014 : A New Adversary

[Nia Lemond]

~ 014 : A New Adversary ~


!!! UNAUTHORISED INVESTIGATION !!!


Starfleet Engineers assigned to assist in the construction of new Hospitals and Research facilities in Cardassian Space have disappeared
Thus far, five Engineers have been taken, presumably against their will, from within the Cardassian and surrounding Sectors

~~~~~~~~~~

Travelling to Starbase Forty-Seven to ask for her Godmother's help, Zoe told Nia Lemond, that evidence found by her Father
indicates that those taken are possibly being forced to construct secret facilities both inside and in locations beyond Cardassian Space

According to construction plans seen by Erik McMillan, an Engineer himself, some of these facilities seem designed for weapons construction
but of more serious concern - At least two of the facilities were large enough to allow Warship construction

~~~~~~~~~~

Despite several kidnappings, and at this point, uncorroborated evidence to suggest deaths among unwilling Federation Engineers, Officials seem reluctant to initiate investigations

Zoe explained that following the sudden unexplained death of her Father, who had attempted to question Authorities regarding both the discovered plans and the missing Personnel
She had demanded her own answers. But with the kidnapping of her Mother, and being threatened by those in authority, she sought out Nia Lemond

But even as Lemond herself began to look into the Death of Erik and the disappearance of his wife Helen - Zoe too was taken

Despite this, the Federation Council, and Starfleet Intelligence Directorate on Earth gave Admiral Lemond explicit orders not to investigate further
But unable to reconcile her conscience over the death of her friend, and the kidnapping of Helen and Zoe McMillan, along with the disappearance of Starfleet Personnel

She decided to disobey those orders!

~~~~~~~~~~

The USS El Alamein would depart Starbase forty-Seven on the pretext of having to undergo an additional three-week shakedown cruise following issues found during her last major refit
while in reality, the ship would pick up a covert Intelligence Team that would begin investigations into recent events
With nothing to indicate an 'endgame' they would need to establish who is responsible, and put an end to what is happening before it becomes too late to act

Hopefully retrieving her Goddaughter Zoe, her liflong friend Helen, and the missing Engineers in the process



ooo000ooo

[Nia Lemond]

OOC:

Post Copied From Starbase Thread

IC:

Admiral Nia Lemond's Office
Mezzanine Level
Command Centre ..

Three Days Earlier ::

In her office were David Tan, Iorte Clancy, Elena de Luca, Rosa Noon, now fully recovered and returned to duty, and Iezelda Iezeld .....


"So you know what has to happen?" the Intelligence Director asked.

"We all go off on leave..." Elena began, glancing at the others before continuing, "... In two days we'll each rendezvous with the El Alamein, and go from there,"

"Yes ..... The El Alamein's shakedown is due to last approximately three weeks, so hopefully no one will question its absence. You will hold to the assigned schedule for the first five days, by then you will be far enough away to commence your investigation,"

"Captain Komin knows what is happening?" Rosa asked worriedly.

"She does, you've nothing to worry about. The ship and crew are at your disposal as usual, but try not to have it or yourselves seen too often," Nia replied with a wry smile.

"Any word on Zoe and Helen McMillan?" Iorte asked.

"The USS Carpathia retrieved the escape pods, their last communication said they were being tracked by an unknown ship, we'll know more on their next contact..." Lemond confirmed, standing to walk around the room, waving a hand to signal the others should remain seated, "... So unless there are any other questions?"

"Given this assignment's clandestine nature, how much leeway do we have?" Tan asked.

"Same as always," Lemond replied instantly.

"Then I guess we're off on vacation," Clancy said cheerfully as he stood, the others following suit before heading for the door.

"Look after yourselves," Nia said. The five turned to see the look of concern on their Commanding Officers' face. David nodded, and then they left, leaving her standing in the middle of the room, eyes on the now-closed door ..... After a moment, Nia returned to her seat and activated the door locks from a small pad inlaid on her ornate desk:

"Computer, begin encrypted personal log ....."

.. Ready ..

"Commence recording,"

UNAUTHORISED ASSIGNMENT ... DESIGNATION ... 014 : A NEW ADVISORY ...

INFORMATION ...

Primary Characters Involved:

Erik McMillan	-	Father	-	Engineer	-	Confirmed Dead
Helen McMillan	-	Mother	-	Engineer	-	Kidnapped
Zoe McMillan	-	Daughter	-	Student	-	Kidnapped

Missing Starfleet Engineers:

Anna Rawlins, Xandor Pierce, Assan Kumur, Thomas Bradshaw, and Kirt DeJong ...

Notes:

WEREK - Planet close to Gamma Trianguli Sector • First assignment for Erik McMillan
TENDARIS III - Planet on edge of Cardassian Union Space • Where the McMillans were working at the time of incident.

Tau Nicii Treaty prohibits Cardassian expansion beyond their borders.

Brief Outline:

Twenty-two-year-old Engineering Student, Zoe McMillan, had come to Starbase Forty-Seven to speak to me, a long-time friend of the family, and her Godmother ..... She told me what had happened:

Two days before her father’s death, Zoe had overheard a conversation between her parents - Her father was concerned about the sudden number of missing engineers. He was dismayed that not only did his superiors seem to be aware of the absentees, but strongly warned him off asking questions that could be seen as problematic.

The following day, he decided to search for any information regarding the missing personnel, when he came across sets of unauthorised plans in the database. These plans were for the unauthorised construction of numerous off-world facilities, several large enough for heavy weapons construction, and worryingly, two seemingly dedicated to ship construction!

He had intended to speak to his superiors regarding the mysterious plans when his death was reported to the family:

Four weeks ago, he had died in what Tendaris III authorities had called a tragic accident after he was found at the bottom of a disused turbolift shaft, having fallen six floors. The enquiry was very quickly concluded stating 'accidental death' in its summation. Later, the family home was broken into and ransacked. On her return from college, she was met by a woman seated casually in their living room, who informed her that her associates had taken her mother, and that if stolen records taken by her father, were not returned, her mother would be killed.

After the woman left, Zoe immediately called Tendaris III authorities.

Sealing the property, effectively denying Federation Security access, they visited the home, officials refused to investigate the supposed kidnapping, stating that despite the condition of the home, there was nothing indicating her mother had been taken against her will, and that if she was convinced of the reason behind her mother’s disappearance, she should report her suspicions immediately to the Federation Consulate in the capital.

The Consul, having reviewed all evidence, told her that he agreed with the Tendaris authorities - There was no clear evidence of kidnapping - Then, unfathomably, rather than agree to bring in any off-world Federation Investigators for fear of upsetting their tentative position on Tendaris III, the Consul instead attempted to convince her that her mother could be suffering from depression following the death of her father, and was taking time away to come to terms with her loss.

Something Zoe believed her mother would never do!

Then, eight days ago, she had been approached by the mysterious woman again, she gave Zoe items her mother was wearing, some still bloodstained ...

The woman had told Zoe that six Engineers had disappeared, while three others whom they believe were in collusion with her father, had met with 'unfortunate' accidents, and her mother would suffer likewise. But despite her continued insistence that she didn’t know what they were talking about, she was told she had fourteen days to comply with their demands to return the data stolen by her father or have the death of her mother on her hands.

Distraught, and desperate for answers, she tried to question the Tendaran authorities about her father’s death, the missing engineers, and the rumours regarding the nature of the work being carried out on the sites, firmly believing her father was involved in nothing more 'clandestine' than constructing legitimate facilities on behalf of the Tendaran government in several locations both on and off the planet.

But rather than help, she was immediately detained and told she would be facing charges, including spying for a foreign entity, and that she would stand trial within days ... Then, supposedly ease an already worrying situation, and despite the severity of the charges she was facing, she would be placed on a Federation transport, effectively 'deported' off-world and was informed, none-too politely, that she was no longer welcome on Tendaris III.

So she had come to find the only person she believed could now help her .....

"Computer .. End recording and seal as instructed,"

.. Recording Ended .. Iris Scan Required .. the computer replied.

Nia leaned forward to allow the scan.

.. Encryption Confirmed ..

With a sigh, Nia sat back, deep in thought, running through a possible scenario for what was happening: Someone has been kidnapping Engineers, five thus far, from construction sites within the Cardassian Sector, to construct off-world facilities.

Erik McMillan, someone she trusted implicitly, had believed that these secret facilities were dedicated to weapons manufacture, but from what Zoe had overheard, at least two of those being constructed were large enough to enable Starship construction. There is nothing to indicate what the endgame to this secret construction could be, despite her insistence something was wrong, Starfleet Command seems uncharacteristically reluctant to allow any investigation - Why?

With no satisfactory answers forthcoming, she had disobeyed orders.

She had covertly dispatched an Intelligence team and the USS El Alamein to attempt to discover who was responsible, maybe the Cardassians themselves, working with a group like Section Thirty-One, or an as yet unknown faction within the Federation, to achieve their unknown goal? ... Whatever they found, they must try to bring those responsible to justice, and attempt to bring an end to the construction before it is completed!



With little else to do for the day, Nia stood and left her office ..........

[Nia Lemond]

OOC:

Copied From Iorte Clancy Post on Starbase Thread

IC:

Some 0.1 of a lightyear from Starbase 47, the El Alamein streaked by in the jewelled blackness en route to the Omega system, that star and surrounding planetary bodies that was the most notable feature (as far as Alpha quadrant civilisation was concerned) of the much larger Omega Nebula. The latter's impressive structure wouldn't be at all evident to an inhabitant of or a visitor to the Omega system, and so the system itself was all that really mattered.

During the initial two days of the Defiant class's transit, though the five Intel officers had of course all been on board since leaving the Starbase, the official record was to have it that at various points during this 48-hour period the five of them had found their way aboard. They were ostensibly to have been on shore leave, in such a way that'd allowed them to board the El Alamein unofficially and almost by accident.

On the bridge, as the El Alamein reached the halfway point to the coordinates at which the Carpathia had reported that it'd been being tracked by an unknown vessel, Iorte reflected on some of Lemond's final instructions, as she'd given them in the mess hall of the El Al itself.

While she had said that all of them, both Intel officers and El Alamein crew themselves, had the option of not taking this assignment, the option only really applied to the El Al crew. Intel had no choice. Lemond would say otherwise, but if any of them had turned it down, it would've been the end of their Intel career, here and anywhere else in the Federation.

The taking of leave would've been amicable, it would've been as if nothing had happened, only it was that colleagues whose blood had been spilt in the same cause, wounds cauterised in the same fire, could no longer follow the same path.

Iorte wasn't ready to forsake that cause, not because it would reflect badly upon himself, but because the cause would suffer. He trusted that his apparent selflessness did not speak of self-absorption... Either his perspective was that of a realist, or was characteristic of self-absorption. He preferred to suspend judgement and get on with the job.

"So what happened, exactly?" he said, arms folded standing over the situation table at the aft of the Defiant class's bridge.

Above the table, a holographic display flickered, showing the SS Carpathia, the two Cardassian escape pods (containing, it was presumed, Helen and Zoe McMillan in each), and the Keldon class Cardassian warship. It displayed the real-time tactical situation as of approximately 80 hours ago.

An unfamiliar voice - at least in these environments - sounded in reply, "That's what I'd be wanting to know, lad," O'Toole said, one hand in a trouser pocket and the other scratching his chin as he looked up at the holographic image pensively. He had come along, while he'd persuaded Kara to remain to tend the bar.

The consoles on the bridge burbled and beeped contentedly, the thrum of the warp core supplying a pleasing ambient background noise. The others at the table were Tan, de Luca, Iezeld, Komin, Commander Ross and Lieutenant Demik.

Van had the central chair, with Security Chief Massa standing beside him enacting his orders should they be of sufficiently low importance not to require Komin or Ross.

"The Carpathia reached the scene after the Keldon class did, but still found the two escape pods intact. The Carpathia now has the pods under tow, still out some way farther towards the Omega system. Commander Mintsev's Carpathia had found that the Keldon class was no longer present," Ross briefed them.

Komin nodded, "Now a different vessel, definitely not the same as the Keldon class, probably not even Cardassian, has been tracking the Carpathia, at least according to the Carpathia's last omnidirectional transmissions," she said. "If I had to guess, whoever owns the unidentified ship, will be from the same people as captured the McMillans."

=^= Bridge, this is sickbay =^=

=^= Go ahead, Samantha =^= Fran replied to Dr Adama.

=^= Please can one of the Intelligence officers come here as soon as possible. I'm afraid Officer Noon has visited me. Rather, she has been admitted =^=

The four Intel officers glanced at one another before it was agreed that Elena and Iorte should go. All of them had feared a recurrence of Rosa's mental concerns in the wake of the incident with the Tkrnn kidnapper. The two departed in a hurry, both alarmed and upset, though they showed it in multifaceted ways, while Tan and Iezeld stayed on the bridge.



<Tag other Intel officers>

[David Tan]

USS El Alamein
Three Days Out from Starbase Forty-Seven ::


For the last three days the ship had stuck rigidly to the pre-programmed course set by Starbase Command while they feigned running numerous tests and checks for the phantom issues logged by Starfleet Maintenance.....

"How long before we reach our next waypoint, Lieutenant?" Fran Komin asked her Navigation Officer.

"Twenty minutes Captain," Sharon Yip confirmed.

"OK... I'll be in the Mess Hall, once we reach the checkpoint, come to a full stop and await instructions,"

"Sir," Yip replied as Komin, followed closely by Milo Van, Alan Ross, Tom Demik, and Nate Massa left the Bridge .....

----------

As the El Alamein Officers entered the Mess, David and his associates were already seated around one of the two tables, Fran and the others took the other.

"Status?" Clancy asked.

"We're almost at the waypoint..." the ship's Executive Officer confirmed.

"..... And we're sure this is going to work?" Iezelda asked.

"There's no reason it shouldn't..." Fran said, rising to pour herself a coffee, "... Nico is sending in our latest report on the shakedown as we speak. Once we reach the waypoint we'll hold station for a few moments, then continue as planned ....."

She was about to continue when Sharon Yip entered and confirmed they were now in position and at all stop.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, please return to the Bridge," Van instructed the Navigation Officer.

"Aye, Sir,"

Komin looked around the room, picking out each face in turn, then turned to Alan Ross:

"OK ..... Let's go dark ..... At your convenience, Commander," she said almost in a whisper. The Operations Chief stood and left the Mess, within minutes he returned, nodding completion of his unspoken instructions.

The USS El Alamein was now, to all intents and purposes, invisible - The ship's transponder had been deactivated, the Command Code encoded, and even the ship's running lights were now deactivated. Fran reached over to tap the wall-mounted comm panel:

=^= Bridge .. Set heading as instructed .. Warp two =^=

=^= Confirmed .. Heading and speed =^= Yip replied. Komin released the comm and picked up her coffee, still scalding hot as she preferred it.

"To 'success' gentlemen," she said, raising her cup a centimetre, there were nods around the room but no one spoke.

