"Storming The Castle" - Part 4

Posted on 241409.13 @ 8:21am by Commodore Sebastian Ascari

Mission: Insurrection [Fleet Plot]
Location: Communications Station - Epsilon-12
Timeline: Backlog

== MSV Echo, Starfleet Supply Ship, Bridge ==

“Docking cycle complete. Engines and thrusters at station keeping. Docking clamps engaged. We’re on standby to transfer to station power.”

“Hold off”, Captain Akina stated. “Chief, I need some good news!”

“We’re ready down here sir. The Corsair should be in position. Communications are aligned. Just make sure someone up there keeps an eye on the transfer circuits. We lose even one and this is going to get complicated.”

“We’ll watch them. What do we do if we lose one?”

“Pray”, came the ominous response.

“Alright, standby chief. We’re initiating sensor scans.”

Akina turned to the operations officer on the cramped bridge. “Begin scanning now. All life forms. Full intensity.”

Several moments passed. “Got it sir. Scans completed. 42 life signs registered out of 55 recorded in Admiral Valtren’s data.”

“The others are secured in the station’s core. It’s protected from electromagnetic interference. We anticipated that. Let’s do this. Initiate Operation Cleansweep.”

“Cleansweep confirmed sir. Initiating program.”

Akina watched as the lighting on the bridge suddenly dimmed. Computer consoles flickered. Life support systems shutdown, fans whirred to a stop; humming, beeping faded away into silence. Pale emergency lighting flickered to life bathing the tiny bridge in amber light.

“Transfer circuits exceeding thermal limits”, the operations officer stated. “Increasing supplemental cooling.”

Akina stood and moved to the operations computers. He leaned over the shoulder of the OPS officer watching the various readouts on the improvised transfer circuits that the chief engineer had quickly installed and cannibalized from other systems.

“Cleansweep complete”, the operations officer quietly stated. “Power levels returning to normal.”

Akina let out a loud breath in the near silence of the bridge. “Did we get them all? Did we get them all safely?”

“Affirmative. Forty two life signs are alive and well in Cargo hold three!”

“Message from the Corsair sir.”

“Let’s have it.”

“Did you get them all Akina”, Ramius asked intently from the bridge of the Corsair.

“Forty two. The others are in the station core.”

“We have to move quickly. Deploy your team. The transporter relay the chief rigged up knocked out the transporters. Repairs are underway, but you’re on your own for the moment captain.”

“Using the Corsair’s transporters, amplifying the signal, and relaying it back here to beam 42 people to the Corsair and back instantaneously was brilliant. I’m still in shock it worked.”

“We lost several EPS taps and burned out the transporters so it was only partially brilliant. Thank the chief for me anyway. We’re moving to point bravo and will standby there.”

“Just get those transporters repaired Ramius. If things go sour in here I would like to vacate the premises sooner rather than later.”

“Good luck Captain. Ramius out.”

The channel closed as Akina stripped off his freighter captain uniform having little need for it now. “Delta Team, are you ready?”

“Ready and waiting boss.”

“I’m on my way. Jensen, tricorders out set to scan for any lifeforms we may have missed. Phaser check. Everyone set to heavy stun. We have to avoid tripping alarms. We have some time before anyone on the inside decides to check on those on the outside, but let’s not take chances. We aren’t sure of shift schedules and rotations nor can we account for random chance.”

Akina made his way off the bridge to join his boarding parties. “Chief are you joining us? Everything secure?”

“We won’t be flying this freighter out of here. Using her as a transfer conduit for a hyper-compressed transporter matter stream burned out half the ship’s power systems and drained half its fuel reserves. There’s thermal damage to the warp core. If we have to leave in a hurry in this bucket, half impulse is the best you’ll get and I can’t guarantee that.”

“What about our guests? Are they safe?”

“They’re fine. There’s a week of food and medical supplies in the cargo hold. We rigged an explosive charge on the dock locks. If we have to bug out early, the explosives will take care of the locks and our prisoners will walk free in 24 hours. As for joining this insanity…I wouldn’t miss it. Someone has to keep you grunts in line.”

Akina chuckled. The chief was never shy when stating his mind or his opinions.

“Two minutes. Meet us at Airlock 2.”



