Boarding Party Bravo

Posted on Mon Jun 27th, 2011 @ 8:55pm by Commander Acle Walex & Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Valkris Edwardson & Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex

Mission: Shadows Fall
Location: Romulan Scout ship- IRV Ra'hkolh

[ON]

As the USS Iapetus docked with the Romulan Ship, the Ra'kholh, the two boarding parties traveled across to the other ship. An advance guard boarded with them, securing the Romulan side of the dock to ensure that hostile beings did not venture back across. Alpha Team, led by Commander Walex, moved to secure its assigned objective, leaving Bravo Team to do the same.

Gunning led his team out into the corridor. The tricorder flickered in his hand, designating some form of route. The Romulans knew they were aboard but that was no reason to believe that there wouldn't be some kind of horrific injury waiting for them around any corridor.

"Drex, can you use one of the junctions to lock down all the doors in this section?"

Drex huddled close to his engineering kit while his hand hovered the pommel of his type-2 phaser, shuffling behind the Security Chief with an obvious intent of using him for cover. "I think I can do that, sir." He said, hoping this vessel was wired like the old D'deridex class warbirds of the previous era. "I'll try not to lock us all out in the process. It may be that they've already sealed off this compartment as well." He found out for certain the moment they reached one of the atrial archways and Drex ran his ODN scanner over the eerie green backlit console. The eyes of the Romulan bird insignia seemed to be peering into his little blue soul.

The Romulan officers in their rooms had been ordered to stay put by the officer who had been left in charge. There was no way. Starfleet weren't coming on their ship and taking their secrets without a fight. The three Romulans could hear the wittering voice of a Bolian in the corridor.

One grunted: "I hate Bolians. Smug, blue scum." There was a thud in the room, not loud enough to be noticed.

The Romulans held their disruptors by their sides. "Let's go!"

They ran towards the door. The plan was to burst into the corridor and fire volleys before the Starfleet officers could bring their weapons to bear. The plan was impacted by the ignored thud. The door was sealed- the Romulans burst forward and smacked against the door of the room. They were sent reeling backwards.

Hearing the thud, Drex couldn't help but chuckle, albeit nervously. "Please call again during normal business hours." He quipped, and then wiped his brow. Close one. "I mean... They've been secured, sir."

"Okay, Drex." Jordan responded. "Let's move out. You lead the way, Nevarn. Keep in mind. I have a rifle pointing at your back."

Sub commander Nevarn briefly considered what the consequences would be for his impending actions; offering his loyalties to the Federation to secure their precious Genesis research in return for the possibility of leniency. They had caught him not because he was careless, but because that fool security officer Tov'kas had refused to listen to reason, and drew his weapon on him! Now captured, he had to make a deal with a demon in the hopes of gaining his freedom some how.

As he began to move slowly through the docking ring from the Iapetus a question still clawed at him. He wondered what it would mean for the Star Empire<, to lose one of it's experimental vessels in such a manner.

'...The Declared, will continue on despite my actions!!' Nevarn thought to himself as he stopped for a moment to reflect on his decided course of action. '.....I will have my revenge on those betrayers!!! Their house brought low,...then we will see who history remembers!!' Nevarn allowed a small smile to break his emotionless facade.

"....Of course Commander,...." Nevarn finally replied as he stepped on to the Ra'kholh for the first time in months.

Pausing in front of a nondescript access panel, Nevarn held up his hand and extended it towards it, a biometric scanner lit up as his hand neared it and another panel then slid open, revealing an access control screen inside. Nevarn quickly depressed several keys in rapid succession, all the while looking up at the ceiling for some kind of signal or sign of something to occur. His eyebrows furrowed as he then turned his gazed down to look at something on the floor, frowning still, he pressed several more keys and finally smiled when he was rewarded with a series of soft audible tones.

Nevarn closed the panel once again and headed down the corridor "...Keep up gentlemen, despite your Engineer's best efforts, his little trick won't keep the doors locked for very long...." as he strode down the corridor at a brisk pace.

Jordan kept his phaser trained neatly on the small of the Romulan's back but he was a fit man. The Starfleet officers were finding it quite difficult to keep the pace with him.

Nevarn plan was to purposefully lead the Starfleet officers almost around the entire length of the ship, crawling through access hatches, pausing every so often to activate some device or deactivate another. When prodded, he would explain that many of the security protocols were purposefully left activated in the hopes that they would blindly stumble across them and be sucked out into the vacuum of space, or some other nasty little trap. Most of what he told him was true but it was a matter of perspective. What he didn't tell them was that he himself had designed some of the very same security systems he was now circumventing.

"Just a moment Lieutenant!" Nevarn stopped abruptly and once again knelt down alongside of a wall and opened an unknown access panel. Laying down onto one side with one hand, he reached inside the small opening for a moment, stretching his arm so that he could reach some unseen controls.

Suddenly, he winced and cursed slightly, drawing back his hand frowning. The palm of his hand now bloodied "....why do they make these so small! Well Lieutenant, you can add drawing first blood to your list of victories!" Nevarn sneered as he simply wiped his now bloodied hand on his tunic.

Drex peered around Gunning in the mild interest of mechanical workings both mysterious and awe-inspiring. The ship seemed to be riddled with booby-traps, or perhaps their tour guide was just making it seem that way. In either case, his attentions were split between trying to get a glimpse at the pointy-eared accomplice, and peering around the dark, gloomy bowels of the corridor for any surprises. "I can see ergonomics in engineering design are not high on the Romulan's list of priorities." He scurried a little closer, then, after a few furtive glances behind him. "What is it you're doing exactly?"

