Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 20, 2022 16:09:24 GMT
Klingon Fortress :: Once secured, it was clear they were in trouble ..... Carl asked for a recap of when the Exec; had been told prior to their incarceration: "Harry told me that Kv'oz had been transported to a location a few levels below us, but that was while we were still in the reception area..." Andae said as he checked the room, "... I tried to keep track of our passage, it seems to me we've travelled down half a dozen decks, although the extent of horizontal movement was unclear. We could be quite near Kv'oz, or at least on his level, if not near in space." "I think this whole place is a front for whoever is holding us..." Calli said, continuing as the others looked at her, "... They said there was approximately fifty-thousand here, there's no way all of them are connected. Talthor also said they had been working on getting this, venture, running well before the reappearance of Starbase Forty-Seven," "Meaning they wouldn't have expected to be discovered so soon?" Burwell speculated. He fell silent as they heard a muffled voice outside the door: "Federation! I cannot open the door manually but have overridden the lock. Release it from the inside." "Who is it?" Blakus asked almost sheepishly. "Vur'ka, you fool! You are in serious danger. Now open up!" With a nod from Carl, Lew Burwell approached the door and grasped the handle before turning it clockwise until he heard a 'click' and applied pressure, but before he could act it swung aside and the Klingon woman stepped into the room closing the door behind her. She looked at each in turn then handed a phaser to each of them. Carl watched her closely for a moment then spoke. "Any chance you'll be explaining your actions soon?" "I would have thought them obvious, even to a Human..." the woman said, clearly unimpressed, "... I witnessed Talthor's reaction to your earlier comments and thought it best you were informed of who was on who's side, so to speak ..... We are part of a group that is trying to prevent certain 'information' from falling into the wrong hands. Alas, Talthor is under the impression you are connected in some way, and is none too happy at your interference," "..... And kidnapping will help to achieve this goal?" Burwell asked. "Ahh, you are no doubt referring to Captain Kv'oz...?" the woman replied, checking the door again as the Marine nodded, "... Alas you cannot help him any further," "You believe our host is going to try to get that information?" Carl asked. "Even though you are unlikely to believe what I am about to say, and Talthor will undoubtedly deny anything put to him should you manage to question him, he leads a group that is trying to prevent the Federations' downfall," Burwell couldn't help but laugh, the statement was nothing short of ridiculous, there was no way a Klingon Officer could have information relevant to the Federation, let alone it's downfall! "What's this information Talthor is trying to retrieve?" Torek asked. "I cannot say," Vur'ka admitted after a pause. "Then why the subterfuge, why help us escape?" Blakus asked. "Talthor believe you could be associated with the group that is trying to attract the Federation from within. He is certain that the information, which was implanted unbeknownst to the carriers, must be safeguarded," "Why not simply approach these 'curriers' as you call them, and ask for their cooperation?" "Therein lies the issue. He became aware of this 'information' almost six years ago ....." "But we were in the ....." Burwell began but Vur'ka interrupted him, "..... Indeed, and being under the impression, like everyone within the Federation, that you would not be returning, he reluctantly admitted that his belief regarding your complicity was in error. You can imagine the shock when he was informed of your sudden and somewhat miraculous reappearance..." the Klingon explained patiently, "... So obviously he began to escalate the search for the 'Sleepers' and then you found this facility," "If he is that convinced, why not take what he knows directly to the Federation Council, surely with their resou ....." Blakus began, "NO, the Federation can NEVER become aware of the Sleepers!" "Wait a minute..." Burwell interrupted, a deep frown on his brow as he continued, "... If Talthor is trying to prevent the information these so-called 'Sleepers' are carrying from falling into the wrong hands, who the hell are the wrong hands? ..... The other issue we need to address: these people who are carrying around this information completely oblivious as to their situation if this other party get to them first," "They will be killed," Vur'ka stated matter-of-factly. "But we only have your word for that," Burwell said, eyeing the Klingon. "Excuse me?" she asked, clearly bemused at the statement. "Well, if we are to simply believe you, you people are the proverbial good guys in all this, while the other group would, according to you, go to any lengths to attain this information, then use it to act against the Federation?" "Correct," Vur'ka replied. "So who are they?" Calli asked. "We do not know all of them ..... We know of only two thus far, a female, Savon Fens, working at your Utopia Planitia, and Captain Kv'oz," "All this doesn't explain why you are trying to help us," Torek said finally. "There are those that have the ear of Talthos, those he listens to ..... One of them is Degani Kalta, she clearly has her own reasons for aligning herself with Talthor, and is urging him to be rid of you..." Vur'ka informed them as she went to the door, opening it slightly to look along the corridor before turning back to the group of Federation Officers, "... She could have you, and your crew killed, and the Raven secreted within this Fortress. I am trying to allow time for Talthor to believe you are no threat to him or his activities. He wants your assurance that you will aid, not hinder his efforts," "We could simply agree then leave," Calli commented. "Yes, you could... But I truly believe you would be willing to help, given the stakes. All he would ask is that you do not contact anyone outside our group until he has what he needs, I can take you to him now before Kalta arrives to dispose of you, or you can remain here, hand back your weapons, and take your chances with those who are wary of your allegiances," "..... And what's to prevent Talthor from using this information to do exactly how this other group would?" Vur'ka could only remain silent. She had said all she could, it was up to them how to proceed ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 22, 2022 19:53:19 GMT
Ceiling lights lit up as the two men passed down the corridor, the final stretch before they reached the Federation guests' sumptuous quarters.
"Would you stop waving that thing around, Berech," Malcolm batted away Berech's hand that held the modified hypospray with its needle. Berech had three extra cartridges in addition to the one already loaded; they would incapacitate the USS Raven officers and take them to an interrogation centre within the fortress, interrogate them, then dispose of them unceremoniously.
They reached the door to the adjoining rooms and Malcolm released the lock with their shared bioneural key pass, an alpha symbol engraved on its larger flat surface (interpretatio anglica, A for Annex).
"They've gone!" Berech observed, the two employees of the shadowy Annex looking at an empty room. They entered and via the interlinking conduit searched the other space.
Malcolm stared daggers at Berech, "These pawns are becoming very unreliable. You should've been careful not to allow Vur'ka access."
"She would've got in anyway. It's likely Talthor allowed it."
"Careful you don't allow Talthor to go beyond his brief, Berech. His very ignorance of his exploited position might allow him to break free. He could prove our downfall."
"It's as much your fault. The Annex doesn't take kindly to any sort of failure by its technical staff, Malcolm. Medicinal, now they are given more leeway," Berech regarded his needle-hypospray; he lifted it to the light and turned, with a swish of robes leaving the rooms with Malcolm in tow.
* * *
"Human idiots!" Vur'ka had stopped but the Raven officers behind her kept advancing. She held up a warning hand and gestured ahead with a flick of her head.
Through the intersection ahead, passing from right to left, was a small squadron of Klingon warriors accompanied by an apparently unarmed human, followed by someone they recognised as the diminutive Degani Kalta.
"How does she fit into this and why is she able to influence Talthor? Why does he listen to her?" Blakus stepped forward and whispered to Vur'ka once the six people had passed.
"Didn't I tell you to remain silent until we reached Talthor?" Vur'ka turned to him slightly, astonished. Then with a theatrical groan, "Kalta and the other we just saw are two of a sect of humans that pride themselves on their financial success; they are traders with a large business concern operating on the fringes of the Federation and deep within the Klingon Empire, and use Jalkoth fortress as a stop-over for conferences amongst themselves and to trade their wares. They were early investors in our project here at Jalkoth, involved well before I was brought here. It is rumoured they were a significant contributor to putting this fortress back in operation since the debacle of its first commissioning."
"I'm unnerved by the group. There seem to be an awful lot of them palling around with your fellow warriors," Burwell observed. Vur'ka said nothing.
Having negotiated the minefield, they were brought into the presence of Talthor. In the mid-sized hall designed for Klingon occupancy, dark and draped with scarlet tapestries, Talthor turned, "Well..." he grunted, surprised to see them or so it seemed, "How have you come here? Vur'ka?"
"I saw they were in danger. They wish to say something," Vur'ka barked and folded her arms. Only now did Blakus take notice of the dozen Klingons lining the long edges of the chamber; they were lowering their bat'leths having been ready to attack.
Blakus was given leave to speak by Torek, "We know about the sleepers. Captain Kv'oz and one other. How many more are there, and what's the information you're trying to prevent from falling into the wrong hands?"
Talthor was silent and Torek spoke, "You can rest assured we are not trying to gain the information for ourselves, to bring down the Federation from within or anything of the sort."
"Obviously you would say that. Why did you take Kv'oz aboard your vessel?" Talthor grinned. Milyanov's still trying to decode the information on the chip, that much is true, Andae thought.
"His life was in danger. We saved him from his escape pod on the IKS Kzir'pA!" Valente said.
"We, too, wished to save him. His own people! You Starfleet officers kidnapped a Klingon captain... I will grant that you did save his life..." Talthor admitted, "He and the other sleeper you mentioned, I do not know where they are. I imagine Kv'oz is not faring well; Fens I don't know about, though she's here somewhere probably. I was responsible for transporting Kv'oz aboard, yes, but he has passed into the hands of our human business partners and investors."
Andae assumed the human investors were Kalta and co. As he was abut to respond, the door to the chamber rolled back and two humans, one in grey robes with a hypospray, were revealed in the doorframe.
"Talthor. Stand aside. Have your warriors do the same," the man with the hypospray intoned. Andae raised his phaser and aimed at the man with the hypospray, the other Starfleeters and Fed marine also picking a target. "I wouldn't try it," Berech continued, "This room has been filled with a gas that will ignite on the discharge of any beam weapon."
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Carl Torek
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"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 23, 2022 13:56:10 GMT
"We, too, wished to save him. You Starfleet officers kidnapped a Klingon captain... I will grant that you did save his life..." Talthor admitted, "...He and the other sleeper you mentioned, I do not know where they are. I imagine Kv'oz is not faring well; Fens I don't know about, though she's here somewhere probably. I was responsible for transporting Kv'oz aboard, yes, but he has passed into the hands of our human business partners and investors."
"So, just out of curiosity here you understand..." Valente began, continuing when the Klingon nodded, "... We saved him, you 'would' have saved him if the opportunity had arisen, So, you are in effect trying to prevent this so-called information falling into the wrong hands, and those hands are part of your group on this Fortress?"
"Yes, and no ....." Talthor said, frowning. Andae assumed the human investors were Kalta and Co. As he was about to respond, the door to the chamber rolled back and two humans, one in grey robes with a hypospray, were revealed in the doorframe.
"Talthor. Stand aside. Have your warriors do the same..." Berech, the man with the hypospray intoned. Andae raised his phaser and aimed at the man with the hypospray, the other Starfleeters and Fed marine also picking a target. "... I wouldn't try it... This room has been filled with a gas that will ignite on the discharge of any beam weapon."
"Then you are in the same position as we are," Burwell pointed out. Berech glanced over his shoulder, presumably assessing the distance to the door should any of Talthor's guests prove foolish enough to fire.
"Touché ....." the man replied, lowering the hand holding the hypospray as he took a partial step backwards, halting immediately when Burwell's phaser moved with him.
"Send you 'guards' away Berech, there is no real need for their presence..." Talthor said as he moved to one of the chairs and sat, "... We are after all, on the same side, are we not?" It took a long moment but Berech finally motioned to his colleagues to leave the room, as weapons were lowered in a show of cooperation, he too sat down, eyeing the Federation Officers in turn before returning his attention to the Klingon Commander.
"I'd like some sort of explanation as to what is going on," Torek said.
"Well, it would appear that you have stumbled upon an issue, that numerous members of the Federation are endeavouring to bring to a successful conclusion for all concerned... Many years ago, a group of disenchanted people devised a means of shall we say 'discrediting' for want of a better word, the Federation Council, and those who sat upon it..." Berach began, seemingly all too willing to expand or current affairs, "... It was believed that given the time elapsed, any thoughts of carrying out their scheme had been long forgotten, presumably with the deaths of those primarily involved, but we cannot prove that assumption one way or the other alas,"
"You want to replace Council members?" Burwell asked, puzzled.
"Far more, this group want to dissolve the Federation in its entirety, allowing races to do as they please, without restriction from the charter so eloquently scripted on the formation of the Council,"
"But why?" Calli asked.
"It is no great secret that some of the member races have their dissident elements, some that feel their liberty curtailed, or trading processed scrutinised a little 'too' stringently, young lady..." Berech replied as Calli's eyebrows raised at how he had addressed her, but she remained silent as the man continued, "... I believe Talthor here has already given you some information on our group, and our goals. We want to prevent the dissolving of the Federation, oh, do not get us wrong, we like every other minority group, have objections as to some f the Federation Council's regulations, but unlike some, we would much prefer to sit around that table and forge an amicable agreement that suits both sides ..... There is, unfortunately, a second faction ....."
