned to the topic at hand, Clancy's contacting Johnson ... There options were very limited, so dropping him off on some barren rock with a sub-space transmitter was going to need ingenuity, and one hell of a cover story. There would need to be a viable scenario as to how he got off the ship, how he managed to procure a sub-space transmitter, and most important, the reasoning behind the Federation ship not simply blowing him into atoms as he parted company.
"He could have coerced someone into aiding his escape, or possibly someone was more sympathetic to his cause than they were to the ship ?" Lt Commander Lorok, the Chief Engineer suggested.
< Tag : Iorte >
"We need to consider the other point raised ...." Elena said, getting their attention, "That he's possibly made planet-fall somewhere and is preparing to vanish with what he has thus far been able to secrete aboard their ship."
"Would Johnson allow his ship to be landed and dismantled for parts ?" Tan asked, but no-one had any answer, "OK, well all we can do at this stage is work on a convincing reason and scenario for Mister Clancy's unexpected departure. We should also try to come up with something less dangerous, I still think Johnson, and especially Rurk, will have their suspicions regardless of how he get's in touch."
"I don't suppose we could just call him ?" Milo van said as he entered the Ready Room with Doctor Adama in tow.
"He 'insisted' despite my objections, on attending the meeting." the Medical Officer said as if washing her hands of her patient ..........
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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 Jul 4, 2017 16:57:39 GMT
"He could have coerced someone into aiding his escape, or possibly someone was more sympathetic to his cause than they were to the ship ?" Lt Commander Lorok, the Chief Engineer suggested.
Iorte nodded, "I concur. I might suggest that in my escape towards a planet I take several more crew who are ostensibly aligned with me."
The discussion progressed and other members of the senior staff began arriving, a full conference soon in full swing. Iorte sat with fingers steepled, deep in thought as he worked through the possibilities, and possible ramifications of each plan and scenario as he visualised it.
He spoke at a sudden impasse, "Why not say I tried to stage a full mutiny? Tried to commandeer the vessel for a splinter group within Intelligence, or even for a group or organisation entirely unconnected with them."
He went on, gesturing to Komin, the Intel officers and others present, "You attempt to apprehend me as I escape the ship in a shuttle; I receive considerable battle damage and have to take to a nearby planetoid - a lifeless near-zero kelvin hulk somewhere between stars, desperate as I will be and the small world being the only viable option.
"I'll then make contact with Johnson. Upon seeing myself and the small number of El Alamein crew with me, he may well, I concede, think that it's an away team from the ship who are laying a trap of sorts for him, that is, until I point out my bloody attire and that of the other crew, and explain to him that I and my fellow plotters escaped the El Alamein after a failed mutiny. Perhaps I can suggest to Johnson that I dropped hints about my impending defection to him during the time on his ship."
"We'd need a convincing back-story," Komin said quietly, "Perhaps something even engineered into you and your 'conspirator's' records - to show previous infractions, reprimands and the like, the hallmarks of disgruntled crew."
Milo sat back, seeming at ease though still holding his abdomen and wincing occasionally, "Well, we could do a search of those of us who do have reprimands on their records..." There was stifled laughter from some quarters; Milo added, "That number including myself." The CO seemed only moderately amused and let Van know that he would join the pseudo-mutineers - in fact, it would further increase the seeming legitimacy of the mutiny, considering in history most such actions had been perpetrated by ships' first mates.
Iorte leant forward, "On the matter of whether Johnson would allow his ship to be landed and dismantled... After some thought, yes, I think he'll already have completed the process, and if he's now heading for Zee Phyos, 18 hours away from here, then he's got a 90 minute head start, including the time taken to ditch his ship and shift the new tech onto a new craft. He will have had to ditch at an intervening star system or rogue planetoid between here and Zee Phyos... a planetoid we should encounter anywhere between 10 and 80 minutes..."
"Are you suggesting we land our shuttle on that planetoid, where he cast off his old ship?"
Iorte shrugged, "Well, it's a possibility; perhaps in at least travelling there, we can ascertain by the weak anti-tachyon trail where he headed next. Whatever planetoid or rogue world we land the mutineers' shuttle on, I will from there contact Johnson via subspace, explain the mutiny, raise the matter of his mother's DNA: that in person I'd be ready to surrender it to him in return for information we'd want as part of the bargain."
Lieutenant Demik spoke, "And, as per Lorok's suggestion, if another undiscovered conspirator remains aboard the ship, we're able to give an explanation for why the El Alamein didn't disable or obliterate the rogue shuttle... I'm the tactical officer... that conspirator could be me.
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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 Jul 6, 2017 17:15:43 GMT
Iorte left the bridge for the meantime and made for his quarters, having instructions to discern, if he could, the planetoid on which Johnson had made planetfall - it would be useful to learn this before they reached the vicinity in which they suspected the Regulan had made his ditch.
His quarters' personal terminal had advanced systems that allowed him direct access to the external sensor grid, also possessing functions which would allow him to manipulate the sensors in hitherto unseen ways in the Federation. As he settled in, starting to zero in on likely candidate worlds and reporting a list of three rogue planetoids to the bridge:
- Proxima Betrax - Beta Cygni II (since lost from that system after improbable meteoric event which catapulted planet out of system) - Cochrane object HXA78197
<Tag Tan>
Before he could complete his analyses - to narrow down to one the world upon which Johnson and Rurk must've landed and stripped of advanced tech their mercantile craft - he was summoned to the nearest transporter room where the operator had detected odd readings from the Compensators, the same apparently that had been found by the El Alamein just before it'd begun its dive into the Kryan world's atmosphere...
* * *
"What do we have?" he asked on entering.
"Mr Clancy," the transporter operator said shakily, pointing unsteadily to the transporter pads; it was only then that Iorte realised three security guards were also present in the room. On the pad itself stood someone vaguely familiar... "Someone escaped," the operator whispered.
