The War of Babylon (Part I)
Posted on Tue Oct 19, 2021 @ 11:37pm by Admiral Alan Markus & Captain April Dragon & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant JG Aergad Halvor & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Lieutenant JG Sydney Friedman Jr & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant JG Markus Davenport & Lieutenant Jasmine Gorgon
5,916 words; about a 30 minute read
Mission:
Archangel
Location: Babylon Station
Enemy Ship
AJ's mood hadn't improved with time. Camille had convinced him that the food wasn't poisoned, and it didn't do them any good to be hungry once they arrived. He'd eaten sparingly, examined the room they were in, and attempted to find a computer access terminal to try and get into the ship's systems. Unfortunately, it seemed their room was isolated.
"If we dock with that station," AJ said, "the odds of us successfully getting out of here, not to mention rescue the Admiral's children, plummets. We need to do something."
“You’re right,” Camille said. “But we don’t have many options right now.”
"When she comes back, act like the food didn't agree with you. When she comes to your aid, I'll tackle her and restrain her," AJ said.
Camille looked at him sideways. “She performed some very thorough scans of us, and designed this platter to be appealing to us specifically. There’s nothing in here that would cause even a hint of gastrointestinal distress. She’ll see right through it.”
"I can't sit here and not attempt to get us to safety," he said. "My survival depends on your survival."
“I get needing to escape,” Camille said softly. “It’s part of who you are, to keep fighting. But that last part, I don’t understand.”
"Well, let's be honest. If I don't bring you back safe and sound, Nicole will tear me limb from limb." He gave her a small smile.
That made Camille laugh. “Well, you’re not wrong.”
A moment later, AJ's plan unraveled as the doors opened as his back was turned. Lilith stepped back inside, her hands holding two sets of what appeared to be goggles. "Please, put these on. You'll need them to see while we're moving through the darkened corridors."
AJ's eyes narrowed. "And if we refuse?"
Lilith sighed with impatience. "Then I'll have quite a bit of entertainment watching you stumble through the dark." She put the goggles down on the table in front of them. "If you wish to leave this ship and return home, this is how. You'll need them for all of five minutes while we disembark. Or do you believe you're going to overtake my ship with some elaborate scheme?" Her face was passive, but her tone was less so.
Camille let out a long sigh. “We don’t have a choice, AJ.” She took the goggles and put them on.
AJ looked like he'd rather chew broken glass, but he obligingly took a pair of goggles and fitted them over his eyes. At first, he couldn't see, then a hand pressed a button on the side. The viewscreen inside them activated and he saw Lilith standing too close for comfort. He immediately brought his hands up in a defensive motion, but she deflected, and nimbly jumped back, centuries of practice showing.
"Watch your hands, young man," she said, shaking a finger at him as if he were a naughty teenager. She had her goggles on as well and beckoned them to follow her. Now, if you'll follow me."
Seeing clearly with the goggles, Camille remained impassive as she got behind Lilith. She tried to look at anything and everything she could, as any detail would help.
She led them back out of her dining room and down the corridor they'd originally explored. The door at the end opened and while the corridor was still pitch black, they were now able to see a computer-generated layout of the area. Lilith started down the hallway and motioned for them to follow. "I took the liberty of instructing the crew to seal the doors, in case you feel like going for a stroll," she said over her shoulder.
AJ immediately course-corrected from the door he was starting to angle towards, slipping back next to Camille as if he'd never deviated.
They passed through a set of doors, down another corridor, past several sets of doors and down another corridor. They finally reached the end of the path and Lilith keyed in a code. The doors opened to an airlock, and they stepped inside.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Lilith said, removing her glasses as the lights in the airlock came on. "And welcome to Babylon station." She activated the airlock and the doors opened on a large viewing bay.
The window at the other end of the room showed a massive station, spherical in design, dozens and dozens of decks, with a large central column running down the diameter of the sphere, and ships moving within it, docking at the core, as in a Federation starbase.
AJ's eyes got a bit wide, but he held his composure. "How has a station this large not been found yet?" he said, quietly.