"..... And you think we might be inclined to side with this 'second' faction you mention?" the Marine said, rising to his feet.
"Why not, you wouldn't be the first Federation Officers to do so, and let us face it, the Raven 'would' be a valuable asset!" Berech said, stunning everyone with his remark. Blakus held up a hand to stop the Marine from grabbing the man.
"It would also prove to be a valuable asset to you too," Calli said, matter-of-factly. Berech grinned, then nodded.
"It would indeed," he said finally.
"If what you are saying is true, the recipients of the neural interfaces would have needed to have been chosen when they were young, children even!" Valente commented.
"Naturally,"
"So, how could they know for certain that they would rise to positions of authority?" she queried.
"Their position, as you put it, is of little consequence. It is the information they hold. Granted, should one or more rise to a position where they could be of help, then all well and good, if not, we assume that when ready, the other faction would simply take them from their homes, retrieve the data stored without their knowledge, and either return them unharmed or more likely contrive 'accidents' for each in turn," Berech said with a shrug.
"This information?" Carl probed.
"We cannot be sure ....." the man admitted, "... There is talk of caches of armaments, vessels, personnel, finances, even Starships, all hidden throughout the Federation and surrounding systems... Others believe it will simply be the names of those principally involved with the supposed coup, we have no way of knowing until we have all four sections, and are hopefully able to compile viable information ..... Alas, we are not alone in searching for this information,"
"Ahh, this other faction you spoke about," Andae said, clearly sceptical.
"Yes," Berech replied.
"We believe that Degani Kalta is in some way associated with this other group," Talthor admitted.
"Yet you keep her here, allow her to continue in her role as one of you?" Carl replied.
"What is that old saying you Humans have: 'Better to keep you friends close, but your enemies closer' ..... Is that correct?" the Klingon asked with a grin.
"So you intend to keep us here until this situation is resolved one way or the other I assume?" Torek asked.
"We could do so quite easily..." Talthor replied, "... But I would much prefer your help,"
"..... And if we say no, we stay put?" Burwell asked, his eyes narrowing, but Talthor could only shrug.
"The option as to whether you assist in our efforts, or remain, shall we say 'neutral' in any upcoming proceedings, is of course yours. I, we, will leave you to your deliberations. Do not worry, we have made arrangements for Ms Kalta to depart the Fortress on an urgent errand, she will be helpless to act while away. You will have relative free will to explore the Fortress as you feel fit. There are of course certain Sections that are restricted, and I am confident you will respect those areas. Other than that you can use the facilities as you please, your Officers and Crewmen will, of course, be extended the same invitation,"
"What would be stopping us from agreeing then running right to the Federation Council with what we have?" Calli asked, already having some idea as to an answer, she wasn't disappointed:
"..... The Federation, unlike vessels within the Klingon Empire, allow families aboard your Starships. One or two of those of families will be asked to remain here," Berech said, rising and heading for the door. Talthor looked at the Federation Officers then followed his associate out of the room. Burwell gave it thirty seconds then approached the door, tentatively he tried the handle, opening the door without any problem. The corridor beyond was completely empty ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 27, 2022 16:40:47 GMT
Fortress
It seemed to Blakus the way had been left clear for them to escape, or at least explore the fortress a little bit and more freely than before. It seemed this had been the intention of Talthor, and possibly also the somewhat elderly Berech if he could be trusted (Andae didn't trust him at all).
Before they could leave, Vur'ka who had left with Talthor re-entered and informed them of the arrival of two groups from the Raven (Tinsley and another junior officer and their families), who were now in visitors' quarters on deck 278 in a section the four of them realised was the other side of the torus. Apparently, the Raven had been hailed and the two families had been transported off by mutual agreement.
Vur'ka left again and this time took with her the dozen bat'leth-wielding Klingon guards who'd been stood in the shadows along the axial edges of the chamber. Now the away team really were left alone and apparently free to do as they wished - again as if Talthor and Vur'ka wished it.
Blakus and the others wound their way towards what they figured was the inner edge of the torus, recognising that in the absence of any visible turbolifts besides vertical shafts, the quickest route round the torus to Tinsley and the other officer's location - and that of their families - was on this inside edge.
As it turned out, as they discovered from a map of the fortress, at least four sections of the inner edge of the torus were amongst those areas that Talthor had stated were restricted, for whatever reason. Coming to the first of them, the way at first seemed completely unimpeded until Burwell stepped forward and there was a brief flash and a transparent sheet of glowing scarlet, the marine having impacted a forcefield.
"Well, we should either find a way around, or I can set to work deactivating it," Andae said when Carl asked for suggestions. The place was utterly deserted, with no Klingons, humans or other visiting species in sight.
USS Raven
Having had Tinsley taken from under his nose with no warning - by the Klingon fortress - Milyanov now had Christina Taylor as his immediate subordinate and Finch and others as equal next most senior to her. Finch had been playing around with another set of tricorders, the four previous having been fried by connection with the main power conduit to the nacelles (the engineering team's trick for attempting, with some small but notable success, to reveal progressively the text on Kv'oz's chip).
"Is this one ready? Interface imprint loaded?" Milyanov asked idly and picked up one of the new tricorders.
"It should be, sir," Finch turned, "I decided that the resolution could be improved, giving us a chance to decipher more of the nonsense with each plugging of it into the PTC... Sir!"
Finch and several other officers and crewmen were at Milyanov's side. The Chief Engineer had fallen to the deck after starting to work the tricorder, convulsing briefly before lying quite still. With him unresponsive at first, Finch saw furious REM activity starting up, Milyanov's eyes active under their lids and facial features twitching. Finch slapped his commbadge, =/\=Dr Roach, this is engineering. Medical emergency!=/\=
"I think I know what's the matter," Roach said, walking around Milyanov's biobed. "He's absorbed your encoded copy of Kv'oz's chip into his mind. His cortex and nervous system have been unable to deal with it. They're doing better now but he was in danger for a while"
"Absorbed? How could that be?" Finch asked.
"Did you increase the resolution or anything?" Finch admitted that he had. "That may well explain it," Roach went on, "The copy of the interface doesn't exist at any particular location inside him. Instead it has matched memory bank for human memory bank, engram for neuron. It's been layered over the totality of Commander Milyanov's mind, existing everywhere there is a thinking centre."
"All my fault... How do we erase it, or free him from it?"
"I'm not sure. In the same way we could remove the original in Kv'oz's mind, I suppose, it shouldn't be much more complicated. The problem is I still don't know how that is done. If you can convince the bridge to find a way to bring the Klingon captain back aboard perhaps I could make some progress. At least I now have another patient with something like an interface to work upon," she looked reflectively at the Chief Engineer before turning to Finch, "He should regain consciousness before long. I'll call. Allow me to report this to the bridge."
Finch acknowledged and left. He did have more copies of the interface that would allow him to continue engineering's work, but he would have to dial down the resolution again.
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 28, 2022 23:47:40 GMT
Klingon Fortress :: Carl wasn't happy about the fact that Talthor or whoever had managed to persuade members of his crew to depart the ship without authorisation ..... After the still absent Chief Engineer, and Commander Milyanov, Nate Tinsley was the seniormost Engineering Officer aboard the Raven. Carl couldn't believe for a second the man had simply 'agreed' to leave to visit the Fortress, more so, that he would allow his wife and daughter to accompany him, so he had to accept they had somehow, been coerced to leave the ship, there was no other plausible explanation as far as he was concerned! Moments before the Senior Marines' encounter with the forcefield, they had found that all the screens, set approximately every twenty metres apart along the corridors, displayed a continual schematic of the facility, including an all too Human: 'You are here' indicator ..... As Calli helped Lew Burwell to his feet, Carl and Andae surveyed the 'map' ..... "It looks like Section Four is a veritable holiday resort," Torek said, running a finger down the list of amenities. "So why restrict access?" Blakus asked, as puzzled as his Commanding Officer. "According to this, each section has been essentially duplicated, so the circumference is split into these eight sections, two of each..." Carl said, expanding the view to show the full Fortress, "... It looks like these sections, five to eight, are freely accessible by all, that's section four, the resort Tinsley and the others are in, so we can take a guess that sections one through three are also Talthor's secure sections," Blakus nodded agreement. "Would it have been too much trouble to warn that you are approaching a restricted section?" Burwell said as he walked over to the others. "I've been thinking about what we've been told..." Calli mused as the others continued to study the 'map' for a means to get into one of the secured sections, when no one commented, she continued, "... If Talthor and his Officers, erm, Vur'ka and the other one, K'oir, are running the group trying to 'prevent' this information from falling into the wrong hands, and thereby initiating the possible collapse of the Federation as we know it, then 'why' is he willingly keeping the likes of Kalta, Grimes, Berech and that Malcolm guy around, why not get rid of them and be done?" "Beats me," the Marine said, nursing a headache. "..... And we still can't be sure Talthor is genuine..." Valente continued, "... He could be playing us," "Our priority needs to be getting access to our crew," Burwell commented, rubbing his temples. "These look like service tunnels..." Blakus said, pointing to the orange traces on the schematic, "... Do you think he's erected forcefields down there too?" "Let's make our way back the way we came, I have the feeling we're not being allowed to roam as free as we have been led to believe," Carl said, heading back along the corridor ..... Every one hundred metres there was a cross corridor, presumably allowing people to move between the inner hull and the outer. They explored several and found they were essentially living quarters, presumably for visitors given they ranged from single person up to quarters that could comfortably accommodate eight people. On a whim, Carl approached one of the screens and requested the location of their quarters. The computer obligingly gave directions, adding a green flashing indicator for them to follow. At the next screen he paused then spoke: "Computer. Location of the Armoury?" 'Information Restricted .. Please follow indicators.'"So much for that..." Torek said with a shrug as he eyed the hatch, set into the wall opposite, he motioned for the others to look, "... Their version of our Jeffries Tubes?" ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Jan 30, 2022 0:07:07 GMT
Section 8, Jalkoth fortress
As they were denied access for directions to the armoury, Blakus's thoughts returned to Calli's questions regarding Talthor and his relations with Berech and co. Was it possible indeed that Talthor had before him on this very base some of the people he could be trying to apprehend as part of his organisation's attempt to prevent the sleepers' data being misused?
Andae's own view was that neither could be trusted, Talthor nor Berech. Whether that meant they were in fact both working for the Federation's possible downfall or were in some other way connected with the ploy couldn't be proven, but one thing did seem for sure, regardless of whatever the other variables might be: both Talthor and Berech (and probably Kalta et al) - whether for good or ill - were on the same side.
They climbed into the Jefferies' Tube equivalent, Andae wondering idly who'd been the inventor of this mode of maintenance access amongst the Klingons, and whether he or she gave their own name to the method of transport as was the case in Starfleet. They were certainly spacious enough, an average warrior's body-mass giving Klingons just enough room but the Raven officers plenty.
Making their way horizontally along the maintenance tunnel parallel with a corridor (the latter just outside the restricted zone, and which led in their same original direction of travel before Burwell had reached the forcefield), they eventually came in the confined space to a gunmetal-grey hatch emblazoned with a sign and an LCD beside it with the same sign in scarlet, something Andae recognised as the Klingon numeral for 1. The away team had reached another threshold of the fortress's section 1, a restricted zone (along with 2, 3 and 4; sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 were unrestricted) whose security measures clearly didn't extend to its maintenance accesses.
Andae spoke, "Ok, having started in section 7, we're now in section 8... We're aiming for section 4 where Tinsley and our other officer are ensconced; whether that's in luxury or in utter deprivation and misery, I couldn't say..."
Torek smiled but told Blakus to rein himself in a little - Andae admitted now wasn't the time for flippancy as he continued, "Ok we're in 8 about to pass into section 1, which I would guess is the area blocked by the forcefield Colonel Burwell encountered." Torek nodded and Burwell opened the simply mechanically-locked hatchway.
"Just this section, and restricted section 2 and 3 in the inner periphery of the torus to pass through, people," Torek told them quietly (it was unknown how well their words might carry through to the corridor just beyond the tunnel), "before we reach our two families in section 4."
Section 4, Jalkoth fortress
"Are you quite well, Captain Kv'oz?" Niqmepa said, lowering his zinc-alloy implements and removing his tetrahyzolide-reinforced surgical gloves. The op to remove Kv'oz's interface was only half-complete; if all went well, Kv'oz wouldn't be killed, may even retain most of his faculties, but the very invasiveness of the procedures on him so far would surely spell Niqmepa's end if the Klingon were ever able to escape.