The Hururl glared inscrutably at Iorte, the operator and the three security, a mad, bright blue light in its eyes. It began staring solely at Clancy, the latter finding tendrils reaching into his mind, just like before... Telepathic invasion! This was Aur 003 who the four of their away team had barely escaped from before!
The dark tentacles like weeds from subterranean depths interlocked themselves in his psyche, and he soon found himself on the deck, throwing up bile and feeling as if he'd been on a hundred heavy nights of Romulan ale consumption, except in one night with the resultant hangover.
A security guard moved to fire his phaser rifle but it was batted away from him by invisible forces floating on the air. The 'superhuman' Aur now backed away to the rear of the transporter pads, crouched, beady eyes regarding each one of the Starfleeters and, as they were each scrutinised, it affected something in their minds. Iorte rolled over, splashing through his own horrifically-tinted bile-vomit and tried to sit up, draw his own weapon from its holster; again, 003, with a sardonic grin on its face, whipped the phaser away with its mind, being able to project its neural energy through space.
"Damn thing's telekinetic!"
Next parts of the bulkhead behind the Aur and to either side of it began breaking away with a sound of awful screeching and contorting metal spars and electronic circuitry - part of the Heisenberg Compensators' subsidiary units - and were morphed and fused together in mid-air by the improbably powerful Aur. The new floating hulks of metal now formed, they were thrown across the room at the scattering Starfleet officers.
"Clancy to bridge... Recommend..." he was about to say depressurisation but rapidly changed his mind, "... Recommend assistance. Transporter room. A Hururl's present. Tan, you must've been right: they, or he, found another way off the Kryan world."
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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 Jul 7, 2017 23:50:43 GMT
David was stood with Captain Komin, mulling over the options Iorte had sent up to the Bridge when:
"Captain, we might have an issue in Transporter Room Two ...."
"Send Security down there." Komin ordered instantly.
"I'll go too." David said, but was informed that his colleague was already on his way there, "OK, keep me informed .... Regarding these options ?" he said, turning back to the Captain.
"I would rule out Beta Cygni II, if only because of it's erratic trajectory, Proxima Betrax, hmm, possible, it's not as if they need anything on the surface, and if he's pre-planned and has another vessel either on the ground or in very low orbit." she mused, then as David waited she seemed to make her mind up, "I would try HXA78197 first, it's closer to our current heading and will allow us to make good time if we need to get to one of the oth ...."
=^= Clancy to Bridge .. .. Recommend .. .. .. Recommend assistance .. Transporter room .. A Hururl is present .. Tan .. You must've been right they or he .. Found another way off the Kryan world =^=
They could hear the unmistakable sound of metal under immense stresses as well as screams from others present, the comm broke as suddenly as it had commenced."
"Evacuate Deck Two ... erect emergency force fields ... NOW !" Komin ordered, "Security, cover every access point, I want that Hururl trapped with nowhere to go but through the outer bulkhead." David had snatched a phaser as he ran to the Jeffries Tube access at the rear of the Bridge, pointing the weapon downward he could see the shimmering blue white of the emergency 'field in place. he turned back:
"Lieutenant Broski, cover this. Anyone, and I do mean 'Anyone' tries to climb up here you fire, understood ?"
"Yes Sir." the Navigation Officer said, adjusting his own phaser to heavy stun before covering the tubes' opening.
"We have to get down there quickly." Tan said to Komin.
"Did you hear the screams, the metal tearing, it was awfu ...." one of the Bridge Officers commented.
"Open a comm to Transporter Room Two." Fran Komin ordered, practically stunning everyone into silence. She took a breath then spoke:
=^= Bridge to Transporter Room .. Mister Clancy .. .. .. Bridge to Transporter Room .. Mister Clancy are you hearing me ? =^=
=^= .. .. .. .. .. =^= the only sound was that of metal being wrought and whimpers of pain, "Captain, Sensors are picking up tremendous stresses on the outer hull of the Transporter Room." Demik informed them.
Panels throughout the Bridge suddenly began to flicker as power was intermittently interrupted. Whatever was happening in the Transporter Room was now affecting other parts of the ship, whatever the Hururl had with him was causing serious problems, and with the whole of the Deck effectively sealed off, they had no way of knowing what it was using unless they could regain contact with Iorte ! ... Someone had to get down one Deck ... 'de Luca volunteered but David overruled her:
"No, you stay up here, if all else fails Captain, decompress the whole Deck ... Understood ?" he said, making sure Elena knew that last word was meant for her directly, "How many life-signs in the Transporter Room ?"
"Four." Milo Van said quietly, then expanded on his statement, "There were six in there if you include the Hururl, two of our people are dead."
"Can you tell who ?" Elena asked."
"No, sensors and visual are sporadic at best. All I 'can' say is that the Hururl is still on the Transporter Pad, our Officers are at the far side of the room, behind the Console, but there's chaos in there, the room looks like it has suffered an explosive event, but nothing was picked up on sensors. It's strange, but ... for a second, I thoug ....." Van fell silent until the Captain urged him to continue, "I 'felt' something, similar to before, when we were on the surface, in here." he said, pointing to his temple.
"We 'NEED' that Hururl, alive !" Tan said, knowing exactly what the Exec' was talking about, as he'd felt it too, albeit only for a fraction of a second. It could only have been one of the Telepathic Hururl, possibly even '003' who had caused havoc on the surface, and below, before escaping. But if that were so, it raised several questions that needed immediate answers: How had he got aboard the El Alamein ? ... What device had he brought with him ? ... Why had his presence or that of whatever device he had brought aboard 'NOT' bee detected instantly ? ... But most importantly, 'What were his intentions ?'
"Release the Bridge doors, I'm going down there." Tan said.
"I'm coming too." Van said. David looked at Elena then the Captain. As much as she would have liked to order her Exec' to remain, she didn't, instead she nodded without comment.