"The outside is camouflaged pitch black, and we're in the void," Lilith said, leading them along the wide promenade. "There is literally nothing and no one to find us here, except our allies."
“Which we are not,” Camille muttered. She didn’t know what Lilith was, but there was just enough information for her to follow AJ in being defensive.
Lilith let out a breath through her nose and shrugged. She picked up her pace, hearing their footsteps change to keep up, and led them to a turbolift alcove. As the doors opened, she stepped inside and looked at AJ with an eyebrow raised in invitation.
AJ stepped inside cautiously, looked around, then beckoned Camille to follow and stay behind him.
Lilith mentally shook her head and hit the panel. The doors closed and the lift car took off like a shot through the large station. The trip was silent, everyone chewing on their own thoughts of impatience, suspicion and curiosity. When the lift finally deposited them on another deck, Lilith stepped out without looking back.
AJ followed, mostly because at this point trying to run would be foolish, but he kept Camille nearby and kept himself between them, watching for any signs of trouble.
USS Victory
As Nicole and the Captain stepped onto the bridge, Nicole broke away and went to take a seat at the life sciences station while the Captain moved her her own seat on the Bridge and accessed newly arrived reports from the Apha Quadrant. For a time, all was quiet.
"Captain, I think we found something," Penny said. "When the warp field hits the subspace corridor, it reverberates. However, there's a slight variation in the reverb, right about here." She pulled up a schematic on the viewscreen, the potential weak spot highlighted. "If we get close, it may pull us in if we hit it with the warp field."
“Can you run a simulation?” The Captain asked.
"Aye, Captain," Penny said, working the Ops console. "Give me two minutes to program it, and another two for results."
Walker was moving between the Science and Tactical stations, watching the goings on. He understood was was on the tactical read out, some of the Science was beyond him, but he trusted his crew. He was a field guy, trained as both a SWAT Operator and the equivalent of a UC Detective. He wanted to kick in doors. That is what he was made to do. He covered it well, to anyone that wasn't a predatory animal themselves, to them he would seem would tight, like a lion new to captivity.
While Penny worked, the Captain isolated, then transferred the report on the pending supernova of the Romulan star to a pair of data PaDDs. Taking the two devices in hand, she walked to where her XO was pacing across the bridge. “When you have a moment,” she told him in a quiet voice, “You’ll want to review this. We will discuss it at a later time.”
Walker opened the file and skimming it, he stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear. Someone with very discerning ears could tell he was saying something about an Ambassador and his brother. Then he went back to watching the data panels.
Leaving him, Kennit then walked over to where Dr. Anderson had taken up position. “We’re going to need to discuss this at a later time, after our current headache has been resolved.” she said.
Nicole took the padd, barely glanced at it, and moved to hand it back, then did a triple take and read it over. She handed it back to the Captain and nodded quietly, turning back to her station.
Three-point-eight-seven minutes later, Penny let out an "ah ha!" She brought up a display of the Underspace again and highlighted the same spot. "If we hit that spot with an inverse tachyon pulse, it should penetrate the barrier of the corridor, and our warp field should pull us in like a magnet."
Almost as soon as she said it, the Castelnaudary suddenly seemed to stretch to the distance and vanish from sight. "I think they just figured it out too," she said.
“Red alert.” the Captain said smoothly. “Target those coordinates with a tachyon pulse and take us in.”
"Aye, captain! Shields are up and weapons are armed and are standing by!" Arashi said as klaxons sounded all over the ship, signaling battle stations. Weapons were made sure to be working and security forces worked to secure sensitive areas of the ship. "All stations reporting that they are secure and ready to repel any hostile forces trying to take the ship." Arashi now looked to his tactical displays to make sure that the enemy would not ambush them
"Aye Captain!" Penny said as the klaxon's sounded. She immediately pushed the ship forward towards the area she'd found and sent out the pulse. Everyone on the bridge felt the ground shift out from under them as the ship got pulled in, and the stars leaped into warp in front of them.