Kv'oz pulled against his restraints, "What is 'quite well' for me, for a Klingon? Beaten! as I am?" The exclaimed word sounded more painful than the neural procedure - which Niqmepa had been told about - the Klingon had been subjected to. Kv'oz went on, "What's 'quite well' for you, I'm sure, would be a hot bath, petaQ, groveller before luxury. You may as well begin composing your kindred's eulogies now, for when I get out of..." Kv'oz faltered as once more he found his former zeal, his warrior spirit ebbing from him; he wasn't the same as before - his boasts, his self-aggrandisement at being appointed high-up in the KDF's Mobile Unit 8, all gone.
"I'm sorry, Captain Kv'oz. I would free you, but I only take orders from Dr Berech," Niqmepa said and took readings from the console showing the nanites' work on extracting the the Klingon's interface. He understood the procedure on Fens had been delayed. She'd be next in the room after K'voz.
"Where is Berech, and who does he take orders from? The Annex? The people behind my capture?! First Starfleet, now the Annex; this attempt to steal..." Kv'oz paused as Niqmepa and Malcolm - who'd come to join his compatriot - leant in over Kv'oz's med-casket. Kv'oz regarded their inquisitive greedy stares and arrested his flow of vitriol, frustration, despair, "... attempt to steal whatever's in my head. I tell you I don't know what's in that implant, so do your worst."
USS Raven
=/\=We're having a little more luck down here, Commander Wedlerson," engineer Taylor reported to the bridge, she having now taken temporary control of engineering with her immediate superiors incapacitated or in effect kidnapped. It'd been a long time since she'd taken charge of engineering herself (excepting of course when it was her duty shift to oversee the team).
=/\=Go ahead. You've made a substantial advance?=/\= Wedlerson asked politely.
=/\=Well, yes, relatively speaking, Harry. We have now revealed 72% of the information on the copy of the neural-synaptic interface taken from Kv'oz. Unfortunately, a lot of it is we believe highly unreliable; many gaps exist in its record making interpretation difficult; much of it is badly warped by our techniques - we've had little else to try - and there are a host of other problems.=/\=
=/\=Are we missing pieces of the puzzle perhaps?=/\= Wedlerson said and let her go on.
=/\=Perhaps 10% has been revealed about which we can have confidence over its accuracy. One thing we have realised however... The reading of it: it's more a structure problem than anything to do with individual words, phrases, numbers. From how the text's structured in the data centres of the interface, I'd say this interface of Kv'oz's represents only one of four such repositories. That matches with our idea of there being four so-called sleepers. If the analysis of this tetra-partite structure is right, then we observe a lot of overlap of the info between the four theorised interfaces, but also there's data specific to each one. Perhaps gaining the other three 'puzzle-pieces' will give us some sort of infallible key...
=/\=Another thing, Commander: much of the information uncovered - remember its unreliability - seems to point to some sort of design against the Federation!"=/\=
<Tag Torek & Valente on base, Wedlerson on Raven>
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 1, 2022 19:07:21 GMT
Deck Eleven Main Engineering Upper Level USS Raven-C :: Lieutenant Christine Taylor looked around Engineering ..... Despite her inner reservations, no one seemed to be questioning her ability to oversee the department in the more senior Officers' absence ..... She had been working on the data retrieved from the implant in the now-vanished Klingon Captain's head in Primary Science, but with the absence of Commander Milyanov and Lieutenant Commander Tinsley, she had transferred the data to enable her to continue her duties. Sat in the chief Engineers Office, so as not to be disturbed but available should the need arise, she had reported findings to Commander Wedlerson, currently in Command of the Raven, once done she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stood, ready to leave, but rather than give up for the night, attack the problem with 'fresh eyes' as her mother always said when she was struggling with a tricky issue, she decided to run the decryption algorithm once more. She set the run in motion as the urge for yet another cup of coffee got the best of her, rising she went to the replicator then returned with a hot cup, knowing it would play hell with her sleep patterns in due course. She looked at the data, fragmented sections of sentences, strings of two, three, or four words then gaps, but as the information scrolled upwards on the screen something caught her eye! "Pause..." she instructed the computer frowning, "... Scroll back ..... Pause," the computer obliged, and she almost forgot the steering cup in her hand as she read the data. Slapping her commbadge she asked Wedlerson to come to Engineering immediately ..... Harry entered the office puzzled and concerned at the Lieutenants tone: "What have you found?" he asked. Christine moved to allow him to sit at the desk. ...... CABAL ....... ssible ...... if unab ...... just be irradi ...... prevent compl ...... of ...... nation struc ......
..obe.t Grange Fra.k Wint.r Edina W..ght "What's it supposed to be?" "Beats me..." Taylor said with a shrug, "... I was about to call it a night but decided to run the decryption one last time, and along with everything we already have, this came up. To be perfectly honest Harry, if I hadn't been looking at the screen as it came up we might have missed it completely. Those are clearly names, but its the first reference to this 'CABAL' we've seen thus far, maybe it's connected to the 'ANNEX' we found yesterday," "OK call it a night and we'll re-run the last diagnostic first thing," Wedlerson ordered. Christine nodded, hardly able to keep her eyes open, realising she had been on duty for almost thirty hours already ..........
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 1, 2022 21:36:54 GMT
Klingon Fortress Jalkoth System :: They had entered the access tunnels half expecting to be forced to return the way they had come much earlier ..... Now, almost four hours later they were at the bulkhead which they believed separated Section Eight, their current location, from Section One, the first of the restricted Sections. It occurred to Torek that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying their trek through the grime-encrusted service tunnels. "Ok... Having started in section seven, we're now in section eight... We're aiming for section four where Tinsley and our other officer are ensconced. Whether that's in luxury or in utter deprivation and misery, I couldn't say..." Blakus commented wryly. Carl couldn't help but laugh as he motioned for the Raven's Senior Marine Officer to try the locking mechanism on the hatch. Surprisingly, it rotated upwards and the seal on the door hissed as the air equalised between the two sections. Everyone paused for a second, half expecting claxons to begin sounding a breach, but all remained quiet as Burwell pushed the hatch open. "..... Right..." Torek said as he looked along the curve of the tunnel ahead, "... Just this section, and restricted sections two and three in the inner periphery of the torus to pass through before we reach our two families in section four," "Is anyone else wondering why they only erected forcefields in the public corridors and not these service tunnels?" Burwell asked. "Well, I did wonder," Calli said with a grin. "After you... Colonel," Carl said, stepping aside to allow the Marine to pass him. Calli and Andae followed, and with a glance back the way they had come, Carl stepped over the threshold and closed the hatch behind them ..... One hundred metres behind, and still in section eight, K'lor, Talthor's Second Officer aboard the BoraS, watched as the Federation Officers passed through the bulkhead hatch, he took a communicator from his tunic and reported their progress, nodding as he was told to continue following. He gave it a full minute, then approached the hatch himself. Ahead, Carl turned to make one last check of the same hatch, still concerned as to how easy their passage was ..... Almost 'too' easy! The outer circumference of the torus was approximately twenty-five kilometres, while the inner was slightly over eleven, which meant that if they could figuratively hug the inner hull of the torus, they would need to walk almost half that distance before reaching the bulkhead hatch which separated section three from section four. Carl couldn't believe they would make that distance undetected, it was just too simple. Unfortunately, his concerns were too quickly realised as Burwell stopped at a turn in the corridor. Up to now, they had simply been moving forward, but it looked like they would be forced to make numerous turns, adding distance, and more importantly, time, to their journey. "I don't like this..." Calli commented worriedly as she peered around the corner to see more nondescript walls, floors, ceiling, "... It's like a maze, we could end up walking in circles if these turns continue," "I'm open to suggestions," Torek replied, though completely understanding her anxiety. Again he instructed Burwell to go ahead, and after numerous turns, they paused: "If this place is uniform throughout its circumference, the main public corridor we left should be around forty-five to fifty metres away on our left as we move forwards..." the Marine said, checking his mental image of their location relative to their start point, "... So, right here, then at the first opportunity, we go left and left. If we keep track of turns we should keep moving in the direction of the next section," "But that will bring us closer to the main corridor," Torek said. "Yes ..... So we'll need to keep left here, but we need to be certain not to end up going back in the direction we've come, so keep a lookout for any signage that could help?" Calli suggested. "We need to up the pace, there's only going to be so much time before one of our 'hosts' goes looking for us," Blakus commented ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 6, 2022 21:42:20 GMT
Cargo bay, restricted section 2, near inner edge of Jalkoth torus fortress
"You've really done it now, Berech." The elderly man's eyes were fixed on the barrel of the disruptor that was pointed his way, "You left the chamber, along with Talthor, and then - apparently at your own behest - instructed Talthor's officer Vur'ka to return and take away the guards that'd been left to ensure our guests stayed where they were!"
"You can talk and talk, Fens," Berech smirked, his wizened features cracking, "But don't suppose that our error in our operation on you has made you all powerful. We augmented your abilities; we made you a fine leader, yes, both these against our intentions. But we can just as easily remove those abilities from your subservient Federation mind." People such as Savon Fens had a deep-ingrained sense of loyalty and, Berech would say, submission to authority.
She would submit to the Annex's experiments to bring her back in line, and would be turned into little more than a vegetable robbed of the sensitive data on her bio-neural implant, as had been the original plan. She had that data, still, and while the Annex's agents had Kv'oz's and would hopefully soon have the last interlocking pieces of the puzzle contained in the third and fourth sleepers, Savon Fens's - no less than any other's - own bio-neural implant data was crucial to understanding the whole of the Cabal's original designs.
A shot rang out in the cargo bay. Berech had thought it was meant for him, but beside him fell Niqmepa with a hole in his chest, his fellow scientist and surgeon who - while he'd recently conducted his op on Kv'oz successfully and rendered the Klingon comatical - had experimented on Fens and failed in his operation.
"Foolish," Berech murmured, backing away towards some crates - as Klingons on both sides in this internecine Annex employees' conflict strafe-fired at one another - before raising his right sleeve and activating his personal site-to-site transporter, landing him in safety in section 2-B, halfway to the edge of the torus and near the reception area where the USS Raven officers had first been greeted.
Degani Kalta greeted him, "What happened?"
"Fens has gone mad. Niqmepa failed to remove the bio-neural interface from her successfully; now Niqmepa's dead courtesy of one of Fens' Klingons."
"The Annex will deliver a hammerblow to Jalkoth fortress for this, Berech, from inside and without... You shouldn't have let this escalate. There you were, playing the villain..."
"What would you have had me do? The USS Raven crew were on to us immediately, I felt. I had to force the issue. Accelerating the procedures on Savon Fens and Captain Kv'oz seemed the only viable option."
* * *
As the brief skirmish in the cargo bay in restricted section 2 took place (some tens of metres to the right of the passage at the innermost edge of the torus) the four Raven officers were passing by to the left by a duranium grating in their 2 x 2 metre ventilation shaft the other side of the wall of the cargo bay's upper level.
Colonel Burwell raised a hand as he heard then saw the shooting down below and to the left of him through the grating, then chopped a flattened hand forward in their former direction of travel. As quietly but quickly as possible, Blakus followed the three others, scampering with light footfalls while twisting as he passed the grate with its view over the cargo bay to take lifesign readings on his acquired Klingon tricorder.
As they reached the next junction in the maintenance tunnel system - thankfully finding a left turn that would lead them back in towards the innermost path (and, Blakus thought, almost out of section 2 and into section 3) - the XO shared his findings with the others, speaking hushedly, "Seven Klingons, four humans, one Andorian were in that bay," he signalled his tricorder, "It seemed it was six versus six, two humans on each side. One of the human lifesigns was reading as very faint, possibly expiring. The other - on the same side as the dying one - was I believe about 75 years old."
"That Berech bloke?" Burwell asked. "What about, umm... Malcolm?"
"Assuming he is also on Berech's side, I doubt he was there," Calli said, "Unless he was the dying one."
Making such speculations or evaluations weren't their priority right now, Andae thought; Carl agreed and told them they had to get to restricted section 4. But any internal division amongst the crew of the fortress (they'd already received hints of this from them themselves) had to be considered; the XO spoke, "I think we might've stumbled upon something to corroborate what Talthor told us about disagreements with Kalta, and I might suggest Berech ... Unless Talthor's trying to blind us with a 'good law enforcer' routine, as against a 'bad law enforcer'.
Restricted section 4, near inner edge of Jalkoth torus fortress
"Brak Tsr was a friend of yours before you joined the Academy, wasn't he, Mr Tinsley?"
"Who...?" The question was unexpected to put it mildly for the secon-in-command of Raven's engineering.
Tinsley looked round the bare room: zinc-coated walls, metallic flooring the impact of footfalls on which was somehow dulled by the pecularities of the room's acoustics, and a light from the ceiling whose exact location was difficult to pinpoint. One picture hung on the wall to his right: a framed oil of Earth Spacedock; below it, a ruined, grey Earth that reminded him of archive snapshots from the year 2373 of an alternate timeline where the Borg had conquered the human homeplanet. What was this painting of a nightmare scenario meant to signify?