Command Centre Main floor
Starbase Forty-Seven ::

Opp's monitor, Lieutenant Newell, was running routine checks on vessels within range of the Starbase, he was also keeping an eye on the USS El Alamein, which had been sent out to run a further series of tests following problems with her latest refit. Due to numerous restrictions issued from Starfleet Command, the Defiant Class vessel had been given a prearranged course to keep to throughout her three-week shakedown. Burton had confirmed the receipt of the El Alamein's report a few moments earlier and double-checked the ship was on her set course.

He turned away to access a second panel at his console, passing the information he had up the chain of Command, then turned back - It took him a moment to realise something was amiss - Frowning, he instructed the console to update the information it was displaying, and for more clarity, he projected the data onto one of the suspended screens around the Command floor.

He was about to call his superior over when Commander Sokolov appeared at his shoulder:

"Problem, Lieutenant?" he asked, glancing from Newell's console to the overhead screen.

"The El Alamein, Sir, it's gone!"

"Sorry?" Sokolov queried, his attention fully focused.

"El Alamein, Sir. She sent her report on time, I confirmed the report and the ship's location..." Newell said, wondering if he was about to be in trouble, "... Sir, I turned away to relay the report as usual, and when I turned back the ship had vanished. It was there one second, and then she was just, gone!"

Sokolov turned to the nearest Communications Stations:

"Lieutenant. Contact the El Alamein... NOW..." The woman nodded, doing as asked. Sokolov and Burton watched as the Comms Officer tried a second, then a third time, before turning to them.

"No reply, Commander,"

"They are getting our subspace comm?" Sokolov asked.

"We have no way to tell Commander. We're transmitting," the woman said, resisting the urge to shrug.

"..... And long-range sensors haven't picked up anything, anomalous?" Sokolov asked Newell.

"Nothing..." the man replied, then as if an afterthought, "... Like what, Sir?"

"An explosion, warp core detonation, radiation interference, anything?

"Nothing, Commander, should I tr ....." Newell began, but Commander Sokolov was already running up the ramp to the Mezzanine Level and Admiral Leond's office ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

USS El Alamein

"No explanation, sir. Chief Nico Carre has deactivated the transponder. I tried requesting access to the warp drive controls as per the standard procedure of the last 72 hours, but he refused me."

In response Lieutenant Commander Murrison slammed his fist against the top of the small work-station in the tiny quarters assigned to himself and his deputy during their sojourn on the El Alamein. They were the two commanding officers, out of a complement of 18 maintenance officers and technicians, that had accompanied the Defiant class on what was merely supposed to be its additional shakedown cruise...

"I should've guessed at foul play. The orders for this refit shakedown came all too quickly... Now we're stuck out here, doing god knows what. And all for the benefit of Admiral Lemond and her band of merry men!" Murrison spat.

It was well known to the 18 maintenance personnel that the five plain-clothed individuals in their midst were from Starfleet Intelligence, or some sort of Starfleet department, for the crew, despite their efforts, had been seen betraying clear familiarity with them, as if the five were comrades, people they were well used to working with. There was a sixth individual, with an Irish accent, that they seemed to keep at arm's length, but the plain-clothes officers seemed to know him.

"Who's in the next room?" Murrison asked sharply, shrugging off the current difficulty.

"It's Technician Vlatar and Technician Brown; our own," his deputy replied, troubled, as he rested himself uneasily on his bunk.

"Go and see them. Check there's no one in the passage before you do so. Otherwise, don't go. Tell them what you've told me. We need to do something about this... Either Admiral Lemond has countermanded orders from Starfleet Command or Captain Komin has! We need to get back to base!"

His deputy raised himself, nodded by the not too far off exit to the cramped room, and crept to the quarters adjacent to inform the two technicians - also assigned temporarily from the Starbase - about their current predicament...


Iorte headed back to the bridge, nodding to Iezelda as he made for the turbolift. Iezeld had begun making her way to sickbay to check in on Rosa, whose relapse into the trouble she'd encountered upon her and Elena's kidnapping from the asteroid base (prior to being taken to the proto-nebula) had endangered her role in the mission.

Iorte, the exiled Hybrudean and colonist of a Federation outpost (as per his assumed identity), continued onwards, hoping beyond hope that Rosa would recover from her difficulty, if not to participate in what they had before them, at least to be able to contribute beyond this assignment.

He thought this, and a myriad other things over as he took the short turbolift ride to the bridge. Being deposited at starboard aft, with the senior officers and Tan, de Luca and O'Toole preceding and following him as the case may be, he enquired about what lay ahead.

"Last sensor records from Deep Space Array 49-Beta put the SS Carpathia and the two escape pods at about 1 parsec from this checkpoint, between us and the Omega system," Demik reported. "As for the unknown vessel that'd been pursuing it, it could be anywhere in a 5 parsec radius of us."

The lights were lowered. The ship was at red alert. Silent running, as if cloaked... though Iorte knew, despite the fact the transponder was currently not broadcasting, if any hostile vessel entered visual range it could well identify and attack the El Al if it chose to...

---

Gheskori's office, Starbase 47

Gheskori coolly regarded the three officers before him - Commander Sokolov, Lieutenant Burton Newell, and Admiral Lemond. Sokolov had spoken, telling the Denobulan that the El Alamein had disappeared from sensors as it'd reached one of the waypoints pre-programmed for its latest shakedown cruise.

While Lemond had confirmed the information, and had suggested that it be suppressed for the security of the Federation, even before it'd come to his office, she'd nevertheless been forced through the insistence of Lieutenant Newell to bring the matter to the SA's desk...

Newell knew full well that something untoward was going on. He wondered if it had something to do with the apparent reluctance of Starfleet Command - as if they were afraid of something, as if the same thing might happen to themselves - to investigate the disappearances of some of the McMillan family and their engineer associates. Did Gheskori and Lemond fear the same? Had they ordered this apparent covert mission of the El Alamein out of fear of SF Command?

In actual fact, far from it... Actually the opposite was the case: Gheskori and Lemond had ordered the mission in spite of Starfleet Command. But lowly Lieutenant Newell couldn't know that...

"Where have you learnt this, Lieutenant?" Ghes asked Burton Newell, "I mean Starfleet Command's intentions, their limitations upon us. How did you know about them?" Newell mentioning such was the only thing that could've made Nia bring the man and his superior Sokolov to his office.

<Tag Lemond, Newell>

[David Tan]

USS El Alamein ::


"..... Last sensor records from Deep Space Array Forty-Nine-Beta, put the SS Carpathia and the two escape pods at about one parsec from this checkpoint, between us and the Omega System..." Demik was reporting as Iorte entered the Bridge receiving a nod from Tan as he approached the group, "... As for the unknown vessel that'd been pursuing it, it could be anywhere within a five-parsec radius of us,"

The lights were lowered. The ship was on red alert. Silent running, as if cloaked... Though Iorte knew, despite the fact the transponder was currently not broadcasting, if any hostile vessel entered visual range it could well identify and attack the El Alamein, if it chose to .....

"OK, where do we start?" Fran Komin asked, looking around the assembled group, both Starfleet Officers and Intelligence.

"The McMillans were residing on Tendaris Three when the Father was killed, or according to 'official' reports, suffered a tragic fall..." Elena commented after a few seconds, "... Maybe that's the place to start,"

"It's a given that we can't simply establish orbit and go looking for information," Tan said.

"We 'could' put ourselves on the far side of the second planet in the System, it's essentially a rock, no value to anyone, and there hasn't been any activity for decades according to our records," Tom Demik suggested.

"We still need to get where we need to be. I'd suggest a shuttle. It's likely to be detected if we try to land, but if we can keep above the magnetic pole, we 'might' be able to transport an away team to the surface and get out of there undetected?" Massa commented as one of his team entered and asked to speak to him.

"Lieutenant?"

"Sir, you asked us to keep an eye on the Maintenance Staff ..." Jan Ward said.

"Yes, but not to make it 'too' obvious we didn't want them wandering around the ship for the time being. Is there a problem?" Massa asked.

"We caught one in the corridor. He said he had come from the adjacent quarters where he had been discussing the maintenance rota. He looked a little nervous at bumping into me, my wearing a phaser didn't go un-noticed," Jan replied.

"I think one of them... Lieutenant D'Arby, I think... Might have realised that I had deactivated the transponder, he asked for systems access, obviously I had to say no," Nico Carré informed them. David glanced at Komin and Milo Van. They didn't want to actively confine the Maintenance Staff and Technicians, but everyone knew that there would be issues, and it was only a matter of time before they found themselves being asked 'awkward' questions.

"How many are on board, exactly?" Tan asked.

"Eighteen in all," Jan Ward confirmed.

"So cramming them into a disabled shuttle and sending them off somewhere they're not likely to be spotted for a few weeks isn't exactly an option..." David continued, clearly vocalising what others had been thinking, "... You'll have to speak to them," he said, aiming the comment at Fran Komin.

"..... And say what: 'Sorry, but we have things to do. You will unfortunately need to tag along, given you don't have an option?' ....." the El Alamein Captain said, her sarcasm obvious.

"We knew we were going to be stuck with them, throwing them off the ship pre-departure would have stopped us before we'd gone a metre," Alan Ross said with a shrug.

"Can they do a lot of damage?" Iezelda asked.

"They're Starfleet Engineers, Ma'am, so I'd say 'yes' they can cause us problems," Demik commented.

"Sorry ....." the young Intelligence Officer replied, realising how naive the question made her look.

"We could have a big problem on our hands if they decide they would rather return to the Starbase regardless,"

"We could simply say Intelligence has been given an assignment. It's not like they can contradict us," Elena said.

"No, but then there's no saying they would sit back and be allowed to be willingly taken into what could be a hostile situation," Demik commented.

"What's the lead Engineer's name?" Fran asked after a moment.

"Lieutenant Commander Murrison," Carré replied.

"I'll go have a word..." Komin said with a resigned sigh, "... While I'm gone, maybe we could come up with possible actions should my meeting not go well ..... Nate, you might as well come along, moral support," with that, she and the Chief Security Officer left the Bridge. David looked at the others:

"Maybe we should have some bunkbeds set up in Cargobay Two ..... On the off-chance ....." he said with a wry grin ..........

[Nia Lemond]

Section Admiral Gheskori's Office
Starbase Forty-Seven ::

Nia wasn't too happy at the sudden turn of events - The 'Assignment' the El Alamein was on was indeed unauthorised, but other than the ships apparent disappearance, no one should have known anything more .....

"Where have you learnt this, Lieutenant...?" Gheskori was asking Burton Newell, "... I mean Starfleet Command's intentions, their limitations upon us. How did you know about them?"

Newell mentioning such was the only thing that made Nia bring the man, and his superior Sokolov, to Gheskori's office.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but to be truthful, it was something I had overheard Technicians talking about..." Newell began with a glance at Sokorov before continuing, "... They seemed to think there was something wrong, maybe with the schedule, or how many were being allowed on the El Alamein. It just seemed, strange,"

"So basically, you're saying that, after overhearing some chatter, you took it upon yourself to look into what the El Alamein was doing, somehow not believing the shakedown excuse?" Lemond asked.

"You have to admit, Ma'am ....." Newell began, only to be interrupted:

"Please don't address me as Ma'am, Lieutenant, I much prefer Admiral,"

"..... Apologies, Admiral ..... As I was about to say: It seemed a little too 'convenient' in my opinion. The initial shakedown report on the El Alamein gave no indications of issues arising. Then first we have these reports of Engineers going missing, followed by these travel restrictions, suddenly the ship whose sole assignment is to assist Starfleet Intelligence on Starbase Forty-Seven, develops problems that need addressing before she can be returned to active duty?"

Nia looked at Gheskori, who was obviously less than amused.

"Who else have you shared your' concerns' with, might I ask?"

"I spoke to Commander Sokolov, who then I believe spoke with Admiral Lemond," Newell replied nervously.

"Just out of curiosity here, Lieutenant, but how do 'you' think we should proceed, given what you believ you know?" Nia asked.

"I'm sure that isn't for me to say, Admiral," Newell replied, a little too quickly.

"..... And you, Commander, your opinion?" Lemond pressed.

"With all due respect, Admiral, I believe that some things are outside my remit, and as such don't require my input or speculation," Sokolov replied.

"Very 'diplomatic' of you, Commander..." Gheskori said, eyeing Nia for a moment before continuing, "... If you would please wait outside Gentlemen ....." Gheskori waited until the door slid shut, then again looked at his Intelligence Director, clearly waiting for her input.

"If things have been that transparent, it's only a matter of time before others begin to question what the El Alamein is doing," she said.

"What would you suggest my dear," Gheskori asked.

"We could promote them both," she said with a grin.

"I hardly think that is going to keep them from privately speculating,"

"That's their prerogative of course. You 'could' inform them that recent events, however speculative, are confidential, and thus outside their purview and require their complete silence,"

"I could also throw them in the Brig for the duration," Ghes' said with a smile.

"I don't think their spreading or adding to rumours is an issue, they're Starfleet Officers, and as such understand that sometimes things happen that might not sit well, but need keeping under wraps, so to speak,"

"I'm still somewhat concerned as to how these apparent rumours began," the Section Admiral said with a frown.

"You'll never stop rumours Admiral, you might as well try to stop the world turning..." Nia replied, "... Nevertheless, it might be prudent to 'request' rather than order, that they not discuss this further, instructing them to speak tp you or myself should anything they feel relivent come to light?" Gheskori nodded. Nia stood and walked to the door which slid aside, she asked both Officers to come in and take their seats.

"At this point, I am going to ask you both not to speculate further on any events you may or may not deem viable..." Gheskori ordered, eyeing both before looking at a PADD on the desk before him, "... You were both here before Betreka, so I would hope, that you fully understand the requirement not to spread unsubstantiated rumour?"

"Yes, Sir," Both said in unison.

"Very well, I believe we can put this issue to rest unless you hear anything more. Thank you both for bringing this to our attention. You may return to your duties," Gheskori said, making it clear the meeting was over. Both men stood and left the office .....

"You think there will be more of this speculation?" Gheskori asked, rising from his seat, Nia doing likewise.

"It wouldn't surprise me," Lemond said, turning to leave. Gheskori stood, watching the door slide closed. Nia walked along the Mezzanine Level to her own office deep in thought. As she entered, her Adjutant came in from the adjoining office:

"Erin, would you please pull all the records for Commander Sokolov and Lieutenant Burton Newell,"

"Pulled, and ready, Admiral," Erin Paquin replied as she reached over to tap the pad which activated the large wall-mounted screen opposite Lemond's desk ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

Bridge, USS El Alamein

The plan as Demik and Massa had suggested it was to Clancy's liking. The El Al should travel into the Omega system and put itself on the farthest side of the second planet from the system's star, so that the body might act as a cover from view of the central planet, on which a populace seemed to be present.

