"We've Got Hostiles" Part 2
Posted on Wed Mar 19th, 2025 @ 3:28am by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen & Lieutenant Mark Valleroy & Captain Natalya Markova & Lieutenant JG Raven Windancer & Lieutenant JG Rala & Lieutenant JG Kally Kellerman & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jadizon Enor & Lieutenant JG Katie Kellerman & Lieutenant JG T'Pinga & Petty Officer 1st Class Kael Draven & Petty Officer 2nd Class Sakura Tanikawa
Mission: Doing What We Do Best
Cargo Bay 8
Espersen barked orders as he walked into the cargo bay, seeing the satellite on their empty deck. “Kellerman, get into this thing’s computer system. Tanikawa, I want to know about what kind of signals it puts out. How was it hiding the pirate ships, precisely? Let’s see what chaos we can bring our enemies, shall we?”
Katie had had just enough time before Espersen arrived to run into the Cargo Bay and acknowledge the machine in front of her. She gave a quick, "aye, aye, Sir!" before hurrying over and dropping to her knees, putting her tool kit beside her and flipping it open. She grabbed a tricorder, scanning the satellite quickly, crawling around it.
She found a hatch near the bottom and grabbed a magnetic decoupler, detaching the cover plate and exposing the access circuitry inside. She grabbed her diagnostic padd and plugged in a cord, then connected the other end to the satellite. She tried accessing its coding, but was met with a flurry of security protocols and firewalls. "Okay...its defenses are up," she said after a moment. "Time to go to war." She started typing quickly, sitting cross-legged on the deck, focused on her tablet.
Sakura had a tricorder with an external sensor attachment paired to it, going over anything and everything the satellite emanated.
The XO mused as he examined his own tricorder readings. "So a network of these are placed around a ship, or some other target. They emit a cloaking field. The perfect hiding spot."
"Why satellites though?" Sakura asked as she continued her scans. "Why not just have a cloaking device on board the ships? Oh, isolating their comm signal, won't be much longer."
"This isn't Romulan or Klingon tech," Alexander observed. "Romulan cloaking devices are so small, a single human can carry it. Klingon ones need two. This one fills a room and it's just a part of it. This also frees the ship to direct power and space to weapons and shields. And...."
"And can surround and cloak us from everything around us like a smokescreen," Katie said, bent over her tablet. "It's not about cloaking them it's about cloaking what they want to cloak. Themselves, a ship, a planet, a target. These guys like hiding things. The level of paranoia in this code is both impressive and horrifying. I can't even access the trash data without security screens. I'm trying to work around it, but it's like boxing a Terellian. I've gotten a bunch of the booby traps stopped, but cracking in is going to take a bit more time."
"Commander, picking up the carrier signal these are transmitting," Sakura reported. "Can't tell what they're signaling yet, but I've isolated the network. Once the computer is hacked, we'll have control over all of them."
"Thank you, Ms. Tanikawa," Alexander answered. "Ms. Kellerman, the bridge, plus Markova and Valleroy, will buy us the time you need. Do it right." His tone was encouraging, not sharp as it so often was.
Deck 8, Computer Core - Armory
Enor sprinted down Deck 8, weaving through the ship’s corridors with practiced urgency. Kael, moving at a steady but purposeful pace, was already on his way when Enor rounded a corner and nearly bumped into him. With a mischievous smirk, Kael quipped, “Where you headed, Chief?”
“Bridge,” Enor replied without missing a beat. “Need a sitrep.”
Kael’s grin widened, his eyes dancing with both amusement and determination. As they moved together past the Armory—where a crewman was busy distributing phaser rifles to security personnel gearing up for a boarding operation—Kael couldn’t resist a teasing remark. “You know, Chief, I usually run into you just to remind you to ease up, but today I’ll let it slide.”
Enor slowed as they approached an officer. “Status?”
The officer replied, “Lieutenant Valleroy’s leading a team to secure a target on a compromised vessel. They’re about to board.”
Enor’s expression grew serious. “Kael, let’s gear up. I’ll grab a handheld and a tricorder.”