In front of him sat his interrogator, a human who'd introduced himself as Malcolm, and behind Malcolm's head and shoulders was the room's zinc-coated tritanium door with a small inset window. Tiny Klingon characters for Section 4 - Interview Centre 19 were engraved into it.
"Brak Tsr, official in the Cardassian Republic assigned to one of their farflung regions out towards galactic west. You knew him before you joined Starfleet Academy. He grew up on Earth; you went to college together." A memory of the man was returning to Tinsley, but he tried not to show any recognition. What did they want with Tsr? Very likely nothing salutary. Why should Tinsley betray an - admittedly very old - friend?
"I'll tell you something, Nate Tinsley," Annex employee Malcolm leant in aggressively, "Brak Tsr is one of the sleepers we're after. Yes... I can tell by your reaction you recognise that description. Kv'oz? Yes, he's a sleeper. There are a couple others. Let me tell you something else... Your wife and child are in the next room. If you don't tell me everything I want to know about Brak Tsr - his precise whereabouts, his family and friends' connections inside and outside the Cardassian military, his exact current assignment... then a chute leading from your family's room to the inside edge of the Jalkoth torus will be opened and they'll be blown along it into space."
Tinsley's world began collapsing; he tried to arrest his sense of shock and of vertigo, "I... I don't know! I haven't had any contact with Brak at all, since... what was it... shortly before the end of the first year of the Academy!"
"You're lying!" Malcolm stood and swept the contents of the zinc-coated tabletop - cups and datapads - off its surface, sending them clattering across the room, "Why, after the initial welcoming party, do you think we brought you and your family here, out of all the Raven crew? And why the other officer and her family? You know something about Brak Tsr, a sleeper! She knows something about the Romulan N'Grol, a sleeper!"
Tinsley sat frozen. Malcolm took a moment, calmed himself and retook his seat, "Tell of Brak Tsr, or you won't see your family anymore."
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 7, 2022 16:25:05 GMT
"..... Seven Klingons, four humans, one Andorian were in that bay..." he signalled his tricorder, "... It seemed it was six versus six, two humans on each side. One of the human life signs was reading as very faint, possibly expiring. The other, on the same side as the dying one, was I believe about seventy-five years old."
"But none of the Human's we're our people?" Calli asked urgently.
"No..." Blakus said, returning his tricorder to his jacket pocket, "... We're still a full Section away from Tinsley and the others," he confirmed. Carl looked back the way they had come, then forward to the bulkhead door that would allow them access to Section Three of the Fortress. He couldn't help but be concerned, they had made good progress, but nowhere near fast enough and he believed it was only a matter of time before someone turned up where they had been held to find them gone!
Colonel... If you would," Carl said, motioning towards the rusted airlock hatch. Burwell grasped the handle and applied pressure, again, despite its condition, the handle swung upwards and he felt the latches ease as the seal was broken. He paused for a moment, while the others remained several paces behind him, listening intently for any signs there was anyone on the other side of the hatch. Satisfied he pulled to swing it aside, glancing left and right ready to slam it shut should the need arise, but as before, they were alone .....
Carl recalled Andae's comments about possible disagreements and wondered if their 'hosts' would be forthcoming if questioned on the animosity between several of those presumed in charge.
"How are we supposed to find out which of these are the proverbial 'good guys' then?" Burwell asked, seemingly reading Carl's mind.
"It doesn't make any difference..." Torek replied, "... We can take it as fact that there is more than a list of names embedded in the data we have from Kv'oz, and we know there are several others with the same implants ..... I can't accept that all there is, is a list, possibly two, one group plotting the downfall of the Federation for decades. While another is intent on taking control of the information to ensure it is 'never' used, it's all reliant on what this presumed data is, and how it could be used. One thing for certain, we can't simply place our trust in Talthor, or anyone else, just on their word, and we already know Talthor is willing to go to whatever lengths he feels necessary to achieve his goal," Carl finished.
"What if the names are connected with people in positions of influence?" Calli speculated.
"Wouldn't there need to be dozens, more, in such positions throughout the Federation to even begin to make even the most basic demands?" Burwell asked.
"Wars have started with less," Torek said sceptically.
"..... Gentlemen... Lady..." They turned in unison, unbelievably they had been so engrossed in idle speculation that no one had heard the approaching Klingon, "Commander Talthor wishes to speak with you," the BoraS Second Officer said, stepping to one side while motioning for them to walk ahead of him. The fact that the Klingon Officer was alone was a testament to his position and unquestioned authority. Falling into step the Raven Officers went ahead until told to enter the room on their left. Inside, Talthor was sat at a table, several data tablets before him.
"I assume you fully expected to be caught?" he said, grinning.
"Where are my Officers?" Carl demanded.
"They are here... You have no need to be concerned as long as you cooperate,"
"..... and if we don't?" Burwell asked, taking a pace forward.
"Then regrettably, there will be consequences, first for our guests, then for you and your vessel," the BoraS Commander said almost apologetically.
"You can't believe you'll get away with this," Carl demanded.
"Admiral... I have tried to be patient, but there are time restraints that might well overtake us..." Talthor began, shaking his head, "... You are fully aware that there are those here that have their own agenda for the data, we want to ensure it is never accessed to do harm ..... Oh, do not misunderstand me, I would in some way relish a return to conflict, to battle, but I also see the futility in such a course of events. Should the people who are searching for the data succeed, there will be no more Federation, no more 'alliances' it will be the end, each fighting for their own,"
"Where are my Officers?" Carl asked again ..........
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 7, 2022 21:17:22 GMT
"Where are my Officers?" Carl asked again ..........
With a sigh, Talthor stood, walking over to a large viewscreen on the wall opposite his desk, he made several inputs before the screen began to show a large park ..... Carl and the others didn't immediately recognise the location until Calli realised it was the Monterey Bay Aquarium, close to where Tinsley lived with his Family. Talthor turned to look at them:
"Lieutenant Commander Tinsley is helping us answer a few questions, but as you can seem his wife and daughter are enjoying a day out,"
"You have holosuites on this facility?" Carl asked.
"Sixteen in total..." the Klingon replied, walking back to his desk, it hadn't gone unnoticed that he had left the viewscreen on, "... Granted, they are, or were, used for training and battle simulations, not something we Klingon's tend to use, but we have to cater for all I suppose, and in their wisdom, someone deemed them necessary ..... Now, as you can see, both your Officers are completely unhurt, and will remain so, unless the good Commander decides to be, problematic,"
"Well, I always believed it but hadn't seen it first-hand up to now," Burwell said.
"Colonel?" Talthor replied, a puzzled expression forming.
"..... KLINGONS ..... All we hear are stories and songs of valour, and how relatives await you all in Sto-Vo-Kor... When all your so-called 'bravery' amounts to, is your ability to hold women and children to ransom. How amazingly gallant of you!" he spat. If he had hoped to get a rise from the Klingon Commander, he was sadly mistaken as the man nearly smiled, alas one of Talthor's guards wasn't so pleasant. He slammed a fist into the Marine dropping him like a stone to the floor. Spitting blood onto the carpet, Burwell stood and glared at the Klingon that had hit him until Calli put a hand on his shoulder.
"I think it best not to intimidate some of my personnel. I wouldn't want to be responsible for any needless loss of life," Talthor said. Rather than reply, Burwell spat another globule of blood onto the desk in front of Talthor before wiping the rest away with the back of his hand. He glanced at the Klingon that had hit him and smiled.
"I would like to speak to my Officers, now," Carl demanded.
"Alas, that isn't possible, I will though make sure they are available in due course..." the Klingon said, eyeing the blood on his desk, "... All I require is your cooperation in a simple task,2
"..... and what would that be?" the Marine asked.
"Well, as you are aware, we are trying to access information encrypted onto several neural-synaptic interfaces that have been implanted into four people, that we know of. Each piece of information is essentially useless on its own, apart from segments that both you, and we, have been able to access, but we believe that all four of the interfaces need to be linked to decypher the information fully,"
"You have Kv'os, and the woman, Savon Fens," Carl said.
"Indeed we do, but unfortunately, we are having some difficulty approaching the two remaining at large, thus our questioning of Commander Tinsley and Ensign Simmons... Both have at some point come into contact with one of the two remaining carriers. All we require of you is that you take your USS Raven, go to the worlds where the two are located, and bring them here," he finished with a shrug as the Federation Officers looked at him.
"..... I might as well ask..." Burwell began, taking a step towards the desk, "... But what if these people don't want to come to your little hideout?"
"Oh I am sure you will be able to 'persuade' them to accompany you, but if not, then ....." he fell silent, the Federation Officers looking at him as if he were completely insane! ..........
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 12, 2022 21:18:30 GMT
Kolaris XII - Uninhabitaed Moon ... Kolarin System Romulan Neutral Zone :: Edina Wright, a former Federation High Ambassador, Franklin Winter, a former Ambassador to the Klingon Empire, and Robert Grange, a former Ambassador to Romulan Star Empire, each of them well into their eighties or nineties, were sat around the table .....
"We need to move faster, the Annex is already causing us issues," Winter said.
"We have taken great pains to ensure that 'when' we strike, it will be successful, you worry yourself too much," the woman said.
"It is all well and good you making such a statement Edina, but we are less secure than you, and what about this place?" Winter said, glaring at the decrepit decor.
"No one will find us here, you worry yourself too much..." Edina Wright said, shaking her head, "... No one has been here in decades, since our last visit in fact, so try not to give yourself a heart attack ..... Now, despite exhaustive efforts, I have been unable to contact our missing colleagues, both have disappeared without a trace, so we must assume the Annex located and disposed of them effectively, which leaves us three at the highest echelon of the Cabal. It is therefore upon our shoulders to continue the work set out before us decades ago before any more of us are subject to further interest from the Annex,"
"What do you propose?" Grange asked.
"We are fully committed to our cause, but so is the Cabal..." Edina began, looking at each of her associates in turn before continuing, "... We are aware that the Cabal has taken at least one of us, along with two of the people entrusted with the implants,"
"The Klingon Captain, and the woman from Utopia Planitia," Franklin confirmed.
"Indeed ....." the former High Ambassador confirmed.
"What about the other two?"
"Here I believe the Cabal and ourselves are on somewhat of an even footing..." she replied, "... They are having trouble locating the other two custodians... As alas, are we,"
"What can we do, we didn't even know these four truly existed until a year ago, and it has taken us that long to identify but two..." Franklin Winter said, rising nervously before strolling around the room like a caged animal, "... In the meantime, the Cabal have disposed of at least one of us. With three needed to commence proceedings, the loss of any one of us could bring an end to our endeavour,"
"Thus my requesting this location for our meeting..." the former High Ambassador said firmly, "... I doubt the Cabal would think to look inside their own borders for any of us, so I feel we are somewhat safe, for the time being. But they are getting more determined by the hour, and would undoubtedly go to extreme lengths to ensure our failure ..... We must take every step to bring the Federation down before they can stop us!"
"In those early days, we were cautious about our views, and had help in attaining our somewhat lofty positions within the Federation ....." Franklin Winter began, but was interrupted by Grange:
"We do not need a history lesson,"
"..... And you are not getting one ..... Admittedly, all of those that originally helped us are dead and buried, and unless they left instructions to betray us in their wills, I must assume we are safe from their attentions... But since then, we have, through necessity, been forced to take others into our confidence. We have people in prominent positions that are awaiting word to act, and I feel that unless we can prevent the Annex from taking more action against us before we are able to complete our task, we might as well find a nice quiet corner of nowhere to live out what we have left of our lives!"
"Speak for yourself, personally, I have never felt better, despite my years," the ninety-eight-year-old Edina Wright said with a wink, but Winter could only scoff at her flippancy.
"I still fail to see why we can't destroy this 'Fortress' of theirs and rid ourselves of the Annex once and for all!" Robert Grange said, admittedly worried for his wellbeing.
"We have people watching their every move, why should we risk bringing on an official investigation, when we can simply keep putting obstacles in their way," Wright said.
"What obstacles? ..... This isn't some backwater negotiation Edina!" Grange said, clearly getting more and more agitated by the minute, falling silent as the woman gave him a look of contempt.
