Alora DeVeau Posted July 11 Posted July 11 Need Help? Just call triple A! Phase 2 BEGINS! (( Captain’s Ready Room, Deck 1, USS Kitty Hawk )) With the auto destruct sequence disengaged, the changeling known as specimen 731 captured, and the Kitty Hawk proceeding at best possible speed back to Earth with the prototype USS Miller escorting her, Roshanara entered the ready room and called out to the computer. Rahman: Computer, seal the doors and silence all comm calls to this room. After the computer responded with an acknowledgement beep, the Kriosian sat behind her desk and turned the desktop monitor towards her. Rahman: Open a secure channel to the Astraeus and Artemis: priority one. Captain’s eyes only. (( Captain’s Ready Room, Deck 1, USS Astraeus )) Swiping down on the screen on his terminal to queue the message for later transmission, Mei’konda leaned back in his chair, reaching up to massage his temples with both fingers. Letters of condolences were perhaps the most draining part of his job. The Caitian was fortunate in that he hadn’t had to write many of them over the years, but after the Changeling sabotage in his ship’s Operations center which had resulted in five deaths, in addition to the murder of their Master-at-Arms Andrew Davis, so that one of the pair could assume his identity, he’d known it was a duty he’d have to get on as soon as possible. With Astraeus now on her way to Earth but with the situation at Spacedock and Starfleet Headquarters still unknown, Mei had made the decision that all unnecessary communications would be restricted until further notice. At the very least, until Changeling infiltration at Headquarters could be ruled out… or dealt with. That meant that his officers and crews’ families would have to wait to find out what had happened. Astraeus Bridge: =/\= Captain Delano, we’re receiving a three way communication request… identifiers show that they’re coming from the Kitty Hawk and the Artemis. =/\= Mei’konda cracked his eyes open again, and a frown creased his muzzle. The ship of his old Captain, whom he’d spoken to at the beginning of this mess. And Addison MacKenzie’s ship. He’d never met the former medical officer, but knew her background well enough. She was one of the most highly decorated officers in Starbase 118’s attached fleet. But were they who they said they were? He was fairly sure that he could make that verification with Rahman, but what about with MacKenzie? Mei’konda: =/\= Acknowledged, Briidge. Encrypt the signal. I don’t waant anyone outside of our three shiips interceptiing it. I’ll taake it in my ready room. =/\= Astraeus Bridge: =/\= Aye, Captain. =/\= (( Captain’s Ready Room, Deck 1, USS Artemis )) Addison sunk into the chair behind the large mahogany desk in her office. Over the course of her career, the surgeon-turned-commanding officer had gotten exceedingly proficient in the art of learning to let things go that were beyond your control. Sometimes you could perform a textbook surgery, and sometimes the patient still died. The reality was that the galaxy was full of injustice, and getting worked up or upset about the actions of the universe was only likely to shorten one’s life due to stress. The Borg’s sudden appearance in the Alpha Quadrant and would-be alliance with the Changelings was only the latest in a long line of universal injustices. The damage to the Artemis and loss of life was another. But there was no time to think about any of that: the battle wasn’t yet one; the day not yet saved. There was still work to be done, and she couldn’t tend to the businesses of processing the events of the day until it was all over. Hallia had done well expediting the repairs to both the warp drive and the communication array. The idea of trying to amplify the comm arrays of other, smaller sources on the ship was a stroke of genius, but they had know way to know if their warning was ever received. Now that they knew the Borg were on a course for Earth, it was likely they’d make sure no messages got through. There was only one person in the quadrant Addison knew she could trust. Her former CO was not only on her way to participate in the Frontier Day celebrations, but she was also arguably making the longest trek of any ship. Not to mention, Addison now had several of Amity Outpost’s crew aboard. …she wondered how surprised Rivi Vataix must be. After the pair of officers verified each others’ identities after a series of questions regarding Addison’s poor choice in men and the best burgers in the Shoals (sleazy Betazoid royalty and Welder’s Diner, respectively), Rahman requested that another trusted source be added to the conversation. When the three-way link had been established, Addison got word from the bridge. Artemis Bridge: =/\= Captain MacKenzie, we have Captains Rahman and Mei'konda. =/\= MacKenzie: =/\= Acknowledged. Route it through to my ready