Arrival at the Stronghold

Posted on Sat Aug 13th, 2022 @ 10:38am by Chief Petty Officer Charlton Kelly & Lieutenant Commander Andromeda Lightfeather & Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine & Lieutenant Absinthe Harper & Lieutenant Scott Mitchell "Ghost"
Edited on on Sat Aug 13th, 2022 @ 10:39am

Mission: Mission 2: Chasing Shadows
Location: Lambetta Nebula

ON

The runabout lurched as Scott punched the throttle to max shooting the team out of the shuttle bay and into the empty void that was space. He swung the craft around and formed it in the centre of the fighters' formation. Seconds passed but it felt like hours before the fighters every craft broke off in separate directions scattering heightened emissions in order to hide the runabout. Scott made the slow craft dance as he steered it towards the base. Once close enough that the emotions left by the fighters could no longer cover them, Scott cut power and drifted in.

The small craft slid through the swirling clouds, sensor contacts coming and fading, like ghosts in a fog. Finally, the structure loomed ahead. It seemed impossibly large in person, the eerie green glow identifying the architecture as Romulan.

Chief Kelly settled the duffle bag more securely on his shoulder, and his head turned to the security Chief and the XO. "So, the entry plan?" He asked as they had been cut off in the Shuttlebay.

"Exactly as I said," Abby said as she adjusted the sensors from the co-pilot's seat of the runabout. "Two transports. We'll go in first, the rest of the team will trans..." her voice trailed off, head tilting to one side as she examined the sensor scans of the facility more closely.

Nyx continued to monitor the sensors as the others talked. She'd been informed in no uncertain terms that she wasn't a part of the Chief's operation and she reached up to her neck to stroke the drakeling, and just ended up touching her collarbone. She had to leave the little creature back on board the ship and she sighed as her eyes traced the readings before they hit the visual display. She'd seen all sorts of stations, but this one dwarfed most of the ones she'd seen, and was not the silver of most Federation stations, sending a shiver down her spine.

Scott couldn't help but whistle at the sheer size of the monstrosity that loomed above them. He'd seen his fair share of large constructs in his day. This station on the other hand put them all to shame and reminded Scott of just how small he actually was in the universe.

Kelly checked a sensor display and indicated two points in the structure. One for his entry, with Harper, and the other for the rest of the Away Team. "Those look good to you, Lieutenant?" He looked over at the Security Chief.

Andi looked at the structure and also whistled "Now I know what David felt like when he faced Goliath" she said then looked at those in the shuttle.

"Okay while Kelly and Harper are doing their thing, whatever it is, those of you with me, we will disembark in a different area to Kelly and Harper, hopefully, it will be just as quiet" Lightfeather commented "but knowing our luck it will not be so" she added as she readied her Phaser Rifle and Hand Phaser.

"Hold up..." Abby said quietly, glancing back over her shoulder toward Nyx. "Commander, are you picking up any kind of sensor scrambling equipment in use?" she asked quietly. "Or any kind of sensor deflectors?"

"Nothing active..." Nyx said, her eyes focusing on her screen, "Let me check to see if there's anything passive or just deceptive." Her eyes scanned over the feedback her sensors were receiving, "Nothing... I'm getting absolutely no indications of being spoofed at all."

Abby shook her head again. "This isn't right," she said, leaning toward Scott, checking the readouts on the console in front of him. "Something isn't right here." her fingers danced across the console in front of her. "For a facility of this size, where are all the vessels? This thing should house thousands of life signs, I'm detecting barely fifty." She frowned. "And a lot of recent warp activity in the area."

Looking at Harper "Could they be out on patrol or even a raid?" She asked wondering "If that is the case the sentient defences will be light, but the window of ease will be tight," Lightfeather said.

"I'd say let's get in and out." Nyx inserted her opinion, "Take the opportunity while we can get it."

"Scan for Tritanium," Kelly suggested. "Used in Federation construction - including cargo containers, but rarely in Romulan constructs. They've been raiding Federation cargo ships. If the containers are still there, that tells us something. If not, that tells us something else."

Again, Nyx took a moment to just glance over the scan one more time and shook her head, "No, Chief, no traces of Tritanium. If they parked cargo here, they took it off before they went and did whatever they did." She straightened and settled her belt, then reached for the rifle that the Exec had been waiting to hand her, "Thank you, ma'am."

"They've bolted." He agreed. We sat around for a few hours reassessing the plan, and they used that time to get out of Dodge." He tapped the sensor screen. "Beam me in there. I can get my job done." The Chief looked over at Harper. "You coming with? We can split up and carry out our objectives once inside. The rest of the Team beams in there." A second tap on the screen. "The Runabout's computer can auto-beam us back on command."

Abby looked over the data on the console, her brow furrowed. "The number of life signs left on the facility is scattered but there seems to be a concentration here, which, given familiar schematics, would likely be the operations center. At this stage our likely best bet for finding anyone worth a damn will be to hit that hard and fast, take everyone we can and don't give them a chance to run like the rats they are. Once we've secured the operations center, Kelly, you can do what you need to do... then we can assess the rest of the life signs and make strategic determinations on whether or not other strikes are necessary.

"Sounds good, Mr Mitchell when Kelly and Harper have beamed in, my team will beam into that cargo bay you pointed to," Lightfeather said the Pilot then looked at Harper "Lieutenant Harper, my team will meet you in the Ops center, take two security officers with you as backup or do you want to go in alone?" Lightfeather added by ending with a question to the Security Chief.

Abby's hands splayed across the console in front of her as her shoulders pulled back rigidly, steeling herself. "We'll be able to move quicker with just the two of us," she replied to the most obvious question, not bothering with the rest of it. She turned toward Ghost, offering a quick grin. "What can I say, Good luck kid," she finished with a wink as she stood up, reaching for her rifle and slinging it across her back again, rechecked her weapons and turned to Kelly. "Shall we?"

Looking at the Security Chief with disappointment ' still, with that attitude towards me, you would think she would act more professionally on a mission Lightfeather thought to herself she knew some of it was her own fault but the rest was Harper but she inwardly sighed there was nothing she could do now and the moment passed and Harper and Kelly were doing their thing, which meant her team would be next.

"We're burning time," Kelly announced, heading for the small transporter booth on the Runabout, as he looked at Harper. "Time to roll."

"Agreed let's get to it, good luck to you both" Lightfeather said to Harper and Kelly with a smile as they were going in first.

OFF