When The Time Comes

Posted on Sat Oct 31st, 2020 @ 1:08am by Lieutenant JG Annabelle Trevor (P)

Mission: Torn- Parallel Majestic
Location: Yorktown Station
Timeline: PMD 3 (early morning hours)
1271 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Beata was startled by the sounds of shouts. She left the station she'd been working on and moved to see what all the commotion was about. A group of people were surrounding the airlock. She squinted, trying to see what they were doing. Her eyes widened in shock and she ran toward them. "Stop that, what are you doing!"

"Ensign!"

Acting out of pure instinct, Commander Hanover quickly yanked Ensign Lauryl's arm and pulled the operations officer behind a bulkhead just before the fluorescent orange beam of a handheld particle weapon illuminated the surrounding walls. Raised voices, aggressive body language, and a quick glance over the assembly set off every warning in Hanover's brain. A repeated, metallic clunking sound had drawn the four officers away from the station and towards the airlock. An improvised battering ram sat suspended in a harness, allowing several of the strongest members of the mob to swing it with great force against the airlock door.

"You alright?" Hanover asked as he ensured neither the phaser nor his sudden action had caused an injury.

She flinched and tried to cover herself in the time that he'd grabbed her and pulled her aside. Expecting it to be one of the other people who were trying to break in, it took her a moment to blink and truly see him. "Yes," she whispered. "What's going on, what are they doing? Why?" She almost asked why he wasn't preventing it but that didn't seem like the thing to ask a superior officer.

"Okay, so they quite obviously want to board our ship. In their position, I probably would too. Imagine scraping by for years and suddenly a venerable treasure trove of resources literally pulls up and docks to your station. I know what I'd be doing right now," Jared scowled, realizing that he had underprepared his captain and crew for such a possibility. "Think. We need options folks."

Annabelle winced at the close call Beata had.

"Well, since they are at a somewhat advantageous position. If we could create something to cover our approach, we could attack them, like maybe smoke bombs? Or for that matter, could create a distraction. If there was a way to deliver a shock to them to stun them it would be nice. Or set a phaser to overload."

"If we have to get tactical, those are all wonderful suggestions. These new phasers have a lot of safeties built in, but they aren't perfect. That said," Hanover paused, "they still need us to get in that door. Their battering ram is no match for ablative armor on a tritanium hull, plus the captain is probably on the other side calculating a way to get us back as well. Any luck raising anyone on the ship on comms? Ideally, I'd like the option to just beam back on the ship but they may have some kind of signal attenuation in place."

"I haven't been able to get through, hence my arrival here. Perhaps they are jamming the communications, and we find where the device might be at?"

"Sounds like the best plan to me?" Beata said as if that were almost a question. She tapped her communicator but it was definitely dead. "Right, the Captain won't let them through," which was a relief. "We just have to figure out how to get home and like you said I'm sure they're thinking on that as well. I don't suppose there's another airlock we could use or some small opening we could squeeze through . . . . you know, without getting exposed to the void of space."

Hanover nodded, figuring the ensign's input into some sort of actionable plan. Still an engineer at heart, the ship's executive officer wracked his brain for any other entry points onto the ship, but without EV suits, they would never make it. They were outnumbered, so a direct confrontation was unlikely to end well, even if the crew from the Majestic had a technological advantage. Not knowing exactly what their counterparts capability was threw a wildcard into the mix, but this was the hand they had been dealt.

"I feel its still our place to try and reach a diplomatic solution. If that should fail, then breaking this communications jam and getting beamed back aboard is our best bet. Short of that, if we have to use force, Lieutenant Trevor's plan seems like it has the best opportunity for success." Reaching towards his belt, Commander Hanover deftly retrieved his phaser and removed it. As he started to work on the safeguards, he turned towards Annabelle and Beata. "Lieutenant, Ensign - I'm tasking you with finding whatever device they are using to block our comms. It's likely to be quite conspicuous and power hungry, judging by the rest of the twenty-third century tech in here. Any questions?"

Annabelle shook her head. "No questions, the tricorder should be able to pick up the power usage." pulling it out and adjusting it. "Time to follow the bread crumbs so we can get away." she took a look at Beata, "Shall we go?"


She hesitated for a moment as a question did pop up in her mind, but she and Beata were given direct orders by a superior officer. "Just be careful sir, don't want anything to happen or the Captain will string me up by my thumbs if you were injured or killed." though she figured that sort of punishment wouldn't happen, but there would be repercussions, she smiled slightly, "Though the Captain isn't like that, but still.."

"Your concern is noted and appreciated," Hanover broke from his authoritative posture and sank down a bit. "Be careful, everyone. We don't know what we don't know yet - and making decisions with that backdrop gives me pause. But stay sharp and we'll get through this."

"So . . . what are we doing then? Trying to stop them, running away? I'm assuming we don't have a lot of weapons and they look like they do. They were prepared for this. That's so . . . . sneaky of them!"

"Well, we need to go find that jammer, Ensign Lauryl. I would like to take care of it so we can be beamed aboard and get out of here. These people seem to be crazy desperate." her adjustments done on the tricorder, she panned it around to hopefully pick up the stronger signal of the jammer. "I do believe it is that way" pointing in said direction. "Hopefully it isn't in a command center." she said quietly.

"Right," Beata said, crawling to follow her and making sure their attention was turned away before she got back to her feet. "Are you coming too Commander?"

"No," Jared shook his head. "The rest of us will stay here and attempt to negotiate with our friends here. We'll do our best to buy as much time as we can to allow you to find and disable the jammer, but work quickly. We're outnumbered, and I'm afraid that buying time is all we may be able to do," Hanover admitted before turning to Commander Murphy and Lieutenant Vannan. He placed the modified phaser next to them before taking a deep breath. "If this goes sideways, we use this as a distraction and rendezvous with Beata and Annabelle to find the jammer."

Annabelle nodded, "Just be careful and we will do so as well." standing up as well, but still in a more crouched position.

Beata followed her out. It felt like a secret mission of sorts and she couldn't help but think of an ancient song that brought a smile to her face and her feet to a rhythm.