With a playful glint in his eye, Kael reached for a phaser rifle but, after a moment’s mock hesitation, passed it to Enor. “You sure you don’t need the whole kit? I’m pretty sure you can’t lose that tricorder even if you tried.” His tone mixed humor with genuine readiness.
Enor chuckled, shaking his head. “Phaser rifle’s too much. Just need the basics.”
They quickly gathered their gear and headed for the turbolift. As the doors slid open, they exchanged a brief, determined look—no words needed. Even amid the tension, Kael’s easy confidence and lighthearted banter kept the mood balanced.
Stepping into Transporter Room 1, they found Lieutenant Valleroy deep in briefing the away team. Enor approached directly, “Lieutenant, permission for PO Draven and me to join the away team. We can offer additional support.”
"Permission granted," Mark said. "And good timing. We were just about to leave."
Kael flashed one last playful grin at Enor before following, ready to face the mission ahead with the blend of precision and humor that had become his trademark.
With a simple nod from Lieutenant Valleroy, Enor took that as confirmation and stepped forward, leading the away team toward the transporter padd. His pace was deliberate—steady but without hesitation. This was a job, just like any other.
Draven, of course, wasn’t one to let the moment pass without a quip. Adjusting his rifle strap, he smirked. “So, Chief, do we get hazard pay for this, or just a pat on the back and a replicator chit for a lukewarm cup of coffee?”
Enor didn’t break stride as he stepped up onto the transporter pad. “You get the satisfaction of being part of something greater than yourself.” He paused for a beat, then added, “And the coffee’s only lukewarm if you’re too slow getting to it.”
Draven gave a dramatic sigh. “Starfleet really knows how to keep morale up.”
The rest of the team took their positions. With the transporter chief calling out readiness, Enor gave a final nod. “Weapons on stun unless otherwise ordered. Stay sharp.”
The familiar hum of the transporter filled the air, and in the next moment, the world around them dissolved into shimmering light.
Chimera Bridge
Calypso watched the screen and evaluated the entire scene. One of the three warships in front of them was literally going to pieces, power flickering off and on in the three distinct pieces. The wreckage of the Dashian freighter was stuck into another of the ship which was no longer firing weapons at Chimera and she was sure that the Marines running amok inside had something to do with that.
Then was the third warship, a pair of holes made by the torpedoes venting atmosphere into the void, but sporadic weapons fire still impacted her shields. "Chimera, awaiting your call. But sooner would be better." Jadizon's voice came over the comm.
Calypso turned to the ensign at the tactical station and made a motion, pointing at the voice from the comms, "Get reinforcements to him, fast."
She then hit the comm herself, "Chief, if you can't push through, fall back. Sending another team over behind where you were. What's your evaluation of taking the ship?" Cally's voice was rather flat. If she needed to, she'd pull all the security officers off that ship and blow it away as well. She wasn't about to risk HER crew's lives.
Pirate ship #3
At first, the boarding had been...well, "uneventful" perhaps wouldn't have been the best word to describe it, but initially there seemed to be no resistance to the away team being on the ship. In fact, there had almost seemed like there was no acknowledgement at all of their presence. Tricorder scans indicated other lifesigns on board, but there seemed to be no one else around.
"Jeez, is the ship automated or something?" Crewman Peterson muttered as the the team headed in the direction of what initial scans had indicated was likely the ship's bridge.
"As we're detecting other lifesigns," Mark said, "it's unlikely it's completely automated. Keep your eyes open. We know nothing about these people or their tactics."
A couple of minutes later was when the proverbial crap hit the fan. There was weapons discharge coming from down the corridor, and while the away team was quick to duck for cover, a grunt and thud from behind Mark said that they weren't quite quick enough. Mark quickly got off a couple of shots, as did others, but there was also no small amount of fire coming from the same direction as the original shots.
Mark heard Jadizon giving a report to the Chimera as he prepared a couple of stun grenades. Signaling to Peterson and another crewman to lay down cover fire, he tossed the grenades down the corridor. A moment later they went off, and Mark heard several thuds. He also heard the Captain Skye asking for a status report.