"Where would you prefer your grandchildren, and their children and their children grow up Robert. On an Earth ruled by our own, with our own flag flying in the breeze, or on an Earth 'kowtowing' to Federation rules, where anyone, legal or illegal, from any planet, can set up home and walk among us unchallenged...?" Edina replied, glaring at her aged associate, "... I have served this 'FEDERATION' for almost 'SEVENTY YEARS' I have done my share and more. I am not, in principle, opposed to interspecies trade or communication, but I have also seen firsthand, the setbacks we have faced 'because' of those relationships. No, it is time Earth stood on her own," she said, falling silent. No one spoke for a while then Edina tapped her comlink and instructed that the meal that had been prepared be brought in. Maybe time eating would allow tempers to ease ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 18, 2022 17:14:45 GMT
"Will you give us their names? Do you know them?" Burwell asked alongside Torek and Valente, while Andae stood in silence towards the back of the room near the door, any thought of escape having been allayed by the Klingon guard who'd come across from the adjoining room to stand there, as well as by the knowledge that he'd probably only make it a few metres before being gunned down by disruptor fire, now that the Klingons knew where they were again.
"Yes of course we know their names," Talthor responded impatiently, "Tinsley and Simmons know, too. They've confirmed those same names we've put to them."
Andae felt compelled to speak as his former direct subordinate was mentioned once again, "What of Tinsley and Simmons, will they be allowed to come with us, if we agree to what you're asking?"
"Yes, they will. Doubtless you'll want to know if their families, too, can go with you, but you must know now they will stay here. This, and your amusing addition of whether or not you agree... well, you have little choice in the matter."
Andae was fairly sure Talthor was about to explain how he planned to force them to find the sleepers.
"You saw what I did to the BortaS's sister vessel. I won't hesitate. You also witnessed our station's destruction of the Klingon cruiser sent by the High Council, shortly after you'd beamed aboard. We have the firepower. If the Raven doesn't assist in finding Brak Tsr and N'Grol (the names of the sleepers we haven't located, what we know of them will be sent to your computers) then we will blast it into nothingness. We have three vessels in the nearby regions who will track you. If we see you leave to try to return to the Federation, not pursuing the two sleepers, Tinsley's and Simmon's families will not see real skies again," he gestured to the wall's display of the holosuite.
Having had it demonstrated there was no option but to begin the hunt for the remaining sleepers, at least until they could think of a way around the blackmail somewhere down the line, the four Raven officers returned to their vessel, finding as they beamed aboard that Tinsley and Simmons materialised on the pad beside them.
Andae turned to Tinsley as the group stepped off the pad, "I'm sorry, Talthor has retained Claire and your child. We'll -"
"I know. The BortaS officer K'olr told me before we were transported back aboard."
They began dispersing to their various stations, Andae to the bridge where he resumed the first officer's chair, having been unsure while he'd been under guard at various locations within the torus-shaped fortress whether he'd make it back to the Sovereign class. He learnt to his dismay that Milyanov had been incapacitated in trying to hack away at the sediment covering the copy of Kv'oz's neural-synaptic interface. Tinsley had returned to engineering to discover the same thing, now taking charge with Taylor and Finch as his immediate subordinates. Milyanov was at least conscious and well, but he remained in sickbay under Dr Roach's observation.
The Raven turned to begin making its way out of the Jalkoth system and towards the Federation border - where it would change course to head in the vague direction of Cardassian space, the presumed huge area where the Cardassian sleeper Brak Tsr may be located. As the vessel was about to raise its navigational shielding in preparation for its warp jump, the fortress transported about 20 Klingon commandos aboard, into cargo bay 2 where they stowed their weapons as well as into the offices of ship's security, where they slapped each other's backs and caused general mischief.
~ Intruder alert. Intruder alert. ~ Blakus hurriedly resumed his seat on the bridge and tapped at his arm-panel while Torek, having been about to order warp 7, asked for updates from T'Seng.
Before the security chief could answer, a comm was activated and a familiar voice came, "Federation, this is Vur'ka. I and my warriors have been sent by the commander to give you assistance. Judging by your security measures, you will need it."
Andae tapped his commbadge, =/\=We don't take kindly to boarders, Vur'ka. You'll find -=/\=
"Silence, cretin. As I believe Talthor told you, you have no choice in the matter. We have come here to assist in your enquiries, and will remain here. Let it be known we need none of your creature comforts, no luxury food, soft mattresses or holodecks! Only call on us when you approach Brak Tsr."
As the bridge worked out the repercussions of the matter, Torek ordered warp 7, while Andae realised that they could use Vur'ka and the other Klingons' presence to question them on what exactly the story was with their human allies, or co-employees, aboard the fortress.
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 19, 2022 15:29:16 GMT
USS Raven-C Jalkoth Space :: Carl had remained relatively silent ..... Given the options open to them, it seemed futile to either argue or refuse to help the group holding crew families hostage! He had allowed Talthor to dictate terms, putting forth, instructions, demands, and threats, should his demands not be acted upon to the letter. Carl had of course completely disregarded the 'suggestions' put forward by the Klingon Commander but knew he must ensure the safe return of those being held, at any cost ..... He had already made the decision that although forced to undertake the task, he would damn well do it on his terms, not someone else's! The Raven turned away from the enormous fortress and began to put distance between them prior to going to warp and heading towards Cardassian Space, knowing their very presence could cause issues should they not be able to explain their presence, so the intruder alarm sounding was one more unwelcome situation. The comm chirped to life and the voice of the BoraS First Officer filled the Bridge, after a look from Torek Blakus answered: =^= We don't take kindly to boarders .. Vur'ka .. You'll find that .. .. =^= =^= Silence cretin .. .. As I believe Talthor told you .. You have no choice in the matter .. We have come here to assist in your enquiries and will remain here .. Let it be known we need none of your creature comforts .. No luxury food .. Soft mattresses or holodeck! .. .. Only call on us when you approach Brak Tsr =^= Andae was about to retort when he saw Torek rise from his seat and head for the turbolift. "All stop, hold position here, Lysia, send two Security Personnel to Cargo-bay Two and instruct them to wait outside for us, Andae with us, Harry you have the Con!" he said, stepping into the turblift, Blakus and T'Seng on his heels. ~~~~~~~~~~ He stepped over the threshold of Cargo-bay Two, Blakus, T'Seng and the two Security Officers close behind him, the Klingons, seeing the armed Security, immediately began to retrieve the weapons stored moments earlier: "STOP MOVING!... Anyone raising a weapon will be fired upon, I will then vacate this Cargo-bay and open it to space, so I suggest you remain motionless... Where is VUR'KA... ?" Torek demanded, waiting as the woman stepped through the throng. She grinned at her underlings, then stepped defiantly towards the Raven Commanding Officer, hands on her hips, Carl looked around the room then turned his attention to her, "... You have sixty seconds to contact Talthor and have all but yourself and 'two' other Officers transported off my ship, or I'll have you all beamed into space!" "The decision has been made, Admiral..." Vur'ka said with a smile, eyeing the two Security Officers and their phaser rifles before continuing, "... I suggest you retu ....." she was interrupted by Torek tapping his commbadge: =^= Transporter Room Three .. Lock onto all non-Humans in Cargo-bay Two .. Prepare to transport them five hundred metres off our Starboard nacelle .. .. .. =^= =^= Lock established Admiral =^= the Transporter Chief confirmed. "You wouldn't DARE!" the Klingon Lieutenant said, eyes wide. =^= Begin transp .. .. =^= Carl said, his face expressionless. "WAIT!" Vur'ka shouted nervously, as the Klingon Officers began to look at each other. "Well?" Carl asked patiently. "You are signing the death warrants of two innocent families Admiral, do you want their deaths on your conscience?" "I've lived with worse..." Carl replied, "... Thirty seconds ....." he waited patiently while the woman weighed up the obvious lack of options, remaining poker-faced as she took a communicator from her tunic and spoke urgently to Talthor. "He wishes to speak with you," she said, holding the communicator out. "I don't want to speak to him ..... Fifteen seconds..." Carl said, waiting. With mere seconds to go, groups of Klingon's began to disappear until only Vur'ka and two others remained, he looked at Vur'ka and spoke quietly, "... Make sure he's aware that should 'ANYTHING' happen to anyone from the Raven, I will have every Federation vessel park one thousand kilometres off his 'monstrosity' and blow it and him to atoms!" Without waiting, he turned and stepped into the corridor outside the Cargo-bay, the two Security Officers remained motionless, holding their weapons on the Klingons as he turned to T'Seng: "Lysia, find quarters to our, guests, disable the replicator except for all but basic necessities, erect a dampening field around their quarters, I don't want them talking to anyone but each other OK, and assign a Security detail outside. They are not to leave without permission from Commander Blakus or myself," With one last look at the silently raging Klingon woman he and Blakus walked away and returned to the Bridge, he sat in the centre seat and waited, moments later Lysia T'Seng returned, confirming that the Klingon's were now secured. "Sir, the Klingon's beamed to a vessel well astern of us, not the Fortress," Wedlerson informed Torek as T'Seng took her station. "Surprise, surprise," Lysia commented, her sarcasm obvious. "Helm, set course for Cardassian Space, warp seven," Torek ordered, fully expecting to be followed ..........
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 20, 2022 13:13:29 GMT
Conference Room USS Raven-C :: "..... And these are the only people with the name?" Carl asked, looking at the list of four people named Brak Tsr. "That we can find, yes..." Lysia T'Seng replied, rising to move to the large screen, "... One is a school teacher, two are military, one serving as a Glinn, an Officer on one of their Warships, the other is stationed on one of their monitoring stations. The last is a follower of the Oralian Way, their supposedly banned religion, so I've pretty much ruled him out," "Why?" Harry asked. "From what information I can gather, he's not left their Monastery on Bajor in around eighty years, devoting himself to worship, and treating the 'mentally incurable' who turn up for end of life comfort," "So who would be your best guess?" Calli asked, looking through the scant information they had. "I'd pick the one on the Monitoring Station..." Lysia suggested, changing the screen to show an image and more information on the man, "... He is, or more precisely 'was' military ..... He had a run-in with a group of Klingon's while on leave almost thirteen years ago. He was injured, suffering a server head injury and serious damage to his left leg after a wall collapsed, burying them all. He eventually lost the leg after being shipped back to Cardassia, where he remained hospitalised for almost a full year. He was released from his military service, and for several years remained on the Homeworld before travelling ..... Using his family connections, he was reinstated in the military as a non-combative, something almost unheard-of for Cardassians, he was offered a position with Intelligence, and took it without hesitation. Following time where we assume he was training, he was assigned to Station 17-5D, a monitoring outpost practically buried within an asteroid field on the Cardassian/Telarian border, and has been there since," "So he's Obsidian Order?" Lew Burwell queried. "No, well not that we can confirm, all we have on him is what's there," the Tactical Officer said as she retook her seat. "It's highly unlikely we'll get anywhere near the one currently serving in the military..." Calli said, eyeing the four images of those named Brak Tsr, "... The Teacher will be missed, and I doubt it's going to be the one living out his life on Bajor ....." "These monitoring stations, how many people are usually assigned there at any one time?" Andae asked, already running through options in his mind to get at the man. "Usually eight, no more..." T'Seng replied, checking the data on the PADD in front of her before continuing, "... They receive supplies and crew rotations every three months, rotating four of the personnel at a time ..... But from what I can ascertain, Tsr has repeatedly refused his leave time, preferring to remain aboard the station," "Well that in itself is a problem..." Burwell commented, "... If he never leaves, his absence is going to be noticed the moment we take him off the station," "Where's our shadow?" Carl asked, referring to the Klingon vessel that had been on the edge of their long-range sensors since leaving the Fortress. "Still holding position," Lysia confirmed. "OK, let's try to come up with a way to give our Cardassian friend a little leave shall we," Torek decided, tapping the comlink embedded in the long desk before instructing the Helm to change course towards Telarian space ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 21, 2022 22:52:20 GMT
Exiting the holosuite at last, Degani Kalta greeted her compatriot Berech who'd been standing just outside, his hypospray held aloft as usual.
She told him the two occupants of the suite were fine. Tinsley's wife and daughter had had their memories of the last few weeks suppressed, both believing they actually were still on Earth and that their photonic environment with its version of Monterey Bay was completely real. Kalta had taken daughter on a sightseeing trip by boat to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Starfleet HQ and Academy just beyond; the wife had been lying on a beach in Santa Cruz oblivious to the simulacra all around her.
Noticing that his face had brightened at the idea of stopping by the two holosuites (containing the two Raven families, the spouses and children of Tinsley and Simmons) with his latest concoction, she'd shaken her head, "You're an immoral man, Berech."
"I do my best." The families were his new test subjects for the serums he was producing to have the human mind reject an imprinted neural-synaptic interface, a reaction he'd been having trouble bringing about in Savon Fens (he'd been successful with Kv'oz, whose physiology was in any case a bad match for the two families they'd taken captive). The serums he'd given to Tinsley's wife and child hadn't caused any adverse reaction; besides he needed them alive for when Savon Fens was actually recaptured. Currently the Utopia Planitia worker was running loose in the restricted areas around the inner ring of the torus, with the Klingons she'd converted to her 'cause', whatever that was.
