Boarding Team Beta: Cyberwarefare | Part I

Posted on Tue Feb 27th, 2018 @ 6:50am by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa & Lieutenant Caleb Garcia PhD & Lieutenant Aeryn Vinia

Mission: S01E02 D-8 With the Devil
Location: Boreth Klingon Shipyard

----------------------------------
Musashi - Transporter Room
----------------------------------

With a deep breath in and a long exhale out, the Captain walked into the transporter room after having turned over the Bridge to her First Officer and a rather young and nearly skeletal, but efficient bridge crew. While she took her time getting to the transporter room, it was partially to allow the members of her boarding party to grab their gear and meet her in transporter room two. All members of the boarding team were specifically instructed to be armed. She was not going to risk anyone not being able to defend themselves. Doctor Garcia and Ensign Marquez were her engineering and technology specialist. Crewmen was there to laydown cover fire and protect them all as necessary. Nurse Aeryn Vinia was there to do more than patch them up if need be, she was there because she had proven herself. Fig knew she could trust the nurse and that Aeryn could handle herself if need be.

Captain Donatella Figueroa was not taking any chances. She walked into the room wearing a holster, a type II hand phaser securely holstered at her hip. It rested there as her back up. She was brandishing a larger type III tactical phaser riffle, checking it as she walked over to the transporter console to check if there was any word from the Bridge yet. She looked up from the console's screen, checking on her boarding party. "All weapons checked?" she asked each of them in unison.

Caleb Garcia always felt claustrophobic in the chamber of the transporter. He knew a lot of it had to do with his height, but that feeling of being packed together like sardines in a tin can also was a feeling that made his skin crawl. In his left hand he carried an engineering case, and the shorter man, Ensign Marquez, also had a case that matched his own. He was able to talk to Marquez for a little bit when the young man was in engineering. He was bloody brilliant, and Caleb was left in awe after the conversation. He would talk to Commander Samuels about getting Marquez on his engineering team, that was, if they survived this foray into a Klingon held station. On his right hip was his holster with his weapon, a weapon that he was qualified to shoot but didn't do so unless he had to... which was quarterly to keep his certifications up. He hoped to whatever Gods were out there that he wasn't going to have to use it, but he would if need be. "Yes, Captain," Caleb replied, and nodded. He hadn't just checked his weapon once, but twice, and then a third time for good measure.

Excitement and nervousness fought for control over Arturo Marquez. He stood there, feeling all these emotions that were manifested from the pit of his stomach, which for the most part felt like a melon had set up shop in there. He was excited to be going on an away mission, but he almost felt like he was about to enter the lion's den. He already knew his job and he was confident he could complete, it was getting out of there alive which worried him. He wasn't afraid to die, he had learned what it meant to put on the uniform, but still he didn't want his life cut short if at all possible. He carried with him an engineering kit which contained the instruments and tools he would need to tap into the computer systems of the shipyard. That would be the easy part for the part of his mind that was technical and full of equations, algorithms and numbers. He thought about the weapon that was holstered to hims hip, how he was just an okay shot, but it certainly was not his strong suit. When the captain asked if their weapons were checked, he nodded and a soft 'yes' left his lips.

Nice to see my boys are ready thought the Captain. She then looked over to check on Strong and Nurse Vinia. "This isn't your every day mission. Hostile planet terrain and atmosphere is one thing. Beaming over in a split window of opportunity aboard a Klingon facility and take the fight to them? Now, that's something we do not do everyday. But we will do this and we will be coming home together" she said rallying her 'troops'.

The mere thought of taking on the Klingons on their own ship sent shivers down Vanessa's spin, but Philips has thought her a lot after that first away mission and she knew she was as ready as she might ever be. She nodded to the affirmative and was as ready as she could ever be. She checked her equipment on her battle vest. All her mags were secure for her side arm! Her phaser and a tri order were on her belt and her mental game was in tact. "Let's do this." Was all she said as she put on her game face.

Aeryn looked profoundly uncomfortable with the fact that she was armed. Do no harm does not include wearing a gun with the intent of using it. I hate this part of service so much. Her medkit was an emergency and trauma kit, but it also held a few surprises like anasthetic gas that only worked on Klingons. One good breath of it, and they'd be on the floor snoozing.