"We'll go direct to Upper Engineering." David said, taking a second phaser and pushing it into his waistband, "From there we'll drop to Lower Engineering and make our way to the Transporter Room ..... Captain, you are going to need to monitor our progress, dropping and raising force-fields as we approach, but under no circumstances are you to allow anyone out of that Section, including your Exec' and Myself. If it goes wrong then you won't have much time. Decompress the Deck and keep it open to space for a minimum of fifteen minutes, that should be enough to evacuate anythings' lungs, so unless the Hururl can breath nothingness we'll kill the damn thing."
"Commander Massa. Keep a sensor lock on both these men. Sequence force-fields as ordered ... If more than two life-signs are present you will not, I repeat 'NOT' sequence the next 'field."
"Aye Captain." the Security chief confirmed ... David and Milo walked off the Bridge, all the while the well-being of Iorte at the forefront of David's mind ..........
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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 Jul 8, 2017 18:42:28 GMT
Of the bulks of machinery the Aur was casting as if they were boulders rolled down Sisyphus's slope, one of these struck Clancy in the back of the lower leg, as he dragged the limb in trying to get behind the operator's console to wide-beam transport the 003 into the void...
Unfortunately, the Aur then somehow managed to short out the console and consequently give the operator an electric shock: the man was thrown against the wall behind him, sizzled to a crisp.
Iorte saw a security guard take aim, managing to fire a phaser which did slow the Aur down slightly, in that, for a short time, it seemed unable to use its telepathic/telekinetic abilities. The guard was using the opportunity to close with the Aur, and now a half dozen further security piled into the room with phaser rifles and plasma grenades.
Clancy slammed a panel and shouted, =/\= Bridge. Lockdown, damn it! Nothing in or out! =/\= A pause, =/\=Did you get that?=/\= There was no response; the Aur had likely tampered with the relevant comm systems. Seconds later, his badge did chirp; upon tapping it, however, all it emitted was a faint static.
The Aur took down one of the security guards then looked towards the ceiling, phaser beams striking it all the while, and the ceiling became convex, caving in towards them, though very gradually as the Aur was slowed down and hampered in its telepathic abilities by the weapons fire.
Clancy dared to peer above the transportation panel, finding that the Aur was now engaged in trying to get out of the room, its limbs braced against the door and straining with all its might. Hmm... was 003's physical, presumably superhuman strength now weakened in the wake of the Starfleeters' efforts? Making sure 003 was not watching, he rose and worked the panel, attempting to rerout comm relays throughout the ship to reconfigure the network to allow communication with the bridge, or sickbay, anywhere...
=/\=Bridge, this is Clancy, are you reading me! Anyone on the ship - !=/\=
=/\="Go, Clancy... We're relieved to hear your voice, sir. The line's not great, let me warn you.=/\=
More machinery was sent Clancy's way, but having crouched into cover to continue his comm he was no longer in plain sight, =/\=Is there any chance you can effect a beam out of the being - if you can detect it - from there? =/\= he shouted, as wreckage from the bulkheads - that were fast being stripped to the point where nothing but a thin layer of outer duranium would remain between them and the soulless vacuum - continued to fly at him and the remaining security.
=/\=Negative,=/\= the bridge officer replied, =/\=The Hururl's disabled several EPS relays and has dislodged several key components throughout the ship; in the computer mainframe, too.=/\=
=/\= It's his telekinesis, =/\= Clancy explained, about to add more when the comm cut out. Another security guard was taken down. The comm network with which Iorte had been communicating with the bridge should still be in place (temporary cut-outs like that were typical when rewiring of intraship comms was conducted in such a short time) thus he attempted contact with any other parties that might be in the vicinity,
=/\=To any of the crew who may receive this, this is Clancy in transporter room 2. I'm pinned behind the transporter console; the Hururl is attempting egress from the room; we've had reinforcements, six guards, before security measures came into place; in total since then, eight personnel down - two injured but still fighting and six dead as far as I can see; weapons fire against the Hururl seems not too hurt it or him physically, but does seem to weaken his telepathic abilities albeit briefly...=/\=
To his relief someone answered, though it seemed like he'd missed the start of their reply, =/\=... telepathic? Then you were right; it's that Aur... Unfortunately, yes =/\= That was Milo Van's voice in the background!
=/\= Van, is that Tan with you? Look, listen, both of you... =/\= (The Aur was, unbeknownst to Iorte, coming closer, having succeeded in opening the room's door; now he was returning to mop up the rest...)
Clancy continued reporting to the duo, =/\=He's weakened the bulkhead to such an extent in here that one more telekinetic attack directed against it, or one misplaced phaser shot or grenade, will open us to space. What's more... - you hearing me?!=/\= They acknowledged; the static on the line was overwhelming. =/\=What's more the ceiling's coming down; there's about a metre of standing space... the whole thing's going to come crashing down and then I don't know what - =/\=
<Tag Tan>
Iorte's channel had cut out because the Hururl had reached him. Too late Clancy became aware of the being reaching its arms over the transporter console and starting to throttle him from the back of the neck. Iorte's face contorted into an expression of terror, face glowing bright red, as he tried to release the Aur's prehensile grip on his throat - in vain: it lifted him by the throat, dragging him over the console and throwing him towards the weakened bulkhead; Iorte slumped to the floor. Manoeuvring itself to the doorway, stepping over dead or groaning security guards, the Hururl stood in the open door. Coursing from its altered eyes streamed the stimulant in twin serpentine cerulean flows, coruscating and entwining itself caduceus-like about the being's form. It launched this near-invisible energy flow at the bulkhead behind Iorte. In a cataclysmic explosion the bulkhead disintegrated, shards of white-hot light springing away into sudden space beyond the room.
Air gusted out, vacuum became sovereign; Iorte and the security casualties were swept out into space, perhaps to be caught by the shield grid, still raised due to the battle conducted by the small Hururl vessels in the area around the Kryan world. The Hururl closed the door in time, now in the corridor, satisfied, effervescent with its power which enveloped its entire body.