"...trying to breathe unpolluted air.." Nevarn replied, as the Engineer moved his face uncomfortably close to his own. "..Aside from that...there are...numerous subsystems that are utilized throughout the ship that need to be..circumvented, in order to...."
Nevarn stretched his arm through the narrow opening until an audible series of clicks were heard. Nevarn pulled his arm out and stood once more, taking a deep breath.

" Understand, that despite your personal feelings, you need my help to make sure you get your..... precious cargo back in one piece! As I was saying before, there are numerous devices that need to be deactivated or circumvented in order to gain access to the Data Vault itself.!" Nevarn replied. with mild irritation, though he took note of where the Starfleet personnel were and where they weren't as well. Nevarn pointed up to a spot in the ceiling and again to several places along the bulk heads he continued "...Those sensors continually scan for Romulan bio signs, they cannot be simply turned off with a flick of a button from the bridge and no amount of external tampering will work either! Now let us continue..."
Mevarn continued on down the corridor.

Nevarn smiled to himself as he proceeded ahead of the Starfleet officers, soon, the hard work will have to begin, he had strung them along long enough and if he were to put his plan into place, he'd have to hold up his part of the arrangement....or at least make a good faith attempt to appear to do so. Still, the numerous stops along the path had a dual purpose. One would make sure that they got to the data vault in one piece, the other...."

Finally Nevarn led them to a nondescript room that at first glance looked liked a small storage room. Nevarn held up one hand for silence and pointed to a sensor in the ceiling then motioned for them to remain at the doorway as he moved around the edges of the room, his eyes locked on some unseen pattern on the floor. Moving slower than an Andorian Ice slug, Nevarn made his way to a display panel and depressed a series of keys and as a red light began flashing overhead, sucked in air to keep from cursing.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the lights stoped and Nevarn waved for the Starfleet personnel to enter a room just a little bigger than the cell they had placed him in. Nevarn held up one finger to his lips, indicating that they remain still, and motioned for silence. As he approached he motioned for Gunning to lean in closer while he explained what he was going to do and what their involvement would be.

"....I will have to deactivate the secondary security sensors in order to get the system to eject the data core, however, this normally requires three people to do this and two need to be Romulan, I have entered a code that will fool the system into thinking that we are performing a routine maintenance test which will allow us to deactivate and eject the core, I will require one of your tricorders to help accomplish this..." Nevarn whispered looking at the Security officer.

Jordan nodded to the yellow-collared security officer who moved towards the Romulan and handed him a tricorder. "Make it quick."

"Yes commander... , now once the core is ejected, we will have a few moments before the system realizes that the real core has not been replaced and reactivate the security protocols... which will lock us in the room and a leathal dose of gas will kill us all..."

"Hopefully a few moments means a little longer than three seconds." Drex put in.

"...Drex is it? Do remember to keep your mouth shut if you have nothing of value to contribute!..." Nevarn couldn't resist sneering at the Bolian engineer before returning to his work.

Once the security protocols were deactivated, the removal of the core could begin, albeit rapidly. Nevarn goes on in some great detail about the level of security this particular system employs and that they are very fortunate that he decided to help them in their endeavor. Working with Mr. Drex, Nevarn is ableto use the borrowed security tricorder to make the system think that the core is still attached and thereby keep the security protocols on standby. Every so often, Nevarn quickly keys in a series of commands into the tricorder and on the console itself.

"...Ok, we are almost finished! Mr. Drex, Mr. Gunning, I will physically detach the core from the system and hand it to you, it is pretty heavy and you'll need two people to carry it." Nevarn explains " You can talk normally now,....once it is free of the central housing, and the remaining connectors have been cut, you'll need to move quickly out of the room before the internal scanners read that there is something wrong and begin a systems diagnostic..." He warns "...I don't want to bore you with the details but lets just say that you'll need to move rather quickly.."

"Okay," Jordan replied shortly, "let's just get a move on then, shall we?"

"...Of course Mr. Gunning.." Nevarn replied as he began his work.

The core, resembled a starfleet type VIII multi-misson probe but scaled down, roughly a sixth of it's size. As the device was carefully handled by Nevarn, the console began a series of shrill warning beeps that caused Nevarn to hesitate for a moment, then, without the finesse and care he displayed earlier, he yanked the remaining connectors and hurriedly thrust the device into the hands of the Starfleet officers

"...Now would be a good time to make our exit gentlemen!!" Nevarn replied "...leave the tricorder for now, it's the only thing keeping the failsafes from going live!"

Jordan gave Drex a glance as the two men braced the weight of the data core. It was heavy, there was no denying it. Needlessly so, if he was entitled to an opinion on the matter. He asked the Bolian breathlessly: "Shall we?"

Moments later, just as the door to the data vault slammed closed behind them, Nevarn took a deep breath and wiped sweat from his brown with the back of his tunic sleeve. "....Well gentlemen, there is your prize! feel free to scan it now to make sure that it has everything you are looking for..."

"I think I would rather do that in the safety of a cargo bay." Drex grunted, the thing was heavy, and he was not accustomed to this kind of legwork. "And I'd give my favorite holonovel for an antigrav unit right about now."

"...That is your prerogative of course...." Nevarn replied dryly "...well then, there you are...your...Golden Fleece!" Nevarn reached over and looking at the device, placed a hand near a seeming inert panel which briefly lit up for a moment then went black. "...Hmm..I suggest that if you do not want any degradation of data, that you get it to an external power source soon..."

Gunning's phaser was uncomfortably out of his reach as he was taking the weight of the core. "Okay. Let's get a move on, we've got a rendezvous to make."

[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Zim Drex
Chief Engineering Officer

Lieutenant Valkris Edwardson
Former Crewmember - USS Marconi