"Speed increasing," Penny said. She checked her boards. "Captain, I'm picking up a trail. It's being swept along with us. Plotting..." she brought the schematics up on the viewscreen over their area of the galaxy.
The path of the underspace corridor branched, but the strongest warp particles were flowing out into the void between galactic arms.
"We're going back to the void...." she said.
“Hiding in the dark, like vermin..” Kennit said softly. Then, “Can you determine how far the trail leads?”
Looking at her, Walker looked at the Captain because he liked to hide in the dark.
"At this speed, we'll reach the end of the trail in approximately twenty minutes," Penny said.
“Mr. Walker, Give the order, I want strike teams ready and standing by..” the Captain said.
Walker walked around to his chair and sent out the order. Taggert's team, Halvor, King, Nicole, and Arashi's team members that had SRT/HRT training all got a generated message on their comms. It was a prerecorded message that came out of their comms, "Ladies and gentlemen. Get your toys ready. As of right now, the order are to do it 'The Chicago Way'. It was Walker's voice, prerecorded. They pull a knife, we pull a gun. Etc etc.
Nicole snarled with satisfaction and flew out of her seat, heading for the turbolift.
Ship's Brig
Summers continued to pace back and forth in her cell. She stopped, looked around, shook her head, then shouted, " WILL **SOMEONE** PLEASE LET ME OUTTA HERE SO I CAN HELP ?!?!?! "
T'pek responded, "Lower your voice, Summers. You will not get your 'yard time', if you act out." She disliked the term yard time, because this ship didn't have a yard. Summers was set to go on the Strike Team to help her case.
Summers lowered her voice. " My apologies, T'Pek. " She sat back down.
Walker voice came across the comm, "Walker to brig. If the inmate is behaving. Let's set her up for some yard time."
T'pek responded, "Yes, Sir." She went to the replicator and replicated a Security uniform, duty belt, and boots.
Summers cocked her head as she watched T'pek bring out the uniform. " Nice 'duds' they for you?"
T'pek was unemotional. She opened up a section of the force field. It was the same size as if she was giving or taking a food tray. "It is almost yard time. Get dressed. "I will escort when I get the call."
Bridge
Tapping his comm, "Walker to brig. If the inmate is behaving. Let's set her up for some yard time."
The brig's response, "Yes, Sir."
Looking at the Captain, "One of us should go babysit." He grinned.
One eyebrow rose slightly, and she gave a short half-shake of her head. “Babysitting is not in my list of responsibilities and duties.. I leave that task to your discretion.”
Walker grinned. By babysit, he meant lead the away team, especially since Summers was on it and she had a pending NJP, "I can do it. I would like to have Miss Naroot and a couple of data storage devices." He planned on ripping the data from the station's Computer System and having her wipe the System. He could do it, but she could do it much more effectively and efficiently. It also freed him up to fight if need be.
Babylon Station
They stopped in front of a set of doors with an unknown symbol on it. Lilith punched in a security code and the doors opened. They found an alien, a former Borg drone from the look of him, reading at a computer terminal as seven sets of equipment beeped in sync.
The equipment was attached to seven cylindrical pods, each of which was showing what appeared to be lifesigns.
"How are they?" Lilith said, speaking to the attendant.
"All seven are sleeping soundly," the man replied. "I still have not deduced how we can bring down number four's adrenaline levels. I'm concerned for its long-term effects."
"Keep trying," she said, quietly.
While they talked, AJ quietly made his way towards one of the pods. Inside was exactly what he feared: a human boy. Not the one who had stormed into his quarters, but AJ was sure that one was here too.
Camille was doing the same thing, and she also recognized some of the kids. Where was the one that visited her though?
AJ continued to inch his way around, looking in each pod. He stopped as he saw a face he recognized, his expression getting grim. The next pod confirmed it. He looked up and caught Camille's eye, nodding her over while Lilith was caught up in her discussion.
Camille nodded back and also observed, but she moved her eyes to the pods and not the kids. Sensors and life support systems, capable of administering a number of substances into the pods’ inhabitants. Leads on the childrens’ scalps suggested a more direct system interface with their brains.