Then a type 10 shuttlecraft would leave the El Al - the only type 10 it had any room for - and would make for either the central planet's north or south pole, the shuttle encountering the planet so that it didn't enter within the main magnetic field lines during any part of its approach, but headed almost radially inwards towards the world, with the theoretical starting point of its radial course being 5 to 10 million kilometres out (well beyond the range of any tracking equipment that might detect the shuttle's approach prior to the manoeuvre that put it on its radial trajectory).

With that they could beam a team down, avoiding any sensors that might detect the transportation, courtesy of being outside most of the finicky magnetic field - where it might sometimes tend to flip and think it was the other pole.

The line of thought was disrupted by Lieutenant Ward who entered and spoke to Massa. Apparently there'd been a disturbance in the vicinity of the quarters of some of the maintenance staff. Iorte remembered speaking to their leader, Murrison, at a vantage point looking upon the Defiant class El Alamein while it'd still been in dock.

He'd hoped not to encounter the man while aboard. So far, so good; he wished to sustain the current state of affairs.

Komin now headed below deck along with Massa to meet Murrison and address his concerns. A difficult task, Iorte thought, considering Komin mustn't speak directly about those concerns, but had to somehow mollify the maintenance officer without addressing the issue at hand. "Lieutenant Demik," Clancy said, "I liked your suggestion. Head behind the second planet in the system," he nodded.

"Yes, sir."

Milo Van tilted his head, "Yes, I agree. But ultimately it's up to you guys," he nodded in the direction of the Intel officers and O'Toole, "As well as Fran. At least where the ship's concerned," Van added.

They were about 24 hours out from the Omega system. Angle of approach was important. They didn't want to reveal their presence to the inhabitants of the system - whoever they might be - before they were able to get in-system and behind the second (uninhabited) planet.

Also important though, perhaps more so, was the current whereabouts of the SS Carpathia and the two escape pods it'd apparently had under tractor...

As it happened the Carpathia, Commander Anya Mintsev commanding, had dragged the two Cardassian escape pods (presumably each containing Zoe and Helen McMillan) across 1.3 parsecs, before they'd been snatched from the Carpathia by a tractor beam of greater power, one that was capable of being activated, of capturing its targets, and of tearing them away with little or no damage, at warp speed. The responsible vessel had then changed course by about 90 degrees and made for the Omega system... The Carpathia had to drop from warp and then scrambled to keep up...


Meanwhile on the Starbase...

Those that Lieutenant Newell had overheard discussing the restricted jurisdiction recently placed on Starbase 47 and its usual command of the region of space now known as Sector 47, as well as apparently gossiping about why the El Alamein had been unexpectedly sent out at this juncture, had consulted with one another, had decided that the lapse in their personal security could no longer be ignored...

The purpose in the rumour-spreading, regarding Starfleet Command's restrictions on the Starbase, and about the El Alamein, was to force Gheskori and Lemond to bring the El Alamein back to port, to have its crew cease in its classified mission to chase after the McMillans and uncover what they may find to be the conspiracy in Omega.

The three rumour-spreaders from the Omega system - who were of the same party as kidnapped the McMillans, and had had a hand in murdering the family's father... - decided that something needed to be done about these upstarts, Lieutenant Burton Newell and Commander Sokolov.

Either the Omega inhabitants aboard the SB, humans all three of them, would terminate the two officers, and put an end to any knowledge that their own selves were on the SB, or they would bring Newell and Sokolov in, threaten the two, and have them spread the rumours regarding the El Alamein for them...

[David Tan]

USS El Alamein ::

David was happy with their plans for approach and hopeful undetected Tendaris Two orbital insertion ..... What he wasn't so happy with, was the seemingly continued disruption caused by the fact they had been forced to leave their faux shakedown with eighteen Starfleet Engineers aboard. Had there been a way for them to depart the ship that route would have been taken, alas, they were stuck with the Starbase Personnel for the duration .....

"They're... WHAT?" Tan asked the El Alamein's Medical Officer.

"They are saying that they demand an immediate return to Starbase Forty-Seven - Siting prolonged 'mental' stress at being forced to partake in an unauthorised, likely 'HIGHLY' illegal mission," the ship's Doctor said with a shrug.

"I don't suppose cramming them in a cargo container and setting them adrift would be beneficial to their health...?" David replied, glancing down the corridor birthing the eighteen Engineers, "... I've had about enough of these people, thank you, Doctor,"

He walked along the corridor to the first of the quarters that had been 'reluctantly' given up by El Al crew members, who were now double and triple bunking, so the Engineers at least couldn't complain about their forced accommodation - Not that that prevented them from doing so at every opportunity! ..... With a resigned sigh, he pressed the door chime, a second later the door slid aside to reveal Lieutenant D'Arby, one of the four Supervising Officers:

"May I come in?" Tan asked, and seeing the man step aside without a word, took it as a yes. Inside Lieutenant Commander Murrison, the Lead Engineer, was quickly concealing something as Tan entered.

"I hear you have complaints about your crews' mental state," he said, eyeing the four people in the room.

"I do, and I want this ship turned around, now..." the man said, glaring at Tan from his seat, "... You are operating without official authority, and as suc ....."

"How do you 'know' we are acting unofficially?" Tan interrupted.

"What!?" Murrison snapped.

"I asked: Just how do you know we are acting unofficially?" David repeated patiently.

"You received no orders, that I am aware of, thus ....." but again he was interrupted.

"Out of curiosity here, but I must have missed the memo that said Starfellt Engineers were to be written in on all Intelligence communications,"

"You, PEOPLE, you think you are all so high and bloody mighty..." Murrison shouted, all thoughts of whatever he had been tampering with forgotten as he leapt to his feet and glared at Tan, "... We don't belong on whatever 'crusade' you and your merry men are on. I want this ship turned around and taken to the nearest Starbase, where believe me, I will be lodging a formal complaint against both 'YOU' and that woman, Komin!" two of Murrison's Supervisors: Technician Vlator and Technician Brown, nodding.

"Unfortunately, I can't do that, Commander... Shortly after departure, we received instructions from Command on Starbase Forty-Seven. Again, I apologise, but those orders are as you can imagine, confidential, and as such I'm not at liberty to share them with you and your crew. We will of course do everything in our power to ensure your safety and well-being throughout this, detour. Other than that, there's nothing more to be said. You are all Starfleet personnel and as such subject to a chain of Command, that being the Command of Captain Komi ....." David said, pausing as he was now interrupted.

"But we are not 'Active' service personnel, we're Engineers for God's sake!" Angela D'Arby, Murrison's Deputy Supervisor said nervously.

"Indeed, under normal circumstances. But as I'm sure you are aware, a change of circumstances can dictate chain of Command, as it has in this case," Tan finished.

"I will put a 'STOP' to this, you can count on that!" Murrison spat.

David paused for a long moment eyeing the four Supervising Officers of the Engineering team. Things could he knew, go very badly if he allowed Murrison to dictate the terms of this meeting, so he had to stop his bravado in its tracks. He took a pace forward, leaving less than a metre between himself and the Engineer, then spoke:

"I'll say this once, and I want you Supervisors to pass this on word for word to your Staff - 'ANYONE' and I do mean anyone..." he said, eyes locked on Murrisons, "... Attempting to interfere with the El Alamein's current assignment, will be confined for the duration, and when we return to Starbase Forty-Seven, that person or persons, 'WILL' face charges, upto and very likely including treason ..... Is that fully understood?"

He took a step back so he could see all four Supervisors.

"..... Well?" he asked.

"Understood," D'Arby said nervously, followed by both Vlator and Brown. David returned his gaze to Murrison, who was obviously holding out for effect.

"I'm not going to ask you again... Lieutenant Commander," David said, dangerously.

"Under... stood!" the Engineer finally replied.

"You didn't 'ask' to be here and believe me, if there was a way to get you out of this, I'd be the first to take it. You have adequate quarters, you're not being conscripted into working with us. All we're asking is you keep out of the way. Do so and all will hopefully end well and you'll have something to tell your children or grandchildren. If not, then, you are aware we will take all necessary actions to ensure your compliance, willing or otherwise..." Tan said turning to head for the door.

As he stepped into the corridor he asked Angela D'Arby to join him:

"As you can see Lieutenant, we have posted Security at either end of this corridor, anyone trying to go anywhere but between the rooms assigned to you, will face the consequences,"

"Understood," the woman said, eyeing the two Security Officers at either end of the corridor before stepping back into the room. David took a step back, allowing the door to slide shut, then with a heavy sigh, he headed back to the Bridge, knowing full well that this wasn't the last time he or the others would have to deal with the Engineers .....

Bridge ::

"Well, how'd the meeting go?" Elena asked with a grin.

"Very funny, in fact, the next time that pompous '[word deleted]' starts to cause trouble, you can go deal, I've washed my hands of them!" Tan replied, turning to concentrate on the schematic showing the track El Alamein would take to conceal herself from prying eyes.

"We're sure the shuttle won't be detected approaching Tendaris Three?" he asked.

"The course we're looking at will take the shuttle well above the galactic plane..." Nate Massa began explaining, "... We're thinking approximately one million kilometres should allow us insertion into the magnetosphere directly over the Nothern Pole. The shuttle will pretty much 'ride' the pole down to the surface. Once in transporter range, you can decide on taking the shuttle down, where it can hopefully remain until required, or failing that, you will beam down as close as possible to the largest population mass. Once there you can begin your investigations,"

"Do you want to take anyone from here?" Fran Komin asked. David had been thinking on that very question - With Rosa Noon still under medical supervision, it was unlikely she would be joining the Away Team, which left: Iorte, Elena, Iezelda, Sean O'Toole, and himself. 'It might be prudent to have at least one, maybe two pairs of hands' he thought.

"I'm thinking we might take Nate, and Tom along," Tan suggested, seeing the Security and Tactical Officers nod.

"OK, let's commence approach, I'd like us hidden from view sooner than later," Fran said, returning to the centre seat ..........

[David Tan]

USS El Alamein ::

The ship made a long spiral approach to Tendaris II .....

Finally establishing a geostationary orbit on the dark side of the planetoid, they prepared the Type Ten shuttlecraft - El-Eisa - for departure ..... The away team would consist of:

David Tan
Iorte Clancy
Elena de Luca
Iezela Iezeld
-
Nate Massa
Tom Demik
Sean O'Toole ...

Tom Demik climbed into the Pilot's seat, David Tan taking the second seat, while the others took seats in the aft compartment, stowing their backpacks at their feet ..... Fran Komin was standing at the rear of the shuttle, a look of concern on her face. She knew, as did those boarding the shuttle, that should they be discovered, the likelihood of their safe return was highly doubtful - More so, because they would not have the backing of Starfleet Intelligence, or the Federation Council.

"Remember, communications 'must' be kept to emergency transmissions only," Komin said, taking a step back as the rear hatch rose.

She watched as the shuttle lifted off the deck and turned through one eighty degrees, to face the shuttle bay doors. Then, with a nod to Nico Carré who was overseeing the launch, the door rose, a shimmering veil denoting the forcefield preventing the shuttle bays' atmosphere from being lost to space. After a few seconds, the shuttle moved forward and passed through the forcefield into the blackness of space. Carré waited patiently, watching his panel, eyes flicking to the departing shuttle every few seconds - Satisfied they were clear, he brought the shuttle bay door down ..........

They had planned the launch very carefully, allowing for Tendaris Two's orbit, which while never giving its sister planet a full eclipse, would, due to its erratic magnetic field, hopefully, shield the El-Eisa's approach to Tendaris Three - So arriving approximately one point five million kilometres above the northern pole, the shuttle changed her orientation ninety degrees off the galactic plane, and 'dove' towards the planet below.

At one thousand metres above the northern pole, the shuttle began a rapid acceleration, slowing rapidly as it levelled off, thirty meters above the icy surface. Once stabilised, Tom held the shuttle stationary for a full minute, then checked the navigation screen and turned the El-Eisa, accelerating to a meagre fifty kilometres per hour, hopefully, slow enough not to be picked up on high-altitude scans, as anything out of place, but fast enough to get them off the frozen continent quickly.

"You've two options here..." Demik said, eyes locked on the tactical plot overlaid on the window, "... We head East or West, both have substantial population numbers, and both have what we would call 'State Capitals' as to which is the best of those options, well, that's your call gents," David had been watching Damik as he piloted the shuttle, changing direction several times as long-range sensors had picked up something likely to identify the shuttle as unauthorised. He looked at the others:

"Well...?" he said, with an exaggerated shrug, "... Left, or right?" he asked.

"Most of the Engineer recruitment was done from the central district on the Eastern Continent?" Elena commented.

"So east it is?" Clancy asked.

"East it is....." David said with a nod to Demik.

----------

"You're sure the shuttle won't be found here?" Elena asked as they checked their gear.

"From what I could pick up from the records, this is a disused quarry, mining ceased here over two hundred years ago, so yeh, I'm as confident as I can be..." Demik said, suddenly realising there was a second option to hiding the shuttle in the quarry, "... I 'could' send the shuttle into orbit on remote, but that leaves it open to fortuitous discovery by anything passing?"

"Here's fine," Clancy said, eyeing his backpack like it was his first day of endurance training.

"Gents... Just a quick query here, but you do, I hope, realise that the 'Capital' we are aiming for, is almost sixteen hundred kilometres from here..." Sean O'Toole said with a wry grin, "... I'm only askin' because, unlike you lot, I am in no way accustomed to tracking hundreds of kilometres on the ole feet, so to speak,"

"There's a small outpost, town, seventeen kilometres from us, we'll make our way there and 'acquire' transport," David said with a glance at Iorte, who looked less than convinced.

Picking up their packs, the group began to walk south-west.

"We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wiz ....." Sean began singing, falling silent as David gave him a look ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

Iorte looked over his pack and frowned; he didn't much like the idea of trekking 1600 kilometres (1000 of the old statute miles) either. The idea of requisitioning some sort of transport at the nearby purported outpost was, he supposed, possible. But what would that transport be, what would it look like? He caught a vision of an old-style bicycle and his frown deepened.

They began to advance. The landscape of this second planet in the system was blasted and desolate, the air arid, dust particles that coated the various uneven plains, scarps and ridges of rock being kicked up by the slightly cold, uncomfortable gusting winds.

The El Alamein's sole type 10 shuttlecraft had brought the away team here covertly from the uninhabited third planet, where the Defiant class itself still hunkered down the far side of that third planet from the away team's present location on the second world.

Their goal? In the best case scenario, to find the two missing McMillans - mother and daughter. If that wasn't possible yet, then they hoped to at least find some of the same sort of people as had taken the mother and, presumably, the daughter now, too.

* * *

30 minutes later

While the different plains and rock formations were desolate in character, they were far from betraying no sign of life, Iorte noted, for after about 10 to 15 kilometres, ramshackle structures of duranium, steel, or other metal alloys, as well as of iron (as oxidised rust layers were visible everywhere) and of concrete, rose up here and there at various points in the landscape... A melange of broken down structures in the midst of a orange, grey, graphite dustbowl.