He stared mistrustfully at Kalta. She was one of the few amongst them, he believed, to have actually met with a member of the Annex. He imagined there were others in the fortress, some of whom he'd probably encountered, who also had direct experience of their employers, either Degani's equals or those above her in the hierarchy.
He didn't doubt that Degani was correct - whether she believed she was being truthful or not - that the Annex would get rid of the fortress, including the duped Talthor and his colleagues, should they become an hindrance to their plans. If the Cabal's remnants or anyone else decided that their Annex arch-enemies had meddled enough on the border of Klingon and Federation space, the Annex would be ruthless, lopping off their own arm before the Cabal could do it for them.
* * *
With the staff conference coming to a close, Andae spoke on what Tinsley - currently in engineering trying to mend the oddly fluctuating output from the warp core's antimatter injector - had said about Brak Tsr. The temporary Chief Engineer had known Tsr at the academy, as Talthor and the mysterious humans in the fortress had forced the engineer to admit. The Cardassian had been raised on Earth and knew a good deal about its customs, about Starfleet, the Federation and the two's organisational structure.
"It makes sense that Tsr would've been taken in by Cardassian Intelligence, possibly the Obsidian Order or its new version," Blakus said, "His knowledge of the Federation would serve them well."
The conference broke up and the officers returned to the bridge or whatever was their primary station. Andae resumed the first officer's chair as Torek asked again what they might do to take Brak Tsr. Andae might've wished that they didn't have to kidnap Tsr and take him to the fortress, but the information he probably unwittingly possessed - by virtue of the neural-synaptic interface - could bring about the break up of the Federation, and hence was a key to saving it.
"Could we disguise someone as Tsr and transport him over to the monitoring station while we bring Tsr aboard?" Andae queried after a while. "Tinsley could do it; he has some familiarity with Tsr and could imitate his behaviour, well enough perhaps to convince the other seven Cardassians that nothing is wrong."
"Possibly, yes, but then how do we recover Tinsley?" Torek asked.
"According to this, an exchange of four of the eight monitoring personnel will take place in approximately a week's time," Wedlerson said from aft where he was studying an LCARS database.
"We couldn't wait for that to take place," Andae said, "It's likely Tsr has intended to refuse to take his leave again, so we'd need to infiltrate the monitoring outpost in a week's time in any case. But Tinsley wouldn't have to be over there for very long. If the rotation's in a week, he could inform the Cardassians that this time he intends to take his leave, and we could simply take him back aboard when he changes place with another Cardassian?"
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 24, 2022 19:52:26 GMT
Holosuite One ... Deck Four USS Raven-C ::
The Raven Senior Staff had worked tirelessly for the last two days working out the logistics of getting their hands on the Cardassian Tsr. Finally, they were summoned to the Holosuite by the Chief Medical Officer: "Whenever you're ready, Doctor," Carl said as the small group stood to one side of the holosuite. "Computer... Activate hologram Tsr One..." Doctor Roach instructed, grinning when a Cardassian civilian appeared in the centre of the suite, "... Say hello to Mister Brak Tsr, Controller on Monitoring Station 17-D5," "How can you be sure this is a true image?" Vur'ka asked, having been brought by Security. "Surprisingly, Cardassian records are extremely easy to access, unlike the Military, you can pretty much look at any aspect of one of their civilians," "..... And you're showing us this, why?" the Klingon woman asked as behind them the doors slid aside and someone entered, he walked past the small group and stood beside the holographic image. For a long moment, no one spoke. "Please say hello to 'our' Brak Tsr..." Roach said with a grin. They looked at the two before them, practically an exact duplicate of the hologram, "... It took some time to make the facial modifications along with augmenting the cranial features, along with the extended shoulder ridges etcetera, but I think my staff and I have done a pretty good job," "Bloody hell!" Calli said, eyes moving between the two. "Nate?" Blakus asked, still unsure who he was looking at. "This lot itches like hell," Raven's disguised Engineer said with a shudder. "I have to hand it to you Doctor, that's one hell of a job..." Torek said, walking around the fidgeting Tinsley while passing through the holographic image of Tsr, "... Where are we on making the transfer?" "The Monitoring Station is deep within an asteroid field, it uses relays set onto stable asteroids on the outer edge of the field to run their scans..." Wedlerson said, glancing again at Tinsley before continuing, "... We'll take the Raven around the Cardassian side of the asteroid field and hold station behind one of the larger rocks. From there we'll take a shuttle as close as practical to the station. Once in position, we'll transport 'our' Tsr over and lock onto theirs. Next morning Tsr will go to work as usual. From the layout of the station, he practically works alone most of the time. Commander Tinsley has been going over audio/visual recording of Tsr and has his mannerisms down well enough to pass casual scrutiny," "What about his safety?" Calli asked, reaching out to tentatively touch the boney ridges running from Tinsley's shoulders rising up his neck to his skull. "Well, we ran through numerous scenarios, but we decided that our only viable option is to keep the shuttle in situ in the asteroid field once we deliver Tsr to you..." Harry said, walking to Tinsley, "... There's a subdermal transponder buried inside one of the cranial ridges. If he gets in trouble he only needs to activate the transponder and we'll beam him out immediately," "Commander Tinsley?" Carl queried. "As Harry says, from what we came up with, it's our best option," .......... Type 11 Shuttlecraft - Geneveive ... Asteroid Field Cardassian/Talarian Border :: The shuttle left the Raven and turned to pass the massive Sovereign Class vessel before moving deeper into the asteroid field. The two Marine Officers assigned to pilot the shuttle, 1 st Lieutenant Ken Zu Yang and 2 nd Lieutenant David Scott, couldn't help but glance back at their passenger every few moments. Even though they knew full well that it was actually Commander Tinsley sitting behind them, the likeness to the Cardassians was so realistic ..... As they approached their final position, David Scott passively scanned the station using a narrow beam to confirm that Tsr was in his quarters. "We're ready," Yang said as Scott confirmed their target's location. It had been decided to make the switch as Tsr was rising for the day and still in his quarters ..... Tinsley stood and walked onto the single-person transporter pad, he tapped his packets, first left then right, confirming that he had the Type One Phaser and the communicator if it should be needed, he then checked the hypospray, confirming that it was loaded with several large doses of anesthizine. Finally, he nodded to David. The Marine was monitoring the passive scan, waiting for the Cardassian to leave the bedroom area, then he activated the transporter .......... Monitoring Station 17-D5 ... Asteroid Field Cardassian/Talarian Border :: As the transporter sequence finished, he could hear running water from the adjoining room ..... He took several steps forward so he would be close to the door when it opened. The sound of water running ceased and he raised the hypospray in readiness, quicker than expected, the door opened and Tsr, still towel-drying his face enter the room, as he lowered the towel his eyes widened in confusion as he saw himself stood before him! ..... Nate took a single step forwards, placing the hypospray against the Cardassians throat and activating it. Tsr reached up but collapsed to the floor before he could prevent being rendered unconscious. Taking a programmed commbadge he placed it on Tsr's chest and stepped back before tapping the subdermal transponder twice. The Cardassian disappeared from view. After taking a moment to acclimatise himself, he went into the bedroom then changed out of the black jumper and trousers he was wearing and into Tsr's civilian clothing. He put the phaser in one pocket, concealed his own clothes, and approached the door, then taking a deep breath, he stepped into the corridor and headed for his assigned monitoring station ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 28, 2022 19:15:56 GMT
Degani Kalta entered the same reception area and bar where the Klingons and assorted Federation species had welcomed the Raven's away team. She approached the bar and pulled up a stool, finding there also a man who wasn't entirely familiar to her. He introduced himself as John Hortus, of the colony on the moon Titan, Sol, and a prominent affiliate with the Annex, like herself. They got to talking of the Klingons on base as well as the unknown base commander, whom most of those aboard believed was a Klingon, perhaps Talthor's equal or perhaps his immediate superior. The conversation moved to their human colleagues who had never directly encountered their mutual Annex employers.
"I just wonder how they'd react if they knew the Annex was run by a disenfranchised member of the Cabal," Degani said. The founder of the organisation, while being a former member of the Cabal, had never been privy to his former colleagues' secret of the creation of the sleepers and their exact whereabouts. He'd had to do a lot of the remaining investigation via his new Annex creation.
"Not well, I imagine, most of them still think the Annex was created by a Vulcan wizz kid bored by his teachers. Doesn't the founder still refer to the Cabal's 'damned Edina'?"
"That's right," she finished her syntehol and passed the glass back over the bar.
"Well, it was good to meet you, Degani," Hortus stood up and shook her hand, "Now I'm returning to Titan to ready Sol for the Fed break up. Hopefully by the time I get back your Raven assistants will have returned with the last two sleepers."
"I'm sure they will have. I have faith in Vur'ka that she'll enforce her commander's will."
"Ready for transport, Commander."
Blakus nodded, "Energise." On the pad before him in transporter room 2 a prone form began to materialise, almost an exact copy of the disguised Tinsley who'd left for the monitoring outpost. They had before them the real Brak Tsr, a Cardassian of great if recently discovered - as in the last five or six years - loyalty to his species, who'd been born to an exiled Cardassian family on Earth, and was Tinsley's former fellow student at the academy, having dropped out shortly after Tinsley had graduated. He would've become the first Cardassian officer in Starfleet.
"We have one of them then," he said virtually to himself, though Wedlerson and Christina Taylor - once more in charge of engineering while Milyanov and Tinsley were indisposed - stood beside him.
At that moment a security guard entered. "Site-to-site transport with Tsr to sickbay for his check up," Andae directed, turning to the guard and then making from the room with the ops and engineering chiefs. Perhaps Tsr would be able to talk with Milyanov, who Roach still had under observation.
As he entered the bridge - Taylor stopping and activating the engineering station - Vur'ka who stood towards aft watched by her own security guard spoke, "Human, where is the Cardassian? I ask to speak with him. I won't harm the greyskin - as a sleeper he's crucial to our plans to save your Federation."
Aware that Torek was about to join them, Andae held off on giving the Klingon commando CO an answer either way. Eventually Carl entered and Andae turned to the viewscreen which displayed a view of the giant asteroid the Raven was obscuring itself behind, "Well, we have only to wait a week and we can recover Tinsley at the time of the crew exchange," he said to Torek. It would be a tough time, and once the week was up they'd have to make for the transport that was taking Tinsley and three real Cardassians away from the place, trusting they weren't detected by the outpost.
