MISSION 3.6 - A Question of Determination Pt 2

[mercy]

Captain Savali brought Admiral Drew into the infirmary to check up on Admiral Lin. After the formal introductions or re-aquaintances were taken care of, Stuart let T'Val take the two to their VIP patient. Stuart had busied himself with more patient charts that Nurse Jill Tsomba had brought to him. Admiral Lin had been given drugs for stability, and they were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Doctor Laurana from the Trill home world.

From behind him he could he the commotion. By the time Stuart turned around and approached the room that all f the guests were in, he could see Admiral Drew holding Admiral Lin back in bed while trying to reassure him that he was safe and that all would be well. A security guard had also appeared just in case he was needed.

[Magellan Lin]

Gaining total control Magellan/Loran pressed her advantage she wouldnt let the others in again. She would live again, and as for the male body, then she would just have to learn to adjust.
Drew had responded to the outburst by moving up swiftly and attempting to return Magellan to the bed,

"Calm down" he urged, " No ones here to hurt you" Magellan/Loran ignored the stranger and instead lashed out landing a punch on the mans chin and taking the opportunity that his reel afforded her to make for the door. It soon became apparent that she wouldnt get far and so stopped. There were more people outside some of them with weapons. T'Val and Drew were now approaching her again, more wary but Magellan/Loran was well aware that she couldnt avoid them a second time,

"Lily?" she called
"Yes Admiral" Liliy replied from the ether
"Iniate Program 1 sub alpha 3"
"Acknowledged"

In a haze of yellow light Magellan/Loran disappeared from sickbay in the grip of a transporter beam leaving Drew and T'Val agog.

TAG T'Val and Drew

[Felix Savali]

"You know doctor you might consider putting a transporter suppression field around some of your patients", Felix said as he saw Lin beaming out

=/\=Savali to OPS=/\=

=/\=OPS here, go ahead Captain=/\=

=/\=Get me a trace on the transport that just took place in sickbay and postpone all ship, shuttle and transporter departures until further notice, also restrict all transports to level 10 or above authorization codes. And make sure Admiral Lin's command codes have been disabled.=/\=

=/\=Understood sir=/\=

=/\=Inform doctor Mercy once you get a location on the transport and beam him, Healer T'Val, Admiral Drew and the two security officers directly to those coordinates.=/\=

Felix finished.

"I presume you'll want to go after him", Felix said to Drew who nodded back at him still stroking his painful chin

When Felix was done speaking a call came from Cmdr. Sarkonis, apparently there was a priority 1 message incoming for him from Earth. It was the Judge Advocate General.

"If you will excuse me", Felix said to Drew, Mercy and T’Val, "But I have to take this call. Do notify me when you find him", he said as he turned to leave

<Tag T'Val/Mercy/Drew/OPS>

"Dr. Mercy I will use the computer in your office to take the call", Felix said to him as he went towards his office

After arriving to the office, he activated the computer and entered his personal codes. Several moments later the Federation logo was replaced by the image of the Judge Advocate General, Vice Admiral George Bussalis. Unlike his face from a week ago, Bussalis was smiling this time.

=/\=Captain, I have received your report on the incidents that took place on base during the last 7 days and I must say I am pleased with what you have accomplished. Freeing the Debrune scientists has done more for Starfleet and the JAG corp. then catching the person responsible for those incidents on base. I did not expect you to find out who was responsible as we conducted several investigations in those cases and have determined that they were nothing more but your usual incidents that tend to happen on places like SB Assaillant where we have a lot of species and cultures mixing together.=/\=

=/\=Of course, sir. Thank you=/\=, Felix said

=/\=Well you showed me I was right to assign you to your position and i also have another surprise for you... Commodore=/\=, Bussalis said

=/\=Commodore?=/\=, Felix questioned

=/\=Commodore indeed, Starfleet command has approved my proposal for your promotion to Commodore after you rescued those Debrune scientist.=/\=, Bussalis said as he smiled, =/\=But don't go slacking of now, Commodore, keep up the good work.=/\=, Bussalis smiled again looking at Felix's stunned face, =/\=Bussalis out=/\=

After the comm. channel closed, it took Felix a few moments to digest the news he just received. Commodore? That was a lot for him to get used to. Captain was an ok rank, someone who commanded a ship, but commodore? That meant a whole lot of extra responsibility and a whole load of extra duties...

