Boarding Team Alpha: Boomtown Rats | Part I

Posted on Tue Feb 27th, 2018 @ 6:49am by Commander K'Niras Sh'howul & Lieutenant Junior Grade Shras th'Zarath & Lieutenant Junior Grade Ethan O'Donoghue & Chief Petty Officer Alphonso Phillips & Ensign Charles Bartowski

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

ON:

K'Niras was the first to arrive in the transporter room. Even though this wasn't his first away mission he found that he still had jitters. His tail twitched rapidly behind him, displaying his nervousness. He had already checked his gear several times and even had extra gear just in case. Along with his phaser and rifle, he also had a utility knife, a dermal regenerator and two tricorders. One was medical. He felt he could never be too prepared.

His team would be doing two things, both critical to the success of their mission. First they would have to make it to a terminal that would give them access to the automated defenses and shut them down. Secondly, they would make it towards the prototype, board it, and place charges in all of her weak points. Since they did not have a schematic for the D8 they would be encountering, K'Niras had pulled the schematics for the D7 and sent copies to all of his teammates. He was certain that the D8 would be different, but at least this way they could have a relative idea. Most ships were similar in construction and species tended to build similar ships over time. The Klingons were no exception.

CPO Phillips grabbed his gear and headed to the meeting place for the hand picked team. As he walked, he loaded his twin .45s and placed them in their respective holsters and tucked his phaser on his duty belt. With him, killing Klingons was a hobby!

As he made it to the designated meeting point, he checked in. "Hi guys, did I miss anything?" Asked Phillips.

K'Niras looked up from his pack and smiled a little at the Chief Petty Officer. "Not yet... were you planning on being late the party?" he joked lightly. "Although, I am afraid you are the opposite of late, Chief. You are the first to arrive. Glad to have you along."

"He's only before me because he doesn't have hooves to deal with. Thank you very much," said Crewmen Truff, a Tellarite from Engineering. "Barf" is coming along. He was on his way out of Engineering," added Truff. 'Barf' was the Crewmen's own nickname for the new cadet. Granted the Tellarite knew that he only had a relatively small window of opportunity before Bartowski had a commissioned rank of ensign. Even as it were, the Cadet had more 'pull' than the crewmen did. Truff had no plans on trying to call him 'Barf' when he did make ensign though.

K'Niras eyed the crewman. "None of that. You will refer to him as Cadet Bartowski or Cadet on this mission, Crewman. Do we understand each other?"

The Tellarite went to raise his arm up at give a 'thumbs up,' but again... hooves and such. He had something remotely like digits, but they still were rather hoofed looking. "Got it," he replied simply. Better watch what I say less I become his new scratching post, thought the young crewmen. "Anyways, the cadet will be here soon. And I heard someone stumbling about piss-faced last night cursing in some foreign variant tongue of Federation Standard. So, I'm pretty sure Ensign O'Donogue is alive and well... and ship scuttlebutt says that wherever EJ, his Andorian lamb is sure to follow. So, Yeah... Shras will be here soon too."

K'Niras stared at the crewman. "Crewman Truff!" He raised his voice a little because obviously the Tellarite was not getting the message. "I would very much appreciate it if you could keep the "scuttlebutt" to yourself. Thank you for the update on the rest of the team, but I do not care what they did last night. It has no place on this mission and only serves to distract you and others. Are we clear?" He was firm, his verbiage precise.

"Crystal pistol as an incoming missile" replied Truff. The engineer made his way over to the transporter console. He was going to set the transporter and ready it for them all to beam over as soon as the 'all clear' and 'go ahead' came through. "Still at stand by" he reported.

Phillips acknowledged each of them with a head nod. He finished loading his small back pack with the items he thought he might need and took a knee until they were ready to move. If the team leader wanted him to do anything, he or she would let Phillips know! So now we wait.

EJ had received some pretty bad news prior to this mission, so stumbling around drunk was just one of those coping mechanisms, He was dressed and ready to go. This mission was vital and EJ knew that. Running down the halls of the Musashi, he found himself at the transporter room "Sorry I'm late, I had a bit of rough day yesterday so you'll have excuse my snappy nature today," he said as he stepped onto the transporter pad. "In other words if I want to talk about I'll talk about it but right now we have a mission and I'd rather concentrate on this mission than concentrate on the crap going on inside my head, so if anybody has a problem with that I'll deal with it. K'Niras, I'll keep my mouth shut now, I just needed to let the team know that today is going to be a bit hard for me," he said turning round to face the engineer at the console. "Let's get back from this one alive guys," he said clearing his throat.