"Chimera, Valleroy here," he said, tapping his own comm badge. "Chances are good for taking the ship, but will need reinforcements. And tell sickbay to stand by for incoming wounded."
"Reinforcements are on the way, Mark," She'd just gotten off the comm from Chief Enor, so her voice was still in the same sing-song voice she'd used with him, "Recommend you link up with the Chief and stay away from the aft of the ship. Fire support incoming, well away from you."
Bridge
She'd left the comm open for her own reasons, looking towards the main screen, but Calypso knew what she was doing, "Raven, get us a good angle on Target Three's rear end. Rala, I want a scan on that ship right now, get me a targeting fix on their engines and power plant. Let Tactical know when you're ready." The sputter of shots from Target One, the one that the Marines were assaulting had ceased, "And prepare for requests from Target One regarding possible prisoners."
"Aye, Aye, Captain..." Raven muttered some choice words under her breath at the state of affairs on the other ship.
She glanced over to the woman in the seat next to her, "You know, Kally, you're going to have incoming casualties from Target Three, are we ready for them?"
Kally had already jumped out of her seat and was running to the nearest turbolift. "Been ready, Ma'am!" she said as she jumped into the lift. "Sickbay!" she said as the doors closed.
Rala acknowledged the order and set Chimera’s sensors to focus on finding strong, localized power signatures, and filtering out weapons and anything else other than what she was looking for. A few seconds later, she was forwarding the info for four precise locations on the hostile ship to the Tactical station, calling out “Here’s your targets!”
"Ok you Shlakazoids! You wanna play rough, I'll play rough with you!" Raven hissed, her fingers racing across the Holokeys.
**********
““INTRUDER ALERT! BOARDING PARTIES ARE ON THE CHIMERA!...... Draven to Bridge! Captain, the enemy hijacked Transporter Room 1—we have boarding parties on the Chimera!”
Red alert klaxons blared as the ship reacted to the security breach.
"SHOOT A BRICK!" Raven swore, adding a few choice curses she'd learned on the circuit.
The red flashes caused Calypso to wince and stifle a groan. She'd banked on being able to send her people to the other ships to take prisoners, given the general lack of transporter technology in the region, and now that most of her people were on the other ships? But there was still one hole card.
She keyed a particular comm code into her chair, "Lady Cass, I'm afraid I find myself in need of your assistance. Can I ask you to go to Transporter Room One and take care of an issue we have there?"
There was a hesitation from the other side of the line, then a heavy sigh, "It will be done, Dread Lady. On my honor." The line clicked off.
Calypso looked around the bridge and gestured to Rala, "Rala, get in touch with Lieutenant Valleroy and bring him and his people back to Chimera as soon as practical. I screwed up."
"Wha...she...that...ok, now I'm just scared," Raven shivered at the scary tone in the Captain's voice.
“Aye, sir,” Rala said, already opening a commlink to the Lieutenant's badge. “Rala to Valleroy," she said, speaking rapidly. "Captain wants you lot back here as soon as practical; we’ve been boarded.”
"Acknowledged," came the response a moment later. "We're about as close together as we can get. Initiate transport ASAP."
Rala accessed the transporter system and internal sensors, targeting Valleroy’s away team with the former and using the latter to find a good, clear spot near Transporter Room 1 to drop them with a site-to-site transport. As she worked, she said through the comm, “Intruders in Transporter Room 1; I’m dropping you nearby. Note, the Captain requested assistance from Cass'e'Indria, so expect her to show up. Stand by...energizing.” She slid her fingers up the transporter controls, then back down. “Away team back on board, Captain.”
“Thank you.” Calypso kept her voice even, but a hint of frost permeated it, the dispassion at odds with her normal personality, “Engage and destroy Target Three, then bring us about.” She tapped a comm button, “Alex, what’s the news on the probe? Nat, status report on Target One?”
""Authentication Whiskey-Zulu-Tango. Organised resistance over. We have Engineering, and the Bridge." Nat's voice came in clear, and calm.
To Be Continued...
