Treachery

Posted on Wed Jun 29th, 2011 @ 1:22am by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Valkris Edwardson & Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex & Lieutenant JG Christopher Rogan

Mission: Shadows Fall
Location: The Triangle
Timeline: MM3 MD3 0849hrs

[IRV Ra'kholh]

Jordan's hand fell on his combadge. "Bravo Team to Alpha Team. Objective complete. Please advise."

Acle tapped his own combadge, glancing about the bridge as he did so. "Alpha lead acknowledges. Proceed with immediate egress. Alpha team will follow suit. Rendezvous at the airlock."

Captain Krace, on the bridge of the Iapetus, tapped the control on the arm of his chair. "Security holding detail, move in. The Ra'kholh and her crew need to be kept secure until the Starfleet Judicial vessel arrives."

Acle took one last glance around the bridge, fixing the commander with a level gaze, knowing that it didn't need to be said what would happen if they tried anything. He led the way out of the bridge, Junix taking up station near the lift portal, where he would stay until the security holding team arrived.

Acle hit the lift button to take them down to the airlock level. Once the lift stopped, he led the way out quickly, heading to the airlock door.

Jordan rounded the corner with the Bravo team close behind him. Their footsteps on the plating made very little noise in spite of their heavy footsteps.

Nevarn half listened to the Human announce his little victory, half continued to count down from the moment he began to put his plan into action, soon they would begin to make their way back to the Starfleet vessel, timing was crucial if Nevarn was to accomplish his goals and make it out free and clear. 'The fools!' He thought to himself as they made their way back along the same winding route he'd first led them on. All he had to do was maintain his current pace until they'd reached the precise point, and then the sweet taste of their victory would begin to spoil and rot, leaving a bitter taste in their mouths.

Nevarn deliberately slowed his pace as they approached a blind junction, judged just how much distance he'd need between himself and his captors.

Drex was so focused on keeping the core above deck that he wasn't paying attention to Nevarn or where they were headed. Where Gunning could probably handle the load easier, the engineer grunted with each step. "As soon as we get back, I'm replicating a set of freeweights."

As the security officer bumped into Nevarn's back, he used the slight shove to suddenly turn around and knock the phaser from the security officers hands. Sidestepping a clumsy attempt to lunge for him, Nevarn grabbed the man by one wrist and hip tossed him forward towards the other officers. Nevarn estimated that Gunning and Drex would have to put the data core down in order to react but it was just the first part of his escape plan. Warning alarms sounded as a force field activated between himself and the Starfleet officers, separating them.

Nevarn smiling, takes the opportunity to wave and shrug his shoulders "...I would suggest that you continue back to you ship! If my calculations are correct,...." He started to say, then cocked his head "..well, I don't want to bore you with the details but the ship's self destruct sequence is on a silent countdown... Be well Commander!! " Nevarn called out behind him, activating more security force fields as he went.

"You rat bastard!" Jordan spat at the Romulan as he turned his back and ran. He looked around himself and caught the eye of the Bolian engineer. He asked rhetorically: "How long have we got? I don't see him giving us a lot of time."

Phaser in hand, Nevarn went to another panel and after removing it, climbed inside, afterwards he sealed the panel behind him. Here he was shielded from the Starfleet vessels sensors and the internal sensors for which he'd spent much of his time shielding himself from. His bio-signature would simply read as an extra bit of code should anyone bother to look. But then again, his soon former comrades and perhaps a few Starfleet personnel whould have other matters to concern themselves with.

Inside of the maintenance corridor, Nevarn accessed the Escape Pod control subsystems and began ejecting them one by one. For his plan to work, none of his former comrades could escape to possibly survive. They would die heroes in the story of treachery he would relate to command but it would be he who survived to tell the story. The fools had helped seal his comrades fate by sealing them in their quarters and all of the leg work he'd done prior to gaining access to the data vault, allowed him to deactivate numerous internal sensors and temporarily activate others. The bridge crew...would be powerless to do anything to stop what he had started.

Moments later, he climbed aboard the lone warp shuttle and began to power up the ships systems in preparation of his escape. If he read the Starfleet captain correctly, he would try to extricate his people from the ship before moving his own to a safe distance.

[Main Bridge - USS Iapetus]

"Report!" Vorn shouted from the centre chair of the Iapetus' bridge as the ship was rocked slightly by what felt like a light collision, followed by another.

Quickly initiating a sensor sweep of their immediate area, Valkris looks at the main view screen and changes the view to show that of theRa'kholh and it's escape pods ejecting haphazardly. "...The Ra'kholh's escape pods have begun ejecting? Some of them have impacted with us because of our close proximity. " Valkris advised.

"Life signs?" Vorn replied

" No life signs detected on any of the escape pods. Captain, It would appear that something or someone rather has ejected all of them.." Valkris announced. "...This does not bode well.."

