Pt 2 • Disaster ... and Tenacity ...

[Sato Tetsutaro]

Admiral Tetsutaro's Office
Level Eight ::

The attacks, some serious, the majority minor in nature, had been going on for weeks, stretching Security, and now the Marine contingents on the Starbase to their limits ... The phase-shifting mines were the most dangerous, by their very nature they were practically undetectable until activated by proximity when in-phase. Many had been injured and there had been numerous deaths as a result of said mines. To say the least, Tetsutaro was frustrated !

He was trying to enjoy a cup of tea, made in the traditional way, not the replicated 'tainted water' others were accustomed to, when his Adjutant, Captain Nia Lemond entered:

"We've received an somewhat unusual request from the Chief Engineer of the Enzio." she said, dropping the PADD on Sato's desk for him to read.

"Where is the Section Admiral ?"

"In his office I believe." ..........

[Sato Tetsutaro]

Meeting Room 3B
Below Primary Operations ::

Sato had been in quiet discussion with one of his Civilian-garbed Intelligence Officers when he heard the Section Admiral's raised voice:

".... Admiral .... That is out of line, and completely unfounded. Does the loss in any way affect our development of a method to disable the spheres ?" he was asking as Tetsutaro approached.

"I received the reports of the missing Benemite, alas we are still investigating." Sato informed the group, eyes lingering on Kempton for a second.

"We should make that a priority I think." Gheskori said, Tetsutaro nodding in agreement.

"I have assigned personnel to the task." Sato confirmed, taking the Section Admiral's arm to move him to one side before continuing, "You have read the report from the Raven ?" Ghes nodded.

"We should take care to ensure Serova or any of her 'Colleagues' attain the information of either races. It could be felt that aligning themselves with one or the other could be beneficial to their efforts. I suggest we remove anyone from the Command and communications Sections with suspected associations with the rebels immediately."

"Well, we only had a handful whom we suspected, and we were allowing them free movement to keep tabs on who they contacted." Gheskori replied, glancing at the others who seemed to be waiting for their return before continuing the conversation, "If we remove 'all' of Serova's loyalists she may well realise something is amiss and make a concerted effort to find out just what that is."

"Yes, indeed ... A synopsis I had admittedly failed to consider ....." the Intelligence director conceded, "Very well, they can remain in place, but I will ensure all information regarding these new races is secured well beyond their gaze."

"Agreed." Gheskori said as the two made their way back to the others .....

Two hours later ::

Sato was moving around the room, listening intently to numerous conversations, hoping maybe to pick up on one comment or other to further the ongoing investigations, but alas, and to his continued consternation, none were forthcoming. Then Nia Lemond approached:

"I just received a report from the fighting, the shuttle is coming under attack but they are holding position, at this point none of the mines have detonated. They requested additional assistance, Colonel Vaslov has detached a Marine contingent. They are currently three Levels above the shuttles' location but are encountering resistance."

"Thank you Captain, keep me appraised if you would." Sato said, shaking his head momentarily. He knew his frustration was both warranted and unavoidable, but it irked him nevertheless that they were being held so thoroughly by the mounting numbers of personnel, both Military and civilian, who were changing allegiance from the Federation to the Rebel doctrine. At last count almost one fifth of the Starbase population were aligned with the Rebels, should that increase the Federation may well find itself outnumbered, and ultimately ousted ! .... He found himself pondering the possible ramifications of opening sections of the Starbase to space flushing the rebel et al into the cold void of space, suppressing a wry grin as he reluctantly dismissed the idea.

Dismissing himself from the remainder of the refreshments he returned to his office. He sat at his desk looking over the 'Status board' on the large wall-mounted screen opposite: with the El Salvador and the Raven far away it only left the Enzio and recently refitted Maracanda and the El Alamein to defend the Starbase ... Would they need to use such force he wondered ..........

[Carl Torek]

OOC : Posting as Yelana Serova ...

Level One Six Eight One
Lower Communications Offices (Presumed open to space)
Headquarters of Dissident Leadership

17:50 Hours
One hour before Meeting ::


Yelana sat listening to her most trusted Lieutenants ..... What she was hearing didn't fill her with optimism:

"You are 'STILL' not seeing the bigger picture !" Safron Nelor spat at the possible Serova's prospective Deputy, Dimok Bennett. Bennett in turn shook his head, feigning sadness and disappointment at the young woman, who on seeing this sprang from her seat eyes venomously locked on the older man, "Patronise me again, 'Mister vice President' and your tenure will be ended before you can sit that fat behind of yours on any Presidential dais !"

"Sit down Safron." Yelana said quietly, waiting patiently while her protégé vented her silent frustration ... Finally, the younger woman turned away, but not before she and everyone else had seen the man flinch at her approach, sweat had begun pouring from his brow in anticipation of a very real attack.

"This is getting us nowhere." Noel Grimes commented.

"Master of the understatement once again." Safron said as she dropped into her seat, "You have to wonder just how you feel in all this ..... There you are, our Leaders' second in command, yet she picks this, this .... Person to be her vice President."

"Had I desired the office, it would be mine Safron, I assure you." Grimes said, making a point not to look at Serova, "I am better placed where I am." he finished, letting everyone in the room take from his clearly obtuse comment what they will.

"Where do we stand in our preparations ?" Serova asked, changing the topic quickly.

"All is in readiness. Wilm Goras informed her, the Federation are making progress but it is too little too late. As fast as they are making inroads were are blocking them."

"..... and my personal security, you have allowed for every contingent, should the 'trustworthy' federation choose to conclude our meeting with my forced imprisonment ?"

"Devices are in place ... They will be discovered in time, but they will assure your continued freedom for the duration of the meeting." Goras assured the room.

"You really believe they will cede to our demands ?" someone else asked nervously.

"They have no intention of ceding to anything we 'demand' ...." Serova answered with a wry smile, "I doubt they will be willing to even listen to anything remotely approaching a demand, for that matter I will be pleasantly surprised if we manage to sit around the table without some incident marring the proceedings. That said,will shall attempt to put our, proposals, across and see where that leads us. Our progression is assured, be it through peaceful means, or other, more, questionable processes."

"Where do we stand regarding Command Officers ?" Bennett asked.

"We are working on converting several to our cause, we have already gained a considerable number of Junior Officers and Crewmen from within the 'Fleet' but alas senior Officers, especially those holding Command positions are more loyal to their Federation masters than we first believed." Maksim Serov, Yelana's brother answered.

"We are working on measures to eliminate those Officers who pose too much of a barrier." Grimes said.

"Like you did with the Head of Starfleet Intelligence I assume ?"

"Indeed ... For a supposed frail octogenarian, that man has more lives than the proverbial sack of cats !" Yelana said with a hint of admiration.

"His 'reluctance' to shake off his mortal coil is fast running out I can assu ......" Bennett began.

"Oh come on !" Safron interrupted him, "The only way that man is going to die is if you walk up to him and stick a knife in his heart. Even then he'll likely pull it out and carve his initials on your chest before lopping off your incompetent head as he utilises some mystic zen mind control treatment to heal himself."

"He's an old man that has indeed been very fortunate." the thus far silent Admiral Basirov said.

"HA ! ... We finally hear from our reluctant comrade, the well hidden Admiral .... What about you Admiral, you could solve all our problems with Command in one foul swoop, yet here you sit, silent, observant, no doubt conniving and scheming to assure your future well-being."

"You would prefer I walk into Command with an antimatter bomb strapped to my back ?" the Admiral said defiantly.

"Well that isn't going to happen now is it." Nelor spat. Basirov simply smiled.

"So do I assume that with the lack of Command Staff support, taking, and holding one or more of the Star ships is impossible ?" Yelana asked.

"..... and would the crew comply anyway ?" Wilm Goras commented.

"I doubt we could take control of the three main vessels, El Salvador, Raven, and the Enzio are all commanded by our most Senior Command Officers, their crews are completely loyal, even our attempts to win over Junior Officers has met with zero success." Admiral Basirov replied, "As for the other vessels ... The El Alamein has received it's new warp core, as has the Meracanda. Both ships are short of crew but have established Command Staff, El Alamein is the Intelligence vessel and likely to defend the Starbase along with the aforementioned vessels. As for the Mercanda, she has a Command Staff made up of predominantly untried Staff. it is intended to use the ship for 'Base defence only. We may have more options there in due course."

"So .... A handful of shuttles then ?" Grimes said quietly.

The size differential didn't seem to hinder David too much in his fight agai ....."

Safron's fist impacting with Bennett's jaw curtailed his continuing. He hit the floor scrabbling for the concealed phaser, but his attacker was too quick, she took a step forward kicking the weapon from his grasp. kneeling she raised one arm, fist clenched, but Wilm grabbed it before it completed it's arc toward the man."

"THAT IS ENOUGH SAFRON !" Serova shouted, "I WILL NOT' tolerate any more of your temper." She stood over Safron, hand on her shoulder as Goras lifted her back and away from the Vice President elect. Once he sat her down her walked over to retrieve the phaser:

"You would have used this ?" he asked.

"No ... He wouldn't." Serova answered quickly, placing herself between the fallen man and Safron's partner. Goras in turn eyed the leader of the Dissidents for a long dangerous moment before he too returned to his seat. he threw the now dormant phaser to one of the guards against the wall, wondering vaguely as to what situation would require their participation in events. No doubt they were there to protect Serova and no other. The lives, or possible deaths of others in the room were seemingly none of their concern.

"Madam, we should go." one of Serova's Aids whispered.

"None too soon if you ask me." Grimes commented as they stood and began filing towards the door ..........

[Simon Clark]

Meeting Room 3B, below Primary Operations, Starbase 47

Admiral Gheskori called a short recess, and he, his aides, and admiral Basirov filed out of the meeting room, leaving M'Rell, Simon and Max sat around the conference table. The intelligence officer stood at the back of the room. He had neither moved, nor spoken, during the meeting.

Simon had found it a frustrating discussion: with M'Rell unable to speak under pressure, and Max unable to keep quiet, he had mediated throughout, and had found it draining.

"Ssorry." M'Rell said, breaking the silence, "I tried sso."

"I could tell." Simon replied, careful to keep his tone level. "I would, however appreciate it if you would not offer to present, if you are not going to be able to."

The fur on the back of M'Rell's neck rose, and fell, accompanied by a quiet hiss. She left her chair and walked across to the replicator.

Max leaned in toward him. His frown had not left his face since they had been accused. "Sir. Admiral Basirov. I don't trust him." He glanced sideways at the intelligence officer. Simon nodded for him to continue. "Well... He knew we were planning to use the slipstream device all the way through our presentation. But he waited right until the end of the discussion to inform the Admiral about the benemite being lifted."

"That's true. From the surprised look on his face, I would guess that was the first Admiral Gheskori had heard of it. That in itself seems odd, given that it has been missing for three days. And then he immediately accused us of stealing it."

"Which we didn't." Max said.

"As Admiral Gheskori fully knows." Simon told him. "Thank you for holding your temper, and letting the Admiral speak on our behalf."

"Good gods, it was hard! I could have hit the man!"

"It probably helped that you didn't."