<Tag> [OOC: edited slightly at the end, thankfully we're not at warp yet]
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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 Jul 12, 2017 15:28:37 GMT
=^= Negative .. .. The Hururl has disabled several 'EPS' relays and has dislodged several key components throughout the ship .. Within the computer mainframe too .. .. It's his telekinesis ! =^= Clancy was explaining to the Bridge as David and Milo reached their goal. They too listened in:
=^= Telepathic ? .. Then you were right .. It's that Aur .. .. Unfortunately .. Yes =^=
=^= Tan .. Van .. Is that you ! =^= Clancy began but realised he was in danger.
=^= .. .. The whole thing's going to come crashing down and then I don't know what =^= Clancy finished at the Comm spluttered out of existence.
=^= Bridge .. Flood the Transporter Room with Anesthizine Gas immediately =^= Milo Van said at a run.
There was the slightest hesitation then they heard the unmistakable sound of metal fracturing, bulkheads torn as in decapitated by the largest of celestial swords, the bulkhead, and everyone in the Transporter Room were gone ! ... David and Van had stopped their headlong rush as the bulkhead disintegrated, so they hadn't reached the point where they could have seen the Hururl outside the decimated Transporter Room.
=^= Get a lock on our people Bridge .. NOW ! =^=
=^= We are trying to do so commander =^= Captain Komin said, her patience obviously strained by his blatantly obvious demand. They waited, nerved stretching to breaking point as the seconds passed. They both knew the result of suffering a catastrophic decompression, and knew it was now or never for the two adrift and falling behind the El Alamein =^= Sick-bay .. Stand by =^= they heard the Captain order.
"Get back to the Bridge." David ordered Van before running back along the corridor heading for Sick-bay. He ran in expecting to see a fury of activity, "What's going on, where are they ?" he asked, eyes flicking to the empty Bio-beds.
"There was a, complication ..." Fran Komin said as she walked in, "The Aur did something before he destroyed the bulkhead."
"Did what ?" Tan asked, eyes flicking between the Captain, the Medical Staff, and back to the Captain, "He ripped the outer bulkhead away and all three survivors were ejected into space. All you needed to do was use the Auxiliary Transporter, get a lock and beam them ba ......"
"We used the Cargo Transporter, it was the easiest and quickest way, we have a lock on Clancy and the one surviving Security Officer, but they have somehow been, altered, not physically as far as we are aware, but until we can bring them aboard we won't know for sure."
"The Aur used his 'attributes' to mess with our systems as you know." Lieutenant Commander Tor Lorok explained, stepping forward, "We can't transpo ....." he stopped talking as the Comm chirped to life:
=^= Bridge to Captain .. .. We are picking up two faint life-signs .. Port side Landing Strut Housing ! .. .. Captain there is another unidentified life-form heading in your direction ! =^=
Everyone spun to face the door for a second, then Komin began to bark out instructions, mainly involving whatever weaponry they could get their hands on ..........
OOC : I wasn't sure what you had in mind for Clancy following decompression, but feel free to post and I'll modify to suit if you have some specific means of getting back aboard.
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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 Jul 12, 2017 21:50:09 GMT
Clancy spiralled through the darkness, robbed of his hearing and, momentarily, of his vision, as he blacked out with the sudden impulse of velocity springing him from the blown-open transporter room. He saw other bodies cartwheeling out, officers and other El Alamein crew, before he rotated out of view, feeling as if he was breathing his last... and blacked out.
He came to as he struck the dorsal starboard forward quarter of the Defiant class; fortunately he'd not been travelling at too high a velocity... Shaking himself to awareness, he found he was still - miraculously - holding his breath, had been doing so throughout his indeterminate period of unconsciousness.
Flashbacks assailed him, of the transporter room (what could he have done differently?), of the telepathic attack (those invasive coils reaching into his psyche, back along which he felt he'd travelled momentarily; might he himself have learnt something of 003's purpose?) and of just a moment ago as he'd been about to strike the El Alamein's hull. He blinked, unsure, uneasy... How could he have been aware of striking the El Alamein if he'd been unconscious (or so he'd thought)? Surely it was the impact that'd brought him to awareness, not a coincidental awakening just before and with the momentary horror of knowing he was about to collide with a moving starship.
Before he thought anything further, he came to realise he was on a trajectory for the port-side nacelle housing. Recognising his chance, and finding that he was thankfully not injured - which would've hampered his attempt - he, as he approached the housing, reached out his hands and gripped the leading edge, finding an equivalent ledge beneath him for his feet. And still he held his breath. Beside him he could see that one of the security guards - cradling the stump of an arm cut off below the elbow by the sharp-edged machinery, product of the antics of the Aur who must still be at large on the ship - had also found a way onto the ledge, obviously having been propelled along the same trajectory as Iorte.
In fact, Iorte had somehow known the guard was going to be there. It was the look to his left that merely acted as confirmation the security guard had indeed arrived... He'd known all along; he found he knew of things to come, if only in small increments, slight moments of time into the future...
He felt the last of his breath siphoning away from him, the last air in his wracked body that was fast approaching a state of desiccation, or would be if he was not rescued soon. And with that he found himself beamed away. But he'd known, somehow, if only by a few seconds in advance, that the rescue would come.
Cargo transporters had redirected his nearly-depleted body - and that of the guard (the other who'd still been alive as they were being evacuated from the transporter room, Iorte found now, had expired soon after egress) - to the sickbay. He was now convalescent on a biobed, taking deep breaths, heaving for life-sustaining air and nearly choking. Through this existential moment that now had absolute primacy in his consciousness, he realised the chaos endemic to the rest of the sickbay... The door to the place was dented inwards in many places - incessant pounding sounded from without, and a number of flaming holes where, it was evident, phaser rifle fire had drilled through, were visible. In his failing consciousness, in the frame of his frosted-over, dried-out body, he grasped hold of a thought and discerned that the Hururl Aur 003 was outside, attempting to smash his way through the sickbay door while the room's occupants in kind attempted to repel him with near-constant weapons fire at his exposed fists.