[Deleted]

In a haze of yellow light Magellan/Loran disappeared from sickbay in the grip of a transporter beam leaving Drew and T'Val agog.

T'Val cast a surprised glance at Admiral Drew. "I was certain his command codes were removed when we officially relieved him of command," she stated, glancing once more at the now empty bed. "I hope you understand the gravity of the situation and the need to find Magellan as quickly as possible. Both the lives of himself and Lin depend on it."

She explained again how ill Magellan really was, and how they were looking to find a cure for him. "I am unwilling to let the host die in order to save the symbiont," she said, colder than she intended.

They were joined by Felix and Stuart, Felix immediately taking command of the situation. "If you will excuse me", Felix said to Drew, Mercy and T’Val, "But I have to take this call. Do notify me when you find him", he said as he turned to leave.

T'Val again looked to Drew as she felt Stuart draw her closer to him. He knew how she felt about Magellan, she hadn't made it a secret to him, and they both were extremely worried. "We need to go after him as soon as possible," she stated.

(drew)

When Felix re-emerged from the CMO's office a few minutes later, T'Val immediately noticed something was different about him. He had a somewhat confused look about him and there was an extra pip on his collar. "It seems congratulations are in order commodore," she stated matter-of-factly.

(felix)

[Deleted]

Drew rubbed his sore chin as he watched the events unfold before him. It was very clear to him now that something was seriously wrong with his old friend; there had been no hint of the Magellan Lin he had known all these years in the man he had been speaking to.

“Lily,” Drew said, trying to keep his voice clam, “what is the location of Admiral Lin?”

“I cannot tell you that,” Lily replied, her voice deadly serious.

Drew sighed heavily. Ever since she had merged with the Starbase’s computer systems over a year ago, Lily had been difficult to work with. Unlike a normal computer, she had formed personal relationships with many of the crew here on SBA, and was always reluctant to betray them.

“Lily, it is very important that we find him,” Drew said, “he is not well.”

This time Lily did not even bother to reply to him, giving Drew the very real sense that he was being ignored.

“Fine,” Drew said through clinched teeth, “Admiral Drew to Ops, go to Red Alert, I want security teams searching every inch of this base, tell them to find Admiral Lin and return him to sickbay, they can stun him if they have to.”

=/\= “Aye sir,” =/\= a voice Drew did not recognise replied, =/\= “we have a possible lock on the Admiral near the central computer core.” =/\=

“Beam us directly there,” Drew ordered, “full security detail to meet us.”

“Do you really think a full detail is needed Admiral?” T’Val asked, “It is Admiral Lin after all.”

“Whoever that is, it isn’t Admiral Lin, at least not anymore,” Drew replied, as the transporter beam claimed them all

Seconds later Drew, T’Val, Dr. Mercy and Felix re-materialised in the corridor leading to the computer core’s location, movements later, the security team also arrived.

“Let’s go,” Drew ordered, leading the way down to the entrance, “we need to stop him before he does something stupid.”

[Magellan Lin]

Magellan/Loran reappeared from the transporter beam not exactly where expected. Lily was supposed to have beamed him directly to his shuttle, instead she had used the shuttles transporter to beam him to the computer core. The escape algorthim must have been corrupted by all the poking around that had been done uncovering his election rigging.

Magellan/Lorans mind raced, she sort of knew the layout of the base, she had spent enough time delving in Magellans mind but she needed a new plan.

An Ensign passed them and an idea struck her.
"Err Ensign" she wasnt sure if Magellan knew him or not and so stuck to formalitys, "My Communiucations Unit is broken. Please take it to..." she paused "...to the Chief... and have him send me a new one."
The ensign nodded and accepted the badge.

Magellan/Loran quickly changed direction and varied her route making sharp turns and back tracking at several points. She found a weapons locker and extracted a phaser. She wasnt familiar with the weapon, but Magellans memories did. Next she found a turbolift and began to make her way to the shuttle core at the base of the station.

[Deleted]

By the time they entered the core area, Magellan was long gone. "Of course we need to stop him," T'Val said, rather curtly as she opened her medkit and retrieved a hypospray. With her free hand she slapped a vial containing a strong sedative into the holder, then snapped her medkit shut. "I may need it," she said defensively, nodding towards the phasers Drew and Co were holding. "I will not use a phaser, it will harm him more than it does him good. Of course, I would prefer us to be alive to treat him so if you do need to stun him, please do so with care. Remember he is very ill."