"Is this the girl from the Admiral's quarters?" he said under his breath in her ear. He looked down at the small, blonde girl sleeping quietly in her stasis pod.
She looked to the one he was looking at and nodded. Poor Gabby. “Oui. And this equipment. It’s not just meant to keep them alive. It’s meant to control them.”
AJ's face was a mask, but inside he was seething. He looked around at the pods. No control panels were visible. He didn't see anything on the walls either. It seemed the control padd held by the...."doctor".....next to Lilith was the means of releasing the kids.
He measured the distance between them, judged their positions, angles and how long it would take him to side-step Camille and get to them. If he could get a bit closer, he could dive in and grab the padd before they could react. A short game of keep-away could give him time to--
"You're just fine over there, please stay there," Lilith said, now looking directly at him. She stepped in front of the doctor and put her hands behind her back. "I'm sure you're planning something, but I will not allow violence here."
“As opposed to what you’re doing to these children?” Camille asked in disbelief.
"These children are not just children," she said. "They are weapons. They were genetically engineered and designed to be deadly killing machines. I am trying to prevent them from being used."
"And you think Admiral Markus is going to use them?" AJ said.
"He's been raising them, training them," Lilith said. "Took them from their universe to ours. And then I receive intel that says something is brewing in the Alpha Quadrant. Something involving beings from a different universe, and what am I to assume? Hm?" She looked at him like he just failed a math test. "These children are designed to kill. Some generate poison, some tear and claw. This young man?" she said, gesturing to a pod, "is having an adrenaline surge that showed no signs of stopping. He'd literally fly into a rage without end and tear anyone he sees apart. Do you want that loose?"
AJ looked and saw it was the young man who'd stormed into his quarters. Even asleep, he looked furious.
"They're here for our protection, and theirs. And until we know how to...'disarm' them, here they stay." Her voice was firm and authoritative. "If you object to that, I'm sorry. Your objections don't outweigh the safety of half a galaxy."
“And your concerns don’t outweigh the lives of seven children,” Camille retorted. “Or even one. Keeping them here, controlling them for your own purposes…non. I don’t know if you’re being sincere but your methods are wrong.”
"I'm not controlling them, I'm keeping them under control. There's a distinct difference," Lilith said. "I didn't just slaughter them like your Federation did, so before you question my methods...." she left the other half the sentence hanging as they were interrupted.
The doors opened and an aid rushed in, whispering quickly in Lilith's ear. Lilith got a frustrated look and sighed. "Your associates have somehow found our location," she said. "I suppose I should go say hello. Come along."
Instead of leading them out, she walked to the door and let it open, gesturing for them to step out first.
AJ glared at her, but guided Camille to the door, keeping himself between her and the others.
Camille looked back at the kids, keeping her eyes open for any detail that could help, as AJ guided her away with Lilith and the others.
She led them further, down a connecting bridge and into the core of the station. They stopped in front of a nondescript door, and Lilith entered a code. The doors opened, revealing a comfortable set of quarters.
"Please wait here," she said. "I'll have someone come for you when it's time to return you to your ship."
"Why not just send us now?" AJ said.
Lilith gave him a pitying smile. "Because I don't trust your Captain without insurance," she said as the doors closed.
Victory
Nineteen-point-three minutes later, they came to the end of the corridor. Penny reconfigured the warp field again as they reached the terminus, and with a brief lurch, they were back in normal space.
The Castelnaudary was immediately visible directly in front of them, facing the empty void.
"Registering a large mass ahead," Penny said, "but can't seem to get a visual."
“Move us so that hunk of bailing wire and duct tape in front of us is out of the way. Run a gravitational analysis and simultaneously use the deflector to emit a low level tachyon pulse, see if that lights up our friend out there for our sensors to get a reading from the interaction of the tachyon particles with..whatever it is.”
"Aye, Captain," Penny said. She steered them quickly, then aimed at the gravity reading. She reconfigured the deflector, coordinating her needs with Engineering, and a moment later the deflector dish sent out a pulse.