"The term rustbelt comes to mind," Iezeld said with a nervous glance first at the others and then forward into the bleak landscape.

"A rustbelt in a desert," O'Toole commented, "Now what may have been happening here, exactly?"

Tom Demik had his tricorder out as they passed various buildings, facilities, terminals - all deserted. "Much of this technology is obsolete," he said, "What use the inhabitants, or the occupants, of this planet have made of it... used it in these various buildings and stations, in need of maintenance and repair."

"Then maybe we should get a comm to the El Alamein, get them to send Murrison's lot down," Iorte tried to joke.

The several metallic grey outjuttings of buildings from the rock landscape were surrounded by varied detritus, as well as, next to one structure, what looked like several repulsor-lift land transport vehicles.

Tan, de Luca and Massa had already approached a row of four of the land vehicles resting haplessly in a sort of open-air garage. Massa regarded the four broken down heaps of rust that were once vehicles, "None of these seem to be working," he needlessly called over to the others.

Perhaps further on, the last two kilometres to the outpost or town itself, they'd find a working repulsor lift vehicle, Iorte thought. But what (or perhaps more pertinently, who) else would they find?

"Well it looks to me as if this vehicle..." Demik was saying, having joined Tan, de Luca and Massa by the bank of four wrecked vehicles and peering closely at the second one, "It looks to me as if this could just do with a new power cell and then, despite appearances, it should... go."

"Go?" Clancy's frown was back again.

"Yes... Well I'm not entirely sure on some of the finer details of its operation, or means of propulsion," Demik added with exaggerated politeness. Iorte rolled his eyes, Or even just the regular details.

"Where are we going to get a power cell...?" Clancy trailed off as he was suddenly aware of movement off to his left, in the middle distance...

Three ragged-clothed individuals, and a fourth, some way off from those, in the instantly recognisable attire of a soldier of the Cardassian Republic, had appeared amidst rock and rusted structure. Iorte's learned instincts had him duck away and find cover from what he knew was coming next: projectile weapons' fire.

His actions were replicated in Tan and de Luca, and after an interval Iezeld and the others found cover, too, some on their own initiative, others with coaxing from their colleagues.

The three assailants in faded brown and grey rags had old-fashioned rifles in unrelieved black which fired primitive versions of phased energy - more advanced then lasers but decades behind modern firearm tech. The Cardassian fired at the away team, too, using the cover fire provided by his three fellow attackers to advance more quickly than them.

=/\=Let's get towards them. Demik, Massa, triangulate with me,=/\= de Luca commed.

=/\=They're coming from the direction of the outpost,=/\= Iorte replied with a shake off his head as he got a shot off at one of the four, =/\=There could be more of them that way.=/\=

=/\=Well, that's where I imagine we could find a power cell for the vehicle,=/\= Tan put in. Iorte admitted the logic of that. Or perhaps they might even find a vehicle that didn't need some finicky repair. How many hostiles would they have to force their way through to find out though?

<Tag Away Team>

[David Tan]

With the USS El Alamein in geostationary orbit on the dark side of the uninhabited Tendaris II, the Shuttle - El-Eisa - Had used the planet's magnetic field to travel across the void until it could establish orbit above the Northern Pole of its neighbour - Tendaris III - before lowering itself into the atmosphere and landing approximately sixteen-hundred kilometres from the largest centre of population.

The away team were already aware from Starfleet records, that the planet, once a desolate rock, had been populated approximately five hundred years earlier, and was now subject to an unspecified amount of development, and while some details were openly available, it was noted that some areas had been highlighted for construction of which no records were available, it was these locations they would need to locate and search in their efforts to find the missing McMillans.

David, a fan of what in the twentieth century, known as television, had been eyeing the structures that had come across, thinking they reminded him of the old west mining towns, where something known in Earth's history, as the gold rush, had years later sparked an abundance of 'westerns' ... These towns, long since relieved of whatever minerals could be found, were quickly abandoned and left to decay in the harsh ever-expanding desert regions. He was still thinking along these lines, trying unsuccessfully to keep his mind off the distance they had ahead of them when he caught the discussion about 'repulsor-lift' vehicles ..... He could see what could be the first real outpost they had come across, still approximately two kilometres away. There was talk of possibly finding more suitable, vehicles, or the power supplies they would need in the settlement ahead when Clancy, spotted something in the haze. Quickly realising that they were Cardassian, and had likely seen the Federation Officers, he spoke quickly:

"DOWN!"

The group, trained to follow instructions, quickly dropped out of sight as the first shots from what Tan thought could be predecessors to the phased weapons they now carried passed above them from the dunes to their left. David's commbadge beeped:

=^= Let's try to move around them .. Demik .. Massa .. Triangulate with me =^= de Luca commed.

=^= They're coming from the direction of the outpost .. .. There could be more of them =^= Clancy replied.

=^= Well .. That's where I imagine we could find a power cell for one of the vehicles .. .. But we need to silence those Cardassians 'before' they can report our presence! =^=

Elena, accompanied by Demik and Massa had been making their way left, hoping to catch the Cardassians in cross-fire, Tan and Clancy, keeping low, moved right, while Iezeld and O'Toole remained where the Cardassians had first spotted them. David could see the Cardassian fire, and from his location right of the approaching hostiles, it was far too close for comfort, any moment they would crest the dune Iezelda and Sean were hiding behind and undoubtedly fire on them.

=^= We're in position =^= de Luca confirmed.

=^= On three =^= Tan whispered, counting down. At 'one' they stood, firing on the three approaching Cardassians simultaneously, dropping them without issue. Quickly they ran over and began searching their pockets for anything useful:

"Doesn't look like they have anything for an extended patrol," Nate said, after searching the first two dead.

"Communicator, but no water or supplies, I'd say they've come from that outpost ahead," Demik said after checking the pockets of the last of the three.

"We need to get the bodies out of sight before we go any further," David said, taking the folding utility shovel from his pack, moving to the back side of the dune he began digging, Clancy and Sean joined him and the three were buried quickly. David eyed the dune, hoping the weather would eventually hide any signs they had even been here.

Iezeld had made her way towards the rim of the dune and was scanning the outpost using binoculars. The internal 'HUD' gave her range and elevation, but alas, no indication of anyone else being present. Scrubbinging the sand with their feet to hide any obvious signs of recent activity, the group began to move cautiously along the route the Cardassians had taken to reach them .....

It took almost two hours in the cloying sand to reach the outskirts of the seemingly dilapidated outpost, doors pushed by the desert breeze, swung back and forth, windows, lacking any sort of glass or screens allowed sand to enter the rooms beyond, Tan half expected to see the barrel of a shotgun poking ominously out of one of the broken windows.

Moving out of sight, Clancy inched forward and raised his tricorder:

"Four lifesigns. All Cardassian. Out-building fifty-five metres ahead," he said, pointing to one of the ramshackle buildings.

"We have two options: We take them out, or we try to go around them. I'm not in favour of having Cardassians ahead 'and' behind us," Elena said.

"Taking them out is the viable option, though it will undoubtedly alert their Superiors of an unknown, they're likely to investigate," O'Toole commented.

With a show of hands, it was decided to remove the immediate threat.

"We'll go..." Demik said, nodding to Massa.

"... Two taps and one to acknowledge, then we go in, OK," Demik, said, Massa nodded confirmation of the instruction from the El Alamein Security Chief, then after checking their phasers the two separated. Clancy studied the tricorder for any sign of unexpected movement, he picked up the two approaching their target building from either side. The away team members watched, as on cue, both men kicked at the rotted doors simultaneously, then disappeared from view, lances of phaser fire could be seen through the open windows before the two re-emerged seconds later.

=^= We're clear =^= Tom informed them before returning inside.

The away team members congregated at the rusted building, Massa and Demik were already hiding the dead from view in a nearby equally ruinous building. Inside they could see cots, communication equipment, along with various supplies. So it seemed they were ready for a possible long stay. But why, there didn't seem to be anything of value to the Cardassians for hundreds of kilometres in any given direction ..... The away team split up, searching all the remaining dozen or so buildings in the small outpost, seeing nothing other than the same rotted ruins, though Demik did eventually find several Cardassian power packs ..... Regrouping, they discussed options:

"Didn't reports say that the Cardassians were constructing facilities on Tendaran Worlds?" Iezelda asked as the group took time to replenish their supplies, watching as Demik slaved one of their tricorders to the Cardassian comms console, hoping to pick up any communication between the outpost and their superiors.

"Not out here though, surely..." Elena speculated, kicking at the sand that was infuriatingly filling her boots every chance it got, "... Construction would be almost impossible without extensive outward signs,"

"Then we should think about getting to that main population area," Iezeld suggested.

"We have roughly three hours of daylight left. I'd say we put as much distance between us and this place as possible..." Sean said, nodding towards the building holding the three Cardassians, "... We don't want to be hangin' around for any reunion,"

"I'd like five minutes to see if I can get one of those repulsor-lift vehicles working, it might help put distance between here and our objective," Massa suggested.

"OK, go ahead, meantime let's get some food inside us," David said.

----------

It took Nate fifteen minutes, but he returned with a grin on his face. He accepted the pouch of rehydrated food from Iezelda:

"I've got one going..." he said, pausing to take a bite of with might have been a chicken sandwich or solid tomato soup, he couldn't decide which given everything seemed to have a sandy aftertaste, "... For how long and, how far, is anyone guess,"

"OK, pack up, hide any trace we've been here..." Tan ordered, turning to the Security Chief, "... Does that thing leave any track?"

"The drive will, but not enough, the wind moving sand around as it is should cover the depression caused by the repulsors within minutes of our passing," Massa confirmed.

Satisfied they had hidden any signs they had been there, the seven climbed aboard the long low flatbed possibly used for moving equipment or the like. It wobbled, seemingly balancing precariously a mere thirty centimetres above the swirling sand, before settling. Taking the only seat, Nate moved the control and the sledge began to move. David looked back, seeing the two-meter wide repulsor track trailing beneath the vehicle, but happy it was disappearing quickly.

He wondered how far the craft would get them, eyeing the darkening sky knowing they would be spotted easily by anything passing overhead ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

It was almost impossible to see through the dust kicked up by the flatbed repulsor lift vehicle. Though Iorte guessed their way ahead would be visible if they could only see a metre or so ahead, it wasn't so, and as for behind them the dust obscured anything that might've been there beyond a distance of five metres or so.

Making matters worse, howling winds swirled, kicking up dust and sand for tens of square kilometres around.

Fortunately they'd left nothing behind them, as far as they knew, except half a dozen or so dead Cardassians. While those bodies would likely never be found, at least not for several years, the absence of their communications with whatever they called HQ would undoubtedly be noticed by HQ.

Clancy rode near the front upon the flatbed piloted alone by Massa. Iorte looked through the sweeping sands towards the rear, seeing Iezelda sitting almost contemplatively near the leeward side, one leg angled before her, the knee upwards and her arms wrapped round that leg, now peering into the dust left in their wake, now from side to side along the path they cut through the quasi-desert...

Now they were more than well on their way towards one of the larger settlements in this eastern hemisphere, just 300 kilometres out of the 1600 - that'd been the distance when they'd disembarked from the shuttle - left for them to traverse.

But now the motor was running into difficulty, "I don't know how much longer it's going to last... Perhaps I can swap the primary power cell for one of the back-ups. It'll leave us with less cooling capacity, but I have to," Demik was saying.

"We're going to have to stop here," Massa compounded their woes. "We're not knackered, but if I try to maintain our current speed with the current engine problem, we'll blow out the motor in three or four minutes. Best to come to all stop," he advised Tan, de Luca and Clancy, who had no choice but to agree.

As they slid to a halt, the dust just before and in the long train behind them began to disperse and settle, and much to their shock, before them - about 20 metres or so further on along their hypothetical path - sat by the hypothetical road path four robed and swaddled individuals, sheltering from the sandstorm.

"Will you help us get out of this cold night?" one of the 'pedestrians' spoke from its sedentary position, alongside its three companions. The voice was male.

It was evident to the away team that the four individuals were not Cardassian. "Well, of course," Clancy said, after receiving a nod from Demik who'd just scanned the four pedestrians for any weapons (coming up negative).

The four were cautiously brought aboard the flatbed, which with their embarkation rocked even more precariously than it had previously. Tan turned and nodding diffidently to Massa who still sat at the controls; the Security Chief returned the nod with pursed lips and at 10% propulsion took the flatbed down from the supposed easy path, nestling at the foot of a dune left of the hypothetical road, before shooting it off towards a series of rock formations that might provide cover from a cold night.

During the flatbed's careful transit, Demik continued working on the main motor, trying to avert its imminent expiry.

"Who are you people?" Clancy asked unceremoniously as he, some of the new unknowns, and some of the away team, now disembarked from the flatbed, now partially covered by the insulating rock formations.

"We're natives of this world. Hunted by the spoonheads, for nearly two generations," the lead robed guy spoke.

Spoonheads, Iorte noted. The 'natives' used the same soldiers' vernacular for Cardassians as that used by Starfleet officers in the decades preceding the Dominion War. Likely a coincidence.

"The Cardassians have occupied this world for two generations?" Iorte cried over the howling winds, "What, fifty or so years?"

"Not just this world. This entire star system," another of the four swaddled unfortunates piped up, the voice of a female, "We are the Lentarai, a subspecies of the Tendarans. We're a people native to this system as well as the one adjacent to it. The Cardassians have tried to claim our territory, and more widely that of all the Tendarans, for a long time."

"Why?" Iezelda asked. If the Cardassians had been building bases, weapons, even ships, here, there had to be a clear rationale for it, she thought.

"We Lentarai have in this system one of the most abundant natural resources in the Alpha Quadrant: pure cobalt," the female Lentarai replied.

"... Used for tri-cobalt devices, amongst other things," de Luca said quietly.

"Yes," the Lentarai woman replied. "Everywhere else in the quadrant has to mine and refine it, a long labourious process. Here, bad actors- as is usually the case - may grab the element for immediate use. But, who are you?" she gazed at the Intel officers.

<Tag rest of away team>

[David Tan]

Third Planet - Omega Star System ...
Designation Unknown ::

David was sure that if he were forced to spit out another mouthful of sand, he would throw himself from the repulsor-lift sledge and walk .....

He would have commented on this, but the swirling wind, having risen as they had passed into full night, would only drown out his complaints. The attempt he knew, would likely only result in yet more coughing to remove more sand. Therefore, he sat in silence as they crossed the desert region, the distant lights of the closest settlement appearing and disappearing as they traversed the high dunes.

He felt Demik pulling at his shoulder:

"We're stopping!" the Tactical Officer shouted over the din, David could only nod.

As they slowed, Tan could see a small group, cloth wrapped around their heads, covering mouth and nose, shaking his head to try to clear his persistent headache as they slowed to a stop near the group. He listened as they conversed with Clancy then clambered aboard, making riding on the sledge even more precarious as they once more got underway. Massa was making for a small outcrop protruding from the surrounding sands which would afford them some shelter and respite from the sand storm before they continued when the Sun climbed over the distant horizon ..... As they climbed off the sledge, David listened as Clancy questioned the newcomers.