room and encrypt the transmission. =/\= After a moment, two faces appeared on her screen: one new, and one with which she was intimately familiar. (( Doing away with location tags and communications =/\= markers here, so they don’t clutter up the whole scene! )) Mei’konda glanced back and forth between the two faces on his screen, his sharp blue gaze settling on Rahman first. Mei’konda: It’s good to see you, Captain Rahman. After all of thiis business with the Titan, I’ll be glaad to give my crew some tiime to relax on Earth. My parents will be there, Roshanara, I thiink they would be delighted to finally meet my old commaanding officer. Rahman: I see… I’m sure they haven’t already forgotten the lengthy discussion we had at your wedding. Your father had quite the opinion on the state of the Federation since his return to the timeline. Mei’konda’s father had supposedly been killed at the Battle of Wolf 359, but thanks to the whims of the Q continuum, he and his ship the USS Yamaguchi had actually been preserved and he and the rest of his crewmates were brought forward twenty-five years later, where he would be reunited with his son, now a grown Starfleet officer. Mei’konda exhaled a slow, relieved breath. As he’d hoped she would, Rahman had properly called him out on the misinformation. She was who she said she was. Rahman: Now, as for finally meeting, this is Captain Addison MacKenzie. She joined Veritas as a medical officer a few months after you’d left to take command of the Montreal. Addison sat back in her chair, observing the expressions on the faces of the pair on her screen. If Rahman trusted the Caitian, that was good enough for her. MacKenzie: It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mei’konda. Your reputation precedes you. The Caitian nodded in confirmation to Rahman. If she was sure that MacKenzie was also safe to speak with, he was willing to take her word for it. Mei’konda: Then maay I say… it is an immense relief to taalk to the both of you. Roshanara let herself exhale a sigh of relief as well. Rahman: It has certainly been a day… but it’s good to talk with some old friends. Addison crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. MacKenzie: Especially since we don’t know how many of us are left. Rahman: When I heard the Astraeus had gone silent, I was a bit worried myself, I have to admit. Leaning forward in his seat, the Caitian man clasped his hands together atop his desk. Mei’konda: Yes, Captain. I assumed some at Starfleet would be wonderiing at the sudden cessaation of reports from my shiip. The truth is, we had two Changeling infiltraators on board. We have dealt with them, and have one in the brig. But they caused extensiive damage… as well as casualties, before we could do so. Before that, behaavior by the captains of the Cole and the Sternbach was very… suspiicious, to say the least. Addison raised an eyebrow. The Changelings were apparently back with a vengeance, and Addison took comfort in the fact that they didn’t appear to be the only victims. MacKenzie: We’ve had a similar experience here… Unconsciously, Mei reached up to rub at his neck. He couldn’t still feel where the Changeling had wrapped its tentacle around his throat and attempted to choke him to death, not really… but the memory was fresh. It had only happened a few hours ago. It almost felt like days. Mei’konda: One of them attempted to kill me, and taake my place. We managed to kill it instead, and I then contaacted the Cole’s CO. I was able to conviince him that the replacement had been successful, and he shared some interestiing information with me. What about the two of you? Rahman: Unfortunately for my crew, a changeling was successfully in knocking me out at Spacedock before we even left. She got aboard and pretended to be me–apparently so convincingly that she even got my first officer to activate the self-destruct sequence with her. We’re not quite sure what the full plan was. A Ferengi scavenger attacked the Kitty Hawk but was destroyed, and our changeling “friends” aren’t giving us many answers from the brig. Addison shook her head. MacKenzie: I’m sure the goal of ours was to replace me, but fortunately we discovered the sabotage before they could get to me. We weren’t able to extract any more useful information from it. Mei nodded, thoughtfully. Mei’konda: I see…Captain Th’vorrorh of the Cole mentioned somethiing about Fleet Formation mode, and disappointment that there had been difficulties in adaptiing the software to our systems. Astraeus is too old; her computer systems too unique, with her blend of isolinear and bio-neural hardware. It sounded as if that had somethiing to do with their plan. MacKenzie: What else do you know? Mei’konda: On my end, only a few other thiings. Captain Th’vorrorh, or… The Changeling who was impersonaating him, also said that we could not disappoint someone