Max nodded, his frown fading. He looked down at the table, thinking. After a moment, he said, "That was in my conduct report."

This was the first time Max had mentioned the report that neither of them had officially received. He wasn't sure how to address it. "I had something similar: To recognise your view, and hear it."

"Ha. Mine was to think before letting my temper break the discipline of command."

"What was it you thought?" Simon asked.

"I imagined you hitting him." Max replied, with a smirk.

"Ah." It wasn't much of a reply. They sat quietly, while M'Rell returned to her seat with a steaming cup.

"Coffee?" Max asked, "I thought you'd given it up?"

"Banned. Ssuperior Offisser'ss orderss. But... you humanss ssay: dessperate timess..."

"Call for desperate measures. Yeah. There's something in that." Max replied. He gestured to the dormant intelligence officer in the corner. "Hey, you know anything about missing Benemite?"

The man looked sideways at the wall for a moment, and then back at the table. He shook his head once; slight, slow and deliberate.

"See?" Max said, "It's very suspicious. I don't trust him. Sir."

"I'll speak to the Admiral. After the meeting." Simon told him.

The door slid open. Admirals returned, Gheskori with his retinue.

<Tag: Gheskori>

[Simon Clark]

USS Frederick: USS Enzio Type 9 Shuttlecraft, Industrial Replication Bay Six, Level 1659.

"Almir Marin here. What's your status, captain?"

=/\= We've reached bay two, and secured the corridors around it. We have two wounded, can you beam them out? =/\=

"Negative, there's something scrambling the targeting scanners. The second team is coming up behind you, carrying pattern enhancers. Five minutes." Almir replied.

=/\= Acknowledged. Three! =/\= There was the sound of pulse phaser fire, and then the stream of a hand phaser =/\= Franks, hold that corner, we'll take the stairs. Objective in sight, under fire. Marin, third team. Two levels up. Patched. Get them here. =/\=

Almir contacted the new marine team, ascertained their position, and drew them into his overlay map on the the screen. The limited sensors were showing lifesigns, but it was glitchy. With the marines comm badges active on secure channels, he was able to resolve some of them by triangulating with the encryption key. He could see where the marines were, but not always their opponents.

"Take corridor B29, and the axial jeffries tube on B37. Sensors are showing it as clear."

The points from the third team slowly moved down two levels.

"Captain. Team three will approach from the other side of bay two. Possible lifesigns in between you and them, on both levels. Team two: three minutes."

The marine captain didn't reply, Almir heard phaser fire over the channel.

=/\= Objective reached. Fifteen persons, eight wounded, two critical. Three dead. Pattern enhancers? =/\=

"Two minutes." Marin replied, "Lifesigns may be closing on your position on the upper level."

Phaser fire answered, and a tense period of waiting in relative silence while all the points on the map converged on industrial replication bay two. More phaser fire came through the channel.

=/\= Lieutenant Marin, this is Lieutenant Dixon. The captain is down, we are holding position. =/\=

Almir felt his body lurch under the tension, "Teams two and three are approaching," he said.

There was more phaser fire, through the channel, and then quiet. Team two moved into bay two.

=/\= Pattern enhancers are in position. =/\=

"Transporters are targetting... and locked."

=/\= Wounded first. Thirteen to beam out, two are medics. On my mark. Mark. =/\=

"Energising." Seven lifesigns materialised in the cargo area of the second shuttlecraft, and then seven more followed. "Transport complete. Two shuttlecraft can't carry all of you."

=/\= Get the wounded to medical facilities. We will work our way back up through the 'base with team three. =/\=

"Understood." Almir relayed the orders to the pilot of the second shuttle. "The shuttle is backing out of bay six. The shuttle is away. We will hold position until you are clear."

=/\= Acknowledged. =/\=

The points on the map started to move away from the industrial replication bay, reversing back along the route that team three had taken to come down. It would take too long for over thirty marines to climb one ladder.

"Use corridor B21 as well, there are axial jeffries tubes at the intersection with B16, undamaged up to level one-six-five-one. I am transmitting the route to your tricorder."

A half hour passed, with the teams taking occasional fire. At two points on level one-six-four-eight, the marines were ambushed. Force fields blocked their paths. Multiple hostiles attacked from multiple directions. High energy phaser fire flooded the channels.

=/\= Six down, can you get them out? =/\=

"Not without pattern enhancers."

=/\= All right, we're set up. =/\=

Almir beamed the six wounded into the shuttlecraft. One of the lifesigns was very shaky. "Transport complete. Orders?"

=/\= We'll take it from here for a while. Get them to medics. And call another shuttle. =/\=

"Understood. Almir out." Almir turned to the pilot. "Time to go."

"What about the sphere?" The ominous silver shape ahead of the shuttle held the centre of the viewscreen.

"We'll keep the deflector on it as long as we can."

"All right. I'm backing out."

The shuttle shifted backwards. As the pilot turned away from the sphere, the magnetic field from the deflector couldn't maintain the focal point. The sphere blinked, and was whole once more.

"Oh... Shift... Phase..."

Almir found it very difficult to think. He saw himself reinforcing the forward shield with an antichroniton particles, and he saw it fail, the walls of the shuttle ripped apart by the time differential from one side to the other. His mind worked it's way through the thoughts that led to suggesting antichronitons. He dismissed it, and fired the tractor beam, releasing a stream of gravitons into the vicinity of the sphere, without really knowing why. One second his hands were on the console. The next they were shielding his head from an explosion. Then his hands were on the console again, no explosion. The pilot seemed to be thrown from his seat, and then was back in it again as if he had never moved, his hands moving fast and then slow over the console.

Then everything was normal. The time dilation was gone. The sphere had shifted.

"Sheelss!" Almir shouted, unsettled by the slur in his words.

"Up!" The pilot replied. The lights turned yellow. The sphere exploded. The pilot was thrown from his seat, just as Almir had seen a second before. He shielded his eyes from the bright light of the viewscreen. On the displays around him, he saw the shuttle move rapidly backwards. The closed bay-six doors came up fast. The doors gave way. The display flicked out with a burst of sparks.

Almir struggled to keep his seat as the shuttle was rocked by the explosion. The vibration stopped.

"Compuher, damage reporr." he said. Something wasn't right. The computer didn't recognise his words. He keyed the command instead into the console for a level five damage report.

"Shield Array at six percent. Structural integrity field at twenty-eight percent. Weapon control is offline. Impulse engines at thirty-five percent. Warp engines are offline. Primary deflector is offline. Inertial dampeners have been damaged. Long range communications are offline. Short range communications have been damaged. Tractor control has been damaged..."

He let the computer continue in the background while he ran his own damage checks. He had knocked his shoulder on something, it hurt, but it seemed okay. He directed a working panel to a view of the starbase, and felt the claw of anger at the sight of the maw of the cavernous industrial replication bay six, now completely open to space. The now absent hull plating of the starbase exterior revealed the interiors of two or three levels above and below the replication facility. The external damage extended laterally a fifth of the way to the external doors of rep bay one. Such destruction, he thought. Such pointless, unnecessary destruction.

The pilot was on the floor, and getting up, groaning as he got back into his seat. "Setting course for the docking dome."

Almir felt the force of the engines pushing him back into his seat as the shuttle began to move. He tried to open a channel to the starbase command. He could get video, but no sound. He sent an image of the injured marines, and another of the punctured skin of the starbase and keyed a message requesting immediate medical assistance, and another shuttlecraft to assist the teams of marines fighting their way through the lower levels of the starbase. He knew he should assist the injured marines. He knew he should do something, to help them, to save them from dying. He watched the receding image of the debris-strewn space around the lower levels, tiny pin-pricks of light reflecting from the dark shapes as they made their way out into space. He forced himself out of his seat, and through the opening into the cargo area of the shuttle.

<Tag: Gheskori / Anyone>

[Gheskori]

Ghes returned to the conference room with the aides and Basirov, hoping his countenance betrayed nothing and the normal pallid complexion of his face had retained its normal dull lustre - indeed, Denobulans' faces turned red when angry, apoplectic with rage in fact as he had been. Choosing a small anteroom, he's heatedly quizzed Basirov on why he hadn't revealed the information of the missing benamite before... The explanation... Well, there'd been none.

Clark's words from before the recess were still in his ears: using the warp fields of several of their ships to provide reasonable - if not wholly sufficient - magnetic field coverage over the Starbase's length and breadth. It wasn't ideal, yet with the absence of benamite crystals in sufficient quantity they'd no other choice.

"Proceed, Lieutenants, and Crewman," he nodded encouragingly at M'Rell and gave her a Denobulan wide smile; he'd recognised her lack of comfort during the meeting - it would've been hard to miss considering her non-start of her initial presentation.

An aide whispered in Ghes's ear as simultaneously Lieutenant Kempton spoke, "Begging your pardon, Captain... uh, Admiral?" It appeared Kempton was unsure of the etiquette concerning correct form of address while on the base; Ghes didn't mind the use of either; Kempton, "But, sir, need we remind you, whatever starship positional configuration we select, we'll be without the requisite coverage..."

"We won't be able to cover them all, sir," Clark reminded him.

"I was thinking of that," Ghes half-lied, casting a glance at Basirov, who soon after this excused himself with some nebulous comment which Ghes soon shrugged off. "Aide Burr, you have something to suggest?"

Ghes's science advisor spoke briefly on judicious placement of starships with their active warp fields so as to cover critical sections of the base, explosions of spheres in which sections would cause catastrophic damage if those devices' capabilites went uncountered.

It was agreed that the Enzio, Maracanda and the much-refitted Oxford (the prospective sixth member of the Section 47 in exile's fleet, still missing most of its critical systems but with a new spec warp core fitted (it was named as such because the original Oxford constituted ~40% of the materials of the new vessel, though currently it was being considered for renaming) would situate themselves about the station and - courtesy of the requisite phase shift-catalysis provided by the small amount of benamite the Enzio would be able to provide - would generate their fields. That, Ghes hoped, would remove the threat of most of the dangerously-placed spheres.

<Tag Clark>

[Gheskori]

OOC: sorry for the double post, hopefully I've addressed everything

"Lieutenant Kempton," Ghes called the man back as the trio of Enzio engineers were leaving the room. Clark and M'Rell looked to the side at Max briefly as they left, while Kempton steeled himself and made his way back in. "You're to be commended for your role in this, Lieutenant. I will say however, that you shouldn't leap out at a serving Admiral and one of my staff in such a way as you did with Admiral Basirov..." Kempton's reaction was a mixed one of remorse and defiance. "That said, if we didn't have our instincts what good would we be as sentient beings? I, too, wanted to berate him rather strongly, and did in that recess," he smiled but it quickly faded; this was serious; it was unusual of Basirov to cast such aspersions at officers on no evidence at all, unless he knew more than was apparent, "Is there anything you see in Basirov that is out of the ordinary?"

<Tag Kempton>

"Also, Lieutenant, I'll say I recognise and commend your performance as assistant to Lieutenant Clark these past months, and would like you to be temporarily assigned to assist the USS Oxford's refit coordinator as his chief engineering and science advisor, for the next 24 hours. You'll be responsible for the generation of its warp field, working in sync with Clark on the Enzio and the CEO of the Maracanda. Step to it, Lieutenant."