As they maneuvered around the other ship, they faced the empty space in front of them. It didn't look much different from the rest of the nothing in front of them, but suddenly that changed.
As the tachyon pulse hit, there was a ripple in front of them as the sensors tried to make sense of the mass readings it was finding, but the object didn't seem to have a defined edge. Either the pulse wasn't responding correctly, or something in front of them was very, very big.
Penny's board lit up and she scanned again. "Um...something's changing," she said.
A seam suddenly opened up in the void, creating a thin line of light across their vision. The seam opened, revealing bay doors and a lit cargo bay towards the side of...whatever it was. As the bay doors finished opening, a ship emerged. Then a second ship followed behind it. Then a third. A fourth. A fifth. A dozen ships poured out of the bay doors, some larger than others, all facing the two Federation ships.
Arashi checked his sensors and reported to the captain. "Five of the ships are powering weapons and are targeting us. The other seven have targeted the other ship. Weapons are locked on and ready to fire!" he said to the captain, his finger hovering over the fire button.
Penny tried keeping track of all the ships, but they were surrounding the other two ships. "Think if we offer them a chance to surrender they'll accept?"
“Open hailing frequencies.” Kennit said aloud, while at the same time mentally activating an implant deep within her cerebral cortex, bringing up a link undetectable to communications or sensors as this particular technological addition had not been developed in this universe, but another. Connection made, a low sensation not unpleasant began to flicker through her consciousness.
"Hailing frequencies open," Penny said. A moment later, "they're responding."
As one deep part of her consciousness began to search for backup within the Collective, looking for small drone vessels within close proximity which could be easily diverted and controlled, aloud she said “This is Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit, commanding officer of the starship Victory. You have two members of my crew. I would like them back.” Her voice was light, almost cordial as if she was inviting someone to afternoon tea and gave no hint of the growing rage burning just beneath her deceptively calm surface.
The screen came on and a woman wrapped in a lavender sari was sitting in a chair in the center of a control room, legs crossed and posture extremely relaxed. "Good morning, Captain," she said, also cordially. "I'd be happy to. I have no quarrel with them, nor you. If you'll lower your shields and stand down your weapons, I'll send them over just as soon as you confirm something for me."
She uncrossed her legs and laced her fingers together, giving Kennit a stare. "Which ship is your Admiral on?"
Fleet Captain Kennit let out a snort of laughter, “My Admiral?” she echoed. Shaking her head she answered, “That man is not my anything. He is not in my chain of command, I do not report to him. My ship is here because you abducted members of my crew. Whatever issues lie between the two of you is a concern of which I don’t give a damn.”
Lilith nodded. "Thank you, Captain," she said, then looked to her left. "Target the other ship's engines."
The signal cut out and the fleet immediately took formation, four of the ships in front converging on the Castelnaudary. The ship took the weapons fire on the chin, but suddenly the ship flickered, as if going in and out of sight, replaced by a scattered starfield as their holographic camouflage suddenly lost power. As the ship tried to return fire and get a better position, they began to get outflanked.
“Fuck.”
The Captain’s exclamation was made in a very flat sort of voice. She rose from her chair, eyes locked on the tactical display on the left side of the view screen. “Always have to do things the hard way..” Kennit continued. “Every damn time..”
Her voice rose, taking on a hard note as she said “Lieutenant Naroot. See that great big wide open bay those ships just exited from? Take us in. Get us inside there and do it now! Full impulse power get us moving!”
"Aye, Captain!" Penny said, throwing the engines to full and feeling the ship give a slight jerk as inertia caught up and they surged forward. "Are we sure we'll fit?" she said as the strip of light from the bay doors ballooned on the viewscreen.
“Sixteen ships just came out.. there’s room for us! You have your orders!“ Kennit replied.
"Yes ma'am!" Penny said, turning them, trying to calculate the best angle to have them slip inside while avoiding crashing into the other ships.
The Victory surged forward, ignoring the attack on the Castelnaudary and instead made way straight toward the brilliant lit bay which was all that could be seen of the station within the dark void.