(Drew/Felix)

Her gaze locked with Mercy's, a strong emotion passing between the two of them. T'Val felt extremely odd right now, so close in his presence, yet she couldn't explain. Nor did she have time to dwell on it, they had a job to do. She watched Mercy too prepare a hypospray. ~how I wish for a stungun right now~ she thought wryly, seeing Mercy's eyebrows go up in surprise as he evidently caught her thought. ~to sedate him with~ she thought grimly ~never to hurt him~

She tapped her combadge. "Lily, where is Magellan now? And please do not respond with 'I cannot tell'. Look beyond your protocol. We are seeking to save Magellan, he is very ill. If we do not find him soon, he will die. Him and Lin both, do you want that on your conscience?"

Lily remained oddly silent, seemingly ignoring all of them. T'Val cast a pleading look towards Drew. "We must find him, you have influence as a flag admiral, and you outrank Admiral Loskene. You could order Lily."

(Drew)

"What if he finds a weapon? In his irrational state he might turn against us and everyone else who may get in his way. We must not make him fee cornered."

[Felix Savali]

"Ill or not, he is a too great security risk and precautions must be taken. He has already assaulted Admiral Drew and we are not going to take any chances in this happening again. Next time he could go too far and a dead body, ill or not, will mean removal for Starfleet permanently"; Felix said

After T'Val asked Drew if he can order Lily to reveal the location of the Admiral, Felix listened to their conversation about the matter. When they came to the part about him obtaining a weapon, Felix had an idea.

=/\=Lily, give me the log of access to weapons lockers on this deck in the last 10 minutes.=/\=

=/\=Weapons locker in section 56 has been accessed 4 minutes ago=/\=

"Well i believe this is our man", Felix said as he motioned for everyone to follow him

<Tag All>

[Deleted]

For one of the few times in his career, Paul Drew honestly did not know what to do next. He had hoped it would be simple to find and stop Magellan, before things got too far out of hand. But now the chances of that happening seemed slim. Magellan was one of his oldest and dearest friends, and it pained Drew to think that he would have to remove his old friend from his position. As much as Drew hated to admit it, Felix and T’Val were both right, Magellan had become a danger, not only to himself, but to others as well, Drew had experienced that personally.

With a deep inward sigh, Drew tapped his communication badge.

“Lily, access the Fleet emergency code database,” Drew could hear the harshness in his voice as he spoke, “transfer all command codes for Starbase Assailant to myself, authorisation Drew Pi Alpha Tango Six.”

For a few moments his order was meant only be silence, and Drew feared that Lily would continue to ignore him. She had never been one to follow Starfleet protocol when it did not suit her needs. Without her help though, it would be nearly impossible to stop Magellan. Finally, and unexpectedly, Lily spoke:

“Acknowledged,” she said in a cold voice, her disapproval evident from her formal tone, “command codes are now transferred to Vice Admiral Paul Drew.”

Saying a silent prayer to the gods of space, Drew turned back round to face T’Val and Felix. In their eyes, he could see the same pain and worry. All of them considered Magellan to be a friend, and although this was for his own good, none could deny that it felt like a betrayal.

Drew tried to listen as Felix spoke to Lily, but his mind kept wondering. He was remembering the first time he had met Magellan, both of them had been newly promoted Captain’s their whole futures still ahead of them. They had struck up a friendship almost instantly, and although the years that had followed had sometimes been bumpy, there friendship had always been one of the constants. Now it seemed that, that constant in his life may be lost. Unless they were able find a way to help Magellan.

“Well, I believe this is our man,” Felix said, having finished his conversation with Lily.

Drew looked at him blank; he had completely missed what Lily had say, thankfully, it was clear Felix had been paying attention.

“Lead the way then Commodore,” Drew said, holstering his phaser.

Together, the four officers, plus the security detail, hurried towards the nearest turbolift, with the guards already barking orders over the communication system for backup to meet up them near section 56.

Reaching the turbolift, Drew tried to hide his shortness of breath; it had been many years since he had to rush about so much. He smiled to himself as he pictured S’reena reprimanding him for acting as if he was still a young man.
The journey in the turbolift seemed to Drew to take hours, he knew only seconds had really missed, but has had been evidenced seconds were all Magellan needed.

When the doors whisked open, they were greeted by a security lieutenant, armed with a phaser rifle.