<Tag Kempton>

"A lead on the benamite, sir?" Burr said once Kempton was gone. Ghes glanced at his aide, "Not that I know of John; is there something I should know?" Burr gestured at the Intel man who was now pacing back and forth before one of the room's half-dozen portals. "Only, that man was holding a comm in the ante-room with, I presume, a fellow operative, and benamite was mentioned." Ghes told John Burr leads were being pursued by Sato, so far without luck.

"Any chance the benamite could've been phased out of ordinary space?" Burr asked; Ghes turned to him, John continued, "Via the spheres?"

"I'll suggest it to my Chief Engineer," Ghes said (<tag Clark>) and turned, pointing to the corner where the Intel man was, "Excuse me, you -" But the man was gone.

"This is too... cloak and dagger," Burr said, shaking his head, "I don't know who to trust. I advise you set up another meeting with VP Bennett, sir. If there's still a possibility he could turn to our side..." Ghes nodded, "Let's have him up here. Their Council wouldn't pass up the chance of another meeting, even if it's with only one of them..."

---

SA Aide John Burr's quarters

"Dimok? Dimok, you there?"

The screen flickered to life, "On first name terms now, are we, Burr?" the pudgy, quizzically intelligent face of Vice President Elect Bennett appeared, though grainy and cut through with choppy static. "How'd you find this frequency, Burr?"

"He wants to speak with you," John Burr said impatiently, "And you know who I mean."

Bennett's dark-rimmed eyes looked up from his copy of Aristides' sacred dream accounts, "Your lord and master beckons me to his court, no doubt. What could a humble servant of the Cygnian universal truth possibly do for his federative majesty?"

"Bennett, you know how to turn off the rest of the explosive spheres. You know Serova's secrets. You know how much more she knows of our plans than she lets on," Burr intoned. Bennett slammed shut his book, rose and switched off the visual display; the audio-link remained active just long enough for Bennett's stentorian voice to diffuse through the speaker, "I'd be a fool to spurn the summons of a king."

[Gheskori]

OOC: Sorry for triple-posting lol, I had this post ready to go up and was waiting for others but have decided to just post it now; this will sort out what happens next with treacherous Basirov etc.

Ghes understood arrangements were being made to bring Serova's VP Elect Bennett up to the Dome for another interview (Ghes's aide Burr had told him of this cryptically, though how he'd found out without others of his rank knowing was beyond him). Swaying Bennett to their side wouldn't be an easy task, yet to leave him down there - subject to the machinations and manipulations of the competing groups of dissidents and their conflicts with one another - would be a sure way to lose him, his ideological focus inevitably dragging him to one group or another.

Shortly after the conclusion of his meeting with the engineers - plans having been made to situate the three vessels of the Maracanda (under Manley), barely-operational Oxford (commanded by an old friend Acting Captain Tymoklis) and Enzio equidistantly about the station for the magnetic field burst operation; additionally, Ghes told of the concerns of Lieutenant Kempton - Ghes had signalled to several aides and other officers to follow him down the corridor through which Basirov had departed the 3B meeting room.

"Admiral. Going somewhere?"

Basirov started. They'd intercepted him by a maintenance port just prior to a junction, the man seeming to Ghes as if he'd been about to open a Jefferies' Tube hatch... Had he only imagined it? Were Kempton's suspicions correct, on the other hand?

"Gheskori... You always were a busybody," Basirov's aggression was unmistakeable, though he tried to make light with a smile, "Can't I be left in peace from you and your cabal's pestering? A stock of benamite has been stolen, and you're chasing after dissidents with no food or rest from labour..."

Keep talking... Ghes thought.

Basirov sighed, "Anyway. I've had a long day," he was gruff, "Tomorrow I'll begin anew the hunt for the benamite."

"Could it have been shifted out of phase via the quantum slipstream spheres?" one of Ghes's science advisors present asked, for which the Denobulan didn't thank him, for this was Basirov trying to divert attention from himself, from his possible malfeasance, though the query did have a certain efficacy... "One of your engineers mentioned it, during conversation amongst themselves, Admiral," the science aide said to Gheskori. Ghes nodded, silently giving assent that it was a matter worth investigating.

"I still think one of your engineers is responsible, Gheskori," Basirov said abruptly, "Talking about it amongst themselves, eh? Shouldn't that tell us something? They didn't think they were overheard, didn't they?"

Ghes's aide, indeed the whole group, said nothing; eyes were cast this way and that and silence prevailed, before after a long interval Basirov awkwardly said goodnight. With the admiral gone, Ghes turned immediately to his security lieutenant - an underling of Tetsutaro seconded to base security from Sato's department, "Is surveillance in Basirov's quarters in place?"

"Aye, sir."

"Good. Now where's your missing colleague?"

The lieutenant frowned, "Sir?"

"The man standing at the back of meeting room 3B; he watched us discuss the options for nullifying the spheres and disappeared before meeting's end." (OOC: was this Tan or Clancy, perhaps?)

"You'll have to ask Admiral Tetsutaro. Sir." The lieutenant coughed, "He spoke to that officer before the meeting commenced. I believe Tetsutaro had a mission in mind for him."

<Tag Tan? something relating to VP Bennett or Basirov?>

[Simon Clark]

[OOC: Okay, so I am technically on leave, but I have few posts in the works...]
+++
Medical Ward 2C, Primary Medical Centre, Level 57, Starbase 47.

Lieutent Almir Marin was uncomfortable on the thin grey cushion of a metal framed chair. To his left, Ensign Vish Fox lay on a biobed, the scanner closed over his midsection, his vitals pinging on the monitors around him.

"Al, they attacked us for days... they wouldn't stop, they wouldn't stop... They said they wouldn't kill us, they wanted us to run the machines. We'd have surrendered there and then if those marines hadn't shown up. My guys, they're all good reppers, I mean..." Vish's head turned to the silent figure on the next bed, and he trailed to silence.

"Vish, I'm sorry about Rob, the doctor says he is recovering."

Vish didn't acknowledge, "I overheard them, they were short on some component; a crystalisation stabiliser. You have any idea what a quantum matrix is?"

A quantum matrix was a device for deriving a quantum field from a benemite crystal source. A crystalisation stabiliser unit would increase the longevity of the crystal catalyst by limiting the natural degeneration of the structure. There was too much about slipstream technology running around the starbase as it was. "I... why do you ask?"

"Lot of shouting, doesn't matter. What about bay six, was there much damage?"

Vish's eyes turned to Almir's and held them. Almir knew he wouldn't take the truth very well, for all he said he that the machines and the bays weren't important, they were, to him. He also knew, that that was what Vish wanted. Truth. He wouldn't withhold that from him.

"Vish, there was a quantum sphere in there, a big one, it went antimatter on us... bay six was destroyed, two decks above, and three below, for forty degrees around the main axis."

"Just... eight levels... leave me a bit, Al, I want to... sleep..." He laid his head back on the bed, and closed his eyes.

"Are you sure? I thought you might like to talk for a-"

"I said LEAVE! Ugh..." Vish crumpled in pain, and the monitors spiked on the wall. Vish had taken a blast to the stomach in that last firefight, and he still had a lot of healing to do.

A doctor appeared in front of the bed, a different one from the one who had treated Almir's shoulder, and different again from the one who had been tending to Vish. There were so many doctors in the central medical facilities, and so many rooms and corridors. It was hard to keep track. "Lieutenant, my understanding was that you were a good friend of Ensign Fox, and that you weren't going to upset him. You've been cleared for duty, perhaps you'd like to come back later?"

"Sure," Almir said, standing up, "No problem. Vish, rest good. Call me if you need anything?"

Vish grunted a response, and Almir was ushered out of the sick bay by a firm hand on his shoulder. Once he was outside, Almir took a turbolift to the visitor promenade and found a secure comm-booth. He thought it was unlikely that anyone had interviewed the Replication Workers.

"Leiutenant Almir Marin to Admiral Gheskori."

=/\= Admiral Gheskori's office. John Burr here. =/\=

"I have some information I need to get to the Admiral, is this a secure channel?"

<Tag Gheskori>

[Gheskori]

Ghes had acknowledged the security lieutenant's information and walked away, through the station to his quarters and his wife Mwv'mci. "That man you spoke to on Beta Promenade, he's Intel..." he said to her casually, too casually, as he walked in.

Mwv'mci looked up enquiringly, putting down her book from her sitting position on the couch.

He reached the transparent aluminium portal and looked out, sighed deeply, hands palms down spread wide either side of him, "I feel I'm losing control, dearest: Intelligence, the rebels, the attacks on work crews, the disappearances and killings... and now also Basirov's treachery."

"There are better things: your officers are searching for a way home, Ghes," she turned and patted the couch beside her imperatively, and he sat and exhaled, head tilted back. "Through the micro-wormholes in the nebula," Mwv'mci finished. Ghes looked at his wife briefly and hid his surprise at her knowledge of this, but then again, she'd unwittingly spoken to dissidents - perhaps she knew more from both sides than she'd ever have wanted to.

"Well," he said breezily almost to himself, "With the four ships we're going to join the nav deflectors and phase-lock the spheres..."

His personal console beeped, a scarlet glow emanating from the corner of the room by his desk. He answered and his aide John Burr's face appeared, serious, suggesting matters of import, "Bennett arrived in the Dome and we've interviewed him. He was very eager, he wants to drive out of the lower decks and bring to justice Serova and Safron Nelor, apparently. The infighting between those two and the loss of ideological direction are too much to bear, he says."

"And so what next?" Ghes asked, rubbing his eyes.

"If you ask my opinion, sir, he may attempt to make himself the new leader of the dissidents; in which case, if I may suggest, we let him and the rest who want to join him leave the station - that is, if he wishes to pursue his ideology with, as he's been emphatically stating, no threat to us."

"You're too trusting, Burr," Ghes smiled, "Bennett is in many cases our better - he knows how to manipulate, how to reconcile, how to speak and sway the masses, better than Serova or Serov ever could. It seems we needn't ask him to drive the dissidents apart; he could do so 'off his own back' as you humans say and besides Serova and Nelor are in conflict already. No, he could well stay and become a threat, could lead an insurrection against Command himself and capture the station." Ghes's words were meant only to caution his credulous aide; the Denobulan hoped himself that Bennett's principles in which he'd detected much to be admired would prevent him from such a thing. What had surveillance on Basirov's quarters revealed?

"He's with the dissidents, Admiral, there's no doubt about that now..." Burr said, "I believe the dissidents may even be responsible for the missing benamite; Basirov is trying to redirect our attention off-station, suggesting some unconnected group could've taken it, or indeed, as he accused, members of the Enzio crew."

"Then we'll seize him," Ghes made the obvious resolution.

"We'll attempt to, sir, certainly. Marines are on the way to Basirov's quarters and the other places he likes to frequent now... Wait a moment, sir, we're getting a message coming through from... Ah, wait a minute..." Burr disappeared and came back moment later, "An engineer of yours, sir, I'm patching him through if you're disposed."

Ghes nodded, tensing; was there an issue with the quadrangular setup of starships or something else? "Lieutenant Marin," he beamed when his officer's face appeared, "What can I do for you?" His expression became grave as Almir began speaking.