The cool spray of an anaesthetic-loaded hypospray hissed at Iorte's neck, and just as the grey shadows of unconsciousness closed in about him, he saw Tan, de Luca and Commander Van swim into his vision, standing over him... He managed to speak and was astonished at the change in his voice - weak, crackling, "He'll attempt to come through the ceiling..." He was inaudible.
"What? Iorte, say it again?"
"He's broken off the attack on the door, right?" They nodded; Iorte nodded in return, breathing with difficulty, "Look above. Also... I think... I think he may know we've found where Johnson is, and is trying to stop us... That means the Cochrane object must be the right place to look..." he dropped off.
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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 Jul 13, 2017 20:29:36 GMT
"He .... He'll attempt to come through the, ceiling ..." Clancy said suddenly and almost inaudibly. "What ? ..... Iorte, say it again ?" David said urgently. "Look above ..... Also... I think... I think he may know we've found where Johnson is, and is trying to stop us ... That means the Cochrane object must be the right place to look ..." David was about to instruct the Doctor to revive his friend when they heard the unmistakable sound of an explosion directly above them. Komin explained that there were crew quarters on the Deck above and Tan hoped no-one had suffered when the Aur forced his way in. Komin ordered a force field erected effectively splitting Sick-bay into two, one holding the injured Clancy and the deceased, along with everyone else, the other, hopefully where the Aur would drop through, was now empty. "If we worked it right we should be able to erect emergency bulkheads above us and void all air from that part of the room." Komin said defiantly. "Won't matter if we open it to vacuum ...." Doctor Adama said, "He'll survive long enough to get out and to a section of the ship we can't easily decompress." "Why can't we flood that part of Sick-bay with every acid until it burns the damn thing to slush !?" the Head nurse asked. "We could, but there's no guarantee it will work, besides ...." David said, "it could do as much or more damage to the ship." Komin nodded in silent agreement. There was a loud thud and a definite reverberation through their feet as part of the lighting combined with parts of the deck crashed to the floor scattering razor-sharp shards all around the room and into the raised force-field, every available weapon was now trained on the gaping hole as the doors to Sick-bay slid silently open ! ... At first no-one realised someone had entered the room, the door being off to their far right from where they were situated, and so intent were they on waiting for the Aur dropping through the newly formed hole on his attack. It was the Head nurse, Nia Kirkham who saw it first, but her motor-functions were being held in check by the telepathic attacker. She took a step towards one of the consoles, eyes locked on the Aur ... Slowly, she moved across the room un-noticed as detritus continued to fall from the hole. "He must know we are waiting !" Komin whispered. Nia was a meter from the panel now and reaching forward to manually deactivate the force-field. Clancy was still prone on the bio-bed but was slowly regaining consciousness and could see the Nurse. He tried to shout but couldn't as he too felt the tendrils of the Aur's mind, but despite all his power he was weakened and couldn't hold both people fully to his will. He made more effort with the woman, Clancy groaning in pain as he fought off the mind of the attacker. Samantha Adama had heard the sound and turned, she saw her Head Nurse millimeters from the panel ! "NIA !" she shouted, forcing everyone to spin in her direction. They realised they had been deceived, but at the same time the Aur knew the force-field was down and screeched an unworldly cry as he glared at the group. Tan, Komin and Adama all fired at the Aur, their phasers on maximum setting would have vaporised anything and everything in the path of the powerful energy beam, but the Aur was fast ... Their minds went completely blank, almost as if standing while unconscious, the arc of their weapons halted momentarily, but again he couldn't hold them and knew he needed to escape. Slamming one final burst of mental energy into his foes he spun and ran from the room, the beam of Komin's phaser lancing into his arm as he ran, then they regained full control of themselves. Komin hit her Comm badge: =^= INTRUDER ALERT .. INTRUDER ALERT .. LOCK DOWN ALL CONTROL AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS IMMEDIATELY .. INTRUDER ALERT .. INTRUDER ALERT ! =^=
~~~~~~~~~~ They had searched the El Alamein for two hours, but there was no sign of the Aur ...... Captains Ready Room ::"He 'HAS' to be aboard, there's no way he simply stepped out into space." Van said, the frustration evident as he looked from Tan, to Clancy, de Luca, and the others in turn. "Tell us where to look Commander." David said quietly, sharing the mans irritation. "Then he has to be cloaked by some means, there's no other explanation." Elena said, raising her arms, "You speculated he's he for possibly one of two reasons, one; to prevent 'us' getting to Rurk, and two; to get to Rurk himself. Given there is no way he can access anything more dangerous than a light switch without being detected, how's he going to achieve either goal ?" "Iorte, you said earlier that you thought Rurk would be on one of three locations, but in Sick-bay, granted you were somewhat under par, you suggested Cochrane object HXA78197 as the most likely location ?" Van asked, Iorte nodded, "Then I suggest we set out ... If the Aur 'is' still aboard, sitting here isn't hurting him, in fact it's giving him more planning time in my opinion. Heading for 78197 will get us closer to our goal, it will also limit the time the Aur has to act against us. If we isolate Engineering completely using force-fields, emergency bulkheads and everyone we can spare that can hold a phaser, he's not going to get in there in a hurry." Tan nodded ... At this point he couldn't fault the man's logic ... He looked around the table: "Anyone want to comment ?" he asked ..........