“We have searched the entire deck sirs,” he said in a husky voice, “there is no sign of the escapee.”

Drew hit the wall in frustration, no one knew this station better than Magellan, if he did not want to them to find him, then they would never be able to.

“Any signs that he beamed to another location?” Drew asked.

“No Admiral,” the lieutenant replied, “although it is possible he is blocking our sensor readings.”

Drew nodded his head in understanding, Magellan knew every trick in the book, but then, so did Drew. Thinking carefully, Drew considered what he would do if he was in Magellan’s situation, transporting around the station had caused everyone to rush from location to location, allowing Magellan to easily confuse everyone. If it was Drew, he would lead his pursers on a pointless chase, buying himself the time he needed to escape. And there was only one way to escape.

“Drew to Ops,” Drew called, hitting his comm badge urgently, “run an inventory check on all our shuttlecraft.”

“Admiral, no shuttlecraft has left the station,” an impatient sounding officer replied.

“Run the check,” Drew ordered, irritation creeping into his voice.

“This… This isn’t possible,” the officer replied in disbelief, “we are down one shuttle, but we have everything on shut down, the doors are locked!”

“You will be amazed what a crazed Admiral can do,” Drew answered, closing the channel.

“Felix,” Drew called as he stepped back into the turbolift, “I want you to take out the Copenhagen, start a full search of the sector, Dr. Mercy go with him.”

“Aye Admiral,” Felix and Dr. Mercy replied, as both turned and headed down the corridor in the opposite direction.

“Healer T’Val, we are going to Ops,” Drew said, stepping back to allow the Vulcan to enter the turbolift, “we need to get the entire fleet searching for our missing Admiral.”

As the turbolift doors closed, Drew completed his sentence silently to himself “before its too late…”

[Felix Savali]

"Well doctor", Felix said, "Looks like we will be enjoying each others company for a while longer"; he said

=/\=Savali to transporter room 23=/\=

=/\=Transporter room 23 here, go ahead=/\=

=/\=2 to transport to the Copenhagen, authorization Savali omega 4=/\=

Moments later, Felix and Stuart were engulfed by the transporter beam and moments after reappeared on the bridge of the Copenhagen which was already fully staffed. When the security alert was raised all the ships assigned to the station immediately get crewed just in case they need to defend the base.

"Helm, starts undocking procedures", Felix said

"Aye, sir"; the navigations officer replied as he began entering the commands in his console

=/\=Savali to OPS, the Copenhagen is ready to depart=/\=

=/\=Understood, opening docking bay doors, good luck Commodore=/\=, the reply came

As the channel was closed the docking bay doors opened and the Copenhagen exited into space.

"Plot a course which will enable us the scan the sector in the least possible amount of time. Engage", Felix said

"Aye, sir", help responded as the navigations officer plotted a course and engaged at half impulse

Felix turned now to doctor Mercy who was standing next to him.

"How long can the admiral keep going in his current condition?", Felix asked Mercy

<Tag Mercy>

[Magellan Lin]

The Copenhagen was perhaps the fastest ship currently docked at Assailant and once at warp started to make huge gains on Magellans shuttle.

The Admiral had taken the shuttle he had been given as a gift by Ambassador Qarek nearly 3 years ago. To say that it was a standard starfleet issue shuttle would be totally wrong, Qareks taste in gifts was as eclectic as his attire and his eye for ever on the budget. Nothing was cheaper in the late 2380's and early 90's than old Cardassian war surplus, and so it had been that his gift to Magellan had been an old Hideki Class Fighter. Its systems had been upgraded and some of its weapons removed to make way for a small cabin and galley. It was fast and manourveable and as the Copenhagen swooped down upon it was just entering the Betreka Nebula.

"Close distance" Felix ordered as they too entered the swirling purple mists. Sensors immediatly lost their range and shield dipped to 75%, "He'll try and lose us in the denser pockets"
The helmsman, A vulcan increased to 3/4 impulse and they watched as the sickle like yellow ship loomed closer on the viewscreen. Unexpectedly the craft before them wheeled tightly, turning a full 180 degrees and returning towards the Copenhagen.