=== Five Minutes Later – Deep Within The Epsilon-12 Communications Station ===



“Clear”, Akina whispered as his team moved behind him with mechanical precision. Clad in black intelligence issue infiltration suits, the elite team of professionals silently moved down the hallways of the now empty facility toward their objective; the station’s communication’s core.

“Area clear and secure.”

Akina nodded as the team proceeded down the narrow hallway that had been hewn out of solid rock. The core wasn’t far as he checked his tricorder and its internal schematic of the facility. They were approaching the center of the asteroid.

Akina stopped as the rock gently faded away replaced by steel and tritanium plating. The hallway narrowed further stopping abruptly at a wall of steel. Akina had his team fan out as they pressed themselves against the rock of the walls phasers at the ready.

“What do you think Chief? The Admiral’s intelligence doesn’t cover all the security measures. We have the original schematics and plans, but those are several years old. There have likely been changes.”

“It’s not unguarded”, came the engineer’s answer. “This tunnel is for maintenance and technical personnel, but even so you can bet that metal floor and walls are lined with sensors. We aren’t walking through there without someone on the inside noticing.”

“What’s the play”, Akina asked. “If we can’t get to the core…”

“We bring the core to us”, Kusinagi answered. “Brighton, come in.”

“Brighton here sir.”

The team had just briefly checked the station’s operations center. Kusinagi however had left three of his best engineers in OPS to have a look at the station’s systems.

“Status?”

“Alorr just gained access to the computers via Starfleet override codes. Full station command and control should be available in about 30 seconds. I even have a channel patched back to the Corsair for you sir. They’re on standby if needed.”

“Excellent work. Standby.”

“Captain the communications cores of these type of installations are completely self-sufficient. They generate their own power and have their own supplies, food, air, water, and computers. They are designed to resist a siege of any type long enough for the crew inside to initiate protocols to erase and destroy all equipment that an outside enemy would want to obtain such as communications, logs, and most importantly the security, encryption, and cypher systems used to protect communications. If an enemy were to obtain such systems they could decode most Starfleet and Federation communications which is why these facilities are designed to be impervious to outside attack – at least long enough for the internal crew inside to destroy anything of value to an attacker.”

“How do we get in there chief?”

“This installation has a possible weakness. The asteroid field outside provides natural defense from frontal attacks, but they also built the transceivers this facility uses into the various rocks around us. There’s a hundred or more of them out there all sending and receiving subspace data. That’s the flaw. It’s a system that’s not inside the core and one they have to rely upon others on the outside to manage and maintain.

This is a remote facility. It’s well within Federation borders. It’s never under enemy threat. We have to hope their discipline is lax and their security procedures aren’t quite ironclad given their isolation and lack of oversight. We can exacerbate any deficiencies by quietly attacking the transceiver array. Shutdown, disable, or damage enough of them and I’ll bet we can coax one or two people out of that fortress if only for a moment. They’ll emerge to determine the cause since the possibility of an attack from the inside by their own people is almost impossible. Our Trojan Horse ruse worked. We made it inside. We have to determine how to exploit a few seconds of opportunity. That’s all we’ll have sir. A moment or two is all we will get with a good dose of luck before our ruse crumbles and they button up and execute their destruction directives.”

Akina nodded. How do we get down that hallway and evade those sensors once the doors open? We’re good, but we’re not that good.”

“Transporter.”

“Oh chief. Not again? Beaming through that freighter’s shields yesterday wasn’t quite the silky smooth experience the transporter chief promised. I think I’m still queasy from that ride.”

“It’s the only way to get you down the hallway and through the door without setting off the alarm. Once they crack that door, we…rather you…have a way inside.”

Akina looked down the wall at his team which also shared his trepidation for yet another clever transporter trick.

Akina sighed. “What do we need to do?”

“Brighton, Kusinagi. We going to need to direct a matter stream from the transporter there in OPS down one of three hallways. We’re going to need the equipment we left on the freighter for Cleansweep and a lot of cable. Contact the Corsair and find out if their transporters are repaired. If not we’ll have to replicate what we need or strip it out of that old rust bucket ourselves. I’ll be along shortly.”

