A wolf in sheep's clothing Pt1.

Posted on Thu Apr 11th, 2024 @ 4:04pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis & Lieutenant Commander Wyatt Steele & Lieutenant Evelyn Steele

Mission: The missions never over.
Location: Sestus One, Outer rim Federation colony.
Timeline: Current.

[Twelve hours and thirty minutes after the wedding]

Kilbane walked across to Finchley and leaned down to speak to him, "We're on final approach to Sestus One. The last known communication from them said that their planetary defense system had been breached and communication systems were being attacked. When asked who it was who was attacking them, their reply was cut short, all we got was 'It's a squadron of Bir... '."

Finchley rubbed his chin, "Well, from what we can gather from the reports we've had from other outer colonies, we can make an educated guess that they were trying to say it's a squadron of Birds of prey."

Kilbane held his hands open, "But it is just a guess."

Karadis, who had been on the other side of the Captain when Kilbane spoke, chided in, "If it's squadron, then the Klingon's obviously mean business. One thing we'll need to take into account is that we're going in there, not knowing if those Birds of Prey are cloaked."

"Good point" Finchley replied, "Yet at the same time, we haven't had anything come up on the scans...I mean, absolutely nothing."

He looked across at Lorut, "Lieutenant Lorut , scan the Sestus One system again, look for any unusual readings, background anomalies, and check to see if all the planetary defenses were completely destroyed or if they were just partially destroyed. Also, check to see if there are any matter/anti matter trails leading down towards the planet surface."

Vila nodded. "Aye, sir," she said, typing out some commands into her console, and issuing the probe. A moment later, she raised her head. "Nothing yet, will keep you posted."

A moment later, she spoke again. "Sir, I am picking up spatial anomalies. Not so many, but maybe enough that there's something out there..." she said. "Also, the probe is back....there's a number of antimatter and positive-matter trails leading to and from the Planetary surface....odd," she said. She tapped some keys. "I'm going to send the probe into the trails to see what they're made of," she said.

“Very good Lieutenant Lorut, keep me updated” Finchley replied.


"Why towards the surface?" Karadis asked.

"Because there's been no attack on us" Finchley answered, "If you were the Klingon's, surely you'd know that the Federation would send someone to check the situation if communications suddenly stopped...and yet..."

"You think they've landed on Sestus One" Kilbane said, not so much a question, more a statement.

"We have to think of every possibility" Finchley said.

He looked at Eve and Wyatt, "Lieutenant Steele...and Lieutenant Steele...the planetary communication system, they must have had recording equipment, see if you can find a way of piecing together what they recorded."

Wyatt nodded, "They do sir. It's a safeguard in case of situations like this. We'll need to gain access into the archives section as well as the secondary communication system and relays."

Eve nodded. “We should be able to access the systems without too many problems Captain.” She offered both Finchley and Wyatt a smile. “I’ll start with the archives.”

Wyatt nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll look into the secondary communication system and relays. We should be able to turn something up."

Eve nodded as she sat down and set to work. There were always back doors and other pathways into communication systems, the fact that these were Starfleet systems made it somewhat easier at least on those files not classified as secured.

As Eve started to access the archives, Wyatt went to work on gaining access to the secondary system and relays. He was able to gain access with only a minimal amount of difficulty. "Into secondary system. No damage to the system or relays. Looking for most recent communications."

“Accessing the archives...now” Eve frowned, it all seemed a little too easy somehow. “Something doesn’t feel right, we should have encountered some resistance...” she paused.

Wyatt paused at Eve's comment. "You are right Eve. There are no challenges being issued, no calls for authorization to be verified.
“No nothing." He commented as he stopped his work to do a more in depth look at the system.

Eve turned her attention back to the archives, checking the link between the ship’s systems and the archives. “Something’s happening! It looks like our connection to the systems has triggered a response…” she looked to Wyatt. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

Wyatt paused to look at what Eve was seeing. "Oh shit!" He exclaimed. "Sever the connection, it's been hacked. Eve! It's a trap. We've triggered a feedback along the same frequency we used." He hurriedly explained. "Close all the connections. Now!"

Eve shook her head. “It’s too late! They’ve hijacked the connection!” She looked towards Finchley. “Captain! It was a trap, they’ve hijacked our connection! I’m picking up a reverse polarity beam it’s feeding back through our own connection...”

“Can we determine who’s sent it?” Finchley called out.