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 1, 2022 12:57:01 GMT
Asteroid Field :: Having seen the successful transport to the Raven's Main Sickbay of the Cardassian from the Shuttlecraft Genevieve, Carl and Calli returned to the Bridge. He had decisions to make ..... As the turbolift doors slid aside the two stepped onto the Bridge, he could see the Klingon woman and her two 'Aides' but ignored them heading directly for his Exec' "Well, we have only to wait a week and we can recover Tinsley at the time of the crew exchange," Blakus said, glancing at the Klingons as Lieutenant Vur'ka strode towards them. "ADMIRAL!" "Lieutenant?" Torek replied. "I demand ..." Vur'ka said, glaring at Blakus for a second before continuing, "... To be allowed to speak to the Cardassian prisoner immediately," "He's not a prisoner Lieutenant, and he's undergoing a thorough medical check so we can be sure he's not likely to keel over on us the first time we ask him a question," Torek replied, dropping into the cantre seat, the Klingon towering over him. "That is 'NOT' good enough!" she spat. "It's going to have to be I'm afraid ..... Unlike you, we have protocols when questioning someone," "Meaning?" Vur'ka said, her hand inching towards the disruptor on her belt. "Let's take this conversation into the Conference Room..." Carl said, rising while ignoring her question, "... Commander Wedlerson you have the Bridge, Calli, Andae, with me please," he held up a hand as Lysia began to move towards them ..... ~~~~~As the Raven Officers took their seats, Vur'ka and her two Aides stood at the other end of the long curved table clearly agitated. One of the Aides leaned close to the Lieutenant, whispering for several seconds as he eyed the Humans. Finally, Vur'ka held up a hand effectively ending their whispered conversation, reluctantly she took a seat, her Aides remaining standing, their backs against the bulkhead next to the door, the two Security Officers assigned to accompany them on either side of the Klingons, both with a hand resting on their own weapons. "I must be allowed to speak with the Cardassian, he has information vital to the continued existence of the Federation!" Vur'ka said, finally unable to remain silent. "Let's just confirm something here, Lieutenant, 'YOU' and your colleagues are guests aboard the Raven, nothing more. I allowed your presence and I can rescind that decision quite easily..." he paused as Vur'ka rose to her feet, eyes boring into the Federation Admiral, "... Now, if you are willing to be patient, I am sure that at some point we will be able to let you speak with Tsr, until then I feel it best, for all concerned, if you return to your quarters," Carl had barely finished his sentence when Vur'ka leaned forward, slamming both fists onto the table. Her Aides had taken a step forward, pausing as the Security Officers drew their phasers and levelled them at the two. "I will speak to the Cardassian ..... With ..... Or 'WITHOUT' ..... Your permission," she said, turning to leave the room, but Carl hadn't finished: "Lieutenant, I strongly suggest you do nothing to disrupt our joint venture, I would hate to find myself having to forcibly detain you and your, Aides," The room remained totally silent for a full minute before Vur'ka turned and walked out of the Conference Room, their Security escort only paces behin the clrarly frustrated Klingons. "She's not going to lay down for this Admiral," Andae said, shaking his head. "I know... But if we let her anywhere near that man, she'll undoubtedly use any means to access the data stored on the neural-synaptic interface," "There's another option," Calli said, pausing as the two Seniormost Officers turned to her, "... Put him aboard one of our Type Nine Shuttlecraft, send him directly to the Fortress," "..... and if he objects?" Blakus asked. "Keep him sedated, or better still, place him in an induced coma, once unconscious you only need to send one Officer to pilot the shuttle. Once within transporter range, he can be beamed to wherever Talthor needs him," she finished with a shrug. Carl looked at Andae, who remained silent then replied "It would relieve us of the inevitable attempt to speak with the Cardassian by our Klingon guests," he commented, mirroring Calli's shrug. "What about the fourth member of this prestigious group ..... The Romulan Attaché?" Carl asked. "He's on Betazed, I was under the impression that Talthor wanted us to return with Tsr before making any attempt to snatch N'Gral," Calli replied. "What if we change the agenda...?" Carl said, rising from his seat, Valente and Blakus doing likewise, following him back onto the Bridge, Carl waved his Tactical Officer over as he continued with his proposal, "... Go after the Romulan before Talthor expects us to, it would give us time with both to extract what information we can by more 'humane' methods before having to hand them over to the Klingons and their associates?" "Vur'ka isn't going to like the unauthorised change," T'Seng warned. "The Genevieve is well stocked, they can handle a couple of days without us looking over their shoulder, let's keep the option to send Tsr back via shuttle on the table," Carl said. "Admiral, if we're doing this, I suggest we relieve the Klingons of their disruptors and communicators, given their inevitable annoyance I'd rather we not end up in a firefight in the corridors," Lysia suggested, Carl looked at Andae, who agreed wholeheartedly. "Comms, contact the Genevieve, I'll speak to them in my Ready Room... Andae, take Lysia and ask the Klingons to hand over their weapons and comms devices," "..... And when they refuse?" Blakus asked. "Well, they can comply, or we can quite easily place an emergency survival shelter on that rock outside, and pick them up on the way back," Torek said with a grin as he entered his Ready Room. "Commander..." Lysia said to Andae as they entered the turbolift, "... We should erect forcefields at either end of their corridor, and post additional security around the Cardassian, all sensative areas, and 'ALL' weapons lockers," "Agreed," Blakus replied, not looking forward to the upcoming conversation at all ..........
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 3, 2022 21:19:14 GMT
He made down the corridor in company with T'Seng and two of her security officers. They passed a certain point and Andae paused, working a panel set into the wall to raise a forcefield just behind him as well as down the passage well out of sight of the trio of Klingons. He couldn't help but feel apprehension; he didn't much like the idea of being trapped between the two forcefields with the Klingons for company; at least his group outnumbered them, and they could lower one forcefield easily enough with his voice command and first officer's clearance.
"Vur'ka?" he said, moving down the curving corridor expecting the Klingon lieutenant to emerge any moment, as T'Seng had signalled to him with her tricorder indicating the commandos were close. A glint of armour showed and Vur'ka appeared with her colleagues.
"You again, human," she grinned, "What does your Commanding Officer want now? Help recovering your engineer in this lunatic plan of yours?"
"Not exactly. Actually, quite the contrary, we want you to give up your weapons and commbadge equivalents for the time being, while we... umm, evaluate the threat level at which we should be behaving or responding since capturing the Cardassian."
Vur'ka and her assistants paused before bursting out laughing, though Vur'ka's own reaction was mixed with apparent resentment as it was obvious - and the Raven away team had already seen enough of her to know it - that she wasn't used to mirth, either by inclination or experience.
One of the command aides spoke as his laughter died, "You'll sooner see the realm of Gre'Thor freeze over! to borrow a human expression. Your dissimulation is obvious. Allow us to see Brak Tsr, or Talthor will dispose of your two officers' families."
Andae glanced with worry at Lysia, who shared his concern. Still though, how would the Klingon ship following at a distance know that the Klingon trio aboard the Raven had been refused their demand as well as disarmed, especially as their means of communication had also been taken away?
"Enough, what is the real reason you wish to take our weapons?" the other aide asked, "Oh, fear not, you are too pathetic for us to want to kill you."
Vur'ka shook her head, "Silence Beez'kar. I have already deduced their intentions. They will go straight after the Romulan diplomat and are merely taking precautions in case we voice our disapproval." Andae blinked as the Klingon officer continued, "I do disapprove; there, Federation idiot. But you had only to tell us instead of undertaking this pointless subterfuge. Fine, we will give up our disruptors and means of comms, but I demand of you that we contact our shadowing vessel periodically to demonstrate our continued safety here."
"We don't like demands, but I'll see about granting your request. Be aware though, Vur'ka, we'll have someone in the room monitoring you when you make those calls."
"You are a hapless Starfleet commander who does not know what he is dealing with. But if needs must, we'll allow one petaQ to observe our call." As Vur'ka finished speaking there was an alteration in the hum and vibration in the deck plates; the ship had jumped to warp, and they were now heading towards Betazed where the Romulan diplomat was presumably still located. He had better be there, Andae thought.
* * *
The shuttle Genevieve hovered in the midst of the asteroid field, trusting to remain in the small volume of space constituting the blind spot that the marines aboard had discovered in the listening outpost's short range sensor grid. About 12 hours after the Raven's departure, Cardassian civilian personnel aboard the station discovered traces of the earlier transportations that'd taken Tinsley from the Genevieve to the outpost and vice-versa for Brak Tsr. They didn't know what or who had been beamed on and off, so Tinsley's disguise as Tsr was still unbroken, but they did know the transport had been unauthorised.
Picking up arms, three of the Cardassians locked their main matter transporter onto the coordinates and beamed themselves there, having taken note that it lay in a sensor blind spot.
Transporting onto the pad at the Genevieve's aft, they unintentionally achieved an element of surprise and having taken stock of where they were, had presence of mind to shoot at the two marines Yang and Scott, stunning Yang in the back and rendering him unconscious.
Scott had noticed the transportation quickly enough and had already turned and ducked out of the way of a particle weapon blast. He phasered one Cardassian. The other two - having shot Yang - turned their weapons on Scott and so both marines were taken into custody. The Genevieve was taken too, piloted inexpertly towards a small pad on the outpost's asteriod.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,163
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 5, 2022 20:49:38 GMT
Receiving word from the shuttle that they were in a position to monitor for Tinsley's signal should it arrive, Carl asked Anna Fields at Helm to turn the Sovereign Class Starship and make their way out of the asteroid field... As they began manoeuvring between the myriad of rocks the size of houses, which was difficult enough, and made more difficult because they couldn't simply use their phasers to disintegrate anything in their way, they had no way of knowing the fate that was about to befall the Officers aboard the Shuttlecraft Geneveive ..... Finally, the screen cleared of debris, and he ordered the ship to Transwarp Four - Even at that velocity, it would still take the Raven almost twenty hours to enter the Beta Zeta Star System and begin their approach to Betazed. Andae and Lysia stepped off the turbolift, Blakus taking his seat with a thud, T'Seng relieving her Deputy at Tactical: "How did they take it?" Carl asked his Exec' with a grin. "Next time you do the asking," Blakus said, shaking his head ..... Beta Zeta Star System Alpha Quadrant :: As the Raven approached the outer edge of the System, Carl ordered Helm to drop to impulse and begin a standard approach for Betazed orbit, then asked the Senior Staff to join him in the Conference Room ..... "OK, any initial thoughts on how we approach N'Gral?" he asked as everyone took their seats. "We can't risk another kidnap," Calli commented. "If we could get him aboard for twenty-four hours I 'might' be able to extract all the information stored on the implant," Helen Roach suggested. "What guarantee do you have that you will get everything that's on that thing...?" Jor Svensson asked, checking the PADD in front of him, "... We didn't manage to get everything off the one Kv'oz was carrying around, and what we did was half garbage," "We've learned a lot more since we first examined Kv'oz," Roach replied. "He's still going to know he's been off-planet..." Lew Burwell commented, thinking for a few seconds before continuing, "... Is there any way we could erase his short term memory?" the Senior Marine asked. "We can, but I'm reluctant to do so. If we can get him aboard the Raven, 'AND' extract the data he's carrying, he would then need to account for losing twenty-four hours with no recall of what happened," "I suppose getting him blind drunk is out of the question?" Burwell said with a wry grin. "He's a Romulan... How many Romulans have you managed to out-drink?" Andae asked, making everyone around the table burst into laughter as the Comm chirped to life: =^= Torek .. .. =^= =^= Admiral .. Commander Wedlerson .. We've established standard orbit .. Betazed Space Control extend their welcome =^= =^= Thank you, Harry .. We'll be out momentarily =^= Carl replied, tapping the Comm off. "It might be worth allowing shore leave for non-essential personnel Admiral..." Calli suggested as Torek got to his feet, "... It would help if anyone asked about our unexpected arrival?" "Agreed," Blakus added. "OK, let's get leave schedules out and send a few people to the surface. As far as the authorities are concerned we're here for a little 'R & R' nothing else..." Carl said as they reentered the Bridge, Andae walked over to one of the vacant stations and began accessing the shoreleave schedules as Carl continued, "... We have a little leeway timewise, so let's try to find out if N'gral has any quirks we can exploit, maybe he's a heavy drinker as Lew hopes... Andae, we should get a couple of people into Civilian clothes so they can go look at the area where our Romulan works, maybe there's a period where he spends time alone," "What about when he returns to his quarters, no-one is going to miss him overnight," T'Seng commented. "That's an option," Carl said, dropping into the centre seat as everyone got back to their jobs ..........
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 6, 2022 15:58:45 GMT
USS Raven-C In Orbit Around Betazed :: With non-essential and off duty crew members on the surface, Carl was on the Bridge when Lysia asked him to one side to speak to him - Elise, his partner was trying to get hold of him - Frowning, the Tactical Officer assured him that there was nothing the matter, she just wanted to ask him a question. It surprised him because Elise never tried to speak to him while he was on duty... With Andae having spoken to Department Heads to arrange shore leave, he and Calli were discussing options for surveilling the Romulan Brak Tsr on the surface. He went to his Ready Room to speak to his partner: "Elise .....?" he said as she apologised for interrupting him.
"I just wanted to ask if it would be safe to take Bethan and Vanessa to the surface...?" Elise asked, not asking about their reason for being here, as by mutual agreement she never asked about assignments the Raven was given unless Carl deemed it safe to do so. He had hesitated for half a second when she had asked, so she continued:
"... It's fine if you'd rather we remain aboard, I just thought it would be an opportunity for both of them, they were asking about going to the fairground at Lake Cataria," she said.
"Noooo ..... Don't worry about it, yes, of course, you can take them down... Could I ask a favour though, would you take Lysia with you?"
"Of course..." Elise said, frowning, "... Any particular reason?"
"It's nothing to be concerned about, We've seen some local activity reports from that area, pickpockets, disreputable behaviour by some visitors, I'd just prefer it if you had someone with you while on the surface," Carl said quickly.
"Well, the girls love Lysia, I'm sure they will enjoy having her with us, and I'll have someone to talk to while they are off riding everything in the park,"
"Good, I'll get her in here..." he said as the door chime sounded. "... Come," he said, turning away from the screen, surprised as Lysia T'Seng entered. "Admiral," the Tactical Officer said, giving half a wave to Elise on screen. "I was just about to call you, how do you feel like a trip to the surface with Elise, Bethan and Vanessa?" Carl asked. "No problem ..... Picnic?" she suggested to Elise on screen, the two women almost ignoring his presence. "Erm, were you lurking at my door on the off-chance I'd ask you in, Commander?" Carl asked with a grin. "Oh, sorry, no, the Betazed High Council has requested if we could accommodate two of their newly-appointed Ministers with a visit to the Raven, apparently they have never seen a Sovereign Class Starship up close?" "Really...?" Carl replied, knowing full-well what having Dignitaries aboard usually meant, "... We can hardly say no, can we," he finally replied, half hoping Lysia would supply a reason to do just that. He had intended on joining Andae on the surface while they tried to find the best means of getting hold of the Romulan Consulate Member, but that was out the proverbial window if they were to have Diplomatic Level guests, as he would be expected to accompany them. "I'll brief my Deputy Sir..." T'Seng said before turning to the screen, "... and I'll meet you at your quarters in say, fifteen minutes, is that OK?" Lysia suggested. "OK ..... That's fine, the girls are ready anyway," she said with a wink to Carl.
