Taking Control

Posted on Sun May 23rd, 2010 @ 10:50am by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Peter Brown & Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer & Commander Jordan Gunning

Mission: Borderline Diplomacy
Location: Central Government Building - Bevrud
Timeline: MD08 1531hrs

With Archer and Gunning's report that the central government building had been secured, and Atakimpa within it, Vorn and the rest of the ground-side crew of the Iapetus had made their way, Kutan in tow, towards it, able to avoid the ground patrols who had not yet realised the building had been under attack - either the exterior distress call from the building had been damaged, or the bulk of the planet's security forces had come to the decision to 'forget' any orders to send them back to the government centre, preferring to wait to see who was the victor at the end of the coup rather than declare their alliance to a potential loser now.

As they walked through the corridors, Vorn noted a number of bodies, though it was clear by the low number that the two team members here had moved their captives from their original location to somewhere that had seen less guards - probably for the best, Vorn decided, as he caught glimpses of Winter's reaction upon seeing the bodies.

"Report," Vorn said, as they walked into some sort of large control room, where Atakimpa and his 'command' team were being held, knelt on the floor with hands interlocked behind their heads.

Gunning stepped into the Captain's eyeline to cover a distinctive bruise which had recently appeared on the cheek of one of the command staff. "We've been having a lovely chat, Captain. It appears that our friends here have absolutely no information about the coup they've been controlling. Funny that, isn't it?"

Sara remained silent. If she had been alone on this operation, she would have no doubt attempted alternative forms of persuasion, but was content to allow Captain Krace and his crew to handle this one, even if it was her mission.

The two officers had now been in the command centre for what felt like ages while Jordan's shoulder got progressively worse. If he was honest, it wasn't a particularly bad wound but the way the phaser had caught him had created a bleeding wound which had failed to cauterise as one would have expected. His report was loaded with irony. Atakimpa and his cronies had refused to tell them anything so far, even with a little bit of gentle persuasion. Hopefully the assistance of the Captain might help them extract something.

Vorn's eyes caught the sight of the bleeding on the Lieutenant's shoulder, staining his uniform. "Doctor," he said, motioning her towards him and indicating the shoulder room. "You two haven't been able to get anything out of them?" he asked, continuing his conversation with the two officers.

"Unfortunately not, no." Jordan said as the doctor tended to his shoulder. He winced slightly as the treatment began to take effect but managed to continue his report. "They were discussing some sort of weapon, from what we could hear from outside but once we breached the room, they suddenly became less than talkative."

"I know some various questioning techniques, Captain, as I'm sure Commander Brown does as well. However, given the sensitive situation here, I'm willing to give diplomacy a chance first."

Glancing at the hostages, Vorn moved slowly towards them, hands clasped behind his back, before moving away and looking at the various screens that were still lit up around the room. He kept quiet as he circled around them, looking at each screen and making a silent note of the purpose each seemed to hold. In truth, he wasn't much of an interrogator... but he was a good diplomat. And sometimes, diplomacy needed a harsh hand. As he stepped up behind Atakimpa, he leant down near his ear, and asked quietly;

"What weapons did Lissek supply you with?"

"You think you've won, don't you Captain?" He replied defiantly before spitting out, "There are guards on their way to this room and they will blow you apart."

Jordan laughed loudly at the retort as he pulled his tricorder from his belt. He set it for lifesign scan and turned it to the Captain. "I think he means the one-legged guard who's probably crawling his way here to protect the revolution. I think we can just about handle him." He finished as the solitary lifesign, besides their own, faded still further.

"Atakimpa, this is over for you. You have lost. Help me end this here and now, before more lives are lost," Vorn said, still speaking quietly into the Bevrudl's ear.

The Bevrudl, who up until this moment had felt all-powerful and assured in his responsibilities and actions, knelt on the cold floor with the breath of the Starfleet captain hot and constricting in his ear. He wanted to turn to his advisers for help but he knew that would betray weakness. A weakness he now felt coursing through his veins.

"Ground-to-orbit cannons." He said, dropping his head and sighing. "The Elyshans had them installed underground in open parkland throughout the city. They said it wouldn't matter if ground was torn up when it came to their moment. Our moment."

"Okay; Lets see if I still got my tricks from FSS still in me" Replied Peter to himself as he started entering commands after several moments the screen lit up

"Captain; Sensors coming on-line; readings are that the Elyshan Vessel has opened Fire on the Iapetus there returning fire" Replied Peter

"I need access to those weapons, Atakimpa," Vorn said, his voice rising slightly, though he didn't move from his position by the Bevrudl's ear.

The defeated man just sighed and held up an isolinear chip to the Captain. "Fine."

Taking the isolinear chip, Vorn stood and held it up for one of his officers to take and insert in to the computer system.

Peter grabbed the chip went to an open port, inserting the chip then enters the commands to release Weapons access then in the Room an Booming voice sounded ~ACCESS DENIED-SECURITY OVERRIDE REQUIRED~

The deposed revolutionary looked as if the he would rather that the ground swallowed him at the moment. He was told they would work. Why didn't they work? Had someone betrayed him?

Vorn looked up, and caught the eyes of Kutan, who had until this point remained silent. "Sovereign," he said, as everyone else fell silent. "You're more familiar with Elyshan weapons systems. It wouldn't only be helping you get off this planet yourself, but it would also go a little way to alleviate tensions between the two of our peoples."

Kutan grumbled. "I do know a thing or two about Elyshan weapons, Captain, but if I'm going to help, I want something in return. I want those weapons removed and delivered into my custody. My people will handle it. If I help you, then Starfleet gets no access to those weapon systems. Are we clear?"

Sara stepped over to Krace. "Sir, those weapons would be a valuable find for Starfleet Intelligence. I suggest we find a way access them ourselves."

Turning his head towards her, Vorn spoke quietly; "Commander, tensions are very tight between the Federation and Elyshans right now, and with the battle going on in orbit, I don't know how long we'll have before my ship starts taking significant losses. I'm willing to bet that by allowing Kutan to reclaim these weapons, we'll be able to give Starfleet a bit of a reprieve."

Turning back towards Kutan and raising his voice back to normal levels, he told the Sovereign; "You have a deal."

"Excellent, Captain. You are a paragon among your kind." Kutan wandered over to the security console, and simply typed in a handful of symbols. "There you go, the weapons are under your control."

"Miss Archer, get me into their comm channels," Vorn ordered, turning away from Atakimpa at last and putting his hands behind his back as he looked towards the centre of the control room's large screens. "I believe I need to have a conversation with our dear friend in orbit."

----------------------------
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

Commander Peter Brown
Chief Strategic Operations Officer

Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer
Intelligence Operative

Lieutenant Jordan Gunning
Chief Security/Tactical Officer