<Tag Clark/Marin>

[Simon Clark]

Secure Comments Booth, Visitor Promenade, Level 74, Starbase 47.

"I have some information I need to get to the Admiral, is this a secure channel?" Lieutenant Marin asked.

"As secure as we can make it, Lieutenant. One moment, I'll see if the Admiral is available."

Almir waited while Aide Burr disappeared from the panel.

"Lieutenant Marin," the Admiral beamed, "What can I do for you?"

"Admiral, I have spoken to Ensign Fox - the Production Manager for the Starbase's Replication facilities - in central medical."

"A nasty situation. Your participation seems to have aided it's resolution. Good work, Lieutenant. Are all of the production staff recovering?"

"Yes, Sir. Those that survived, that is. However, the resolution seems to be a way off. Ensign Fox reports that the some of the orders received by the rep bays for six weeks prior to today were different from the ones sent by central logistics, they had been intercepted and changed prior to reaching him. His team produced to those orders, and shipped the requested product, and while the computer system shows the orders as complete and in stock, the manifest records have no record of the product. "

Gheskori's expression became grave, "Do you have hard evidence of this?"

"No, Sir, only what Ensign Fox has reported, and the discrepancy between the delivery records and the manifest. However, I do trust him, sir. He also reported that Wilbert Arnold, one of Logistics Director Geoffrey Morton's Aides, identified the discrepancy, and came down to the Replication Facilities to investigate it. He was captured by the attackers, and is still missing. Vish says that he's never had much confidence in the logistics department, and we have several times broken official protocol and obtained parts off the record, like the recent torpedo tube, directly from Industrial Replication."

"I had meant to discuss that matter with the Director. I regret that there have been other priorities."

"Yes, sir, I understand. However, I suspect that the issues around Industrial Replication, and logistics in general, are related to the current situation with the quantum slipstream spheres. "

"How so?" The Admiral asked.

"Some of the components in the false orders are essential for quantum matrix construction to prevent the rapid degradation of benemite crystals during use. I have reason to belive that the attack on the Industrial Replication Facilities was a tactical manoeuvre by the people working with Serova, using starfleet equipment to acquire equipment to use against us, and given the timescale involved, there must be a deeper involvement within the logistics organisation, or it would have been picked up sooner than it did."

"So you think our own logistics department has been manufacturing quantum slipstream components and supplying them to the dissident faction without our knowledge?"

"Yes, sir, in a nutshell."

The Admiral looked away from the display for a moment, as if in thought.

"I'll have someone look into it. Anything else?"

"Lieutenant Clark has asked that I return to the Enzio, unless you need me specifically on another project?"

<Tag Gheskori >

[Simon Clark]

Meeting Room 3B, below Primary Operations, Starbase 47

"Proceed, Lieutenants, and Crewman," Admiral Gheskori nodded encouragingly.

The discussion turned to the placement of starships around the base so as to cover the critical operarional systems. Simon found himself somewhat outside of his knowledge area as the discussion progressed to starbase scale power and life support, and which systems were most in need of protection from large explosion. Max seemed to be within his element, contributing his experience of damage control and prevention to specific details.

It was agreed that the Enzio, Maracanda and the much-refitted Oxford although missing most of its critical systems would situate themselves about the station and generate their fields. Against the initial suggestion of an equidistant configuration, Simon suggested something more asymmetrical to increase the coverage. The Oxford above the dome, covering levels 1 to 250, Enzio below the dome part way down the main axis, where the radius of the starbase is greatest, on the opposite side from Oxford covering levels 500 to 750, and Maracanda half way down the axis, for level 750-1000.

"What about these areas?" Aide Burr asked, "A warp field projected from outside of the station would not reach so far."

"It's a low level warp field," Simon said, "We have no requirement to bend spacetime around the ships, only to influence a magnetic oscillation. The warp field can therefore be expanded to cover a much greater volume than it would normally be capable of for faster than light travel."

"How much aditional volume?" Aide Burr asked.

"Perhaps three to five hundred percent of normal." Max told him.

"That's not enough to cover everything. These critical areas within the dome will be completely exposed."

"The starbase power system itself could be used to generate some magnetic field coverage within the dome, covering the areas unreachable by the starships from outside, on levels 250-500 within the dome, though these are mostly cargo storage areas." Simon said.

"It's a good idea, Lieutenant. You will coordinate the field burst with Commander Gordon in primary operations." The Admiral said.

"Yes sir. But it's not a burst operation, the field must be continuously maintained once it has been activated. We know that whoever is controlling the spheres will be aware of our influence, and will be able to remotely control them if there are gaps in the magnetic field for too long." Simon said. "Once the detected devices are disabled, we can reposition our starships to cover those areas."

"What about the benemite on board the Enzio?" Aide Burr asked

"The tiny amount of benemite we were using for testing, and is partially denatured. We may be able to use it to catalyse a phase shift in the magnetic field being generated by the warp core. This could allow the Enzio to both detect and influence the phase shift of any spheres within it's warp field area, which will reduce the risk to any ground team attempting to disable them. This is why the Enzio will hold the areas here below the dome, where the majority of the population are resident."

"The warp fields won't reach the interior of the dome, how will we cover that area, there are some sensitive and critical areas here, we can't have explosions in these areas."

"Once any devices on the upper levels are cleared, we can reposition the Oxford within the docking dome with an active warp field."

"That's against regulations!" Another of Admiral Gheskori's aides said.

"Admiral, I would like to request a temporay exemption to that particular regulation for the duration of this operation?" Simon said.

"Granted. The risks of undetected devices in these areas greatly exceed the health risk of an active warp field. In any case, you will work that out with Commander Gordon, and ensure that medical facilities are made aware."

"Won't that compromise the secrecy of the operation?" Max asked, "Tell them something else, a plasma leak, with similar symptoms."

"Agreed."

"There are still unprotected areas, this area on the opposite side from the Maracanda, and everything below level 1000. We don't have enough ships. Can we use shuttlecraft?" Burr asked.

"Not easily, the warp field wouldn't be large enough to extend far into the hull." Simon told him. "As I said, once areas have been cleared of phase-shifted devices, we can re-position the starships to cover other areas, though I am not sure how we will overcome the self replication abilities of the spheres."

"A detail to work out." the Admiral said, "All right, we have the makings of a plan. Mr Burr, set up a meeting for loter today with myself, Captain's Manley and Tymoklis, and Commander V'Maz and their respective engineering leads. Clark, you will coordinate from primary operations, temporarily under Chief Engineering Officer Commander Gordon. Before then I want to know how fast this operation can start. Does anyone have anything to add?"

There was a unanimous shaking of heads.

"Dismissed."

[Simon Clark]

Meeting Room 3B, below Primary Operations, Starbase 47
After the meeting.

"Lieutenant Kempton," the Admiral called as they started to file out.

Kempton stiffened, and made his way back in, steeling himself for the reprimand he was expecting.

"You're to be commended for your role in this, Lieutenant. I will say however, that you shouldn't leap out at a serving Admiral and one of my staff in such a way as you did with Admiral Basirov..."

"Yes... Sir" Kempton said. He regretted that he could not keep the frustration out of his tone.

"That said, if we didn't have our instincts what good would we be as sentient beings? I, too, wanted to berate him rather strongly, and did in that recess," The Admiral's smile did not last long, "Is there anything you see in Basirov that is out of the ordinary?"

"Frankly, Sir?" Kempton asked, wondering where this was going. At the Admiral's nod, he relaxed only slightly.

"Admiral Basirov knew about the missing benamite long before this meeting and yet didn't mention it, even when we were discussing it's use. Also, he said it has been missing for three days, and yet, you - as section Admiral - seemed surprised to hear of its disappearance." Max waited, careful that this should be the right level of frank response.

"I shall have to be more careful with my poker face, as you humans say. Anything else?"

"He also... insinuated, immediately after revealing its disappearance, that it's dissappearance was... er... our fault."

"Indeed. What would you conclude from these observations, Lieutenant?".

"Well, Sir..." At this point, Max's military training was telling him not to question high ranking officers. However, the injustice of Admiral Basirov's accusation grated on him, and Admiral Gheskori had directly asked him to speak freely. "My own conclusion may have been swayed by my anger, Sir, rather than any fact, I just think... it seems suspicious."

"Lieutenant, I value the opinions, and even the hunches, of my senior staff. I would hear the conclusion you have drawn, even if your suspicion turns out to be false later on, it will not be held against you."

Max took a deep breath. "I suspect Admiral Basirov of having something to do with the missing Benamite, and that he might have some involvement with the dissident faction. Sir."

"Thank you Lieutenant, that may be helpful, leave it with me."

Max waits to be dismissed

"Also, Lieutenant, I'll say I recognise and commend your performance as assistant to Lieutenant Clark these past months, and would like you to be temporarily assigned to assist the USS Oxford's refit coordinator as his chief engineering and science advisor, for the duration of this operation. You'll be responsible for the generation of its warp field, working in sync with Clark on the Enzio and the CEO of the Maracanda."

Max was quite taken aback, he was certainly not expecting to be offered a Chief Engineering role, even a temporary one. "Sir? But what about the Enzio?" Even as he said it, he could not keep a broad smile out of his face.

"Your concernt does you credit. The Enzio has a reasonably complete crew complement, and will make do without you for a day or so. The Oxford, on the other hand is short handed, and being used and crewed only for this operation as we have no other suitable vessels. Your experience with these engine systems will be invaluable around the rather large number of junior officers we have promoted into positions they have little experience of. I know you will guide them in their roles with the same level of leadership as you have shown so recently on the Enzio."

"So, it's an opportunity to show my colours, Sir?" Max asked.

"Well read." The Admiral told him with a wide smile, leaning slightly towards him. "Make them shine, Lieutenant."

"Aye, Sir."

"Step to it. Dismissed."

Max saluted, and turned as sharply on his heel as he had ever done during his academy training, making his way out of the meeting room.

[Simon Clark]

Lower Primary Operations, Level 9, Starbase 47

The scale of the main operations area of the starbase took Simon quite by surprise. It was a giant to the bridge of the Enzio, or any of the other starship bridges Simon had seen. Admiral Gheskori introduced him to the Chief Engineering Officer Commander Sasha Gordon, and made a prompt exit for his next meeting. Commander Gordon was a middle aged woman, slightly taller than Simon, and a slightly larger build. She smiled warmly when she shook his hand.

"Lieutenant, it's nice to finally be able to put a face to your name, Admiral Gheskori has spoken of you in some of his recent tales."

He hadn't thought much that what he did down in engineering on the Enzio would be the topic of 'tales' in operations. The warmth in her tone suggested he had been presented positively, which he supposed was a good thing. "The Admiral has a way with words, Sir."

"He tells a good Denobulan yarn. Have you had the tour?" she asked, gesturing to the balcony above her.

"No, sir. It's my first time in Ops." His military formality felt slightly out of context in the face of this positive woman; she carried confidence in a way that made him want to aspire to the same.