The Assistant Chief Engineer swivelled around from her Engineering station. The board showed a cross-section of the Romulan ship, with several red blocks pulsating on the dorsal hull. "Sir. I'm detecting a massive power build-up in their secondary power conduits." The beeping warning turns into repeated chimes. "It's gonna blow!"

"Krace to away teams: Get back onboard now! Evacuate the Ra'kholh, you have a core breach imminent!" Vorn practically shouted down the comm. line, willing his people back onboard.

"How long?" he asked, turning to Valkris.

"...just a moment captain!" Valkris announced from the tactical station. Shaking her head she quickly rechecked her findings "....Sir, If I read this correctly, we have less than 45 seconds before the auxiliary power source breaches, if that happens it will set of a chain reaction that will involve the Ra'kholh's Quantum Singularity drive!!"

"That's not a lot of time," the Captain said, his mind whirring. "Can we use transporters?"

"Only within ten meters of the airlock on a direct line-of-sight target, Captain," came the response from one of the auxiliary stations.

"Dammit..." Vorn leant forward in his chair, almost wishing he could physically go down to the Ra'kholh to help the evacuation.

Acle hit his combadge. He was the only remaining senior officer onboard the Romulan ship, although he was only barely so, standing directly beside the air lock. "Walex to Bridge. Away Teams alpha and bravo are back onboard minus myself. We still have a hell of a lot of security personnel on board and of course there are the Romulans. I'm crossing the airlock tube now."

Valkris's console suddenly alerted her to an object departing from the Romulan ship "...I read one shuttle departing from the Romulan ship....One life sign on board..it's Sub Commander Nevarn sir!"

"Can we get a tractor beam on it?" Vorn asked, really wishing that there'd be no more distractions from their main concern - the Ra'kholh's destruction.

"..... Negative sir, Nevarn has positioned himself so that the Ra'kholh is between us,....too late, he's just gone to warp sir!" Valkris replied.

"Leave him then, we have more important things to focus on," Vorn decided, turning towards the front of the bridge just as the officers from the away teams began entering and resuming their stations.

"..Captain, 23 seconds until warp core breach! We've got to move to a safe distance or we'll be caught in the blast radius Captain!" Valkris nearly shouted at Vorn

Vorn sat silent for a few minutes, eyes fixed on the view screen, the image of the Ra'kholh on it, and the overlaid countdown to the ship's destruction. He knew that they still had people over there - and probably a good deal of the Romulan crew if not all of it. But if they didn't go soon, they'd all be dead. But if he could just leave it a little while longer....

Valkirs watched as time on the chronometer wound down to less that 15 seconds "..Captain, your orders? Captain? Captain Krace! orders?" she cried almost on the verge of hysteria.

After another moments pause, Vorn gave the order. "Transporters lock onto anyone within range of the airlock! Ops, disengage hard seal! Helm, full impulse, get us out of here!"

As the ship performed one of the most rapid detachment procedures it had in its entire existence, and moved away much faster than any regulations advised in such close proximity to another vessel, Vorn watched the countdown meticulously creep closer to zero. He watched as it reached the figure, and as the rear-view camera showed the ship explode into a million little pieces, before appearing to implode; an effect of the destruction of the Quantum Singularity Core.

The bridge was silent for a few seconds, before Vorn's voice croaked; "Any sign of survivors?"

Gunning had made his way back to the bridge. He was more than a little shocked. The Romulan had shown no sign of treachery against his own people. Blowing the Iapetus up? Sure- he would have put money on that but his own ship? That crazy scumbag. He walked to one of the rear consoles, leaving Edwardson in the Tactical station.

"Negative, Captain." He reported, taking in the bio readings from the screen. "Nothing."

"And the Romulan shuttle?"

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Valkris slammed her hand down on the console, "...Negative, Nevarn must've masked his warp signature....Captain, we've lost him.."

Placing his head in his hands, Vorn allowed the silence to continue for a while, oblivious to those around him for a brief amount of time. Eventually, he stood up. "Set course for Starbase 911, warp eight. Number One, you have the bridge; I'll be in my ready room."

Acle had arrived slightly after the others, and had simply stood by the turbo-lift doors. To be honest with himself, his worst scenario hadn't envisioned the Romulan Rat destroying his comrades, and he felt a simmering anger at the double traitor. Of course, none of this showed on his expressionless features. "Aye Aye Captain. I have the bridge." he said, unthinkingly relapsing into formality drilled into him at the academy.

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

Commander Acle Walex
Executive Officer

Lt. Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief of Security

Lieutenant Valkris Edwardson
Former Marconi crewmember

Lieutenant Zim Drex
Chief Engineer

Ensign Christopher Rogan
Chief Diplomatic Officer