Truff did not say a word. EJ's emotions were felt in the tone of his voice and the word choices he made. I have no idea what has you all worked up, but I am staying the heck away from that storm, thought the Tellarite. They tended to love arguments and hostility as it was a form of communication and flattery in a twisted alien sense for them. You traded insults to show you liked someone, but Truff was not going to say a word except looking at the ensign and giving a simple nod.

Chuck walked into the transporter room, a black satchel slung over one shoulder and a phaser rifle over another. He had a utility belt with some variable yield photonic grenades and a phaser pistol on his waist- not that he was great with the latter. The Chief in the Armory had given him a quick tutorial- "Just push the button, turn the dial, and toss. Keep an eye on the top. Blue means blind. Redder means dead-er. Got it?"

With a slight smirk as he came back to reality, Chuck adjusted the body armor and tightened the strap of the satchel containing the twelve charges and checked the safeties on his pistol before reholstering it with a loud click. Feeling an itch in the back of his throat, he suddenly noticed that his mouth was dry and his heart felt like someone was playing the drums in his chest. Exhaling what little air was left in his lungs, he tried to breathe in but was having trouble. Was this what coming closer to his own mortality felt like?

Shaking the feeling, he tightened his fists and looked around the room at each of the men standing there. He was sure that they probably had their own rituals to keep the fear back, but Chuck couldn't quite push his down.

K'Niras ignored EJ's outburst and just hoped that the Ensign could keep it together. "We are only missing Lieutenant th'Zarath. Then I'll do a quick briefing and we'll get going."

Phillips thought it was time to get a grip on what was expected of them. "So like is this the moment where we come to grips with what our mission is? And what's expected of each of us?" asked Phillips.

Crewmen Truff looked at Chief Phillips teasingly. "Don't get your ganglia in a bunch, Chief," teased the Tellarite. "I think this is the part where we all get some motivational words and clear objective directions. Then we hope EJ is right and we all come back alive."

K'Niras nodded. "This is where we get our heads on straight and focus on what we need to do." He flipped open his comm. =/\= "Lieutenant th'Zarath, will you be joining us today?" =/\=

=/\= "On my way," =/\= the Andorian replied. This wasn't like him but he arrived late.

When Shras was present K'Niras turned to the group. "Alright, now that we're all here I'll just go over what we need to accomplish. I know you all already know this, but it's good to review anyway," K'Niras said, in way of starting the explaination. "We're going to transport over to the station and make our way to the prototype. On our way there we will need to access and shut down the shipyard's automatic defenses. Once we reach the prototype we will board it and set charges at its weak points. I have sent a schematic of the Klingon D7. I know it isn't exactly what we'll be dealing with, but shipbuilding is usually consistent and we can at least have some sort of guideline. Does anyone have any questions?" His tail bobbed nervously behind him.

Truff snorted. "None from me, Sir. I am ready to give these Klingons a good hoof in the ass," he said with a nod. "I'm ready... just let me at them. We will find that prototype and plant these charges... make it go Boom!" he said shouting and stomping his hooves about. The Crewmen was getting worked up.

K'Niras chuckled. At least the Klingon's were no one's favorite amongst this group. He looked at the others.

EJ Laughed a little at the tellarite. "I'm with Truff on this one Sir," EJ said as he prepared for what would come next, this mission would really test EJ's metal, after the news he received he really hoped that he kept this all together. "I think these Klingons aren't ready for us to board this and make it go boom, only thing I'm worried about if there are actual Klingons there I ain't holding back," he said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

Shras joined in. "Same goes for me. Map it out, blow it up!" the Andorian said, secretly nervous before his first op as CoS. He wasn't gonna show it however.

K'Niras nodded, his tail flicking back and forth. "Bartowski? Phillips? Anything to add?"

"I'm trying not to think too much. I got your back, just lead the way!" As Phillips scanned the area with gun in hand.

"Alright, then... let's get this show on the road." The Caitian stepped up onto the transporter and grinned at his team as they joined him. "Let's go blow up some Klingons!"

"Shosi," Shras said. "Translation. Cool!" Shras said further, checking the settings on his phaser.

The room came alive with chirping and a musical chorus of sounds from the transporter console. "That's our sign!" shouted the Tellarite who scooted about and made his way to the console reading the update. "Yes, yes, they did it. The shields are down! Captain Figueroa's team is beaming aboard now. It is go time!" reported the Tellarite as he set the transporter to begin with a slight delay. The coordinates were locked. They would be arriving somehwere on the shipyard on the opposire end of the other boarding team. It was a divide and conquer tactic.