"Well, then, let me brief you before we get down to it." She led him up a flight of stairs, to a circular area with three chairs at its centre. A second set of stairs led down the opposite side, and a wide open walkway led back towards some stairs. She nodded to the command officer in the centre seat, who returned the nod, and continued keying something into the arm panel on his chair. "This is the command platform, situated part way between decks eight and nine. From here, the duty officer can see, and if required hear without amplification, almost every station in operations."

"This is a massive space. And there are so many duty stations. Are they always filled?" Simon asked, marvelling at the cavern of technology.

"They are, and they are not, it depends on the situation. The stations on the lower level you will be familar with from any starship: navigation and flight control, engineering, environmental, operations, tactical, science, communications, and security." She pointed to groups of stations along the internal bulkhead as she read them out. "Running a starbase is significantly more complex than running a starship, and there will usually be several officers in each area, monitoring different aspects of the starbase and it's vicinity. At high alert, every station will be attended."

"You can access the upper level via the stairs to the rear of the command walk, or there's a turbo lift across the corridor on either side."

Simon looked towards the three flights of stairs, each rising in a different direction on the upper level, one to the mezzanine to the left, one to the right, and one to a door.

"Not that door. That's for command offices and the briefing room. The upper level is a bit more fluid, and adapts to what we need at the time. Ambassadors, science experts, government officials, fleet command, and stations at the ends of the rows, facing directly toward the viewscreen, useful for astrometrics, tactical displays, and conference control."

"What about these here?" Simon pointed to four duty stations on the command platform, sunk a few steps below the command seats, presumably so as not to block the Admiral's view of the lower level or the viewscreen.

"These four in front, and also those four behind the command chairs lining the walkway back to the briefing room, are configurable as we need them. At the moment, they are primary operations, security, damage control, science, and usually someone from the marine corps. Very occasionally we also see someone from Admiral Tetsutaro's devision as well. For the duration of our upcoming operation, you and I will be situated at the two stations to the right, in front of the Admiral."

"So, any questions thus far?" Although her face didn't show it, there was a sparkle of humour in the corners of her eyes.

"What is beneath the command platform?" he asked.

"The best part." She led him down the steps behind the command chairs, and cut back around them, passing through an open doorway into a circular room beneath the command platform. "We call this Mission Control. At it's centre a circular holographic display table lets us visualise anything we need to detail, and the walls and door surfaces are configurable display panels. If we need privacy or security we can close the doors, and if we need to be seen..." she tapped a button on the table, "we can decend this front wall partially or fully into the deck, so we can see the main viewscreen. There are two duty stations outside, between the doors on either side, but as they are out of sight of the centre chair, they are not normally assigned unless Mission Control is in active use."

"Is it used often?" Simon asked.

"Not really. Admiral Gheskori prefers the centre seat, I think he likes to be able to see people. We used it for a briefing yesterday, though... Computer: display the last used holographic representation of Starbase Forty-Seven exterior."

An image of the starbase appeared in the centre of the table, focused on the recent damage to Industrial Replication.

"Wow, that's a lot of damage."

"Quite. I know you already understand the importance of the operation you have suggested in removing the quantum spheres from the station, but I didn't know if you had seen the damage inflicted by the matter-antimatter explosion of large sphere that was discovered in Industrial Replication Bay Six."

"I hadn't. That's... horrible."

"That we can tell, the shockwave caused microfractures in the connecting structure of section E of the engineering ring all the way up to level 1620. In normal cirmstances, the structural integrity field would have prevented that, but as we don't have power or communications to most of those decks, similar detonations could destabilise the primary structure, and the rings could quite literally fall apart under the stress." Commander Gordon's face was stern, and concerned.

"How far down does the structural integrity field extend?" Simon asked.

"The powered sections, that the system can report, go as far as the Gamma promenade on level 1556. Below that... there's been a lot of disruption to communications, and civilian interference with engineering operations. We just don't know. In any case, my job is to keep the starbase in one piece."

"I understand, sir."

"Good. Right. One more door to end the tour." She turned to the back of Mission Control, and walked through to a small mess area, with seating for sixteen or so on benches around four rectangular tables. "Replicators on the right wall, and there's a bar on the left, that I've never seen used. The two lockers either side of this door contain emergency equipment, breating aparatus, med kits and the like. These two doors lead back out to the lower level of ops, and through there are WC's, and opposite are the emergency bunk rooms for operations staff. The doors at either end of that corridor leads out to the corridor that encircles lower ops, and will take you back to the turbolift. Clear?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. We've got about two hours before the captain's briefing, and I want to flesh out your plan for generating magnetic fields with fusion reactors beforehand. Shall we?"

[Gheskori]

"I'll have someone look into it," Ghes tapped an alert button on his desk, beside the button over which he'd scribbled 'Burr'. "Anything else?"

"Lieutenant Clark has asked that I return to the Enzio, unless you need me specifically on another project?" Marin asked him.

"Yes," he sat up, "I'd like you to visit the R&D department where the quantum slipstream tech was being developed 'til a week before the benamite went missing. Build an inventory of precisely what's missing, log any discrepancies between your list and that of the team who initially investigated; I'm wondering how deep this goes, Lieutenant, what else might've gone missing. Then return to the Enzio; Heath may need a hand. Best of luck," he said in parting to his resourceful officer.

<Tag Marin>

Ghes sat back as he waited for Aide Adams to find his way hastily through the office door.

"Basirov's not acting alone, sir," the aide protested immediately, needing no prompt, "He has agents of his scattered throughout the base, already confirmed as being some of his own aides, diplomatic attaches - through whom he worked with Vulcan and Andoria planetary governments before the Betreka event - and I'd daresay the logistics department under Director Morton. One of Basirov's in logistics could've been manipulating the equipment requests, or ensuring the equipment constructed in error was passed to the right people amongst the dissidents, or both. More disturbingly, sir, I've looked at service histories and it seems that Basirov and Morton himself have worked together on at least 14 distinct occasions throughout their careers; if not friends, they have or had formed a professional bond, executing important projects on behalf of Starfleet Sciences and Technology."

Ghes's eyes widened at the mention of Morton. Aide Adams nodded, "If I may make my recommendation, sir, I'd say we put Basirov to the torture - ... metaphorically, Admiral, before you go any further," he'd turned and held up a warning hand before Ghes could burst out in protest. "He has people all over the station; his support of the dissidents from this side is obstructing and debilitating our efforts to bring Serova finally to justice."

"Very well, Adams," Ghes said, dubious, looking about before staring at the stellar matter out the window, spread yet eclipsed by the dark matter nebula with its micro-wormholes (could one be expanded, such that not only a ship, but a Starbase could be propelled through it...?), "But we must be wary. A former officer of mine once recalled to my mind a certain tendency... Well-intentioned inquest can become, in a short time, a 'witch-hunt', as your writer on Salem once told us...

"I've remembered his advice: 'once, Admiral, we believe we've espied enemies in our midst, it's a short route to lynch mobs, chaos, tragedy, etc.'; paraphrasing, obviously," he coughed.

"Well, Tetsutaro has sent in his people, along with marine detachments, to the dissidents' suspected forward defence line - if such can be said to exist - around deck 1620," Adams said. "I understand part of the admiral's operation is to seek to temporarily disable any spheres - in a similar manner to that which Commander Blakus attempted upon discovering one of the first below-deck. That should assist the mag field coverage thing, with the three starships."

"Not your field of expertise, Adams?" Ghes asked dryly.

Adams began shaking his head before Ghes interrupted, "Nor mine any longer, sadly," he dismissed the man and prepared for the meeting with V'Maz, Manley, Tymoklis and the engineers.

[OOC: post on briefing/meeting with Ghes, the other captains and their engineers coming up next]

[Sato Tetsutaro]

Admiral Tetsutaro's Office
Command Center - Level Eight ::

"..... And you believe we can hold off her attempts to forcibly take over the Starbase without too much trouble ?" Sato asked the group of Intelligence Officers.

"We could always lure Serova and her cronies into one of the outer sections and blow them all into the ether." Captain Komin suggested, not completely in jest.

"There 'has' been a marked decrease in attacks on Federation Personnel, and even the sporadic outbreaks of violence have all but stopped." David Tan commented with a frown, "That's one of the things that worry me the most. Idle hands ... It's obvious they haven't given up on their plans to oust the Federation from running the Starbase. We are all aware of the consequences should a Civilian leadership be in charge, we'll be at their beck-and-call for the duration."

Indeed." Sato said quietly.

"As yet we haven't taken the fight to them, maybe some kind of preemptive strike at their leaders will change the balance within their ranks ?" Clancy suggested.

"If we could take their leadership with little or no bloodshed then we would." Tan said, "My concern with any physical attack would be the number of innocent Civilians that would undoubtedly be caught up in said attack ... We know full well that Serova has people practically everywhere. We interrogated the two Officers discovered operating in the command Center who were passing information to her, they were nothing but messengers and knew nothing other than where to dead-drop the information. Those locations had been dumped by the time we put them under surveillance, so they have a very tight system in place and alternate locations ready to go."

"Indeed, it is difficult to trust even those we have worked closely with at the moment." Tetsutaro said, the meaning obvious.

"Surely you cannot mean those around this table Admiral !" Fran Komin said, astonishment in every syllable.

"Could you vouch for everyone in this room Captain ?" Sato retorted, eyebrows raised.

"Yes !" the Commanding Officer of the El Alamein said instantly.

"....... As do I my dear.... As do I." Sato replied with a smile of reassurance.

"Well, now that we have apparently established that none of us are currently sidelining as treacherous traitors ....." Elena de Luca said, "Maybe we can plan our next move ?"

An hour later the plans for Intelligence with the aid of Marine Personnel would move to the lower levels to begin disruptive operations hoping to hinder or at least give Serova's people more to think about that the possible overthrow of the Starbase ... Nia Lemond, Tetsutaro's long-time Adjutant and friend, placed a small cup of tea in from of her boss when the room had cleared. Sato closed his tired eyes. 'You are getting too old for all these cloak and dagger shenanigans my friend' Sean O'Toole had told him on numerous occasions, saying he should be on Earth, at his home, gardening, enjoying the sunsets.

"Soon enough with luck." Tetsutaro whispered.

An hour later, Intelligence entered Level one six two zero ..........

[Gheskori]

"Have you gone mad?!"

"Gheskori, he's shown he is more than willing to work with us and has given several proofs of his changed allegiance." Ghes tried to interrupt but John Burr raised his voice, "Pass codes to some of the access ports in the lower decks, names of associates of Basirov, names of questionable crewmen in the logistics department. What's more he demanded to be allowed up here to -"

"He demanded?" Ghes slapped his forehead with his palm, "Argh, alright, alright! Bennett can take part in the briefing. If you're absolutely sure of his change of allegiance." No more was said as they entered the briefing room.

* * *

Round the table were situated the current COs or XOs of the Enzio, Maracanda and Oxford and the most senior engineers they had available.

There was a startled reaction when Dimok Bennett, Vice President Elect of the Federation Council in Circinus, entered the room flanked by security guards. Looking at him now and seeing his mild manners, Ghes could hardly believe that he'd at one time wished to seize Starbase 47 for the dissident movement. Cautious glances his way indicated the staff's discomfort at his presence - Bennett smiled knowingly as he took his seat and regarded them all with dark-rimmed eyes.