"It was piggybacked on to the original carrier wave Captain." But it didn't originate there," Wyatt called out. "As to who sent it, I think the answer is obvious. "

Eve nodded. “Klingons” She covered her face as sparks flew from her console. “Systems are overloading Captain!”

"Yes." Wyatt agreed. "Klingons." As his console exploded. "We're losing sensors and other systems Captain." He called

Finchley looked at his chair console, “Engines are failing, port nacelle is down to five percent power. How the hell did it lose that much so quickly?”

“It’s the beam, it’s creating havoc in all our systems.” Eve cursed and shook her head. “We have to cut off the beam or it’ll destroy us!” She looked to Wyatt. “Can we turn it around? Create our own feedback to combat theirs?”

Working on it." Wyatt answered as he moved to another console. "I've blocked the polaron beam from doing any more damage and reversed the signal back to its source, Problem is we have serious problems to deal with."

Karadis had moved to one of the engineering stations, “Engines are stalling, the feedbacks blocked the antimatter containment field.”

Finchley looked at Kilbane, “Lifeboats condition?”

Kilbane, at the Operations console, replied “Out, there’s no power feeding to them.”

“Engines failed!” Karadis called out, “Sensors are down, weapons offline, shields are minimal, but they’ll last about two seconds if were attacked.”

“Head for the planet!” Finchley called out.

Wyatt heard everything going on around him. The ship was wounded, severely wounded but life still pulsed through her conduits. He worked feverishly on restoring some systems and was rewarded with some success. "Captain, I have power restored to the lateral thrusters. We can make a soft landing."

Eve looked around “I’ve got short range scanners online, I don’t know how long they’ll last though. I had to Jerry rig a bypass, the board is lit up like a Christmas tree!”

"Once we're in the atmosphere, look for a place for us to land" Finchley called to Eve.

“Understood Captain!” Eve kept her eyes firmly fixed on her console.

Looking at Wyatt he said, "The thrusters will be able to guide us, but we'll need a way of slowing our descent. It's not ideal, but the landing thrusters need to be back online and boosted to one hundred and fifty percent. See what you can do to get that to work Mr Steele."

"Yes sir." Wyatt replied not wasting time on words. They were going to be in the atmosphere soon and they needed a way to slow down. His fingers flew over the console as the seconds dragged by before he called out. "Sir, landing thrusters are back online. I rerouted the control program to this console. We can land safely.”

“There’s a plateau off to our port side Captain, judging from the readouts...” Eve paused to double check. “It’s big enough for us Sir, I’m not detecting any problems with the plateau’s structure. It should take the weight of the ship no problem.”

"That's what we'll head for, if the captain has no objections." Wyatt spoke up as he continued to monitor the thrusters.

"I am getting atmospheric interference. Take us in slowly; I don't know if we can sustain much damage with the thrusters out!" Lorut piped up as she typed away in vain, doing her best to maintain as many systems as she could from her console, which weren't many.

Karadis looked up from her console and was about to speak, but Finchley saw the look on her face and held up his hand, and laughed.

Turning back to Wyatt he said, “Best carry out your orders given to you by Lieutenant Lorut, Lieutenant Steele, seems I’ve been usurped and am no longer Captain.”

Eve gave her uncle a surprised look, given his reputation she had been expecting a completely different response.

"Yes sir." Wyatt replied simply as continued the task he was already working on.

Finchley nodded, then turned to Lorut, “Oh, and Lieutenant Lorut, if you ever issue an order like that again instead of making it a suggestion to me, the actual Captain of this ship, I’ll cut your tongue out and sew it round your neck so you wear it as a decoration, am I pefectly clear?”

"Crystal," she said, in a tone that she knew would get her in trouble, or at least, had in the plan, but she couldn't help herself. This was her JOB and she was doing it. And also, they were alive, weren't they?! "My apologies." They weren't, really, but it was the best she could do in the moment to diffuse the situation. She set her jaw, but continued to scan the data as it came in.

Karadis had had way more than enough. Lorut had been on the bridge less than half a day and she'd already shown such disrespect towards the Captain that the Klingon would stand it no longer. Despite that Thall being badly damaged, and limping almost helplessly towards Sestus One, she made her way over to the Bajoran.

Grabbing her by the collar, she hauled her out of her seat, backhanded her across the face and shouted "petaQ!!!! When you address the Captain, you say Sir or Captain!!!"

"That's ENOUGH Karadis, back to your station, now!" Finchley called out to her."We'll deal with this once we've landed."