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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 Jul 23, 2017 0:50:24 GMT
Three Days Later : En-route to Cochrane object HXA78197 :: The El Alamein had been searched over and over again, each time with the same result, Aur 003 was nowhere to be found ..... "Is it possible it did leave the ship do you think ?" Elena asked. "They need oxygen to survive just like we do, even with augmented internal organs and an accelerated metabolism, there is no way it would have willingly ejected itself into open space." Doctor Adama said, sipping her drink, "Even allowing for the remote possibility that it had a cloaked vessel nearby, it would still have perished inside the first two minutes of exposure to vacuum, no, it is still here, somewhere." she said with a poorly suppressed shudder. "So if it's still aboard, why hasn't it acted ?" Elena mused, "It wants to ensure we don't get to Rurk, and even with Engineering untouchable, there is plenty the Aur could do to seriously damage this ship." "There's one thing we haven't tried ...." Lieutenant Tom Demik said, getting everyone's attention, "We move all the crew to one area, preferably the Bridge, and decompress the remainder of the ship ... If as you say Doctor, he, it, cannot survive vacuum, then our purging the ship of air in all areas apart from the Bridge will get rid of our adversary, no ?" "Who's to say he won't simply get in here with us." Lt Commander Massa asked, glancing up at the ceiling of the Mess. "He'd have to be pretty sli ...." David began as he felt his stomach lurch, akin to when you step off a diving board and experience that fraction of a second of weightlessness, before gravity pulls you predictably down and into the waiting water. He stood, feeling himself lift off the deck plates for a second. "He's got into the artificial gravity systems !" Van said as he fell back into his seat, standard gravity restored as quickly as it fluctuated. Komin hit her Comm badge: "I'll be in Engineering." Milo van said, running for the door. =^= Bridge .. Whats going on up there ? =^= =^= Power drain Captain .. It effected gravity and inertial dampers .. We are running a diagnostic =^= =^= Commander Lorok is on his way to Engineering .. Double Security there immediately .. Komin out =^= "You think it's the Aur ?" Elena queried. "It's possible yes ...." Fran Komin said, eyes lazily scanning the room and the crockery on the table before her, "But we know little of the space in this region, so there's always a chance we've passed through something that effects our systems. I'm leaning toward it being our uninvited guest though, I would be stupid not to until other options are dismissed. This 'telepathic' ability the Aur possesses, is there any way to counteract it, or block it ?" Well, without having access to a living Aur to run tests on, it's difficult to say." Doctor Adama said, deep in thought, "It's telepathic hold seems to circumvent the natural route to the conscious and sub-conscious mind ... I could bombard the entorhinal cortex with a heavy dose of Theta waves, it would have the effect of not allowing them into REM sleep, they would 'nap' rather than sleep." "But what has sleeping got to do with the Aur's ability to take control ?" Clancy asked. "It doesn't, well not directly ... But it 'would' encourage the production of endorphin's, including opioid peptides, which act on the receptors. He could try to take control, but whoever he tried it on would not fall under his attack but would simply produce more and more peptides incrementally repelling his attentions, they would feel nauseous, and tired beyond compare, but they could function, after a fashion, if he tries to take over." Samantha said, leaning forward cupping her hands around her coffee cup, "There are dangers, obviously. We would effectively be depriving them all of a good nights sleep, and tempers will begin to feel the strain if the status quo continues more that seventy two to eighty hours." "We'll be at 78197 by then." Elena said defiantly. "Captain ?" David said, waiting for her decision. In turn, Fran Komin knew she had the final say, this wasn't an 'Intelligence' issue, it was something that would directly effect her crew and their ability to function at their maximum. But she also knew they couldn't allow the Aur to get his mind wrapped around anyone, especially anyone with the access it needed. "OK ... Doctor, prepare your serum or whatever you want to call it. We'll have everyone report to the Bridge for inoculation." Komin ordered. "It could be done quicker in Sick-bay." Adama began, but stopped as she saw the Captain's expression, "I'll have everything ready in here in ten minutes." she said getting up and leaving. "I don't suppose I could go get my head down for an hour or so ?" Elena asked, receiving unanimous chuckles from around the table ..........
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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 Jul 26, 2017 8:27:37 GMT
Clancy was slightly ambivalent about the proposed plan; an inoculation, yes, against being able to sleep for the foreseeable future! There was however no choice and Dr Adama's plan was ingenious. On the other hand, there was no guarantee in reaching HXA78197 before the requisite 72-80 hours had passed - after which mood and concentration would become a problem - that all their problems would be solved; the Aur may still at that time be on board.
"I'll take the first inoculation," he said, "Of those the Aur first attacked in the transporter room, I'm the only one left alive. The reason being, if the inoculation's meant to protect against the Aur's attacks, then its first live test subject should be someone who's already built up a degree of tolerance to its opposite - what it's inoculating against - as my brain during the initial attack may have naturally started producing more endorphins to resist?" Adama nodded.
Demik seemed uncomfortable with proceedings; eventually it was noticed and one of the Intel officers ask that he enlighten them, "Well... Considering we detected no instantaneous transportation at the time the Aur came aboard, where could it have been before then and leaving the surface? Before entering the Kryan world's atmosphere, we detected those strange readings at the edge of the ionosphere; something similar recurred in the minutes leading up to the transporter operator's call to agent Clancy to hasten to the transporter room."
de Luca spoke, "Could he have been suspended in transit somehow, static in the matter stream, or some form of matter stream, waiting for the opportune moment to come aboard?"
"It definitely wouldn't have been any ordinary matter stream," Demik nodded.
"Then," Clancy pitched forward in his seat after draining his lemonade, "Perhaps he could've left the shipΒ since the sickbay incident, and returned to this... static matter stream."
Komin put in a call to the bridge to scan the surrounding region they were moving through, also to check sensor logs for anything unusual - that they may have passed near or through en route to their current location - which matched any odd readings they might now detect. In effect, Clancy thought, she was asking if a form of mobile matter stream was accompanying the ship. Telamen on the bridge reported back that something had indeed been detected, though its nature was indiscernible.