Lieutenant Clark and SB47 Ops engineer Commander Gordon's visages peered into the room from the large screen opposite Ghes, their images beamed directly from Ops.

"Very good," he acknowledged them, "Are we prepared for the operation?" He cast about the table before settling first on Clark.

Clark and Gordon answered in unison they were ready as they could be given the short timescale. Equipment had been disappearing, there was lack of assurance as to whom was on their side, they thought there wasn't much time before a potential catastrophe, that being the detonation by the dissidents (and damn the consequences) of slipstream spheres in the dome.

"Thank you, Sasha, Simon," he nodded, and turned to his Second Officer.

V'Maz confirmed the Enzio's readiness. Grant Manley of the Maracanda was more hesistant and in the interval Tymoklis - the 2.3m albino Andorian, Ghes's academy friend and constant associate in his early career - spoke for the Oxford, detailing general readiness of its green crew for the operation but giving out he was concerned about their ability to execute the necessary manoeuvres to bring the ship inside the dome and activate its mag field in short enough time...

Oxford's engineering advisor Kempton stepped in, "The engineering team is all green, sir," he confirmed, "But simulations have shown they should be up to the task. Warp field generation should be fine but the nav deflector's out of alignment by some 0.6 microns, compromising resolution. A short burst - generation of mag field - we should be able to handle..."

"A near continuum of bursts should suffice if you can handle the energy requirements," an engineer from the Maracanda said breezily, swinging back and forth in his seat; Ghes turned dark brows towards this Commander Bligh, an officer recently recommissioned after having retired on the station before the Betreka event. Bligh had been assisting CEO Reslik in making ready the Maracanda for flight status, a task now complete. "We're ready, Admiral," he nodded, tapping fingers on the edge of the desk as he spoke for his Captain Manley and Reslik.

Bennett snorted. Aide John Burr turned to berate the Vice President but he was interrupted.

"My friends, I'm skeptical," Bennett spoke slowly, "But I must have hope, because if you succeed in this, what in bringing Serova to justice do I stand to lose? Without her threat of blackmail via the spheres, I can give you her HQ access codes, coords for her matter transporter in the disused shop on Alpha Promenade (see post), ha, you can have the whole lot." He was dismissive, "If you don't get to her first after this, I think I will." Despite his smirk he seemed sad, wistful.

"Right!" Ghes clapped his hands jovially after a long pause, "Captain Tymoklis, Commanders Manley, V'Maz... proceed." They rose and departed, Ghes stepping past them on the way out of the room, nodding to Clark on the screen - they both knew what they had to do to remove Serova's line of defence.

[Simon Clark]

Command Platform, Primary Operations, Level 8, Starbase 47

"Lieutenant, Starbase Engineering report the magnetic field generator is ready within the dome structure and on the upper levels of the starbase where we have direct control of power. We are ready to activate it when the starships are in position. Command decks have been swept using handheld equipment. The Oxford needs only to sweep the outer hull." Commander Gordon said.

"Acknowledged, Commander." Simon replied, struggling to coordinate all of the information being fed to and from his station. "The Oxford confirms request, Maracanda and Enzio Engineering teams report ready."

"If I might offer a suggestion, Lieutenant: you are trying to oversee too much detail of the engineering operation. Let the teams manage their own, and take a broader perspective yourself. It'll let you see more clearly any rising inter-ship problems, so you can strategies around them before they affect the operation."

"Understood, sir." He struck off some of the starship displays that he knew Ensign Heath would keep an eye on, and had the computer render a simple summary of the status of each ship.

Commander Gordon glanced at his display. "That looks better, Lieutenant."

He nodded his response, and signalled the engineering leads on each of the three starships. The images of Lieutenant Kempton, Ensign Heath and Commander Reslik appeared on one of his display panels. "This is Lieutenant Clark, I will give a final summary of the operation plan that we discussed this afternoon. The Oxford will perform a sweep of the outer hull of the command levels. If no devices are identified, the starship will return to within the docking dome, and continue magnetic field pulses as the Oxford's power system allows. Enzio should have the ability to both disable and influence the phase state of any quantum slipstream devices it encounters, however, the quantum modifications to the warp have not been fully tested, as we did not want to give away what we are planning: we might not have that advantage. Maracanda is taking the centre of the starbase column, but the warp field will not be broad enough to encompass the whole width, so we will have un-covered areas here, and here, where Starbase 47 Engineering are not able to reach. Once a quantum device is detected, the starship must keep it within the sphere of influence at the specified magnetic field oscillating frequency until the security teams confirm that it has been safely contained using portable equipment. Once the upper levels are clear, the Enzio and the Maracanda will follow a helical decent path on opposing sides of the starbase while ground crews descend. Are their any questions? Yes, Commander Reslik?"

"Three starships floating around the starbase for no apparent reason is likely to attract some attention, and we cannot know, if they know what it is we are planning, so we are assuming the worst case. Can we use Shields with the magnetic field active?"

"Yes, so long as the warp field oscillating frequency is maintained." Simon replied

"A mute point for the Oxford," Kempton added, "We don't have any. How far will the warp field penetrate into the starbase hull?"

Commander Gordon replied, "The minimal power applied to the warp bubble will allow you to extend the influence of the magnetic field well beyond the normal range. From the upper levels of Starbase 47, to about 1620, the core region of the starbase is covered by the Starbase's own magnetic field generation, except in the specified areas on the plan. The lower decks are completely open, including the recently evacuated industrial replication bays. The Enzio and Maracanda must extend their warp field to half of the width of the starbase in those areas, and maintain such while the security teams work. They are the climbers, you are their lifeline. Keep your fields stable."

There was a chorus of 'Yes, Sir's from the display, and no further questions were put forward.

Simon turned to the centre seat."Admiral Gheskori, Engineering reports ready."

<Tag Gheskori/All>

[Gheskori]

Ghes nodded at Clark from the chair either side of which were the subsidiary seats of the Ops commanders, "Execute," he gestured at the Ops screen that now displayed a plan view of the tactical situation, alternating between that and a lateral view displaying the planned trajectories of the Maracanda and Enzio heliacally down the length of the Starbase, with Oxford's comparatively short hop from circling round the Dome - to the interior of the Dome where it'd generate its fields - also visible.

The ships began their operations. Ghes opened a direct channel to V'Maz, Manley and Tymoklis, their faces arranged in a triangle on his arm-panel. Each reported to him their respective vessels' starting on their paths about the Starbase. He only hoped this action didn't generate suspicion amongst the dissident faction/s... "Go without the vast number of quantum mods to the warp drive, V'Maz," he said, "It'll help avoid any interest from Serova and co, if they're watching."

"But, sir -"

"Lieutenant Clark advised this course, Commander; carry it through." As Ghes finished V'Maz acknowledged and on the Admiral's screen turned to have the orders performed.

"Admiral Gheskori, the Oxford has completed a preliminary sweep of the Dome - rapidly, it must be said - and detected just three sphere devices, of unusually high yield however," Tymoklis reported, the Andorian's words now being filtered out of consoles of notables throughout Ops. Ghes considered, only three in the vicinity of the Dome, eh, they must believe three virtual armageddon weapons will be enough to obliterate us all, and not too many of their own.

He asked for advice, an engineering aide, Lieutenant Clark and Commander Gordon suggesting to him the course he'd indeed thought most advisable, "USS Oxford, disable those three spheres to the best of your ability, then immediately head for the Dome and set up your mag field."

"Aye, sir," Tymoklis replied and went to carry out his orders as Ghes watched the screen, three new blobs having appeared, glowing scarlet, indicating the location of the potent slipstream spheres just identified; the Oxford passed their position - in so doing the blobs were rendered grey, lifeless, disappearing... - then made to enter the Dome.

Manley and Bligh on the Maracanda now reported they were setting about disabling the spheres in the central column - no sign their activities were noticed as of yet, Ghes noted, unless Serova et al were trying to bluff them by feigning ignorance - ... several spheres lay out of reach, they were locking their fields in place at constant rate so as to allow the security teams time to disable them as they made their way into the respective sections.

"V'Maz, how goes it? as you say. Do I need to come back aboard."

"No, sir, all seems fine, except - " There was momentary loss of signal, a black screen, green and amber lights flashing top and bottom - ERROR ERROR ERROR. Eventually there was again at least static, and V'Maz's face reappeared - with a deep gash now on his forehead dripping scarlet over his features. "We've been fired upon, sir! Presumably by the dissidents but... but why haven't they detonated the spheres in the command levels they still have available if they know what we're up to?"

There was tumult in Ops, controllers rushing to stations if they weren't at them already. "Perhaps they're warning us against playing games, not sure what we have in mind but trying to discourage us from it..." Ghes mused. "If there's no further phaser fire, V'Maz, set yourself up in position for the heliacal run with the Maracanda - opposite sides - and sweep the rest of the station." He turned, "Security teams, on your toes."

The woman at Ops Security station nodded and twisted to comm her slipstream sphere sweeper teams throughout the base.

Damage to the Enzio was minimal but without shields several systems had been taken temporarily offline, and V'Maz had been propelled across the bridge... a number of other casualties were reported also. He gave orders for the Enzio and Maracanda - once ready to commence - to accelerate their progression through their heliacal paths, without of course missing any of the devices. With dissident weaponry aimed at Starbase personnel externally - via a hull-affixed phaser emplacement aimed at their ships! how had they acquired that? a result of the missing logistics equipment? did Basirov have something to do with it? "We may not have much time..." Ghes considered, and asked Clark and Gordon to continue closely coordinating the ships' passage about the base, seeing if the whole op could be accelerated.

<Tag Clark, All>

[Simon Clark]

Main Engineering, USS Oxford, Above the Docking Dome, Starbase 47

Lieutenant Max Kempton looked down over the balcony of the Akira Class's warp core. The Oxford had eliminated three large quantum slipstream spheres attached to the outer hull of the starbase, and were moving towards the main docking doors. They would enter the dome, and continue pulsing the magnetic field.

"Power flow is steady, Sir." One of the engineers shouted up the column.

"As I said, I am monitoring it, crewman Patel. Notify me if it changes."

The inexperienced engineering team did not have many officers, and those they did have were working other parts of the ship. The Akira had taken significant damage during the nebula explosion, and the new connections between the engineering beam and the nebula-class nacelle that had been attached were being closely monitored. That meant that he was up and down the engineering section, closely monitoring the activities of the crewmen overseeing the operation. He even missed that abrasive Bolian technician, at least Brexxon was capable.

"Sir, there's a spike in the warp field variance containment!" Someone shouted from below.

He pulled up the display and scanned the panel behind him. "It's negligable, I'm setting upper and lower control limits, monitor the plasma flow and keep it within them."

"Aye, Sir."

=/\= Bridge to all decks. Intruder Alert. Security Teams, code two. =/\=

Code two. On the Enzio, that meant engineering. He hoped here was different. If only they had shields.

The sound of a transporter materialisation answered his question. He turned towards the sound, pulled his phaser, and fired. A man in civilian attire slumped, stunned, onto the deck. Shouts from below. Pulse phaser fire.