They were native to Tendaris Three, though classed by the Tendarans as a 'sub-sect' or possibly of lower class. As Massa, Demik, de Luca and Sean O'Toole struggled to erect a shelter, the others listened to what the Lentarai had to say: Surprised at what they had to divulge - Pure Grade Cobalt - Though rather than having to spend time mining, the mineral, it could almost be picked up at will in the desert regions of Tendaris Three!

The shelter raised, they entered, Massa closing the flaps to finally stave off the relentless winds.

"..... Used for tri-cobalt devices, amongst other things," de Luca said quietly as they gathered around the makeshift hearth, enjoying the warmth the fire supplied.

"Yes, though unlike other worlds, here you may grab the element for immediate use ..... But, might I ask: Who are you?" the Lentarai woman asked.

"We are searching for missing colleagues," Iezelda said by way of explanation.

"Missing, here?" one of the males queried, eyes narrowing.

"Yes, we believe they were part of a group that we lost contact with," de Luca said, glancing at Iezeld, silently warning her to be cautious as she introduced the group one by one.

"..... And you are a ... Search party, of sorts...?" one of the men said, eyeing each of the away team in turn, "... Yet you have no search vehicles, no craft?"

"Our situation is somewhat, we would rather the Cardassians not know of our presence..." Tan said, realising it was prudent to at least give the newcomers 'some' information. The man took this in, and seemingly satisfied, continued:

"I am Duvn, this is Fuwl, Kodt, and my lifemate, Ponr," he said, with a reverent nod to the female of the group.

The group talked as Elena and Iezeld readied a fire, but before they could unpack their meal packs, Ponr pulled a large cloth bag towards her, dipping her hands inside to pull out a dozen or so long pieces of what 'looked' like dried bark. Without asking, she plunged them into the fire, pulling them back seconds later, she placed two strips on each of the Federation personnel's plates, then handed the remainder to her companions.

"It is called 'Laqqa' ... Try, try!" she insisted, biting a chunk out of her piece before chewing rigorously. After a second's hesitation, and not wanting to offend, David took a bite - The 'laqqa' tasted like meat and practically dissolved as he began to chew. He nodded to the others, and the tent fell silent as they ate.

"I looks, feels like, a vine, or plant, yet ....." de Luca said after a moment, nodding appreciatively as her tastebuds reacted to the fragrant juices released.

"It is indeed a plant, very nutritious, easy to find if you know where to look... It is dried under the Sun, can be eaten warm or cold, though much better if heated in a good hot fire my opinion, a moderate supply will last a nomad for weeks. I shall show you before you continue your journey if you so wish..." Ponr said, smiling.

£thank you," Elena replied, returning the smile.

"It is fortunate, for all, that you came across us when you did... The storm was heavier than usual for this time of year..." Fuwl said after swallowing, "... There are sky patrols, the Cardassians believe they have subdued us into submission, but they are aware of small groups wandering the desert regions, they hunt these groups, and if captured, use them as labour. Had you been seen it is likely you would have suffered the same fate,"

"Sounds like slavery!" Elena said in disbelief.

"..... Oh, they do not call it slavery.  They deem we are 'helping' them for our 'mutual benefit' ....." Kodt said, almost spitting the words.

"Have you heard of any construction being done on this hemisphere?" David asked.

"Hemisphere, I do not und ....."

"On this continent, this region of your planet?" Tan explained.

"We have heard of such things, but have never seen in person..." Duvn said, frowning, "... The number of large vessels has increased, all landing before the range, maybe this is what you search for? the Lentarai suggested.

"Range?" Iorte queried.

"It is a high rock formation that separates the desert from beyond," Kodt explained.

"..... And these vessels, they are landing and taking off frequently?" Clancy prodded.

"Several per day at times I believe..." Duvn said with a nod before continuing, "... But if you intend to try to enter, you will find it impossible, the surrounding areas are heavily guarded, no Lentarai has approached and lived to tell,"

"What about the Tendarans?" Iezelda asked.

"What of them?" Fuwl asked dismissively.

"Do they go in?" the Intelligence Officer probed.

"We have no way of knowing, the Tendaran shun us ..... It was they who first drove us into the desert, we were 'outcasts' among our people. The Lentarai have lived completely separate for many many years!" Ponr said, ending the discussion.

Once they had finished eating, Ponr took their metallic plates and exited the tent, returning several minutes later, the plates now pristine.

"Sand is a good scourer of utensils," she said by way of explanation as she handed them back.

"So, you intend to proceed with your search?" Duvn asked.

"We'll sleep on it, but yes, I think we need to look at those landing areas," David said, clambering into the unrolled sleeping bag that Starfleet's Marine Corps Personnel affectionately called a 'fart sack' the others doing likewise ... He couldn't help but notice that without a word spoken between them, the Lentarai all looked at each other before lowering themselves into their own wrappings ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

OOC: I think the system should be called the Omega system, as Helen McMillan was kidnapped from the Tendaran system originally, and the Omega system/nebula was where we were headed. Perhaps the Tendarans and Lentarai colonised the Omega system at some point, and then the Cardassians moved in, claiming it as part of their space, and the Tendarans complied with them, collaborating with them to oppress the Lentarai while they exploited the natural resources of cobalt?

The away team left the flatbed on a rise above the main expanse of rock and sand, beginning to descend towards the plain ahead which held at least ten large metallic objects - obviously spacecraft, as about a third of them were clearly of Cardassian design or derivation.

They split into two teams of four, the Lentarai Duvn accompanying Tan, Clancy and Massa as a guide, and his colleague Fuwl doing the same for de Luca, Iezeld and Demik. Duvn's wife Ponr, and Kodt, had remained behind.

Trying not to worry about how Iezelda was faring in the other team - knowing at least that her team was about half a klick behind their own team on higher terrain, and not obviously in any greater danger - Iorte kicked up sand with his boots as he descended a mini-dune with the other three.

Ahead were two vessels parked on the plain before the hilly Range. One vessel's glistening surfaces seemed almost perfectly reflective in the yellow-grey light, and the other's faded orange hues were just one component of what was clearly a Cardassian modified Galor class warship, one of three - for all the team could tell - situated at various depths on the plain, as these two ships were only the foremost that they saw.

"Well then, it's pretty obvious that the spoonheads are involved. Maybe they're even the prime movers," Massa was saying, a pair of binocs raised before his eyes in the tentative sandstorm. Through them Massa could see the ventral side of the nearest modified Galor class and several Cardassian soldiers milling about around a number of ventral access hatches.

Iorte looked down into the plain before the Range as Massa lowered the binocs and turned to him, Tan and Duvn who were by the Security Chief's side, all hidden behind a series of rocks, still at an elevation of about 20 metres above the magnified site and about 800 metres in horizontal range.

Iorte grimaced. He wasn't entirely happy with Massa's nomenclature as regarded the Cardassians, and could tell David wasn't either, but Duvn didn't seem in the slightest perturbed,

"In cooperation with the local Tendaran elites," Duvn said, "some of the spoonheads - one of the four legions assigned to this system - have been hunting us to extinction, as if we were wild beasts!"

Without admonishing Duvn - and hence Massa - for the way he referred to the Cardassians, Iorte replied, "How long have the Cardassians been doing this?"

"For six revolutions of this planet about the Omega star," Duvn replied grimly.

Massa did a quick calculation, "That's about two and a half of our years," he told Iorte and David. Iorte nodded to himself. So that meant the Cardassians had had this operation - building ships, constructing weaponry and other facilities - going for about that long.

Had the 'spoonheads' been responsible for the kidnappings of Helen and now Zoe McMillan? This system was where the two women had been taken, after all. And if the Cardassians were responsible for both the kidnappings and the construction of the ships (and, presumably, weaponry elsewhere,) where were the McMillans to be found here, and what had they been made to do?

Iorte's musings behind the boulders, encouraged by the blinding effect of the swirling sands that dulled normal sense, were interrupted by a comm to the three commbadges in their group, =/\=Tan, this is de Luca.=/\=

Tan told the Intel officer to proceed.

=/\=Our group's been spotted. We're falling back to a series of boulders south of your position, at approximately the same height as you in the sand dunes. We have five hostiles, at least, inbound!=/\=

David and Iorte's team of four readjusted and reoriented southwards - that was, to its right. In the breeze of airborne sand particulates, down an elevation of about 5 metres and some 30 metres distant Iorte could just make out Elena's team@ four indistinct figures (three Starfleet, one Lentarai), adopting increasingly alarmed poses in an advancing sandstorm.

Gripping his phaser and casting his glance to the left, Clancy spotted the five attacking individuals advancing up the dune towards de Luca's group, all in Cardassian soldiers' armour.

As Tan and Clancy's group shifted southwards towards their beleaguered colleagues, feet slipping on the dune's varying relief, a phaser bank on the nearest of the three modified Cardassian warships came online.

It happened to point right at Duvn, near to where Clancy, Tan and Massa were traipsing, and distintegrated the Lentarai in a flash of blinding tangerine light...

[David Tan]

Third Planet ...
Designation Unknown ::


It was clear that the repulsor-lift vehicle was nearing the end of its usefulness - They had overtaxed the drive to the point of almost self-destruction - Clambering towards the rim of the dune, they had begun to move down the lee side when they had spotted the objects in the distance ..... Ships!

The two closest - Galor Class Warships - Were seemingly complete and could lift from the surface if required.

=^= Our group's been spotted .. We're falling back to a series of boulders south of your position at approximately the same height as you in the dunes .. We have five hostiles at least inbound! =^=

David readjusted his position, they had split into two teams to cover more ground, but now one team had found themselves being pursued.

From his location, the five chasing Cardassians seemed happy to hunt without the need for reinforcements, which he thought could save the second team's lives ..... If they were taking the hunt as a mere sport, they wouldn't want their 'glory' marred by new arrivals. With the Lentarai Duvn leading, Tan, Cancy, and Massa were pushing their way towards the other team when almost right in front of them, Duvn disappeared.

"One of the warships has brought weapons online!"

"We need to get the hell out of here!" Massa replied, looking back to where the stationary ships sat. No one had yet joined the five Cardassians chasing down de Luca and the others, so David made a snap decision - They would have to kill the chasing pack.

Tan motioned towards the ridge of a dune the second team were heading towards, Clancy nodded, splitting from the others before clambering up the almost liquidlike dune face. When ready, they waited - Elena, quickly followed closely by Iezeld, Demik, and then Fuwl, passed between them followed less than ten seconds later by the goading Cardassians, it was obvious they were enjoying hunting down their foe. Tan tapped his commbadge:

=^= In three .. .. =^= he said, watching the Cardassians for any sudden change in their activity.

=^= Two .. .. One .. .. Now =^=

David raised his head above the rim of the dune immediately picking out the lead Cardassian. Firing, the man disappeared, vaporised, and his four colleagues vanished similarly in under two seconds ..... Tan stood, clambering down the dune towards de Luca and the others, Clancy and Massa paces behind.

"Where is Duvn?" Fuwl asked,

"He was hit..." Tan said, sympathetically, "... There was nothing we could do,"

"Ponr will be most upset," the Lentarai said with a shake of his head.

"We need to find somewhere safe..." Elena said, glancing back the way they had come, "... The Cardassians are likely to be missed quickly,"

"One of the Galors fired on our position. They may think it was locals and not bother trying to hunt them down. But I agree, we need to find shelter," Demik said.

"We saw several 'outbuildings' located just inside the perimeter, maybe returning to those buildings to discuss our next move might be more prudent than running further?" Fuwl suggested.

"Which way?" Tan asked.

"Approximately eight hundred metres, that way," de Luca said, pointing due East.

"OK, Elena, you, Iezelda and Fuwl go back and get the others, we'll make our way there and reconoitré ... If it's clear we'll move in," Tan instructed.

Dunes ::

Tan, Clancy and Nate Massa had taken a circuitous route back towards the staging area where the vessels sat, the Sun was already beginning to dip below the highest dunes, casting long shadows - Now, less than one hundred metres of relatively flat, open ground from the perimeter fence, and the nearest of the outbuildings. They watched, hoping to see any signs that the missing Cardassians had raised any alarm, but the site, or at least this area, seemed all but deserted. David looked at the closest of the Galor Class wondering if someone was sitting patiently at weapons control, waiting for ahead to pop up and give him or her a target.

He almost jumped when Elena tapped him on the shoulder to signify their return. He turned to see Ponr eyeing him and moved towards her.

"I'm sorry, there was nothi ....." he began but Ponr held up her hand.

"It is life... Also death... We mourn our loss differently than you I believe, but thank you for your words," the woman said, returning to talk to the other Lentarai.

"We should move North, that would put the outbuildings between us and the ships," Demik commented. Tan agreed and the group cautiously repositioned.

"I'll go first..." Clancy said once they were in position, "... If I get there OK, follow my track,"

On hands and knees, Iorte approached the boundary fence, surprised at its apparent flimsiness, using his phaser on an appropriate setting he cut an arc in the fence and scrambled through, moving almost on his belly to the closest building. With his back to the wall and waved. Tan nodded.

"OK, Iezelda, you then Fuwl, Kodt, and Ponr. Elena, you Tom and I will go last," he was about to move aside when the Lentarai, Ponr, grabbed his arm:

"I have lost my lifemate, I have no urge to lose my own life, nor have the others," she said.

"You want to remain out here?" David asked incredulously.

"You think we have no stomach to fight, we had, long ago, but it was beaten out of us by the brutality of our, overseers," Ponr almost 'spat' the last word past her lips.

"Then find somewhere where we can make contact again once we're done here," David said, falling silent as Ponr turned and moved away, their alliance seemingly suspended. He turned to the others, explaining the Lentarai's decision. The Sun, now almost below the horizon was helping as this and the other buildings were now in almost complete shadow. The away team moved beyond the fence and approached the building, where Clancy had already opened one of the sand-blasted windows in readiness.

"Empty," Clancy confirmed before clambering over the sill and out of sight. David and the others followed, Demik, last to enter, closed the window.

"No windows facing the landing area," Tom Demik confirmed.

Agreeing, David took a small tight from his jacket and illuminated the immediate area - It looked like some sort of maintenance shed, or possibly storage, most of the nearby crates were coated in a thin layer of sand which had undoubtedly entered through the myriad of small fissures in the buildings walls.

"There's nothing here that's going to help us," Tan said frustrated.

"So what next?" Elena asked.

"I think we should take advantage of the dark, move from building to building until we find something of use, or at least a working terminal?" Demik suggested ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

In the darkening skies Iorte made it to the wall of the building, the shadows - to his left as he flattened his back against the southern wall - lengthening into a greater dusk and a deep black beyond towards the eastern horizon.

Signalling towards the others, they began after some discussion to follow his trail, minus the three remaining of the group of Lentarai who he'd soon learn might rejoin them once the Intel officers had secured their first objectives in the Cardassian occupied ground beyond the shipyard - whatever those objectives were. Their eventual objective was to recover the McMillans - if they were here - and learn as much they could about who had taken them, why, and what they were up to. They had a fairly decent clue as regards the last already...

