Making Contact

Posted on Thu Dec 23rd, 2021 @ 5:44am by Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Lieutenant JG Faith Vianelli & Captain Natalya Markova & Ensign Rene Rouen

Mission: The Dexic Negotiations
Location: Chimera Bridge

Jenna sent the request approval to transporter room one to bring up Lieutenant Wayne, punching in the request for a team to meet them there.

The Operations officer spoke into her console, "Lieutenant Vallery, what is your status?" Nothing but silence responded and her scan showed five of the six members of the team clustered unmoving in one small area, the other moving around. "Ma'am, I've got locks on all the commbadges, but it appears that all but one are all on top of each other... Literally. I don't think they're wearing them anymore."

"Mark the location of the commbadges but leave them for the moment," Faith replied quietly. "If they are still near their commbadges they may need them." She sighed, reaching up and pulling her hair back into a loose pony tail, securing it with a hair elastic from her wrist.

The duty Security officer looked up from where he'd been busy coordinating the ship's internal personnel assignments, "I've got teams heading to Engineering, Sickbay and the Science section, also stationing a pair of officers at the bridge lift." He was taking the initiative.

A few minutes passed as the reports came in from the shuttlebay and the results were horrifying. Five dead Starfleet personnel, including the Ambassador, several injured, with the surgery on the Captain going well as it stood, but then again, there were only a few survivors of the Dexician contingents. Both of the CEOs of the ruling corporations were dead, along with most of their delegations and security personnel, the rest were in sickbay being treated.

The Operations officer jerked upright as something flashed on his screen, "Lieutenant, ma'am, we're getting a comm from the planet. It's not one of our people, it's one of theirs."

"Bring it up on screen," Faith said, drawing in a deep breath.

The screen blinked into a grainy image of one of the Dexicians staring intently into the camera feed, bits of the image freezing and unfreezing as evidence that it was losing some of its integrity from being bounced through several different relays, "I am Xevar, the leader of the Dexic Freedom Alliance. I seek your commanding officer, Commander Calypso Skyie. I hold five of your officers, if you value their lives, I must speak with her."

The sharp tone of voice left Faith feeling unsettled. "Commander Skyie has been incapacitated due to an attack on our ship. I am Lieutenant Faith Vianelli. I am currently in command of this ship, you may speak to me."

"Then our brothers did have their day." Xevar made a complicated gesture, "Lieutenant Faith Vianelli, we demand that you take your ship and leave the Dexic system immediately. If you do so, right now, you will have your officers returned within thirty standard days. I won't ask you twice."

Faith shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry," she replied gently. "I cannot do that. I will not leave without my officers. I am more than willing to meet with you to negotiate for their safe return, but we will not be leaving without them."

"You seem to think this is a negotiation." Xevar glanced to the side and pointed at someone, "Bring one of them." His eyes came back to look back at Faith, reaching to his side and pulling a pistol out, even as the cameraman zoomed out a bit and a struggling Marine was brought into view, hands bound, and had his legs kicked out to drop him to his knees. "Leave the system. Now."

Natalya, who had been pacing the Bridge like a caged lion froze. She saw one of her Marines, and the immediate panic rose, her heart began to race, and her adrenaline kicked in. Fight or flight. She couldn't fight her way out of this. Not while she was on the damn ship. The Marine turned to face Faith. "We have to do as they ask."

"No." There was a tone of resolution in Faith's voice as she spoke. "They attacked our ship and killed our Captain. They have already proved that they are underhanded and gutless. If we leave now our people are as good as dead regardless." Her eyes remained fixed on the view screen as she spoke. "If you harm any member of this crew it will be taken as an act of aggression against the Federation and it will be responded to in kind. You're right. This is not a negotiation. You will return our people or you will suffer the consequences."

“I’m good with my gods, human.” Xevar said firmly, raising his pistol to point at the forehead of the marine, “Are you good with yours?” The trigger was effortlessly pulled and the marine’s head virtually exploded and the body was released to fall to the floor, “Your soldier was a good negotiator. He bought you one hour. If you value the lives of your other four people, you will leave Dexic. Do not attempt to rescue them, do not do anything foolish, just leave and you will get the rest of them back safely.” He made a gesture to someone off-screen and the screen flickered to black.