"Computer, activate force field around the warp core." He said. They needed to protect their power source. The limited auxillaries on this ship wouldn't be able to maintain the warp bubble.

"Acknowledged." There was a faint buzz. It would stop any phaser fire hitting the core, but it would also stop the engineering team from getting to it. A risk.

There were several security personel in engineering now. "Intruders cleared!" someone shouted.

"Engineering teams, report." Max called. No casualties. The magnetic pulses continued steady. Two power relays on one of the conduits had been damaged. Under normal circumstances this would have reduced the warp field output, however, the single Nebula-class nacelle attached to the ship was old technology compared to the two modern nacelles an Akira normally carried, and wasn't capable of transferring the same level of power anyway. Without the Starbase's industrial replication facilities, a new nacelle would be a long time coming.

The Oxford moved into the Dome.

[Simon Clark]

Upper Main Engineering, USS Enzio, Below Docking Dome, Starbase 47.

"M'Rell, the Admiral has ordered us not to engage the quantum device." Ensign Rory Heath said.

Petty Officer M'Rell turned to look at him, "Thisss Benemite degraded too sssoon. Itsss not working."

Rory silently cursed their luck. If they'd started a day earlier, their benemite might not have denatured, and they could have used it to enhance the Enzio's influence on the spheres. He forwarded the update to Crewman Brexxon at the bridge engineering station. Normally they'd have officers on the bridge, but with Lieutenent Kempton supporting the Oxford, Lieutenant Marin still on the Starbase looking into something for the Admiral, and Chief Clark running the show from primary operations, they were a little short handed. Heath had wanted everyone in engineering, but Commander V'Maz had wanted him to be able to focus on the engineering function, and not being fixed to a display screen. Brexxon had a level head, she'd manage, he was sure.

=/\= Brexxon to Engineering; Security teams have cleared the surveillence devices on corridor 22D, we are moving onto the helical decent path opposite the USS Maracanda. =/\=

"Acknowledged." Heath replied. The flight path was up on the main display on the lower deck, showing a side-on view of the starbase and an estimated magnetic field penetration into the Starbase hull. From here, they needed to maintain a magnetic field passing at least half way through the starbase hull, so as to have full coverage opposite the maracanda.

"BRACE!" someone shouted. Instinctively, Rory grabbed the railing by his console as a violent vibration shook the deck.

"Report!" he shouted.

"Pulse phaser impacts, boss." came the voice of Crewman Daniel Pixton.

=/\= Bridge to Engineering. Can we raise shields? =/\=

Rory didn't reply, but he left the channel open "Pixton, bring shields online, steady power up, I'll watch the mag field."

The shields slowly powered up. "Nought from starboard generator alpha." Pixton said, "It must have been hit."

"Keep going. No, stop there, that's enough. Bridge, you've got twelve percent shield power. That's as high as we're going without interfering with the magnetic field. There's a hole in the shield matrix on the starboard side. No coverage."

=/\= Aknowledged. =/\=

"Starboard shield generator, starboard phaser array, and dorsal starboard nacelle are broken, boss."

"The damaged nacelle is destabilising the warp field integrity. One of the coils is out of position." Heath told him.

"You want me to fix it, boss?"

"Yes, Go now." Rory told him.

"Bridge, we've a damaged nacelle. We'll need to de-power the coils for realignment, we'll lose some ten percent on the warp bubble diameter."

=/\= That's not enough to cover the radius of the starbase. How long, Heath? =/\= Commander V'Maz asked

"Twenty minutes." he replied.

The rumble of weapons fire ripple through the deck.

=/\= Five would be better, Ensign. We've rotated the damaged systems away from the starbase, and destroyed the pulse phaser emplacement. Shields are holding. Bridge out. =/\=

Brexxon informed him not to prioritise the damaged phaser array on the starboard side, as they were not expecting any immediate engagements. Rory dispatched the second repair team to the offline shield generator instead.

[Simon Clark]

Command Platform, Primary Operations, Level 8, Starbase 47

"The Oxford has identified six surveillance devices in the dome." Simon said.

"Engineering and Security teams are moving to contain them." Commander Gordon said.

At the tactical station to Simon's left, a Lieutenant in yellow held the seat. Simon had been so focused on his own station, he had not even noticed the man sit down. "The Enzio has raised shields, and has fired on the pulse phaser emplacement. The Oxford has been boarded, sir, reporting multiple hostiles in engineering, as well as the bridge decks."

"Source?" Admiral Gheskori asked.

"Unknown as yet, sir. No other ships on sensors, they must have come from inside the starbase."

"Find out where."

"Yes,sir."

Simon watched the schematic of the Enzio's warp field start to shrink, and checked the reading with Ensign Heath "The Enzio has lost some of it's warp field diameter, estimate twenty minutes to recover, we no longer have full coverage of the central sections on the diplomatic habitat ring, levels eight-fifty to eight-eighty."

"I am adjusting the starbase power grid to compensate in that area." Commander Gordon replied, nodding in Simon's direction.

"The Maracanda has identified a large quantum sphere between medical ring fusion generation and environmental control on level eight-four-six. Another in an engineering storage section adjacent to the computer core on level eight-four-seven." The tactical officer announced.

"How did they get past our security?" One of Gheskori's Aides asked from a the stations on the bridgelink behind the command chair. "They could significantly affect starbase operations!"

"Security and Engineering teams have been dispatched." Commander Gordon said.

Simon worked as the operation continued, feeding information to and from the starships as they moved down around the central levels of the starbase, the USS Enzio on one side, and the USS Maracanda on the other. They were approaching the limit of the starbase sections over which Commander Gordon could guarentee a reliable level of control, and the Enzio had still not restored the required warp bubble diameter. "The Enzio has identified a suite of surveillence devices on levels one-four-zero-one through one-five-five-two. Civilian quarters, medical facilities, and multiple locations along the alpha promenade."

"Security and engineering teams are encountering dissident resistance in several areas on those levels."

"We may not have much time..." Admiral Gheskori muttered

"Admiral, A squadron of eleven Kaneda class fighters has launched from shuttle bay twenty six on level one-six-seven-nine. They appear to be headed towards the Maracanda."

"Phasers?" The Admiral asked.

"They are too close to the starbase for the starbase's own tracking speed and targetting."

Simon tried hard to focus on his own engineering displays, as the situation unfolded

"Explosion on Beta promenade, just below the current extent of the magnetic fields from the two vessels." Commander Gordon said, The radius is consistent with one of the smaller quantum spheres. No casualties, it was one of the sections awaiting refit."

"A warning?" The Admiral's aide queried

"The fighter squadron is closing on the Maracanda."

Simon looked up at the main display. Whatever element of surprise they had had two hours ago had been consumed. They had cleared quantum devices from almost fourteen-hundred levels within the starbase, but that was the easy part. Below the habitat ring there lay four hundred sparsely-populated and power limited decks. Internal sensors were patchy, and significant parts of the starbase were damaged or under vacuum. And someone, somewhere was thinking that eleven fighters stood much of a chance against an intrepid class starship? No, they must be missing something. But what?

<Tag Gheskori / All>

[Sato Tetsutaro]

Admiral Sato Tetsutaro's Office
Command Center - Level Eight ::

Sato was watching updates from the efforts to remove the quantum spheres with Elena de Luca when his Adjutant, Nia Lemond entered his office.

"Admiral, I have someone outside who wishes to speak with you." the Aide said, a hint of scepticism in her voice.

"Am I to guess who this may be ?" the aged Admiral asked.

"Sir, it's a woman, Safron Nelor."

"Then bring the young woman in Nia, don't lets have her waiting out there." Sato said, Nia nodded and left the office, returning seconds later with woman. Sato looked at her, he was familiar with her file, as he was with all the known dissidents, but for some reason unbeknown to him, this 'girl' looked much younger than her image in the file. She couldn't be more than in her early twenties, "Please my dear, have a seat, I hope you do not mind my asking my colleague to remain during our meeting. Now, where are my manners, can I get you refreshments, something to eat maybe ?"

"No ... Thank you." the girl said, eyeing Nia and Elena before returning her attention to Tetsutaro, "I, I am here because ...." she hesitated, Sato stood and came around his desk to sit in the seat beside her.

"Take your time, no-one is going to pressure you into speaking." Sato said, "Nia, bring my guest a cup of my tea, I am sure it will help calm her nerves somewhat, then I'm sure we can have a enjoyable talk together."

Despite Safron's protestations, Nia brought the small cup of clear liquid and handed it to the woman. Safron eyed the liquid dubiously but with Sato's encouragement took a sip, surprisingly she found the beverage sweet and pleasant to taste. She took a second then third drink, finally draining the small ceremonial cup. Sato took it from her and asked Nia to refill it, this time she placed it on his desk in front of Nelor rather than in her hands.

"Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company ?"

"You are expending a 'lot' of resources at present, am I right ?" she asked, neither Sato of Lemond chose to react to the question so she continued, "Serova is going to hit you hard."

"Oh ?" Sato replied.

"She intends to be in Gheskori's office by the end of the week."

"Is that so ?" Elena asked.

"I have become a little, discontented .... When we first began all this it was supposed to be a peaceful endeavour, we wanted simply to be able to have a say in the day to day running of the Starbase. I think we all know that Federation regulations, Starfleet operations, and the myriad of other 'official' requirements of running the Starbase are out of the proverbial window given our circumstances."

"You believe we should simply turn the 'base over to Civilian rule because of the distance of separation we are experiencing, yes ? ....." Sato shook his head, it was obvious to both he and Nia that the girl had been led astray, she had followed almost blindly those who put themselves forward with promises, promises they quickly realised were, to all intents and purposes, meaningless. But he still wasn't convinced of her sincerity, "..... Alas, no my child, we cannot simply cede to those who disagree with our efforts or even our resolution to explore every opportunity to return to our home. Yelana, along with others, has crossed a line and will be dealt with accordingly."

"You don't understand. yes, she's stepped over this line of yours, but now she is intent on making sure you never get her or her followers back behind that line, regardless of the cost !"

Sato was silent for a long moment, then he picked up the cup of tea and handed it to Safron.

"Which brings me to the most obvious question .... Why are you here, and not indulging in your leaders' activities ?"

"I have information, information that could help you stop Yelana." Safron answered, finishing the second cup and handing it to Lemond.

"What does your brother think of you coming up here ?" de Luca asked casually.

"Brother ?"

"Oh come now my child. It was obvious that we would discover the sibling relationship between yourself and Wilm Goras." Elena continued as Safron sat in shocked silence, "You were separated as young children, placed with families who wanted only one child not two. We have all the information on both of you. So, what does he think of you coming up here ?"

Safron remained silent for a long moment, clearly shaken by the revelation of her relationship to her brother.

"He would kill me if he knew." she said matter of factly.

"Hmm, I don't doubt it." Elena replied, no hint of sympathy in her comment, "So .... You said you were here to help us stop the dissidents ?"

"Fighting as you are is only strengthening her position. She is gaining support faster and faster, it won't be long before the majority of people, both Civilian 'and' Starfleet, are behind her. That is when she will give you her ultimatum ... She's going to give you no option but to step away."

"Just how is she going to manage that again ?" de Luca asked as Sato poured himself a cup of tea, seemingly disinterested in the proceedings.