The local exploiters were building ships. And perhaps innovative weapons systems, but that at the moment was speculative. Perhaps it was less than that, if one considered the abundant pure cobalt resources here, the presence of the element in this system, in an already refined form, most surely the thing that'd drawn the Cardassians here in the first place.

As Demik had suggested, with the cobalt the Cardies might create new weapons systems, developments upon tri-cobalt warhead technology, and perhaps find new applications for it in warship design.

Soon Iezeld joined Iorte, followed by Massa and then last of all Tan, de Luca and Demik. They jumped one by one through the window he'd opened, Iorte catching Iezelda as she followed him through, feeling her embrace for a second and then nodding as they parted and surveyed their surroundings.

The others joined them and the half dozen of them recognised that the building was more or less empty, at least of anything useful.

Heading for the moment away from the site of the Galor class warships, they exited the outhouse now in near full cover of night and scampered northwestwards to the next outhouse, its boundary situated about 15 metres away. This way they were covered from the site of the ships.

Iorte, Massa and Iezeld were now at a corner of the building, watching Demik five metres away as the tactical officer made a scan for lifeforms within the building. Tom nodded to David and Elena that it'd come up negative, and the latter three proceeded to open the side-door. Immediately confronting them was an unusually large Cardassian!

With lightning reflexes David and Elena brought their phasers up, but it was slightly too slow for the Cardassian who somehow beat them to it and shot Demik between the right shoulder-blade and the neck!

The lieutenant yelped and was pounded backwards, thudding to the sandy ground in the dusk. The twin shots from Tan and de Luca downed the Cardassian and the duo headed into the structure, as Iorte and the others followed, dashing to the side-door.

Turning the corner into the building, Iorte saw to his astonishment the Cardassian getting back up, all eight feet of him, and raising his weapon once again. There was a lethal look in his eye, huge strength in his limbs.

The joint fire of Iorte, Iezelda and Massa as they arrived to help Tan and de Luca were enough to take him down, yet only, as they'd soon find, to render him unconscious.

"What in the name of...?" Massa remembered his decorum and thought it best not to complete his thought, as the five looked down at the hulking form.

Iezeld ran back to see to Demik.

"Please tell me this is just one of their heavies the Cardassians are using to guard the perimeter," Iorte said, stepping circumspectly round the downed giant.

"And not...?" de Luca wondered what he was getting at.

"Why didn't we pick him up on the tricorder?" Tan asked, "No atmospheric interference is to blame."

"Something in his body chemistry, something additive, may have prevented giving away his biosignature. Some form of genetic engineering? And perhaps he's not the only example?" Iorte asked.

Perhaps weapons and warship design research weren't the only things the Cardassians, and perhaps the Tendarans, were getting up to in this system.

Iezelda called to them from just without the structure. Demik. Still alive, apparently, and not in immediate danger, but such a situation could develop if they couldn't secure the services of a sickbay in... none of them could say how long. Maybe 24 hours, maybe a week? All they now knew was that he would surely worsen if he couldn't be returned to the ship (still in orbit of another planet in the system), or failing that to the shuttlecraft El-Eisa in the far-off quarry.

They'd dragged Demik inside. It was important to get out of the night, not just as it would become deathly cold, but because - just the other side of the first outhouse they'd entered - the two Cardassian warships and one other warship still sat, apparently operational.

The diffuse glow from ship running lights and portals could just be made out beyond the first outhouse.

[Elena de Luca]

On the surface ...
Cardassian Vessel
Construction Facility ::


It was becoming clear that at some point, the missing Cardassians would be searched for, so they had to make some decisions, and fast! .....

Elena had been thinking they had been fairly lucky thus far, but the last firefight, resulting in the shooting of Tom Demik, who had been hit in the shoulder, needed medical attention they didn't have access to. Their options: The El Alamein, which if commed would certainly end their covert assignment, likewise the shuttle El-Eisa, which if brought here remotely, would be seen on its approach. She ran over to Iezelda and began searching through her rucksack, pulling out everything that might help the injured Tactical Officer.

"How bad ...?" Demik was saying. Iezelda didn't reply as she worked, first stemming the blood flow, then working on the damaged and destroyed tissue from the disruptor hit.

"It's not good, you need a med-bay," Elena answered truthfully.

"Typical," Demik said wincing as Iezelda first injected an antibiotic, then a coagulant into the hole in his shoulder. Elena looked on, eyeing the wound: There was substantial damage, possibly irreparable, but she couldn't know that without a Doctor looking at the wound, she placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on Demik's chest. She was about to return to the others to ask about the fact that they had come across Cardassians that had illuded their scans when almost a kilometre away across the open ground, a shaft of light illuminated the night sky!

Everyone ducked for cover as they watched the rectangle expand.

"Access doors!" she heard Massa shout.

They had known from the moment they had breached the outer fence that there simply weren't the facilities to construct a vessel, however large, on the surface, and from what they had seen thus far of the outbuildings, they seemed to contain parts only, so there 'had' to be somewhere for construction to take place, and now that location had been confirmed!

The rectangle continued to grow until it was at its maximum... After almost a full minute of inactivity, they heard something, within the rectangle of light, shadows appeared, expanding as they realised what was happening - A vessel was rising from below the surface - The group could only watch as the Bridge Section of the Galor Class Warship rose, followed by the Main Section. The landing struts of the ship were resting on large rectangular bases. As the platform reached full height, the doors closed around it, the rectangle of light disappearing. Running lights were already visible in the darkness as the three massive transporters began to move the massive vessel from the platform and into an open space behind the three resting ships.

In position, the ship was lowered onto its struts and the three lifting crawlers moved away, finally coming to rest above the lift doors. Seconds later they disappeared into the depths and darkness again fell on the vast facility .....

"Well, that answered a couple of questions I was going to ask," Massa was saying as Elena returned to the others.

"How is he?" David asked.

"Not good..." de Luca replied, eyes still on the fourth and newest Cardassian Warship in the distance, "... He needs help we can't give him or he might lose his arm,"

"I think we could get him back to the shuttle," Sean O'Toole said.

"It's over a kilometre away, moving over those dunes is almost impossible, without having to carry someone," Tan said, struggling with what they needed to do. If they treated Demik the best they could and left him behind, it was a given in his opinion that the Cardassians would eventually come across him, and everyone knew how they treated what they referred to as 'prisoners' usually using less than legal means to extract information.

"If we make some kinda stretcher, two of us might be able to drag him back to the shuttle..." Sean said, eyeing everyone in turn before continuing, "... It's that, or call in the help," he finished, obviously referring to the El Alamein.

"..... And if you get stuck out there?" Clancy asked.

"Look, I came along because I thought I might be of assistance..." the Irishman said, shrugging, "... But it's clear. Even to me, that at the moment, I am kinda 'surplus to requirements' as you Starfleeters say,"

"I have to agree with Mister O'Toole..." They all turned to see Iezelda standing in the doorway, "... Tom needs help we can't give him. We could get him to the shuttle and stabilise his wounds, and be back within hours," David looked around the group seeing almost imperceptible nods from everyone. Although unspoken, it was clear that their options were limited. So with the decision made, they quickly set about fabricating a makeshift stretcher - Two long poles would serve and a ragged piece of tarpaulin would be tied between them to rest Demik on.

Once done they all helped get the Tactical Officer secured and O'Toole and Iezelda took a pole each, the furthest ends resting on the floor of the outbuilding. Elena opened the door and checked they were alone, then nodded. Sean and Iezeld pulled the stretcher outside and then without a word moved off. de Luca estimated it would take them a minimum of three hours - Round trip .....

-----

Back inside, they realised what their next move needed to be - Getting inside the underground complex!

"Some of these buildings 'must' have personnel lifts, everyone's not coming or going through that lifting gantry," de Luca was saying.

"I agree....." Tan said.

"So all we need to do is find one," Massa said with a grin.

"We'll need to point Iezelda and Sean in the right direction too ..." Tan said, frowning as he looked out into the darkness, "... OK ... We'll go over to the outbuilding closest to the lift gantry. If there's access it's likely to be there," he found a small box on one of the benches and set it by the window. He traced a short, thin, line in the dust on the lid of the box, aiming at the building they were going to head for. Hopefully, anyone entering would likely ignore the box, but he was counting on Sean O'Toole, an ex-intelligence Officer himself, to spot the seemingly randomly fallen box and check it.

With phasers ready, the group left the relative protection of the workshop-come-storeroom and zig-zagged between the other buildings until they were opposite their target.

"Eighty metres," Clancy said, eyeing the dark side of the building. He moved fractionally into the open so he could use his tricorder realising that if there were any other 'altered' Cardassians in the area, he wouldn't know until they walked right into them!

"For what it's worth, I'm picking up no lifesigns," he said, returning the device to his pack.

Clancy and Tan were kneeling close to the corner of the building they were hiding behind, Nate and Elena close behind them ..... With a nod, David and Iorte moved, quickly covering the distance, the other two covering their transit. With their backs to the building, Clancy waved, Nate and Elena shot from their position and crossed the open space, dropping beside Tan and Clancy. Nate turned to look at the door, thankful there didn't seem to be any kind of lock set into the metal. Moving back a metre, he scanned the outbuilding and confirmed it was empty, he tentatively reached up for the heavy bar-type handle and turned it through one-eighty degrees.

With a look at the others he pulled, opening the door wide enough to pass through, almost suffering a heart attack as the internal lighting, reacting to his presence, began to rise. He held the door as Tan, Clancy, and then de Luca followed him inside. The room was large and thankfully, windowless. Quickly Clancy again scanned the building, nodding to the others, who climbed to their feet weapons ready.

The building held rows of transport containers, some small, some large. They moved further into the building, checking various containers, but what got their attention was in the middle of the floor:

Nate, having moved ahead, motioned to them - He was standing looking down at a five-centimetre gap in the metal floor! ... As the others waited, he took out his tricorder and began to follow the gap keeping it between his feet. After a few seconds, the gap's direction changed, and then again. Once directly opposite the others, he crossed the platform, eyeing the remainder of the gap as he did so.

"By the looks of it, I'm guessing it's a heavy lift platform..." Massa confirmed, everyone nodded, "... Scan shows it as sixty by one-eighty metres,"

Elena was looking around and saw what looked like an access door. She moved over and then turned:

"Lift..." she said. The others walked over to her. Tan found the panel beside the door and tentatively placed a finger on the glass, the doors opened ... It was clear that the 'lift could be used for both equipment and personnel. Stepping inside the four readied themselves. Tan eyed the panel, it showed eight sub-levels.

"Any preference?" he asked ..........

[David Tan]

"Any preferences?" .....

"It looks like completed vessels are lifted to the surface..." Elena said, pausing for a second, "... I'd say start at the bottom and work our way up?" No one contradicted her speculations.

"Sub-Level Eight it is then," David said, reaching out to tap the button. The doors closed and they began to fall. Tan couldn't help but wonder about what it must have taken to construct this facility essentially in the middle of a desert, the amount of sand they would have to displace would have been incalculable. he realised the others were looking at him:

"Sorry, drifted off there," he said by way of apology as he followed the others placing his back against the lift's side wall. The last thing they wanted was the doors to open to a group of startled, heavily armed Cardassians. The indicator showed their progress:

Sub-Level Six ...

Sub-Level Seven ...

Sub-Level Eight ...

They waited, four phasers trained ahead as the doors ground aside on sand-filled runners. Beyond the lift was thankfully devoid of raging Cardassians. Inching forwards, Massa looked left and right before turning to nod at the others ... Stepping into the open they moved quickly across the open space to an area that held stacked crates, then assessed their situation:

"This place must be well over a kilometre long," Massa said, shaking his head.

"At least," Elena agreed.

"Looks like we entered towards one end of this place, assuming the area the newest ship came up was towards the middle, or closer to the furthest end," Clancy said.

"We're never going to be able to search this whole facility..." Tan said, frowning as he began to realise the task at hand, "... We need to find some kind of control room, it's possible we could find a list of people down here,"

"I still can't get my head around the fact that someone is constructing fully functional starships down here...!" de Luca said, "... There's no way we would have found this had they not taken our people,"

"I'd be more concerned that they were storing those artificial quantum singularity drives they use to 'power' those ships..." Massa replied nervously, "... If one of them goes up ....." he didn't bother to finish the sentence.

"OK, let's move ..... We'll keep to the shadows as best as possible. Ideally, we could do with a cooperative Cardassian to question," Tan said as he looked down the wide central passageway. They began to move, keeping to a single file, Tan taking point, each ducking into the gaps between the stacked crates whenever the opportunity arose. They had been walking for a full fifteen minutes when he suddenly held a finger to his lips!

He pointed ahead. They could see shadows moving to their left ahead, he turned, motioning for Clancy to move up, Mass and de Luca would remain behind - David and Iorte inched forwards, eyes locked on the shadows - Tan turned, holding up two fingers to signify two possible hostiles - Clancy nodded as they moved forward again. The two shadows were now less than ten metres ahead, just beyond the last stack of crates, Phasers ready the two Intelligence Officers inched into the open.

"What the HELL!"

Tan again lifted a finger to his lips, eyes wide as he looked at two! ... Checking the worker's shocked exclamation hadn't been overheard, he and Clancy moved quickly to the two technicians:

What the hell are you doing here?" one asked, eyes darting back and forth as if expecting to be discovered any second.

"Who are you?" Tan asked.

"Anna, Anna Rawlins, that's Xander Pierce," the woman replied nervously.

"What are you doing?" Clancy asked.

"Calibrating grav' plating," Pierce replied as if he'd been asked if he would like a sandwich and wasn't working in a hidden Cardassian facility.

"You were among those taken, right?" Tan asked in disbelief.

"..... Erm, yes, though until recently we believed we'd been reassigned from facility construction to what we're doing now," Rawlins answered.

"What made you change your mind?"

"They were forcing us to work quickly, too quickly. Then when we were moved here, Kirt DeJong said he wanted to confirm our transfer orders ....." the woman began, before falling silent.

"What happened?" Tan asked urgently.

"They said they would take him out to contact Command, but one of the Lentarai being forced to do most of the manual labour witnessed him being killed and taken out into the desert. They said he'd returned home," she said.

"So why are you working for them?" Clancy asked.

"You could be sabotaging stuff down here, delaying construction!" Tan added, wanting to physically hit the pair.

"We could, but everything we do is checked, the slightest delay, or specification misalignment and ....." Pierce said with a shrug.

"Where are the others?"

"No idea, we were split up before being brought down here..." Anna Rawlins said, her eyes welling with tears, "... You're here to get us out ..... Right!?"

"Not right now, no" Tan said, motioning for Elena and Nate to join them ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

This last outbuilding, farther to the southwest and much larger than the others, also contained a mobile platform about 180 by 60 metre square, in the rough centre of its floor plan. Running to one of its corners, the three Intel officers plus Nate Massa made their way down via a service lift to sub-level 8.