The transporter console began singing like a canary and her communicator was chirping up a storm. Fig pulled her communicator out a whipped it open with a quick flip. "We hear you loud and clear" she responded and closed it. She looked at her boarding team and nodded. "This is it. Be ready" she said as she punched in the commands at the transporter console. Their coordinates had been supplied from the science station on the Bridge and the shipyard's shields were momentarily down.

Vanessa drew her weapon and chambered a round. She crouched low and was at the ready. When they materialized, she would be ready to rock and roll!

Fig slide the control bar up and set a few second delay and she quickly got herself into place on the pad... the shimmering effect of the transporter and it's glow encased them for several seconds and they faded out, swept away only to soon rematerialize aboard the Klingon shipyard.

________________________
Shipyard | Cargo Hold
______________________

The boarding party had successfully made it aboard the Klingon shipyard. However, where exactly she was unsure. It was nearly pitch black wherever they had beamed to on the shipyard. Captain Figueroa turned on the light mounted onto her riffle and gave a quick whirl around the room. Her team were all accounted for. "Light us up" she said calling for more illumination.

Lights came on pretty much in unison, as Vanessa flipped the switch on her mounted light on her weapon.

The one thing Caleb noticed the moment he materialized was the stench. His nose crinkled at it. The second thing he noticed, when his eyes adjusted to the low light, was the fact that the corridor was much taller and wider than on a Federation vessel. He looked up and noticed the low hanging support beams and took note of it to duck. He opened up his repair kit and pulled out a maglight, as he did so he looked to Ensign Marquez and with a lift of his chin, had the young ensign do the same. He clicked on the maglight and gripped it tightly, sweeping the beam from left to right and up and down. "Seems a bit crude in it's construction, but stable," Caleb said, his normal baritone, soft tone, was just above a whisper now. He noticed the dents and missing bolts on the seams of the bulkheads.

Vanessa began scanning the way she was taught. "A door way over here." She whispered, as a battle took place inside her head. One moment courage raced through her. Then the next, she was duacile as a Lamb. Then she would remember what Philips had been teaching her. You can wait for help to come, which may never happen, or you can help yourself. Don't let me find your body after a failed mission with rounds left unfired. You protect yourself and your team! He stressed to her. Then the courage returned. There was time for doubt later in the comfort of his arms. But now was a time for business, and there was no doubt her customer service skills were going to come in handy soon. She put away her tricorder and drew her second forty five. Grabbed the slide and pulled it to the rear chambering a round. She was crouched and ready.

The illumination certainly well welcomed, but it did not help with the stench. I almost forgot how terrible Klingons smell she thought to herself as she made her way towards a door. She approached it, but it did not budge at all. Maybe it's motion sensors aren't working she thought as she placed her hands on it strategically and tried to force it open. "Might just need a little elbow..." she started to say, but it didn't move one iota. Instead, she went tumbling onto her ass. The door had gotten the best of her. "Damn it" she muttered. "I think we are locked in here wherever or whatever here is" commented Fig.

"Can we figure out where here is?" Aeryn asked as she extended her hand to help her captain rise from the ground.

The Captain looked around. "I'm working on it..." she said to the Nurse who had helped her up. "But I don't want to start firing phasers trying to carve our way out of wherever here is...."

"Um I can," Arturo spoke up, his hand was raised to shoulder level as if he were in a classroom. When all eyes were on him, his own dark brown orbs went wide for a moment, he took a breath, scrunched his nose at the stench, and exhaled. "I mean, I think I can, I uh..." His gaze met the expectant gaze of the captain. He swallowed hard as he stepped forward. "That sign on the bulkhead," he extended his arm, aiming his flashlight at the markings on the bulkhead. "We are in some sort of storage facility, nonetheless the word is equivalent to that of 'cargo bay'."

Fig looked at the young navigator quite impressed. Klingon was such a peculiar and harsh language on the throat, lots of glottal stops, it was equally, if not more difficult to read. She only picked up a few phrases when a priosoner and trying to read it gave her a severe headache. Only a few dozen Federation linguists had made progress over the years thanks to the work of Hoshi Sato. "Ensign, you would make Lieutenant Commander Sato a very happy woman" she said giving the ensign a look of respect.