“How long is this going to take”, Akina asked. We don’t know how much time we have given we have no idea of the security protocols in use. We might have hours. We might have minutes.”

“Then we had best get to work now shouldn’t we”, the chief answered vaguely with a smile. “Your team can assist with assembling and obtaining the equipment we will need. I need at least an hour Akina.”

The captain grit his teeth at the answer. “My team can help to speed the process.”

“I’m counting on it. Let’s head back to OPS. The bulk of the work will need to be performed there.”
Akina nodded as the team quietly fell out and retreated up the tunnel.

“How do we take out those transceivers Sai?”

“Carefully”, the chief replied. “We can’t be too hasty or they’ll get suspicious. We need to identify two or three that handle the most bandwidth and target those. A power loss or network disruption could work that might appear systemic. The Corsair could also jam the transceivers with some sort of energetic plasma, but we would have to make sure it didn’t appear artificial. I imagine the lot in the inside of that steel castle is a paranoid bunch. We have to be cautious.”

The chief suddenly chuckled as they rounded the turn back to station operations. “What’s so funny”, Akina asked.

“Nothing. Just blowing off some stress. I’ve already performed one miracle today, I just hope lady luck doesn’t take issue if I double dip.”

“Well I think all of us have had a few sips from that fountain today already. I don’t think she’ll mind.”

“Ironic that we’ve done in minutes what the Romulans and Cardassians have probably spent years planning and practicing to no avail. I have to say I rather fancy playing the rogue now and again.”

“Rogue? More like a scoundrel”, Akina answered. “We’re all dirty scoundrels working for Ramius and intelligence. I can assure you that he’s no saint as well you know. And intelligence isn’t especially devout or holy either. I’m afraid you’re in rather bad company Commander Kusinagi.”

“Well if you ever want to confess swing by my office in engineering and we can swap stories over a drink. I deal with bad every day. Only instead of fighting off shadowy assassins and clever adversaries all hell bent on ending your existence in frightful ways, I have to contend with machines that are every bit as diabolical as their human equivalent and every bit as lethal. The matter antimatter stream in the warp core? Knock the variance off by a whole decimal point…you’re looking at a core breach. Rupture a magnetic container on an antimatter pod…which is easier than you might think and you have an instant bomb staring back at you. The field coils on the warp drive…a tiny misalignment and BAM, the ship tears itself apart when it makes a warp jump. If you want to see bad company, visit engineering some time Captain. You’ll see more killers there than you ever have in a dark back alley. Though I must admit…I doubt my killers are nearly as good looking or attractive as yours are. So you have me there!”

Akina chuckled. “Well let’s keep the killer gremlins away until after this transporter ride. I don’t fancy dying as a stream of invisible particles.”

“Nothing to worry about Captain. Smooth as silk. My personal guarantee.”

“Do all engineers lie and exaggerate their skills and the scope of the problems they face?”

“Absolutely sir. How else can we perform miracles?”

“I don’t want to know”, the captain muttered. “Just get us into the heart of that fortress chief. Do that and I’ll buy you and your staff all the drinks they can handle and you can ply me with all the fish stories and lies you care to tell.”

“I’ll take you up on that captain”, the engineer stated as they entered the station’s operations center.

“Brighton, grab some tools. We have to tear apart that transporter and quickly”, Kusinagi shouted as he entered. “Akina, I need cable and lots of it. Lt. Alorr can give you specifications. Find a replicator and make as much as you can carry and quickly. The sooner we get this thing connected the sooner we can make our move. We’re under the gun here people so snap to it!”

Satisfied the Chief Engineer had things well in hand, Akina gathered his tactical team to locate station replicators and obtain supplies needed to construct the contraption that just might give them the edge they needed. As he headed off, Akina couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that everything was going too smoothly. Their plans had succeeded on every level. He had never seen any mission go completely to plan. Something inevitably reared its ugly head that was unanticipated and unexpected. He wondered what that “X” factor was….they only had so much luck. It couldn’t last forever.....

- To Be Continued –

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Captain Zane Akina
Starfleet Intelligence Operative
USS Corsair

Commander Sai Kusinagi
Chief Engineer, USS Corsair

Captain Taverain Ramius
CO, USS Corsair

Various NPCs