"Galor class warships have 14 decks," Nate informed them, "The lowest service level of their volume of manufacture must reach only about halfway down a Galor class's hull."

Meaning the subterranean space extended far beneath the habitable service levels, Iorte concluded. The four of them emerged and headed along the corridor, then after encountering some crates, two of the group found two of the missing Federation engineers who'd had jobs on the Tendaran homeworld. Having rushed together the half dozen humans pressed on.

"Have you any idea how the Cardassians are involved?" Iorte asked the two captives.

"It's more pertinent to ask how are the Tendarans involved," Pierce replied in subdued tones as they progressed through the blasted dry subterraneans passages.

"This world, this whole system, was recognised by the Cardassian Union as a potential source for refined cobalt," Rawlins put in, "They found it some 10 years ago. The Tendarans were already their allies, well, rather their associates, business partners. Both wanted some of the world's resources."

"But wasn't this planet already the property, if such it can be called, of the Tendarans?" Iorte asked with distaste.

"Yes. But the only inhabitants, aside from a couple hundred or so Tendarans in the one or two administrative centres, were Lentarai, a related sub-caste of the Tendaran species who have little rights, and are either employed by them as manual labourers, or ignored completely and left to their 'backwater' lives."

"We've met some of them already. We cooperated with them in finding the surface level of this shipyard. They're waiting for us some place on the surface," Tan replied.

Pierce grunted and whispered as they passed through a deserted intersection, "The Lentarai are resourceful people, we've found, from what little experience we've had of them. If they're sufficiently invested in what you're doing, they'll be waiting for you up there, that is if they don't try to rescue you first!"

"The Tendarans are working together with the Cardassians," Rawlins added in a hush, "The Tendarans invited them here, invited them to exploit this world's natural resources, even if it meant harm to their co-species members, the Lentarai."

One of the four ships on the surface, Iorte thought, one of them had been of unrecognised shape and function, an alien next to the other two, then three Galor class vessels... the alien being a Tendaran warship...

Massa called for a hush. His tricorder was picking up something ahead. Iorte rushed up and looked over the security chief's shoulder as he crouched in the corridor. The tricorder screen showed their passageway splitting in five directions ahead. Immediately ahead, the corridor ended in a room. Four other rooms, two left, two right, after about 20 metres on average, were at an end of four separate passageways - four rooms, four dead ends?

"No biosignatures, I presume?" Iorte asked.

Massa shook his head and David and Elena looked at one another in consternation. They weren't about to split their team sufficiently enough to cover all five rooms. And come what may, they had five dead ends, unless one of those rooms had another egress point to somewhere else in the subterranean network.

Iorte turned to his fellow Intel officers and Massa, which latter certainly had a right to be consulted, "We should all stick together," he advised, "and choose one of these five rooms. If the first is no good, we move to the second. At least we won't be short of numbers."

<Tag Tan, de Luca>

[David Tan]

Underground Facility ::

It hadn't even occurred to David that they were missing several, likely 'High Security' levels! - Nate was of course right, the Galor Class couldn't be constructed solely on the levels they had passed through - He surmised that access to the ship's Engineering and Drive Sections would be highly restricted. He was still thinking about how they could get into the lower levels when he realised that Xandor Pierce was talking:

"Wait, you're saying that the Tendarans are happy to work alongside the Cardassians?" he asked.

"As I said, the Tandarans are benefiting from their cooperation," Pierce repeated, annoyed their so-called rescuers weren't listening.

"The other ship we saw on the surface," Nate added, eyebrows raised, grinning as Tan's expression indicated that the proverbial 'penny' had dropped.

"This changes a few things if the Tendarans are arming!" Elena said, eyes still flicking back and forth.

"So the Lentarai are being used as cheap labour?" David asked.

"Yes," Anna Rawlins replied, clearly exasperated as Massa held up a hand to silence the conversation. He pointed, indicating where the anomalous reading originated, frustrated that again he was not picking up any biosignatures.

"We should all stick together, choose one of these five rooms. If the first is no good, we move to the second. At least we won't be short of numbers." Clancy suggested, everyone agreeing. David looked at the two engineers:

"You will have to come with us," he said.

"No ..... It would be safer if we remained here, our 'supervisor' will be coming to check our work soon, if we are missing he will undoubtedly raise the alarm," Pierce said.

"I thought you wanted out of here?" Iorte asked the man.

"I do indeed, but if you are captured before whatever plan you have to save us is put into operation, then we all lose. We will be punished, you will either be put to work or lose your lives," Xandor replied.

"You must not give any indication that we are here," Elena said to Anna Rawlins, who was looking more ill by the minute.

"Do you have access to the lower levels?" Nate asked. Pierce dug into a pocket and then held up a metallic card:

"These are coded, as you see ours are 'Blue' allowing us access to various levels, you will need to get hold of a 'Red' card to enter levels nine through sixteen,"

"I don't suppose you know who has one of those?" Elena asked.

"The Cardassian engineers, and the supervising Tendarans, obviously," Perce replied.

"OK ..." David said, making a decision, "... I'll go back and search the Cardassians we incapacitated, you three start on the first room, and I'll catch you up," Nate was about to offer to accompany Tan but thought better of it, he looked at the engineers instructing them to 'try' to give nothing away when their supervisor arrives .....

"You will need this," Anna Rawlins said, handing Clancy her card.

"What if you're asked to produce it?"

"I will say I left it in my quarters. Xandor and I work together daily, so his card will suffice to give us any access we need," the woman said.

Clancy nodded, taking the offered card, then he, Massa, and de Luca left the engineers at their station crossing the thirty-metre-wide central accessway, nicknamed the 'thoroughfare' by Massa, and approached the corridor off to their right. Nate looked back at Pierce and Rawlins, both seemed to be watching their progress. He couldn't help but think something wasn't quite right about the two though he couldn't put substance to his worries.

"Ready...?" Clancy asked, the others nodded. Weapons ready they moved to the first room on their left. Clancy held the card to the reader and the door slid silently aside. The three entered the room quickly, ready to fire, but they were alone. Taking an area each, they quickly searched, noting only what looked like spares on the floor, along with sections of deck and bulkhead plating stacked against the far wall. Exiting Iorte used the card to close the door.

Nate was holding his tricorder, still frowning. They were picking up something but whatever it was wasn't registering any lifesigns, yet there was movement further along the corridor ..... They checked the second and third rooms with the same result, but at the furthest along the corridor, Massa held up a hand to stop Clancy from opening the door:

"Two... Of... Whatever," he said, shrugging. Clancy leaned close to the access panel holding up three fingers, while Nate and Elena crouched either side of the door. They watched as he retracted each finger in turn and then placed the card on the panel - The door slid aside - beyond the threshold two Cardassian guards were talking, one turned as the door opened, and Elena fired. The second spun, already holding his disruptor, firing as he turned, he missed Clancy by millimetres as Massa dropped him beside his companion. They entered the room quickly and dragged the two dead out of line of sight of the door. Elena searched the first and found his 'Red' access card.

"..... Gocha," she said with a grin. As they turned to leave the room they heard a sound, freezing they trained their phasers on the door, relaxing as David identified himself. In the corridor, they assessed what they had so far:

Two dead Cardassians, and importantly, two of the 'Red' access cards!

"I'm not picking up anything in the remaining rooms but we should check them anyway, I hate surprises," Massa said, nodding to the next room. He was correct, the remaining rooms seemed to be a recreation room, a canteen, and another room that was being used for storage. Satisfied, they cautiously backtracked to where they had left the two engineers, but before they reached the mouth of the corridor they heard raised voices!

Moving forward cautiously they could see Rawlins and Pierce along with two others, one a Cardassian, the other a Tendaran.

"The Tendaran was clearly dissatisfied with something and mid-sentence he stepped forward and backhanded Anna Rawlins, she staggered back into the console, blood flowing from the split inside her mouth, Nate was raising his phaser when he saw her looking directly at him making the smallest movement to prevent him from firing. The Tandaran stepped forward snatching Rawlins' work coat and hit her a second then a third time, splitting the woman's lip twice. David had been wondering why Pierce hadn't come to her rescue when he saw the Cardassian's disruptor resting against his stomach.

"You are delaying, it will 'NOT' be tolerated!" the Tendaran shouted into Rawlins' face before thrusting her back against the workbench.

"We're doing all we can, the specif ....." Pierce began.

"SILENCE!" the Cardassian spat.

"I will return at mid-break ... If these calculations are not correct then, you will forfeit your lives," the Tendaran said before the two walked away along the central accessway. Once far enough away the team rejoined the two engineers, Elena immediately went to Anna Rawlins, taking her med-pack from her jacket she began to help the injured woman.

"What was all that about?" Tan asked.

"For the last week we have been, delaying as best we could. We knew that once the first Tendaran Warship was completed they would expect production to increase exponentially, so we began putting in minor errors, or conflicts to delay production. You said the prototype is still on the surface, which means they haven't been able to locate and correct the programming errors, at least so far," Pierce explained.

"I thought you said you were working on grav' plating?" Massa probed.

"We are, but we quickly found that apart from the Drive Systems, we full access above the secure levels, something the Cardassians, or Tendarans haven't noticed yet," Anna said as she and Elena walked over. Clancy handed the woman her access card.

"Got a couple of our own," he said, thanking her.

"Where's the nearest access to the lower levels?" David asked.

"Back the way our supervisors went... Approximately fifty metres or so. You'll see the doors on your left," Xandor pointed, taking a step forward before Massa put a hand on his chest.

"You need to stay put ..." the Security Chief insisted, "... We won't leave you behind, but we need to investigate this ourselves before we look at getting you all out," the two engineers nodded but didn't look convinced.

"Give our associates the second access card when they arrive ..... Let's go," Tan said ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

Iezelda Iezeld perspective, heading towards shuttlecraft

Iezelda and Sean had carted the stretcher across the perimeter of the shipyard area, through the sand-covered approaches hewn of rock and along a short section leading to the road that wound through seemingly endless dunes. The young Petty Officer was already quite exhausted by the time they reached the road, yet luckily she and the Irishman had found what they'd hoped to find... another repulsor lift vehicle.

They used it, barely functioning though it was, to take the stricken tactical officer Demik back along the way they'd previously come, eventually to the shuttle El-Eisa. Back at the place they'd secured the craft and checking that no one was around, Iezelda opened the starboard side hatch while O'Toole pulled the Demik-holding tarpaulin down from the flatbed section of the repulsor vehicle.

Once inside the shuttle, Demik started having cardiac arrest.

"20ccs aprocalmine," Iezeld instructed a slightly uncertain O'Toole who prepared the shot and applied it to the beleaguered lieutenant's neck. Tom was still on the tarpaulin, blood leaking through his uniform from his right shoulder area and streaked and matted across the tarpaulin and into the shuttle's floor.

After Iezelda had affixed the miniature defibrillator to Demik's chest, O'Toole, now with more confidence as he resumed another area of his former Intel activities (though he probably hadn't done too much of this), called out, "2... 1... clear."

A small jolt passed through Demik's thorax. No change of condition. "2... 1... clear." His body twitched under the EM discharge once again.

It took another three efforts, with fading hope, before the centre of the tactical officer's circulatory system was revived.

O'Toole, visibly relieved and collapsing to a slumped sitting position on the deck, broke the silence, "Ok... He's going to have to stay here, miss. I'd be tempted to call up Fran and have her head over here, you know? Or maybe she'd be liking us to send this shuttle her way."

"We could set the craft to automatic," Iezeld nodded, "have it retrace its steps, so to speak, back up out of the atmosphere and to the other planet. So as to evade detection. With Demik aboard, of course."

"Well, let's do it," Sean said decisively, "Can't risk any sort of communication to the El Al beforehand, I'd say. Just set her going with Tom, and let us two be making haste back to the others."

Iezelda took a breath, running a hand through her hair and looked down with concern upon the stricken Demik. While he was - barely - alright for now, he needed the El Al's sickbay facilities as good as immediately.

She and O'Toole reboarded their spare repulsor lift and sped back the many miles towards the rest of their team, wherever they'd ended up in the shipyard...

* * *

Subterranean levels, Cardassian-Tendaran shipyard

Iorte identified the door off to the left of the thoroughfare, recognising the red edging round three quarters of the doorframe as well as the red panel to its right-hand side. He approached, brandishing his red access card, and after a moment simply waved it at the panel. Something emitted a polite beep, the red edging lit up with some inner fluorescence and the door slid aside.

"That was absurdly easy," he commented as they descended a spiral staircase that rattled metallically with their movements. Hopefully Iezeld, O'Toole, Demik, whenever they arrived, wouldn't have trouble either. He wondered how Demik was faring.

Whether the two supervisors - the Cardassian and the Tendaran - had themselves headed through the door and down these stairs a few minutes before, or whether they'd headed further back down the thoroughfare to some other locale in the underground yards, couldn't be discerned at present.

At the foot of the staircase were three turbolifts. One of the turbolift doors was lined with blue and red, suggesting perhaps that it headed upwards only, from red sub-level 9 up through blue sub-levels 1-8. Another was red - clearly only for the restricted access sub-levels 9 through 16. The third, interestingly, was edged in yellow and black chevrons - an old colour scheme indicating 'warning'.

"Let's try the red lift..." Tan decided, "Jumping straight to yellow and black might be a bit foolhardy."

Once they were all in the turbolift, Iorte studied the inner panel. He blinked, raised the red access card and flashed it across the reader. A similar beep to before came.

He realised that the system was awaiting a voice input, "Umm... sub-level 16," he said warily, surprised when without complaint the lift moved downwards. No voice recognition, no hostile biosignature recognition either it seemed. "Enjoying the quaint primitiveness," he said.

Sub-level 16 would put them, presumably, one level below the lowest extent of a Galor class's ventral section - assuming an under-construction Galor occupied sub-levels 2 through 15. Therefore they expected to see a series of openings in level 16's ceilings, where engineers, technicians and other personnel could work on the underside of the vessel...

They did indeed see such a thing, but also found that they couldn't stay in the open. Too many Tendarans, too many Cardassians. "Wait a moment..." Massa alerted the Intel trio, "Who's that, over there?"

"Well now, it's Helen McMillan," Iorte said shortly. The presumed kidnapped human (maybe by these same people) was halfway up a ladder, seemingly directing a team of Tendaran engineers who were working on the just visible underside of one of two vessels!

<Tag Tan, de Luca, etc>

[David Tan]

Sean O'Toole and Iezelda Iezeld ::

"The Luck of the Irish no doubt," Iezelda had muttered, shaking her head when they had fortuitously found the second repulsor-lift flatbed. This one, if it could be believed, was in a worse state than the first they had practically run into the ground before it gave up the proverbial ghost. But she nor Sean was about to ignore the transport and had scrambled the ailing Demik aboard, both holding him down as they sped back to the concealed shuttle .....