"Thank you, captain," Arturo replied. His cheeks colored--though thankfully no one could see due to the dim lighting--but they colored nonetheless at the compliment. Hoshi Sato was one of his heroes, he had read everything he could get his hands on concerning her. While everybody talked about Captain Archer's exploits, he talked about how Hoshi Sato reshaped how universal translation. People dismissed him concerning that, mostly because they wanted a hero who was more sough and tumble as opposed to shy and reserved. Though, Lieutenant Commander Sato certainly proved herself and came into her own... in a way, he felt a lot like her, which meant he hoped he would come into his own one day.

Caleb placed one large hand on Marquez' shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze of support without saying anything. He was impressed, was there anything that Arturo Marquez couldn't do?

"Cargo bay...right" she said thinking. "This door is probably security locked, but there should be a control pannel nearby...." she said as she shown her light about, scanning the bulkheads. Her light stopped one a reflective surface. "That's it" she proclaimed as she moved in closer.

Captain Figueroa took the butt of her riffle and smashed the reflective surface of the control pannel. Clearing the shards out of the way with her riffle, several wires of various colores and thicknesses were visible. She looked at her Acting Chief Engineer. "Doctor Garcia, have you ever 'hot wired' your grandfather's old shuttles?" she asked curiously.

This noise was bound to attract attention. Vanessa readied herself. Her back against the wall, both weapons at the ready, and she waited. Reciting to herself all that Philips has taught her. Breath relax aim squeeze. Patienc is a virtue, calm cool and collected, engage and work through the target. Making sure it was dead. Leave no man behind. Deal death and destruction. Be the weapon. Team work, is good work. Complete your objective or people will have died for nothing. Make it mean something. As she waited! Just over here shoulder was the nozzle to her water container. Cotton mouth was now her friend, it told her she was thinking hard about what was needed. She quickly lifted her right hand and pushed the nozzle to her lips and took a big swig. The cool water breached the opening and straight into her mouth. She was instantly refreshed. A smile came to her face. He was right. A little bit of home in times like this did make a difference. She was thankful for his lessons and would make sure he knew it when she saw him next! But for now, she was more than ready, she was eager!

"My grandfather never owned a shuttle," Caleb Garcia said, he crouched down to take a better look at the innards. At six nine, crouching down still put him at eye level of the Klingon door device. "In fact, my grandfather was a simple man with simple tastes." His large hands and long fingers began to go to work, he may not have known Klingon like the young Mister Marquez, but door triggers were the same in any engineering language. It took a few minutes and the large, heavy, duranium doors burped a loud click and that followed by the heavy doors parting. "Voila..." he called out, "and it didn't even take me knowing how to hot wire a shuttle."

"Voila indeed Doctor Garcia" she said approvingly. I can only imagine what the girls at the academy had to say about you she thought privately to herself. The engineer was damn good and after his latest magic trick, Captain Donatella Figueroa was reassured that selecting him a while back to serve in the Engineering Department was the right deciison. Now, she was very confident that he could handle the duties and responsibilities of Chief Engineer. The way he showed support of Ensign Marquez was a sign of leadership. She had no idea how the other boarding party was doing right now, but she could not help but think about how some of her youngest crew were being given a baptism by fire. Crewmen who had only recently made it through and out of basic training were playing crucial parts to this mission alongside an academy cadet and ensigns on their first assignment.

However, these sheep were lead by a fierce lioness with years of command experience under her belt, and who shouldered a long and violent history with the Klingons as a war veteran. The Captain toated her riffle and proceeded towards the door as they burped their loud click and parted ways. "Nessa" she said looking at her Yeoman whom was also was significantly security trained. The Captain gave her a nod. Though the Captain was fearless and had no qualms about taking point through the door and leading her team into the corridor, security protocols dictated that it was too risky for the Captain to lead. I would give my life for this crew she thought to herself. "Clear left and I'll clear right, Nessa" she said to the woman. Though Crewmen Vanessa Strong had a slight lead on the Captain, Donatella stayed right on the other woman's heels.