* * *
They had only the serum to protect them, and inoculations began in short order. Although at the time of immunisation (they could at least hope) Clancy had been awake only 5 hours - having had a brief spell of sleep after arriving back from the Kryan homeworld - the sixth hour was more difficult than it would've been under ordinary circumstances; knowing the long road ahead, that of extended wakefulness interspersed with unsatisfactory slumbers, made the trek seem daunting, a marathon just embarked upon.
* * *
They were closing in on 78197, a small non-spheroidal body cast far adrift from any inhabited star system. 23 hours had passed since inoculation; they were 4 hours from 78197. Long-range scans had detected signs of recent activity around the small planetoid, a very weak ion trail also consisting of anti-neutrinos (Carpoln's vessel, Iorte realised). Scanning the surface, various metals had been detected, enough to make up the mass of Carpoln's ship stripped of the advanced tech (whose mass thy could only estimate, though it was reasonable to assume that what they were detecting was indeed the abandoned hulk of Johnson and Rurk's ship). Nothing else could be discerned at this range. The Aur had not (yet) reappeared. Clancy's nerves were starting to fray, even though in the past he'd endured periods of wakefulness many times longer than the current 28 hours.
They were forced to wonder what the Aur could be waiting for. As they closed to three and a half hours out, it became apparent that more had happened to Carpoln's ditched trader vessel than it having been stripped of its very advanced technology There'd been some sort of fight; the ship had been damaged by weapons fire. While evaluating this information, the El Alamein crew picked up a vessel closing on them from the general direction of the planetoid, unseen thus far on account of its size... it was a shuttle of some type; the two ships, Defiant and civilian shuttle, would be on top of one another in 15 minutes.
"Captain, they're hailing."
"On screen," Komin ordered, standing and tugging down on her uniform jacket.
Carpoln Johnson and three of his mercenary crew, all bloodied and caked in rubble and dust, appeared on the viewscreen, "Captain. I'm glad to at last make your acquaintance..."
"Commander Johnson, I presume. Who did this?" Komin asked after a moment. Despite how it looked, Iorte suspected a trap - perhaps unfairly.
"My former executive officer, Rurk. He's up and left with all my tech." Carpoln was bleeding profusely at his left temple, he seemed faint, "He mutinied." Iorte believed him slightly more - could that be why the Aur hadn't struck; he'd learnt already that Rurk was no longer present and had set off after him in pursuit? Iorte didn't trust that instinct.
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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 Jul 29, 2017 13:38:33 GMT
They had watched the information from the long-range scanners with a mixture of interest and frustration, snippets only, but as they closed the distance it became apparent what may have happened ...
"To think, all this started with the Hururl being rejected for Federation Membership." Elena said as she watched the screen with the others as they were informed that they were being hailed, the three Intelligence Officers waited:
=^= Commander Johnson I presume .. Who did this ? =^= Komin asked after a moment. Despite how it looked, Iorte suspected a trap - Perhaps unfairly.
=^= My former executive officer .. Rurk .. He's up and left with all my tech .. He mutinied =^= Carpoln was bleeding profusely at his left temple, he seemed faint, Iorte believed him slightly more, could that be why the Aur hadn't struck; he'd learnt already that Rurk was no longer present and had set off after him in pursuit ? ... Iorte didn't trust that instinct either.
=^= How many of your crew are left with you ? =^= Nate Massa, the El Alamein's Security Chief asked suspiciously.
=^= Five .. Including myself .. As you can see I am in need of medical assistance .. Rather urgently I fear =^= Carpoln said, reaching out to steady himself against the center seat. David ran his finger across his throat signifying he wanted the Comm muted, then turned his back to the screen:
"What do you think ?" he asked.
"He's hurt, there's no denying that." de Luca answered, "If it's some elaborate scam to get hold of the El Alamein they seem to have gone into overkill on making him look injured." she shrugged.
"There's six of them, we could beam all of them direct to the Cargo Bay, open up the outer door, seal the bay off and deactivate the transporter in there, at least that way, if they are thinking of doing anything, the prospect of us deactivating the force-field might dissuade them, and if they go ahead anyway then out they go." Massa offered.
"Is there any sign that their shuttle is capable of going anywhere fast ?" David asked.
"I'm surprised it's got them this far without blowing itself to atoms." the Tactical Officer said.
"Bring Johnson aboard, direct to Sick-bay and keep him under guard, the rest can stay put on the shuttle." Tan suggested. Komin agreed and asked for the Comm to be un-muted:
=^= Captain .. We are going to beam you to the El Alamein .. You and you alone .. Any sign that you are being less than totally honest with us will result in your immediate return to the shuttle regardless of your condition .. Should your 'crew' decide to take any overt action other than sitting on their hands awaiting your return there will be consequences .. Is that fully understood ? =^=
Carpoln looked at someone off-screen then reluctantly nodded. Komin gave the order and he vanished from the screen, appearing in sick-bay almost instantaneously. Komin, Van, and the Intelligence Officers left the Bridge and headed for Sick-bay. On entering they saw Johnson on the Bio-bed, a Security Officer either side, phasers in hand. Doctor Adama was examining their 'guest' as they entered. Several times Carpoln tried to get up but was forced back by one of the guards. he saw the group enter and began ranting about betrayal, loyalty, revenge, but nothing about the Aur ... David wondered if the Augmented Assassin had even managed to get back to the Freighter, or had Rurk concocted the mutiny on his own after ensuring he had superior numbers on his side ? ...
"Our scans show your Freighter is no longer usable." Komin commented between rants, "So, I have a couple of questions you'll need to answer, OK .... Firstly, how did you get away, Secondly, how did Rurk escape ?"