Behind Faith, there was a sob from Jenna, “Oh mah God… He… He killed him…”

Natalya's breathing slowed. Her mind cleared. She stared at Faith. "That man's blood is on your hands, Lieutenant. I hope you are able to sleep tonight. I am taking a shuttle, and an assault team, and getting our people off that fucking planet." Her voice was level, and resolved. It was not a boiling anger that consumed her now, it was a cold fury.

Faith was near oblivious to anything happening around her. She heard the words in some capacity, though if they registered in her mind there was no indication. Her eyes remained sightlessly fixed on the view screen in front of her. Though it was now blank, the last moments played on repeat in her mind as tears silently slid down her cheeks. She made no attempt to move, to speak, to acknowledge the situation or anyone on the bridge, she just remained frozen, wide eyed and staring at a scene only she could see.

The helmsman had turned in her chair, ,”Lieutenant, ma’am, Wh-what are we going to do?”

“We’ve got an hour.” Jenna fought back her tears, failing to stop them even as she tried to keep her voice under control, “What can we do, but leave?”

“If we go, who’ll protect the rest of them?” The Operations Ensign demanded from the engineer, “They’ll just kill the rest of them.”

Nat turned in a circle, looking around the Bridge. "I am leading an assault team down there. Anyone who wants in, call your relief, and meet me in the shuttle bay." With that, the Marine took a last look at the now blank screen. "Semper Fi, Marine. Semper fucking Fi." With that, she headed for the Turbolift, tapping her commbadge on the way. "Markova to Marine Ops. I want all Marines geared up and assembled in the shuttle bay." When the lift doors closed, and she was alone, the tears began to fall.

Sam stepped up next to Faith and lightly tapped her shoulder.. Oncee he had her attention he spoke quietly. "The man on the screen said they had five prisoners. Lieutenant Valleroy's team beamed down to the surface with six people though. It could be we still have an officer or crewman in play down there."

It took a solid minute for Faith to register what it was that Sam had said to her. She turned toward him, her pale face streaked with tears and gave a quick nod. "Identify the missing crew member and scan for their commbadge," she ordered. "It wasn't with the others. Delay the marines departure until we know what we're dealing with. If we have someone on our side down there we need to know before they go in guns blazing."

Sam turned to leave for the shuttle bay when a blinking light on the Mission Ops console caught his attention. He went to the unmanned station and brought up an encrypted burst transmission that had been sent from the surface. He looked to Faith and then Jenna. "Lieutenant Vianelli, Cadet Jade. Some thing here you both need to see."

Jenna looked up from her console and nodded, slowly moving over to the Mission Ops console, "Yes, Master Chief?"

"What is it?" Faith moved over to the mission ops console with Jenna.

Sam played the transmission. Rene's face came up on the monitor. "Chimera, Ensign Rouen here. The terrorist cell has taken the away team to this location. I am in a building about 150 meters away. I can't use standard communications. The terrorist may have the ability to detect and track active EM emissions near their base of operations. Had to spend this in a compressed burst transmission. Eight terrorists captured five members of the away team, but I can't be sure of how many are in the target building without an active tricorder scan. I will wait one hour after sending this before trying to get to the target building and performing a combat recce. Rouen out."

"Mah God... We've got another one down there. Ma'am," Jenna looked at Faith, "Ah think we need to get the Marines down there right away.."

Rene. It was Rene. He was safe. For the longest moment Faith did nothing but breath, silently willing away the fresh wave of tears threatening her eyes. She turned to Jenna. "Stop the Marines," she ordered. "Tell them to wait on orders before departing. We can't risk them putting Rene's life in danger. He's our best chance of finding the others." She turned back toward Sam. "Send a compressed burst transmission back, but disable the universal translators first. Tell him exactly this... "Envoyez votre position - l'aide arrive. As soon as he responds, give the coordinates to the Marines and tell them they can deploy."