"Storming The Castle" - Part 7
Posted on 241409.16 @ 6:09am by Commodore Sebastian Ascari
Mission:
Insurrection [Fleet Plot]
Location: Various locations
Timeline: Backlog
=== Communications Core – Station Epsilon-12 ===
Akina took a seat at one of the many computer terminals that ringed the circular room of the station’s heavily protected communications core. The image of the USS Agincourt was displayed above him on one of a dozen displays that fed information into the control room.
“They are hailing again sir.”
“Did we seal the doors? The core is mostly impervious to attack.”
“Doors secure. They aren’t getting in here easily sir. We have power and supplies to last…quite some time.”
Akina nodded. “We’ll I suppose being trapped in a luxurious prison is preferable to a penal colony or a firing squad. Let’s see where this goes.”
Adjusting the collar of his uniform, Akina opened a channel to the Agincourt.
“USS Agincourt, this is Station Epsilon-12.”
The image of the ship’s captain filled the tiny screen before Akina.
“This is Captain Julius Vertima of the USS Agincourt. Who is this? Where is Captain Medax?”
“I’m Commander Tandberg. Captain Medax is overseeing repairs to the station’s power systems. We had several plasma coils fail which caused a cascade disruption to various systems.”
“Is that the reason communications in this area have been disrupted? We lost contact with Starfleet earlier.”
“Affirmative sir. The power loss affected our transceiver array.”
“Tandberg eh? Where is Commander Strahl? The commander fills in for Medax. I don’t recognize you.”
“Strahl? The commander is coordinating repair efforts with the captain. I’m somewhat new here.”
“What’s your full name and service number?”
“Commander Richard Tandberg. Service Number 2113456A-00145.” Akina rattled off one of his many fictitious aliases for occasions just such as these.
“It says here you are currently unassigned commander.”
“Like I said captain, I’m fairly new here. Perhaps there’s been a delay in paperwork? With all the turmoil as of late perhaps my transfer orders haven’t yet been fully processed. I certainly wasn’t aware of any issues.”
“I’ll overlook the issue for now. I’d like to speak with Captain Medax. He transmitted an inquiry earlier and I have an answer. When we lost communications I decided to check in.”
“The captain wanted me to apologize for the inconvenience. He also left me with instructions. Is this regarding the gaseous cloud at coordinates 114 by 219?”
Vertima nodded. “We do not have any record of any anomalies in that area. His message indicated a supply freighter experienced some sort of interference. We were just in that area a week ago. Other than a few atoms of hydrogen there isn’t anything at those coordinates except empty space.”
“I see. I’ll inform the captain when his schedule permits.”
“Commander Tandberg. I want to speak with Captain Medax now.”
“Sir, as I said he and the first officer are…”
“I am not interested in your excuses commander. I want to speak with Medax immediately.”
“It could take some time sir. He’s been quite involved with coordinating repairs.”
“I’ll standby.”
Akina nodded. “Very well. I’ll have someone send for him. Standby Agincourt.” Akina cut the channel and sighed. They had about five minutes before the Agincourt began beaming over boarding parties.
“Well that went better than I imagined. A few fake identities in Starfleet personnel records go a long way huh”, Akina stated turning to face his security team. “Well in any event we’ve bought ourselves a few more minutes.”
The console flashed indicating an incoming message. Akina turned and activated the channel seeing it was from the Corsair.
“Ramius? They might pick up this transmission!”
Ramius stood from the command chair on the bridge. “That can’t be helped. In any event this charade is nearly at an end. We’ve been monitoring communications.”
“Can you get us out of here”, Akina asked.
“The transporters are nearly repaired, but we have to get in close to beam you back through that much solid rock. That will put us too close to the Agincourt.”
“Then your only option is to retreat sir. Save the Corsair. We can hold out here in the core for several weeks. It will take them days to cut their way in here and we won’t make it easy for them to pull us out.”
“I don’t doubt that for a moment Captain, however, the Corsair does not run from adversity nor does she leave her crew behind.”
“Ramius…you mustn’t”, Akina shouted over the channel as he fought back a pang of sentiment. “Too much depends on the Corsair to be reckless now. This mission was a gamble. We didn’t have the cards…”
“As I told the director…we are not beaten yet. Stand ready Captain”, Ramius stated firmly. “Unless you would prefer to surrender?”
“Not a chance. We will wait for your signal. Good luck Captain Ramius.” Akina cut the channel with a heavy heart knowing that the Corsair and her crew would be put in danger to save a handful of individuals. He couldn’t decide if he was angry or remorseful or both. None of them however had time to ponder such things.
“Get your gear”, Akina stated to his team. "And find the engineers! Ramius is going to attempt a jailbreak and we must do everything we can here to ensure his success!”
================================
Captain Sebastian Ascari
Director, Starfleet Intelligence (Deposed)
Captain Taverain Ramius
CO, USS Corsair
Admiral James Valtren
Starfleet Intelligence
Captain Zane Akina
Starfleet Intelligence
Commander Sai Kusinagi
Chief Engineer, USS Corsair
(Various NPCs)