The highly unexpected maneuver by the Starfleet ship caught Lilith and her forces quite by surprise. The rational expectation would have been for the Victory to have immediately gone to the aid of the other Starfleet ship. But, no one who knew her would ever say that Fleet Captain Kennit tended toward rational actions.. especially when suitably provoked.
And right now..
She was decidedly provoked.
Station Guest Quarters
AJ paced the room like a caged animal, looking around, thinking. When he'd counted off sixty seconds, and was sure that Lilith had gone, he walked to the door to see if it would open. To no one's surprise, it stayed closed.
"All right," he said. "I'll need to see about getting into the wiring. If I can send a feedback surge to the door controls, I might be able to short out the lock mechanism." He examined the control panel by the door. "Just need something to pry this off with...."
“I have a better idea,” Camille said. She stood by the replicator. “Obviously we can’t replicate weapons, but maybe their security measures still let us keep the furniture clean, and help with your heart condition.”
"I have a heart condition?" AJ said, turning.
Camille winked at him. “Computer, ten grams nitroglycerin, concentrated. Fifty grams diatomaceous earth. One…class A firecracker. For a fun show.” She crossed her fingers and said a silent prayer, but it worked. The replicator computer had not connected the items that were being requested.
"Remind me to take you on a few missions with me when we're out of ammo," AJ said.
Camille tossed him the firecracker. “Take this apart and retrieve the blasting cap,” she said, as she carefully mixed the nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth. “Keep the fuse intact. This is very dangerous, but if we do nothing, it would be much worse.”
"On it," he said, catching the explosive and pulling apart the casing. He carefully began to disassemble it, saving each component, just in case his new favorite munitions expert had more ideas up her sleeve.
A few moments later, she took the blasting cap and fuse from AJ and gently slid the business end of it into her makeshift miniature dynamite stick. “Computer, I want to light a candle. Can I have some matches, or a lighter, please?” The replicator produced a simple wooden matchstick and striking surface.
“I don’t know how big this will be, but at minimum it will open the door.” The station shook as it came under fire, making Camille trip as she brought the stick to the door. She set it on the floor, in the middle of the door seam. “Behind the sofa for cover.”
"Sounds like someone may blow things up for us," AJ said. "All right. You get behind the couch. I'll light the fuse. If this is going to blow up in our faces, at least we'll be risking the handsome one."
Camille gave him a smirk, but understood that he was doing his duty. She nodded and gave AJ the match and strike pad. “Bonne chance.”
"Thanks," AJ said. He waited until she was well behind the couch, then struck the match. He lit the fuse, took a moment to confirm it took, then ran like a bat out of hell, diving behind a sofa as the homemade explosive went off.
Not enough for a hull rupture, it was enough to put a small hole with sizable cracks in the bottom of the door. AJ kicked hard at the hole, opening it further, and waited for someone to notice. When no patrol came, he leaned down and looked out. Seeing the coast clear, he got down and crawled through into the corridor. He scouted a few feet in either direction, then came back to their door. "Clear," he said.
Camille surveyed her work with pride, and then fell into position behind AJ.
"Let's go find the kids," AJ said, taking the lead and keeping to the wall as he moved carefully down the corridor.
Victory
On the station, by the time the crew realized what the massive starship was doing it was too late. The ships not ganging up on the Castelnaudary began firing at the Victory, chasing them towards the station. As they approached, the bay doors began to close, too slowly to prevent the Starfleet ship from entering and the big ship came through the doors with her braking thrusters making a silent roar of venting plasma pushing hard to slow the ships forward momentum. The ship cruised across the cavernous bay, her bow coming to within 30 meters of impacting the far bulkheads as she came to a halt and then slowly backed away, the force of her thrusters sufficient to make the deck plates in the area directly in front of her shake from the plasma discharge.
“Open a channel..”. Kennit barked out.
The moment she was told the channel was open she said “Maybe you did not understand me. You are holding two members of my crew and seven civilian minors abducted against their will. I asked politely for their return. I will not ask politely again.”