Felix looked at Mercy who stood at his side at the front of the bridge, he could offer nothing but a shrug, both doubted Magellan was giving himself up. Suddenly a realisation struck Felix,
"Did anyone change the command codes? The codes..." he demanded, "Were they changed?"
The bridge crew looked from one to another and slowly and cautiously shook their heads,
"HELM break off" Felix shouted, "Keep our distance, keep us out of transmission range, in this nebula he'd need to be close."
"Shuttles firing" came a warning
The bridge rocked slightly,
"Shields down to 60% percent"
"Keep the distance and change those codes, if he gets close enough he can switch off our shields even vent our atmosphere"
Officers on the bridge frantically carried out the orders.

Felix crossed to the tactical station,
"Here target phasers on his aft shields, wear them down and then sever this conduit, it will overload his impulse system."
The tac. chief nodded,
"Hes coming about again... but stopped."

Felix looked up to see the fighter stationary in space,
"Is he disabled?"
"I havent fired yet?" the tac chief replied,
"Scan it."
Tac.Chief Sumati ran his fingers over the console and looked round, his engines are completely offline, I m picking up a strange energy build up"
"Where?" Felix asked,
"Forward weapons pod"
"Back us off back us off"Felix ordered, "hes tied main power into his disruptor, it could damn well blow his pod off but it ll have enough juice to..."
The bridge rocked violently as a vibrant beam of yellow light leapt from the fighter. Red lights began to blink on the consoles and a small amount of smoke wafted into the air.
"Report!" Felix demanded loudly,
"Shields are down, but hes blown his weapons pod"
"Okay target him and disable, before he re routes back to engines."
"sir hes initiated transporter beam"
"Hes coming aboard!" Mercy exclaimed,
Felix ran to tactical,
"Where?"
"Err Engineering"
Felix tapped his badge,
=^=Security to Engineering. Doctor get down there, incapacitate him...=^=
He was interrupted by a second comm call.
=^=Bridge this is Engineering we have a problem...KABBBBOOOOMMM...=^=
The lights went out and then came up dimly on auxillary power.
=^=Engineering Report...Report...REPORT!!"
There was silence and then a timid choked voice,
=^=This is Alari, it wasnt Magellan, he beamed aboard a phaser on overload. We evacuated in time, no injurys.=^=
=^=Damage?=^=
=^=Warp cores fine, too well shielded but we've lost the master control station and main powers down.=^=
Felix cursed under his breath and went to the command chair,
"So were defenceless, options?"
"No need sir, hes gone" Sumati reported, "As when power came back up he'd gone to impulse, we ve lost him sir."
Felix sighed,
"Very well, give Alari the help he needs and then get us back to Assailant, or at the least out of this nebula so we can hail them."

***

There seemed an unusually high level of security as the Pride of Manev docked. The usual mix of traders, visitors and starfleet personnel exited through the airlock and into the stations security and customs area.

Admiral Paul Drew stood in Main Ops hovering over the Master Operations Desk. Rear Admiral Loskene now stood beside him hands clasped behind his back.
"The Copenhagen will catch him."
Drew nodded quietly, perhaps perhaps not. As a young ensign on the Victory although essentially a man ill at ease with himself and his symbiont Magellan had always been resourceful.
"Any word yet" asked Zoilip as he entered ops, the Bolian had served with Magellan since the Victory and was greatly annoyed that he hadnt been allowed to go with Savali aboard the Copenhagen.
"No." F'rrass replied in his usual despondant tone.
"Excuse me...errm I was told I was needed here"
They turned to see a woman with shoulder length blond hair in some kind of simple blue and grey uniform.
"And you are?" Drew asked,
"Guardian Laurana Regarn. Dr Mercy asked me here to help heal Magellan. where is he, I expected him to be in the hospital but a nurse told me I best come up here"
"Laurana" zoilip greeted, "I m afraid hes gone, fled."
"I must see his readings imediatly"
"Here" Drew offered opening up a console and calling up Dr Mercys notes,
"Incoming message from the Copenhagen" F'Rass noted holding a finger to his earpiece, he looked round in shock, "They ve lost him"
"Damn" Drew cursed slamming a fist on the desk,
"Oh my" Laurana exclaimed, "We need to find him, NOW. If these readings are right he is in a critcal state, Dr Mercy is correct unless I can get to him, both host and symbiont will die and die soon..."

ET FIN

OCC: Okay this wraps up this mission and opens up the way for the next mission. Magellan, Drew and Mercy will be going to the Jefferson who will be desptached by Drew to track down Magellan. The rest of us/you will sim with Ezdreiana and her plot.