Clearing an area that might contain a dangerous person was something you did slowly, methodically and with purpose. She approached the door cautiously and slowly. Quickly looking right with the tip of here weapon in her left hand pointing in the direction she was looking, and duplicating the action with the weapon in her right hand when she looked left, just like Philips had taught her. She saw no one. The hall lead to the left, so she stepped through with both weapons in hand, one facing in each direction. She whispered loud enough for her team to hear her. "Clear, I'll cover your movement." As she took up a position that would allow the team to slip in behind her and cover both directions in the new corridor that they were entering.

"Clear" said Captain Figueroa as she made the corner turn out of the cargo area and flashed the light of her riffle down the Klingon corridor. Having a quick look around the Musashi's Commanding Officer saw an interractive shipyard display. She approached it quickly and studied the 'map' of the display as best she could. She remembered what the Klingon characters on the plaque that Arturo had read looked like. She was able to find it on the display.

She knew that Vanessa would be alert and fire if anyone came their way. Though Fig did not want to stand out in the corridor studying a display too long. Klingons would be coming. You could bet your bottom dollar that today rather than tomorrow. "Ensign Marquez" she said calling for her young navigator. "This" she said running her finger across the corridor of the display and onto a room. "Two words here. This second part...it's core" she said sounding out the Klingon and saying the word as the rest of them would know it. "Whats's the first part? Is it computer?"

At the call of his rank and surname, Arturo stepped forward and studied the large display. His gaze followed the captain's finger as she traced a line. He mouthed the words in Klingon first, "ghun De'wI', ghun De'wI'." He looked to the captain then as he worked it out. "It's analogous to our computer core, but they call it a programmer room. His gaze turned back to the systems display and studied it even further as he did so, he said, "That's going to be where we want to go."

Captain Donatella Figueroa nodded and a swung her riffle around motioning for Dr. Garcia and Nurse Vinia to come on out. Together, they would stay. Together, they would head down the corridors and make their way to the programmer room. "There's going to be Klingons in that room for sure" she said. "Vanessa and I will enter first and clear the room and dispose of the Klingons. You three will stay alert and stay out of the line of fire" she said as they continued throught the Klingon shipyard. The sound of heavy boots clammering down a nearby corridor was enough to send Fig and the others scattering with their back's pressed to bulkheads.

They were getting very close to this programmer room now. Fig looked up around and pointed to a door. That was it. That was the programmer room they had been looking for. She looked at Vanessa as the Captain immediately increased the setting of her riffle to the heaviest stun setting possible before crossing into lethal force. "Showtime" said the Captain as she headed towards the door with Crewmen Strong.

Vannesa swept through the door from right to left. She engaged the first Klingon taking them by surprise. The crack of the .45 going off stunned those in the room as the first Klingon dropped. Vannesa dropped to one knee and swung her gaze and her weapons to the right. " Bang Bang." Another Klingon fell. By then someone was joining her from the team, who she was not sure, but the room lit up with phaser fire. Another Klingon was stunned and a knife flew past Vanessa's head so close she could swear she was cut. Before the thrower could manage another, the phaser caught him in the chest, and the next round from her .45 caught him in the shoulder of his throwing arm. He went down like a sack of shit! "Clear." yelled Vanessa to whoever it was firing the phaser rifle. "I'll secure the room." And she began going from Klingon to Klingon to ensure they were down and would stay that way.

Something was happening to her. And she liked it. The yeoman that joined Star Fleet was slowly disappearing, thanks to Philips. "The room is secure, let's get this done so we can get out of here please." Said Vanessa

Gaining entry into the room that had now been cleared, Figueroa and the rest of the team filed in. She immediately found what appeared the be the largest console or work station in the room. "This is it. It's going to be on here somewhere" she said nodding. "Marquez" she said and quickly added "Garcia" as she called the two men with the most technological experience. She would leave the two of them to acquire the data they were looking for.

The Captain looked at Vanessa Strong. "Guard them and make sure they get their job done. If you see a Klingon, shoot it. If Nurse Vinia and I are not back before those two are finished, you have your orders to transport back to the starship as soon they have what we came here for."

Vanessa acknowledged her orders and would carry them out. "Aye Captain, will do!" As she watched them prepare.


=END of Part I=