"When I knew Rurk was ransacking the ship of all my well-earned technology, I managed to gather my most trusted people and made it to the shuttle. We were involved in a running battle just to reach the shuttle. Rurk was there waiting for us. He beat three of my men to death before my eyes, seriously injuring the others before turning his attention to me. He seemed to relish beating me and had someone not informed him of the time, I am convinced he would have beaten me to death without a thought. He literally left us for dead in the shuttle-bay, either he didn't think we would get off the Freighter, or he simply didn't care one way of the other. We delayed running until he was busy transferring everything he'd stolen from me, then we, fled ....."
"How did you know he was on a deadline ?" Elena asked casually.
"I, well ...." Carpoln stuttered for a few seconds, before apparently regaining his train of thought, "It was clear, there could be no other explanation."
"So why didn't he just eject all those not with him out the airlock, and take the freighter itself ?" she persisted.
"You are going to have to let me work here." Samantha Adama interrupted, "You can interrogate him once he's stable !" David looked at the doctor, who was clearly although frustratingly, well within her rights as Chief Medical Officer. Komin ordered sick-bay emptied apart from the two Security Officers ... Everyone filed out ...
"I don't get it." de Luca said, stifling a yawn as they stepped into the corridor, the doors hissing closed behind them, "The freighter was the best option for Rurk, everything was already loaded, so why ...." she stopped speaking, the obvious dawning on her sleep-deprived brain, "He'd planned it all along. He had a ship waiting !"
"Geez !" Van said, rubbing his tired eyes. They trudged back to the Bridge, no wiser than before they had beamed the pirate aboard.
"Long-range scans, I want to know if anything has left this System in the last twelve hours." Komin ordered, knowing she was asking the almost impossible ..........
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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 5, 2017 1:21:01 GMT
Iorte found himself believing Carpoln no more or less than before, leaving sickbay with the others likewise in somewhat of a daze. They made for the bridge, Iorte standing towards aft as the region was scanned for ships and (predictably) nothing was found.
The long range sensors' range extended just beyond what a vessel capable of warp 9.999 maximum would've been able to achieve in way of distance from 78197 if travelling in a straight line... No ships besides Johnson's stricken shuttle, no conventionally-cloaked craft which would give off tachyons and the other common byproducts. Ships carrying the advanced cloaking device - which Rurk would've undoubtedly stripped from the freighter - would be undetectable from here on account of the impossibility of detecting anti-neutrinos resultant from such cloaking devices beyond 0.01 lightyears. The El Alamein began a slow drift through the region.
He'd thought it was a possibility Johnson and Rurk would ditch their vessel in preparation for loading the advanced tech onto a ship already waiting on the planetoid, though none of them had considered the possibility that their quarry (in this case just Rurk) would simply disappear - perhaps on another cloaked ship, laundering the advanced tech from craft to craft to escape his pursuers - and of course none had considered that Rurk may mutiny.
Stalled at 78197, the crew frustrated and/or listless from tiredness and lack of success, the bridge received a call from sickbay that Carpoln Johnson - after brain surgery, Iorte heard to his surprise - was ready to receive, as Adama told them the Regulan had put it, 'visitors'.
As a group of them made for the turbolift, Demik announced a detection of anti-neutrinos; Komin turned from the turbolift, nodding and resuming her place in the command area, "Set out on the trail. If it fades at any point, all stop... We'll evaluate from there." Iorte stepped into the lift with the others, seeing Komin virtually collapse into her command chair with exhaustion as the lift door slid shut.
* * *
"Allow me to question him first," he said to David and Milo Van, the three heading to interrogate, Elena remaining on the bridge. They exited the turbolift and stepped up to sickbay's entrance, "Carpoln and I go w- ... Well, you know," he smiled and took a small container out of a pocket, "His mother's remnant."
Iorte stood over the biobed; Carpoln lay prone, breathing shallowly, part of his head encased in some cranial monitoring unit; Adama beside the bed took a sidelong glance at the Regulan, nodded to Clancy and Tan, and attended to other duties.
"Carpoln... Carpoln, wake up." Clancy pitched forward with the cubic inch container, holding it over Johnson's convalescent form, "You've been looking for this a long time." Only now Johnson's eyes opened - he'd been awake and had simply been ignoring them.
"If you know anything at all, Carpoln," Tan spoke, "About Rurk's destination."
Johnson waved a hand, "Yes," and with the other grasped suddenly at the container holding his mother's precious DNA remains which Iorte snatched away just as fast. Johnson, clearly struggling, collapsed back to the biobed.
"Oh no, Carpoln One-Eye..." Iorte said mockingly, and felt slightly uncomfortable. "Not 'til we learn where Rurk has gone, or what he wants the tech for... Does he want to rejoin the Hururl, give them the tech?" Iorte sighed, "For a start, you could tell us where you planned to go next."
"Tellar Prime," was the surprising answer. Johnson's breathing was becoming ragged, "You know, Iorte, if the Reman mission went as planned, Tellar would've been our next target. You remember that, don't you? Or do you wipe from your memory your failures, along with the maimed and crippled you leave in your wake, hmm?" He growled, "You didn't make contact 'til I'd already met the Romulan ambassador, how was I meant to make the -"
"As a consequence you conspired with the Senate to have me killed!" Iorte retorted, nerves fraying, "Now, you're telling the truth about Tellar Prime?" It felt like clutching at straws, the possibility of the Tellar home system as the destination only seeming more likely because of the shortcuts his overtaxed mind was taking. He put the DNA container on the medical tray by Johnson's bedside, still out of reach.
The Regulan shrugged, "Yes, but Rurk would be a damn fool if he didn't change the flight plan! I suspect he's gone to..." he began but changed his mind, "I don't know!" At that moment the cranial monitor beeped wildly; Johnson started having a fit; his eyes rolled into the back of his head and foam appeared at his mouth... He fell unconscious.
Iorte and Tan stepped back, Adama moving in, "Severe haemorrhaging in the frontal lobe," she murmured, then shouted orders to nurses.
OOC: endgame with Aur 003 or should we continue with pursuit of Rurk, unless he suddenly shows up himself perhaps?
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