named Vadic, and that findiing a man named Jack Crusher was essential. The implicaation seemed to be that Jack Crusher was on board the Titan, but there is no record of a crew member with that naame, and the only passengers we know they have on board are… He shook his head, and sighed. Mei’konda: Retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, and Captain William T. Riker. Addison’s eyes narrowed. MacKenzie: Crusher… Beverly Crusher was an experienced physician and former head of Starfleet Medical. I have to assume there must be some relation if Admiral Picard and Captain Riker are also involved… Are you still intended to participate in the ceremony? Mei’konda: Yes, we’re presently on course for Sector 001. Technicaally, I am still obeyiing orders, as that is where the Cole wanted us, but I have no intentiion of continuing our search for the Titan. It seems to me that they are on our side. Roshanara nodded, musing again about whom they might be able to trust Rahman: At this point, it might be easier to assume the ships that *have* gone silent are the ones left on “our side.” From what we do know from the changelings on Kitty Hawk, there is strong resentment against the Federation. These appear to be an offshoot group from the larger Great Link–more akin to a rogue terrorist cell. Given the sophistication of the conspiracy thus far and their success in infiltrating Starfleet, we have to assume they’re planning a bigger attack. Addison shook her head. MacKenzie: We have a bigger problem. We encountered a Borg Cube as we were passing through the Badlands. Interestingly, Captain Rahman, after we boarded the ship, we ran into a team of officers from Amity who managed to board the ship via some kind of transwarp conduit… We discovered the Borg stole some kind of technology from Amity, but we weren’t able to determine what. They dealt quite a bit of damage to our systems before they withdrew… But they’re on a course for Earth. Mei’konda straightened up in his seat, the shock visible on his face. The Changelings? And now the Borg? He’d never been involved in any situation which directly involved one of the Federation’s most deadly enemies, and now they seemed to be facing two - the Borg and perhaps the Dominion? Mei’konda: … Changelings and Borg at the same time? This seems faar too much to be a coincidence. Conventiional wisdom would seem to imply that they are coming at the first tiime, with so much of the fleet gathered at Earth, and paarticularly with Fleet Formation mode comiing online with so many of the newer vessels… perhaps it is, in some way, central to their plan. The Cole’s false Captain mentiioned it directly, after all. Roshanara took a deep breath. She could feel the pressure of that metaphorical ticking clock bearing down on her. Every minute that passed was another minute closer to disaster. Rahman: If they’re working together, and the changelings have infiltrated Command, we need to get back to Earth and warn the wider fleet ourselves. Go directly to the other captains. Have any of you been able to contact anyone else in the Sol system? Addison shook her head again. MacKenzie: We’re enroute, but we were significantly delayed. We tried to get a message through, but I think we should assume it never made it. The Caitian nodded slowly. With his crew, he’d do his best to stay positive and never let them think a crisis couldn’t be survived through perseverance, intelligence, and grit. He wasn’t about to do so with these two Captains, either. Mei’konda: Agreed. I think that we should ensure that our three ships can maintaiin encrypted communicaations until this siituation is resolved. Roshanara folded her hands together, interlacing her fingers as she considered their immediate next steps. Rahman: Kitty Hawk only has a skeleton crew aboard and we’re still making repairs from the sabotage. I think it makes sense for Kitty Hawk and Artemis to rendezvous before we head into the Sol system. Mei, you’re the closest of the three of us to Earth. Try to see if you can find other allies and warn the fleet to be on alert. We’ll try to get there not too far behind you. She looked back at both of her former shipmates. Once, they were her subordinates that she had the responsibility to protect as their captain. Today, they were her equals, and they were all tasked with protecting the Federation from whatever nefarious plan the Borg and Changeling alliance had concocted. Rahman: Whatever lies ahead, we will face it together. Godspeed, both of you. ======================================= Captain Mei’konda Delano Commanding Officer USS Astraeus, NCC-70652 M239002M10 & Captain Roshanara Rahman CO, USS Kitty Hawk I238705TZ0 & Captain Addison MacKenzie, M.D., Ph.D., FASFS Commanding Officer USS Artemis-A Captains Council Member at Large V239601AM0 3 Quote
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