"I ... I'm not comple ......"

"You don't know !" Elena interrupted sharply.

"I know for a 'FACT' that she is willing to destroy part or 'ALL' of this Space Station should she feel she is about to loose." Safron said, a sudden surge of confidence allowing her to speak to de Luca defiantly, "If you want to stop all this you need to stop her, she is the one driving the dissidents, she is the one leading, making promises, some I doubt even she can honour, but once she's in charge it won't matter, she has already made 'arrangements' for those who feel they are in positions of superiority. Her clique will be running this Starbase, or there won't be anything 'to' run."

"We have tried to stem her ......" Elena began, but this time it was she who was interrupted:

"You need to cut the head off the snake. That, is the only way to stop all this. Once Yelana is dead the others will crumble."

"Alas we are not in the murder business." Sato said quietly, caressing the hot cup in his palms.

"She and four of her most trusted allies will be meeting tonight ... Twenty two hundred hours, Level one six eight one, Gamma Section room one four four. It's an industrial transporter room." She stood up so suddenly is caught everyone off guard for a split second, de Luca was on her feet and placing herself between the young woman and Tetsutaro, but she had no need for concern as Safron smiled and turned towards the door.

"Take her tonight Admiral. If you don't then ...." she could only shrug.

"What about you, are you simply going to rejoin your comrades as is you've been for a stroll around the arboretum ?"

"I'm going to make myself unavailable ... If Yelana is still in charge of the dissidents in the morning then I will have some hard decisions to make, for me, alas I doubt they will include Wilm ... Am i free to leave ?"

"Yes." Sato said, bowing slightly before continuing, "You believe there is no other way ?"

"No ... I don't." she said, turning and walking out of the office. Sato and Elena looked at each other.

"Nia, please forward this meeting to Section Admiral Gheskori and Fleet Admiral Torek." ..........

[Gheskori]

Ghes tried to keep his calm at the centre of the storm while alarms blared and new orders were barked across Ops from department heads to those working under them. While he wasn't ready to forsake the idea that they'd indeed surprised Serova, it was beginning to look as if the Circinus President had at least been well prepared for such an event - an attempt to remove definitively her ability to blackmail them into not arresting her.

Then he received Sato's report, Safron Nelor had visited... a meeting of the dissidents under Serova tonight - hopefully we'll have the sphere-disabling complete by then, he considered.

As the Enzio spiralled its way down the Starbase's length - inverted so as to keep the starboard side turned to the open void and thus avoid potentially deadly weapons' impacts - the Oxford was repelling continuing boarding operations that were - apparently - making their way through a flickering shield grid, with little way to ascertain the boarders' source.

And now the Maracanda... He heaved as he turned to face the huge viewscreen with its tactical overlay, seeing the eleven fighters approaching in a loose arrowhead formation Captain Manley's corkscrewing vessel. He glanced down at Clark and Gordon, found indeed they also were mystified by the squadron's foolhardy approach to the Maracanda, regardless of how alarming the appearance of those craft had initially been.

The fighters now entered to within 200m and began firing - their weapons struck ablative hull armour rather than shields. Ghes now demanded of Manley why he hadn't raised them or already opened fire. The man seemed just as confused as he.

A controller reported, "Sir, going by these readings, someone has severed the connections between the shield generators and the PTC network on the Maracanda. I believe something similar has been done to their offensive weaponry: phasers links have been cut and the torpedoes haven't been loaded with M-AM propellant. They're defenceless, sir."

Disbelieving, Ghes stood and once paced back and forth before turning to his arm panel and virtually shouting at V'Maz to skirt round to the Maracanda's position and offer support - yes, they would be forgoing identification of quantum spheres on their side for a time, but with the teams lagging behind as they encountered resistance around civilian quarters and the promenades, they had time to spare before new identifications of spheres could begin.

He couldn't help but feel however that Serova now had the upperhand, We're reacting to them and not the reverse...

The Enzio executed its orders admirably. Despite the power strain, they dispatched seven of the fighters outright through utilising a maneuver generally meant for one of the three sections during MVAM (this time dragging the whole weight of the starship with it). Three fighters were disabled beyond repair, spiralling into the darkness their lights out, while the last beat it quickly for deck 1679 and the shuttle bay from which it'd come (who was the ace to have avoided that maelstrom? Ghes wondered).

"Negative, V'Maz, do not pursue; let's get back on top of this."

He used the intercom system to beep Clark's console, "Lieutenant, how likely do you believe it to be that there'll be a density of quantum spheres below deck... 1620, as high as on the command levels and through the central section of the base? Do we need to be as thorough down there, where Serova has her HQ, and the dissidents' main sphere of activity is located?"

Would Serova and Serov really wire explosives into their own domains? he thought.

He listened to the reply, "Copy, Simon and thank you, I'm looking for shortcuts. Calculate based upon probable location of spheres down there - if there are any - the best angle-of-attack Enzio and Maracanda might use to disable the remaining warheads in short enough time." Perhaps with an unlikely power boost to their mag fields, the two starships could go it alone and security/engineering teams wouldn't be necessary to complete the disabling operation.

<Tag Clark>

"Admiral," Manley of the Maracanda called him from his arm panel, "We've identified a perpetrator as regards the phaser, torpedo and shield problems... it's Chief Engineer Reslik, sir! Deputy Chief and advisor William Bligh was found sequestered in an airlock, apparently for Reslik's security... perhaps he found out. She did all the damage herself, perhaps two days ago. We've apprehended her, sir. She claims she's working with the faction of Wilm Goras, prominent dissident."

"Roger," Ghes replied, breath stolen from him at the revelation and collapsing in his seat. He addressed Ops, "Let's see if we can accelerate our progress, finish it off. Yes, the teams are lagging behind in the promenades -" (there was reportedly fierce resistance).

"More security and engineering teams have been allocated, some transported from the drydocked El Alamein directly into decks 1550-1620," the Ops security officer offered.

Ghes nodded, "Prepare with the station SMO a crack division of security and marines - veterans - for use below deck 1620, at 2200 hours tonight," he alluded to Sato's report, confusing the security chief who nevertheless acknowledged. <Tag Tetsutaro>

"Enzio and Maracanda, resume passage down the rest of the length of the station." As V'Maz and Manley proceeded to carry out their orders and Ghes felt once more they had the situation under control, alerts came from several consoles that the Oxford had once again lost shield power, and that Captain Tymoklis had lost the vessel's mid-decks to the new boarders.

And then the large quantum sphere attached to the base's ventral comm array detonated...

[Elena de Luca]

Admiral Sato Tetsutaro's Office
Command Center - Level Eight
Twenty One hundred hours ::

"..... And we are certain they are going to be there ?" Elena asked.

"I have been assured as such, yes." Admiral Tetsutaro replied, "Besides, what would the young lady have to gain by deceiving us in such a manner. We know where she is, where she is going to be, in surveillance is absolute." he stood then walked over to the ornate cabinet, hand resting almost tenderly on the aged wood. The others waited ...

"You are sure you want Serova taken into custody ?" David Tan asked.

"You have an alternative ?" Sato asked.

"We 'know' that if we take her she will become some sort of absent ruler, her followers will practically rise up in support." Clancy commented, the others nodding in silent agreement.

"Again, I ask for alternatives." Tetsutaro asked, retaking his seat.

"Stasis." Elena suggested.

"There are numerous ethical, not to mention 'legal' reasons why we cannot consider that option." the Admiral said, but something in the tone of his voice said it wasn't completely off the table.

"So if she was say, injured, during our ingress, we could have medical grounds to place her in stasis, and if the 'Base medical staff are otherwise engaged, it could be some time before we are able to diagnose and treat her numerous ailments and injuries ...." Tan said, a wry grin forming, ".... and who knows, it's highly likely that her confederate won't want to come out of their own accord ....."

"So you mean to put Serova and her entire entourage into stasis, possibly until we return to our own region of space no doubt ?" Sato asked, mirroring David's grin, "Hmmmm ... Intriguing notion."

"If they are on ice, so to speak, they can't do any more damage." Elena suggested.

"I believe our primary task is to infiltrate this meeting of her imperium. Take her and her cohorts into custody. Is everyone in place Elena ?"

"Yes ...." the Intelligence Officer replied, rising from her seat to move to the large view-screen on the real wall of the office. It showed eleven levels of the massive space station, the target level, one six eight one. It also showed five levels above and below the target level. Zooming in it highlighted Gamma Section and the room where the meeting was to take place .... Thirty flashing green insignia signifying the Marines could be seen within fifty meters of the room, ten on level one six eight one, ten more on the levels above and below. A further twenty Security Officers were placed at strategic access points, Jeffries tubes, maintenance conduits, turbo-lifts ... Five red dots, currently in motion signified the targets, Yelena Serova, Noel grimes, Wilm Goras, Stirczki, the Penthouse resident known to be funding the dissidents, and one unknown. They were moving towards the room in readiness for the upcoming meeting, "We need to get down there." Elena finished, looking t Tetsutaro, who nodded ..........

Level One Six Eight One
Gamma Section
Forward Observation Location
Twenty Two Thirty hours ::

"Report." David Tan ordered when they arrived.

"All five targets in position. We have comms inside the room but they are using some kind of rudimentary jamming device so it's sporadic at best." the Security Lieutenant answered.

"We have eyes on eight others, clearly disposables, early warning most likely. They see something and create hell giving Serova and her cronies time to escape." then Marine Captain confirmed.

"OK, we neutralise the guards, simultaneou ........" Elena was cut short as the Starbase shook violently then again, this time throwing everyone off their feet. Bulkheads began sliding into place everyone moving back into more secure sections, "What the HELL !"

Before anyone could reply a second then third tremor rattled through the deck, vapour began to materialise as fractures in the bulkheads expanded. if they wasn't careful one of those bullheads could disintegrate, the resulting explosive decompression would kill everyone caught in the section instantly.

"PULL BACK GET OUT OF THIS SECTION ... NOW !" Elena heard Tan order. Someone grabbed her arm and began to pull her back along the corridor and she realised that blood was running into her eyes, she pulled free and began to run but was knocked off her feet almost instantly, slamming sideways into the bulkhead before falling to the deck yet again.

"Something hit us." the Marine Captain said as he and Clancy lifted her bodily off the deck.

"What ?" she asked, consciousness almost eluding her.

"A ship ..." the Marine said, "There was a massive explosion, likely close to the communications array's. I heard a sporadic comm saying a ship may have been damaged or possibly even destroyed, one of those removing the devices from around the 'base the comm said. Enzio was one of the ships wasn't it ?." he fimished.

"Serova, the meeting ?" Elena asked urgently.

"We might have lost a SHIP ..... The Section Admiral might be ......" the Marine shouted, releasing de Luca, who almost didn't retain her footing.

"The MEETING !" Elena repeated. The Marine glared at her for a long moment then realised that Tan, one of the other Intel Officers was eyeing him dangerously.

"The bulkheads closed, we have no idea if they escaped, or even if they are alive." he said, turning away to have nothing more to do with them.

"We need to know what happened." she said to Iorte and David.

"I know." was all David could reply ..........