"See you later," Elise said, blowing a kiss as she ended the Comm. Standing, he returned to the Bridge: "Harry..." he said, approaching the Operations Officer, "... There are two members of the Betazed Diplomatic Corps waiting to beam aboard, go to Transporter Room Two and see to it will you," "No problem..." Commander Wedlerson said rising from Ops, "... You want me to give them the tour?" "I'll decide when they get here, their timing is priceless... Calli, have the Chef prep' something quick and easy in the Conference Room, no doubt they'll want feeding while they're here," he said with a shake of his head as Andae grinned ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 7, 2022 2:58:43 GMT
Andae had assigned several dozen Raven crew to shore leave on Betazed, the next group of the same number of off-duty personnel would rotate with them in the next 12 hours, followed tomorrow by some of those who were currently on duty, who it was assumed would sleep first when they got off shift then follow the second group who would meanwhile return to the Raven and enter their own duty shifts.
200 non-essential crew, mostly those of families, had also beamed down, amongst them Torek's partner and daughters who in addition to having T'Seng to watch them, had someone on the bridge tracking their biosignatures wherever they went, ensuring they didn't get into any trouble.
The dignitaries were transported aboard, and Andae was disappointed to find that neither of them were the Romulan diplomat they were looking for, but then that would be handing everything to the Raven crew on a plate, even though they'd still have the problem of how to have N'Gral forget everything while aboard.
Perhaps a hypsopray with something to induce amnesia was in order for N'Gral when they found him? There were ethical principles of course, which should scrap such a plan from the get go, but if the Raven crew didn't at least attempt to follow instructions from the fortress base to take the two sleepers - or copies of their neural interfaces - then the axe may well fall on the two families Talthor had sequestered in the fortress's holosuites. There was also a Klingon vessel watching from a distance and Vur'ka aboard the Raven to keep them honest.
Blakus rose from his chair as Wedlerson entered the bridge with the dignitaries - a Betazoid ambassador to the Klingon Empire as well as a human administrator - and led them to the conference room with Blakus following. Within, Torek waited with drinks and small gifts for the dignitaries. Wedlerson nodded and returned to the bridge, while Torek gave a toast and he and Blakus made small talk with the two guests.
"You'd rather get back to the bridge, Commander?" the Betazoid read Andae's mind and laughed with wine in hand.
* * *
As an ostensible part of the shore leave complement, marine captain Lu Yang - sister of Ken Yang who as she believed was still on the Genevieve - and deputy tactical officer Delik Gerelo (lately of immediate subordinate status to Blakus when the two had been inhabited by machine essences and in charge of the Raven) beamed down in civilian clothes.
They explored a block of fancy diplomats' apartments, seeking out and eventually asking an official in a nearby information centre for the address of the Romulan diplomat N'Gral. "I'm sorry, we can't give out that sort of information," the Betazoid official said, and immediately discerned via telepathy that the two were from the Raven on an assignment, "Not on shore leave after all?"
"Yes, we are," Gerelo tried to say, "But we are old friends of N'Gral's and -"
Yang told him to be quiet as the Betazoid ordered them off, "If your vessel is on a mission here, your superior officers should declare it," he added, and seemed to be surreptitiously pushing something towards them, a PADD, Gerelo realised. The Betazoid's hard expression didn't change, "For now, I won't be reporting you to the authorities, but if I see you around here again, you'll leave me with no choice," he tapped at the PADD and nodded minutely, Gerelo quickly snatching at it and walking away rapidly with Yang.
Once clear, he glanced at Lu, "Well, how strange was that," and then looked over the PADD in his hand; it was a set of coordinates and an address for an apartment, some 200 metres from the duo's location. The Romulan's flat, presumably. "Could N'Gral be up to something? Why did the Betazoid have a PADD already with this address on it, unless he has such PADDs for all the diplomats?"
They realised that in any case the official wouldn't have needed the secrecy if there wasn't something untoward going on. Evidently, what the official had done was against protocol; his civic employers couldn't become aware that information about N'Gral had been passed on, but why would the official take such a risk? Unless something important was known about N'Gral?
They began tracking down the coordinates of longitude and latitude offered by the PADD, arriving at a building consisting of three large apartments up a broad set of sandstone steps. Halting at the lobby entrance which offered separate doors into the three homes, they decided to contact the ship. Delik brought out his concealed commbadge, =/\=Raven, this is Lieutenant Gerelo... Myself and Yang have found N'Gral's apartment, only we found it through some covert assistance... Er, come in Raven? Damn it...=/\=
<Tag Raven>
Meanwhile, a pair of eyes peered from behind blinds in one apartment, saw the two and darted away to begin packing.
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,163
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 7, 2022 15:59:54 GMT
USS Raven-C ... In Orbit Above Betazed :: Giving the room one last look Carl turned to the panoramic window spanning the length of the Conference Room ..... Below, Betazed rotated as if a glowing jewel hung in the infinite darkness of space. 'Looks, of course, could be deceiving' he thought with a hint of sarcasm as the doors opened to allow the Raven's guests to enter. "Thank you, Commander," Torek said as Harry left the room. He walked to a small table set up at one end of the room and picked up two boxes before returning to his guests. Handing one to each of them he explained that they were models of the Sovereign Class Starship. The ship, fashioned from titanium, stood on an onyx base. Both visitors turned the model over in their hands before returning them to the presentation box. "Thank you, Admiral..." the Betazed Ambassador said, seemingly genuinely pleased with the gift, while the Human Administrator simply nodded, clearly unimpressed, "... I have heard a great deal about the Sovereign Class Admiral, but this is the first time I have had the opportunity to actually see one close up, so to speak," "Thank you..." Carl replied, seeing the Human visitor move to the liquid aluminium window, "... The Sovereign Class replaced the Excelsior and Ambassador Classes when production came to an end for both series," "You would rather get back to the bridge, Commander...?" the Betazed, Halan Grax said with a smile as she sipped her wine, Andae looked from the woman to Torek and back unable to reply, "... Relax Commander, no one likes shepherding snobbish dignitaries around when they have duties to perform ..... Isn't that right, Admiral," she finished with a wink. "How much firepower does a ship like this have, Admiral?" Lewis Monroe asked. "We can usually hold our own in a fight," Blakus said, stepping in front of the Administrator. "I wonder if we might be able to see around your vessel if that is not too much trouble?" the Betazed Ambassador asked. "By all means..." Carl replied, replacing his glass on the table as Commander Wedlrson entered, motioning to Torek that he needed a word in private, "... If you would excuse me, Commander Blakus will show you the Bridge, and I will join you momentarily," He waited in the Conference Room until everyone had left then turned to the Operations Officer: "Sir, we've lost contact with our people on the surface," Harry informed him. Carl's first thought was for Elise, Bethan and Vanessa, but he had more to worry about than his family. "When?" he asked quickly. "Approximately five minutes ago, we had a comm from Lieutenant Gerelo, he got through to us but then the comm failed, we've tried several times to reestablish contact with no luck ....." Carl left the Conference Room, Harry a pace behind him, thankfully their guests were occupied as they crossed the Bridge to the Captain's Ready Room. Once inside Carl tapped his commbadge, instructing the Communications Officer to 'quietly' contact Commander T'Seng on the surface ..... Betazed :: Lysia and Elise were also enjoying drinks in one of the bars along around the fairground at Lake Cataria, she felt the commbadge in her pocket vibrate and took the device out. With a look at those around her she answered: =^= T'Seng .. .. =^= =^= Commander .. Torek .. Is everything OK there? =^= Carl asked. =^= Everything's fine Admiral .. Is there an issue I should be aware of? =^= =^= It might be nothing Lysia .. We were contacted by the team looking for N'Gral .. As he began his report the comm died .. We're waiting to see if he makes another attempt before sending anyone to his last location =^= =^= Do you want me to bring your family back aboard Sir? =^= =^= No .. .. Are you armed? =^= =^= Type One phaser Admiral .. Never leave home without it =^= the Tactical Officer replied, making Carl grin as he continued: =^= OK .. Enjoy your shore leave .. I assume Elise knows we are in contact so tell her nothing is wrong .. Contact the ship hourly from now on .. Understood? =^= =^= Understood Admiral .. T'Seng out =^= "Should we send someone down to Gerelo?" Wedlerson asked, despite hearing Torek say he wasn't about to do so given the comm fail could be just that, and nothing sinister. "Ask Commander Valente and Colonel Burwell to join me..." Carl ordered, "... Harry, let's not give our guests anything to latch onto, OK," "No, Sir ....." Wedlerson said, leaving Torek alone in the Ready Room ..........
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Mar 7, 2022 20:06:25 GMT
Captains Ready Room ... USS Raven-C :: "We've lost contact with Lieutenant Gerelo and Captain Yang ....." Carl said as Valente and Burwell took their seats opposite Torek. "You want us to do down?" Burwell asked. "I'm hesitant to send a search party. If the Betazed authorities find out we're here searching for someone they aren't going to be too happy," "We could ask one of the people on the surface to investigate," Calli suggested, but he wasn't over keen on involving any more Officers in what might end up being a diplomatic incident. After a moment he came to a decision: "I'm going to send you two down, but not in uniform... We'll beam you in approximately two hundred metres away from Gerelo and Yang. The second you materialise you'll try to contact us, if you can't get through then meet up with our search team and go after N'Gral together. Whatever you do try not to draw too much attention during your search... Dismissed," Betazed :: She and Colonel Burwell materialised between two of the four-storey Government buildings, Burwell tapped the concealed commbadge beneath his shirt: =^= Away team to Raven .. .. =^= =^= Raven .. Commander Werlerson =^= =^= We're down Commander .. Moving to intercept Gerelo and Yang now =^= =^= Understood .. We are still out of contact with them .. .. Report once you contact the others .. Raven out =^= Both of them checked their type one phasers, then replaced them out of sight, they walked casually into the open area and onto the large lawns running the length of the avenues, past the Government Offices were private accommodations, that's where they headed, casually meandering through the lawns ..... They were less than a hundred metres from the others when Calli told Burwell she could see them. Yang and Gerelo were sat on a bench across from the building they knew N'Grel resided. Sitting down beside them Valente asked for an update: "He lives in that building, second floor, third and fourth windows from the left, according to the information we were gifted," Gerelo said, nodding in the direction of the accommodation. "They supplied a schematic of his building along with the coordinates!?" Calli asked, eyes moving as she checked each of the people in their vicinity studiously. "Your guess is as good as ours..." Yang said as she took the PADD back, "... Did you contact the ship when you beamed down?" "Yes ..... But I have a feeling someone, or something, is interfering with comms in this area alone," Burwell replied. "It 'could' be a Betazed privacy thing, these are private accommodations, so maybe they like to keep themselves to themselves when at home," Yang said with a shrug. "Well, let's go make a house call shall we..." Calli said, rising from the bench, the others following suit, "... Does that building have a back entrance?" "According to the schematics, yes, as well as a basement parking area," Yang confirmed. "OK ..... Colonel, if you and Lieutenant Grelo can keep an eye on both entrances, Yu and I will go knock on the door," with a plan of action decided, the two men split up and made their way individually towards the front and rear of the building, while Calli and Yu crossed the gardens and entered vie the front ..... Once through the door and into the foyer, they found the lifts and entered, requesting the second floor. As the doors opened the two stepped into the corridor and checked the nearest doors to ascertain which way to go. Calli had begun to walk down the corridor when the Marine Captain stopped suddenly, peering back the way they had come. "Captain?" "..... Nothing, I just thought I saw someone back there," Yang said with a shrug as Calli approached the door to N'Grel's home and knocked. "He's not in," both women turned to see an elderly woman peering at them from the accommodation opposite. "Excuse me?" Yang replied. "N'Gral ..... If you are looking for him, he just left. It's funny you didn't pass him," "Oh, thank you," Valente said, nodding to Yang before both walked away. Behind them the woman watched them go then closed her door. Calli slapped her commbadge to inform the others of N'Gral's hurried departure, causing beneath her breath as she remembered the block on their comms. Not waiting on the lift, both women ran down to ground level, almost running headlong into Burwell as they came into the Sun. "He's gone!" Calli said. Burwell moved past them and ran through to the rear entrance, Gerelo was about to ask what was happening when the Marine told him what had happened. The two returned to meet up with Valente and Yang. "What now?" Gerelo asked ..........
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