Lilith's face was a mask of fury. "You....idiot..." she said. "Your little stunt just had the exact opposite result of what you wanted! You blew power to the medical area. The children are now loose!"
“My ship has not yet fired its weapons, despite your own unprovoked attack on the Castelnaudary.” Came Kennit’s reply. “Whatever damage your station has sustained came from one of your own ships, not us. Next time hire more competent mercenaries to do your dirty work..”
Lilith opened her mouth to yell, but a beep gave her pause. She hit a control and Admiral Markus appeared on the screen. "Guarantee me safe passage, and I'll come on board and find them," he said.
"You aren't getting near them," she hissed. "If you think I'm going to let you destroy--"
"Fine," Markus snapped. His voice was harsher, louder and angrier than he'd shown in some time. Even Lilith paused, eyebrows going up in surprise. "Beam over here, and let's have this out. Whatever is in your craw, I want to know."
"I'm not setting foot on your ship," she said, folding her arms and crossing her legs, resolutely.
"Then we're coming in," he said. Suddenly the Castel shimmered back into view inside the bay next to the Victory. "Or I allow Captain Kennit to blow you up from the inside, and we all go together."
Lilith looked at Kennit, then back at Markus. "I'll send coordinates," she said. "Leave your fish in the water," she added, before closing the channel.
Markus rolled his eyes and looked at Kennit. "Feel free to join. If you have a decent psychologist, we may need her, as well as a security team in case things get out of hand."
“I have a security team already standing by, and can request that our ships counselor Lt. JG Friedman join us.”
"Good," Markus said, closing the channel.
“Bridge to Lt. Friedman. Meet me in the transporter room immediately.” Kennit said over the comm system.
Sydney had returned to her office to work while they'd been en route, but she perked up immediately at the summons. "Aye, Captain!" Sydney said, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. "On my way!"
Transporter Room
Nicole was pacing like a caged animal, her commando suit on, baton strapped to her thigh. A constant growl was coming from her throat, and she was doing her best to keep her fangs in check while she waited for the signal to transport over.
As the doors opened, she looked over to see who'd arrived.
"Hello," Sydney said, smiling, then frowning as she saw the doctor's expression. "Are you all right?"
Nicole huffed and didn't respond, continuing her pacing.
"Tell me what's going on," Sydney said, quietly. She matched Nicole's pacing and looked at her. "You look like a bomb ready to explode. Tell me what you're going to do."
"I'm going to start ripping panels off the walls, if you must know," Nicole said. "Two people very important to me are being held on that station, and if we aren't there in the next ten seconds, I swear, I am going to--"
She looked as the doors opened again, bringing the Captain. "May we please go now?" Nicole said, overly polite, but clearly furious.
“Patience Doctor..” Kennit admonished as she entered the transporter room.
"All right team, lock and load! We have a job to do!" The team leader, a liutenant JG by the name of Thomas McCarthy said. "What do we do this for?" The team responded. "So that others may live and find their destiny!" The rest of the team said and gathered their gear.
Halvor unlocked the security panel and pulled the weapons rack out. He linked the tricorder and brought up the program. He started issuing hand phasers. He saw King and his rifle case. He issued another rifle and phasers to King.
King looked confused as he opened up his case and fitted the harness.
Halvor spoke, "You're carrying phasers for the Doc and Taggert." King nodded. While he did issue phasers to everyone, he waited for Captain's directive to issue rifles to everyone.
Seeing the questioning look from Halvor, the Captain nodded as she said, “Set weapons for max stun. Let’s not risk accidentally killing someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
Halvor looked at Summers and T'pek, "You two are with me. I carry these. You watch my six."
T'pek nodded.
Summers's eyebrow went up and she slightly smiled before nodding.
“Lt. Friedman, with me. We will beam over first and rendezvous with Admiral Markus. We will be seeking out Lilith to seek a resolution to this little fiasco. The rest of you will follow and initiate search and rescue operations to locate the hostages.” the Captain said.
"Aye, Captain," Sydney said, immediately getting onto the transporter padd and taking her position.
Nicole's nostrils flared with annoyance but she stood ready, waiting for her turn.
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