He quickly made his way back onto the pad and stood ready as the golden shimmering light encased them all. The Tellarite snorted at the sensation. It was like a hundred feathers lightly brushing against his skin. The transporter room began to fade from his vision and within moments a dimly lit corrdior began to appear as his eyes readjusted to the new sights, sounds, and terrible scent.

==Klingon Shipyard==

"It smells terrible in here," announced Truff who had arguably better senses of smell than anyone else on the boarding party. It was the blessing and curse of being a Tellarite.Though their eyesight was terrible compared to other species. That was most certainly a curse. The alarm klaxon was distinctively not the same used by the Federation, and the whole interior looked foreign yet more or less what one would expect from a Klingon interior designer. "I've smelt better urinals on Risa," added the Tellarite.

K'Niras' nose was also very, very sensitive. He wrinkled it and lay his ears back against his head. He has his tricorder in one hand and a phaser in the other. "We need to find a terminal that will give us access to the defense system." He started to move forward. So far there weren't any Klingons, but he was certain that would not last long.

Truff nodded. "Right," he said simply. "The Musashi and Perry are getting bombarded out there right now. Musashi can pick off the Klingon battlecruisers well enough, but the shipyard's defenses are pounding the Perry. She can take a good beating, but not indefinitely," commented the Tellarite.

EJ wrinkled his nose, as they materialised inside the ship yard. "This place stinks worse than an irish potato farm," he said, coughing. "Honestly, I wouldn't light a cigarette in here, so much gas," he said as he looked at everyone. He could hear the battering of disruptor fire. "Looks like the Mushai and the Perry are taking a battering," he said furrowing his brow. "Let's find this console before those Klingon dogs happen upon us. As much as I'd like to kick some Klingon ass I'd rather we didn't get found," EJ said setting his phaser to stun. He looked at the Tellarite. "Truff is right the Perry ain't gonna last out there unless we do something about these defence batteries," he said looking around hoping the Klingons were far enough away to not cause issue to the away team.

K'Niras made his way down the hallway, slowly. They must have been in an area where no one was needed during an attack, because there were very few people around at all. "Keep your voices down... and keep moving. If you see a Klingon, shoot it." He slid along the edge of a wall, just before a corner, phaser at the ready, before peeking around the corner quickly. There was no one in sight, but at the end of the hallway looked to be a room with the potential to have what they needed in way of a computer console. He motioned for his team to follow behind him.

Philips and the rest of the team stacked behind him and traversed the hallway. All possible sectors of fire were covered in this setting. Just hoped the Klingons didn't have some kind of grenade. They would be in trouble.

Crewmen Truff practically had a hard-on over the thought of shooting some Klingons. After everything they had done over the years and the looming prospects of yet another war... he had no issue taking them out and raining on their parade. "We have two distinct objectives. We could split up into two smaller teams of three to divide and conquer. Three of us can work on the defensive systems while the other three get aboard that prototype and plant the explosives," snorted Truff.

K'Niras looked over his shoulder at the Tellarite. "No way are we splitting this party. I hardly think that three people against this fully manned shipyard are enough to hold back oncoming Klingons or cover anyone that might need to work at a console for a moment. I'm sorry, Crewman... but no. We will stay together." He pointed to the room down the hallway. "I think we will find our first stop down there..."

That was enough for Truff to shut the heck up. He was a Crewmen, K'Niras was a Lieutenant and this team was being lead by the Lieutenant. The Caitian had more education, experience, and a much higher rank than Truff. He would yield to these advantages and obey the Caitian. "Yes, Sir. Together we will get this mission done," replied the Tellarite with a nod of respect and obedience.

EJ was ready for near enough anything, These klingons has better hope they dident cross him today. Because he knew he would come out on top "Im with the Lieutenant im not entirely sure splitting us up is a good idea" he said cocking his phaser "Lets face it were a better unit than alone, i dont fancy Truffs odds against a full complement of klingons" he said laughing a little "I for one will do my best to give these dogs hell" Ej said looking forward with a steely gaze.

"Totally agree there," Shras said, readiying his own phaser. Agreeing with the Lieutenant notwithstanding, it was just his untested skills as a SO. A shortcoming he would have to remedy. "Strength in numbers." he said, his head on a swivel.

:END