Karadis' head swung round towards Finchley, she wanted to argue with him about discipline of lower ranks, but then realised this wasn't the time. "Sir!" she said, then turned back to Lorut, "This isn't finished, I will see to it your conduct improves, if you survive the landing...and that's not guaranteed, not if I have anything to do with it."

She threw Lorut back into her seat and shouted "Get back to your duties!"

"Cardassians smell like leather when they're dead, and I have a near-perfect kill record. If you don't want to know what YOU smell like dead, I would recommend that you find yourself somewhere else and never even look my direction again, are we clear, COMMANDER?" She said. She simply turned and walked off the bridge. "II'll report to the brig, if you want, Captain," she said. "I don't think this will bode well for relations between our worlds, will it?!"

With that, she made her way back to her console.

Kilbane, at the engineering console turned to Finchley and said, "Bird, inertial dampeners are back online, but they're rocky at best and only working at seventy percent."

"That's good Commander, thank you" Finchley replied, not taking his eyes of Lorut. She had a bad attitude, but it would be addressed 'if' they made it down.

Finally, he looked round at Eve and Wyatt. "Right, we have a landing site, we have thrusters...and hopefully the inertial dampeners will hold out long enough for us to land. Both of you, take us dow
n."

“Yes Captain!” Eve nodded and looked to Wyatt before looking back at her readouts. “Landing sight still looking good, substructure appears stable and capable of holding the weight of the ship. It’s also appears to be in an uninhabited area, so much the better for us.”

"Aye sir." Wyatt replied as he looked at the site Eve had found. It looked good and it was flat and large enough for the Thall to land. "Approaching the landing site, I suggest everyone hold onto something this may be bumpy as we descend through the atmosphere.

Eve gripped hold of her station as best as she could. “I’m not sure if the systems will take too much jolting about, the system bypass is precarious at best.

“Inertial dampeners now Kilbane!” Finchley shouted.

“Aye Sir!” Kilbane called back, his fingers moving quickly over the console. Ad he finished, he looked at Wyatt and said, “It’s all down to you now Lieutenant Steele.”

Finchley agreed with Kilbane, “Do your best Wyatt, that’s all we can ask.”

"Aye sir." Wyatt replied but didn't take his eyes off the console. "We're in the atmosphere, getting some chop." He said as the Thall bumped and lurched. "Thrusters, slowing are descent. Online for landing site," He grew silent as he concentrated on the descent. "500 meters....400, 300... 250... 150... 50." There was a bump and some systems shorted out as the ship settled down. "We have landed." He announced.

Eve hung onto her console as the ship had bumped and lurched, as the ship touched down her console finally shorted out sending her flying back onto the floor. She sat on the deck nursing a burnt hand, but all in all they had landed safely.

"EVE!" Wyatt cried out to his new bride but stayed at his console and ensuring everything was as well as it could be. Satisfied that there would be no surprises he turned and looked at her. "Are you okay?" his concern evident.

Eve nodded as she looked towards Wyatt. “I’m okay, Just slightly charred around the edges” she got to her feet nursing her injured hand. “Looks like the station is fried though.”

"You sure you are alright? I brought her down as gently as I could." Wyatt answered. "A lot of systems are fried." He observed.

Eve nodded. “I’ll be fine, I just need to get my hand sorted out. It wasn’t your fault.” She offered Wyatt a reassuring smile while trying to maintain professional distance on duty. She looked towards Finchley. “Permission to head to Sickbay Captain?”

Finchley nodded, turned to Karadis and said “Go with the Lieutenant and see to her injury.”

Karadis nodded and as she drew level with Eve said “Don’t worry, one of my many tasks here is field medic, I can treat your burn, you’ll be fine in no time.”

Eve nodded. “That’ll be appreciated, thank you.”

Meantime, Finchley looked at Wyatt and Kilbane and said, “Right, I want a full diagnosis of the ship’s systems, what operational and what’s not.”

“On it Captain” Kilbane replied.

Wyatt replied with a crisp "Yes sir." Then turned back to console to run a full system check to find out what worked, what didn't, what could be fixed and what couldn't. It would be long and exhaustive work, but it had to be done.

Heading for the turbolift Eve offered Wyatt a reassuring smile as she passed by. “I’ll be back as soon as we’re done.”

Wyatt smiled softly back at Eve. "I' will be right here, waiting for you." He assured her.