Inside Demik had offered a cardiac arrest and the two had worked to stabilise the man before realising that he would perish without proper medical help - They had agreed on sending the shuttle back under computer control - Hopefully, the El Alamein would be able to remotely recover the shuttle and treat Demik before it was too late.

As Sean made sure Demik was both sedated and strapped into the med-bed, Iezeld had moved forward to the pilot's seats and began the return program ... Once they had put some distance between them, Iezeldtapped the tricorder which sent the appropriate command to the shuttle. It lifted and turned in place before moving off almost skimming the dunes before rising into the night sky and out of sight. Satisfied they had done all they could for the El Alameni's Tactical Officer, they retraced their course.

Landing the ailing repulsor-lift bed, they quickly covered it with sand as best they could, anyone coming across it would hopefully believe it was tey another one of the derelict pieces of equipment left to erode in the harsh desert climate.

Entering the building they knew the others had previously moved towards, they began to search for any indication of where the others had gone. After a few moments, Iezelda heard Sean chuckle and moved in his direction. He was standing looking between his feet, at a small box with a six-centimetre mark beside it. He grinned and walked in the direction indicated as his associate frowned.

"Ahh well, here we go..." the Irishman said with a smile as he pointed to the panel. He could see Iezelda's confusion, "... Old tracking indicator ... Well before your time, miss," he said grinning.

It took only moments to descend to the level their companions had reached, and the two stepped off the platform. It only took O'Toole a moment to find the small mark indicating direction, and the two cautiously followed. Five minutes later they came across the two missing engineers - After a brief explanation, Anna Rawlins had handed the red-access card to Sean and they approached the next lifts .....

Away Team ::

As they had reached what they believed was the lowest level, David had scratched a mark about a metre away from the panel level with the lowest button. Agan to anyone not looking for anything out of place, the mark would resemble countless others made as people and equipment were transported in the lift ..... Opposite the doors he made another almost invisible mark indicating direction, and then the four had continued their search .....

If they were guessing right, and Sub'Level Sixteen was the lowest Level, it stood to reason that this would be either level with or one Level below the underside of any Galor-Class vessels currently under construction.

As they moved along the wide passage, Massa pointed out equidistant pylons, approximately twenty metres apart along both walls, speculating that if the roof of the next Level was indeed the floor the ships rested on, these pylons 'could' hold the hydraulics used to physically lift the ships to the surface, where they would be moved into allotted parking area's pending lifting into their natural habitat. They were discussing this when they heard voices ahead. Quickly moving back into the shadows they listened intently as someone appeared to be giving instructions to their associates ... Massa, who had moved forwards, motioned for the others to join him as he pointed ahead:

"Wait a moment..." Massa alerted the Intel trio, "... Who's that, over there?"

"Well now, it's Helen McMillan," Clancy said in disbelief.

"..... So who was in the escape pods we detected?" Massa pondered.

There was no time to speculate, as the two people Helen McMillan was speaking with turned and moved away. They watched as she returned to a long table seemingly studying something for several moments before she too walked away.

"We'll follow her," Tan said, moving off ... They walked down two long corridors one ninety degrees to the main corridor, then turned right onto a parallel corridor before McMillan entered a room off the right. Cautiously the four approached, Elena and Massa watching their backs. In front of the door, they paused making sure the corridor was empty, then David reached out to tap on the door ... He was already moving forward as the door slid aside revealing the supposedly kidnapped Mother.

Before she could speak he stepped forward, one hand going around her neck, the other covering her mouth as the four quickly entered closing the door behind them!

Iorte clicked his fingers to get her attention, he pointed around the room then at both ears, asking if the room was being monitored, McMillan shook her head.

"I'm going to remove my hand, you will remain completely silent, is that understood?" Tan whispered, Helen McMillan nodded - Eyes wide, in what, surprise, or shock - He paused for a second then moved his hand a centimetre, ready to slam it back into place should the woman try to raise the alarm, but she remained dutifully silent, eyeing each of them in turn.

"You can talk freely..." she said, making no attempt to move out of David's grasp. He lowered his hand and then removed the one holding her in position. She rubbed her neck then continued, "... Who are you?"

"We're here to find the missing engineers and put a stop to whatever's going on, on this ball of sand," Massa explained.

"..... You're helping them," Tan stated. After a long moment of hesitation, Helen McMillan nodded.

"They have Zoe?" Elena asked, again Helen nodded.

"If I refused they said the consequences for my daughter would be, unfortunate,"

"But you're delaying, designing flaws into their systems?" Massa asked, sympathising with the woman's position.

"At first, yes... But they're not stupid and after discovering the first failures they realised what was happening. They took us all into an open space further into the complex. There they had tied one of the Lentarai, an engineer I think, to a stanchion... They whipped him to death, and told us we would suffer the same fate if we were caught trying to sabotagé the work down here!"

David was watching the woman closely, the tears seemed genuine as did her demeanour.

"Where are they holding you daughter?" Elena asked.

"I don't know, two Cardassians brought her to the overhead walkway where I was working below, almost a week ago now. They hit her, hard, clearly to make their point, before taking her away. I haven't seen her since,"

"We need to find her, and the other engineers," Tan said, seething though not surprised the Cardassians would inflict pain to ensure compliance.

"I've only seen two, Kumur and Bradshaw, I think. Both are working in one of the furthest areas on this level, towards the ship's drive Section," Helen explained.

"These are not your quarters?" Clancy asked.

"No... Just a rest area, where we take the short breaks we're allowed.

"Are all your quarters close together?" Massa asked.

"The Human engineers are all housed in one corridor, yes, but there are guards. There is no way to get in or out undetected ... They come for us at shift end and take us back, we're not even allowed to move between each other's rooms without content,"

"Don't they come looking for you if you take too long in here?" de Luca asked.

"We are allowed ten minutes twice per day, believe me, if I am late someone will come and get me, and as I said, there are consequences for disobedience," she lifted her jacket and t-shirt so they could see the reddened welts across her back.

"Which way are your quarters, close by?" Tan asked.

"Further down this corridor then left at the junction, we have rooms on either side, but as I sai ....." she began, eyes flicking to the chronometer set into the wall above the door, but Tan interrupted her:

"We'll just take a look,"

"I must go, please do not be discovered ....." she said, eyeing them in turn before nodding towards the door. Massa stood aside to allow her to leave then had a thought, holding out a hand to stop her from leaving:

"What if she informs them that we're here?"

"Why would I?" Helen demanded.

"They have Zoe," David said, matter-of-factly, watching her closely.

"I would do 'nothing' to put my daughter in harm's way, you think it would be 'me' punished for your being here?"

"Let her go..." David said. Seeing Massa step aside she walked to the door which opened at her approach. In the corridor, she turned back and nodded, then disappeared. After a moment Tan turned to de Luca, "... Follow her, stay out of sight," he said. Elena nodded, and then left the room. They needed a plan to search for the others, then somehow get them all n the same place if any escape was going to succeed. But he also knew that he couldn't allow this construction to continue ..........

[Elena de Luca]

Underground complex ::

"Let her go..." David had said, watching as Helen McMillan glared at Tan and then turned to leave the rec room. After a moment David had turned to de Luca, "... Follow her, stay out of sight,"

"I'm hardly going to go skipping and jumping up behind her, am I," Elena had said before leaving the room. While she would follow Zoe's mother, the others would follow the corridor pointed out by Helen where she and the kidnapped engineers spent their off-time and slept ..... She allowed McMillan to get approximately thirty metres ahead before beginning her covert observations.

Surprisingly, rather than return to the relocation where they had first found her, McMillan took another corridor before entering yet another which Elena believed ran parallel to the main thoroughfare, a duplicate of the one on the higher level.

More than once de Luca wondered if she would be able to find her way back to the others if the woman ahead continued to seemingly take turns at random. She pondered the idea of leaving markings but dared not for fear they would be discovered, so she had little option but to follow and hope she didn't become hopelessly lost in the underground labyrinth.

Twice Helen McMillan stopped to speak to other engineers, checking on work being done or issuing instructions. Elena frowned as a thought occurred - McMillan, supposedly a prisoner and constantly watched - Seemed to have a great deal of freedom to move around the underground facility as she pleased. She was still pondering the thought when she almost walked headlong into two Cardassian guards!

She had a fraction of a second to duck back into shadow as the two approached McMillan, both eyed what Elena believed to be the forward landing strut of the Galor Class currently under construction, the two seemed to study the schematics displayed on a large wall-mounted screen, then barked at the Lentarai she had been speaking to. The two labourers cowered, clearly fearing some unwarranted beating. She could hear Helen explaining what she was asking the two Lentarai to do, but one of the Cardassians seemed hell-bent on taking some unknown frustration out on the cowering men.

He stepped forward raising a metre-long baton above his head before bringing it down with a sickening 'thud' on the closer man's shoulder, he cried in agony as he spun and fell to the ground, hands covering his head.

"There is no need for that..." McMillan was saying as the second Cardassian made to follow his companion in beating the helpless Lentarai, he grinned at her then turned to the cringing labourer, "... STOP IT ... NOW ... Or I will report you to my supervisor!"

This turn of events evidently amused the Cardassian guards, so much so, that they burst out laughing, eyeing the woman as if she were something in a market that they were considering as a prospective purchase. This had at least taken their minds off the senseless beatings they were undoubtedly about to administer, but in doing so had put Helen McMillan firmly in their sights. Elena pulled her phaser from her pocket, checked the setting, then held the weapon ready. Covert or not, she wasn't going to allow a Federation citizen to be beaten, or worse, without doing something!

"Go ahead ... BEAT ME..." Helen said defiantly staring down the two who were approaching her seething, "... I would have thought that the repercussions of your killing Kirt DeYong would have made you more wary about interfering with us, but maybe not,"

As she was speaking the two Cardassians had first slowed, then stopped as one hesitantly looked at the other, he said something de Luca couldn't hear and the two moved away, but not far as the second Cardassian was now arguing with his associate.

"WELL...?" Helen shouted. The first guard, the one hesitant, tuned as McMillan goaded them. He walked over, and without breaking stride, backhanded her, knocking her off her feet, blood flowing from the deep cuts inside her mouth.

"You would do well to learn your place ... HUMAN ... Despite you having the ear of the supervisor, accidents happen in these facilities, it would be easy to explain a sudden accident. Despite your engineering 'prowess' you are as dispensable as any other prisoner here!" he hacked deep in his throat then spat thick sputum in her face, some entering her mouth causing her to gag. This clearly amused the Cardassian, and satisfied, he returned to the other guard and the two walked away.

Elena was about to go to help her when she heard someone else approaching - Another Lentarai - He stood motionless, watching until the retreating guards were well out of earshot before he knelt and began to help McMillan to her feet.

"He will kill you soon lady," the Lentarai said, shaking his head as he pulled a cloth from his pocket and offered it to her.

"Not if I kill him first," McMillan said, spitting blood and mucus into a corner before wiping her mouth with the cloth.

Elena watched as the man took McMillan's arm and began to lead her back the way they had come. She remained in the shadows until the two had passed, then with a little distance between them she too began to retrace her steps, Helen McMillan and the Lentarai ahead. She had a lot to think about - McMillan had clearly made an enemy of at least one of the Cardassian guards, but what could he have meant by his comment about her having the supervisor's ear?

She was obviously in a position of superiority among the people working in the facility, but could that mean something other than her wanting to remain safe, untouched, or was there more to the comment?

With no answers readily presenting themselves, she followed deep in thought ..........

[Iorte Clancy]

McMillan had to head back to her station or she'd soon have problems with the Cardassians, who would've been arriving in less than 5 minutes if she hadn't left the spartan lounge at that moment.

In the meantime the away team followed Tan's suggestion that they should take a look at the three sets of engineers' quarters down the corridor and round to the left. Three rooms it had to be - and three it was - because Helen had informed them she'd only encountered Kumur and Bradshaw in her time down here.

So Rawlins' and Pierce's quarters had to be somewhere else, obviously on the higher eight of the sixteen sub-levels, as those levels were where the away team had found those two engineers.

Helen had left before Clancy or the others had been able to tell her about the presence of Rawlins and Pierce, which meant it remained an unresolved question whether or not Helen even knew about the two, the fact they also were captives of the Cardassians and Tendarans.

The away team checked there was no one in the stretch of corridor either side of the lounge's door, and headed left, Clancy taking point, followed by Tan then Massa. Rounding the junction undetected they approached the quarters.

Two rooms on one side, one on the other. Scrawled in large handwritten Tendaran script were the names Kumur and Bradshaw on the left hand doors, and McMillan's on the right.

Entering Helen's own quarters, which were unlocked (Clancy wouldn't have thought the kidnappers would care much about their captive engineers' privacy and the security of any new personal effects, and so it proved), and then the other two quarters, they discovered Helen's were larger. McMillan's room was about 15 metres square while Kumur's and Bradshaw's were 10 metres square each.

Not much was kept in any of the quarters; perhaps what there'd been had been stolen, now exchanged like items on a black market between a mass of other engineers - other non-Federation captives working for the Cardassians and Tendarans.

There was a noise at the door to McMillan's quarters to which they'd returned, and the trio found what meagre cover they could.

The door opened and after a moment an individual in plain overalls burst into sight, Mk II phaser pointed into the room. "Whoa... don't shoot!" the man said as he saw three more Mk IIs pointed right back at him.

It was O'Toole, and closely behind him Iezeld. Iorte breathed a sigh of relief, phasers were lowered as the newcomers entered the room and they closed the door. Massa asked about his crewmate Demik.

"We've sent him back on the El-Eisa under sedation, the shuttle on automatic guidance," Iezelda answered Nate understandingly, placing the palm of her hand on the visibly troubled Nate's chest, "We had to revive him. But he's just about stable now. Should be at the El Alamein by now if there were no problems."

"Did you have any trouble finding your way down here?" Clancy asked, stepping forward.

"Not really." What did Sean mean by that? "I mean, only two, maybe three dead hostiles. Two Tendarans and a badly wounded Cardassian. All in exchange for this..." he raised his bloodied left forearm to demonstrate, "... cut from a knife. Sharp little thing it was, too."

"Did you see any of the missing engineers?" Massa asked.

Sean and Iezelda looked at one another, before Iezelda turned and told them, "Only Zoe McMillan."

"Zoe? Where?" Tan asked animatedly.

"Not on any of the sub-levels. She was in the above-ground building housing the subterranean platform that you directed us to," Sean replied, "In one of the office spaces on the top floor... I think there were three floors to the building?" Clancy nodded - that sounded about right. 3 above ground. 16 below ground.

"Where's Elena?" O'Toole went on.

Iorte answered, "She's shadowing Helen McMillan, who seems to be directing some of the work here, under compulsion. We've encountered Helen, as well as Xandor Pierce and Anna Rawlins. Dejong is already dead. Kumur and Bradshaw we haven't seen yet, but those are their quarters directly opposite us," he pointed towards the door.

"Kumur, Bradshaw, they're not in, apparently working on the Galor class in its ventral stern section, the other end of this subterranean shipyard," Massa added.