To Go Forth....Again

Posted on Wed Sep 15th, 2021 @ 9:12pm by Commander Samantha Howard & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant Aiko Kato & Lieutenant JG James Phoenix

Mission: Breen in Paradise
Location: Transporter Room/Breen ship
Timeline: Current

Jon had informed Sam, Phoenix and the new flight control officer of their selection to the away team. Now he stood in the transporter room waiting for the others to arrive. he had a phaser on his hip and a tricorder in his hand. He was anxious to get started to show any doubters he was fine and could handle the stress.

Sam got the page when she was in sickbay, healing with the wounded from the first Breen attack. With a glance at Dr Dex she headed quickly to her office - getting changed and grabbing her med kit, choosing one she could sling over her shoulder like a satchel.

" Sorry Doc, you'll have to take it from here, gotta go" She called as she headed for the door, hostering her phaser as she went. Hopefully this mission would be more successful than the last.

James yawned as he got the call from his badge. He still hadn't been getting the best of sleep since his return from the MU. It hopefully wouldn't affect his performance during the away mission. He quickly put on his utility belt, which consisted of his phaser pistol and tricorder, and a small knife. He then proceeded to the transporter room, stopping by the armory to grab a phaser rifle along the way.

" Hey James..." Sam greated as the Ensign entered the transporter room. She hoped he had found some peace after their discussion.

"Hey doc, how you been?" James said while adjusting his utility belt.

Aiko eagerly made her way to the transporter room excited about the prospect of joining an away team that was going after the Breen attackers. It was such a refreshing change from what she was used to in her previous assignment, which was largely away teams to this planet or that to study some plant species or geological formation.

She arrived at the transporter room practically grinning, outfitted with the standard issue tactical gear and nodded at those gathered. "Lieutenant Aiko reporting in," she stated.

"Glad you could join us" Dr Howard smiled as the group assembled on the transporter pad. "Any more intel on the Breen vessel?" She asked Commander Grayson.

"Sorry Sam, no." Jon answered without expanding his statement. He looked to Phoenix and Aiko. "You two ready for a little away mission to a Breen ship?"

"More or less." Phoenix said looking at Jon. To be honest, he didn't know how he felt about going on this away mission so soon. With what happened on the previous mission, he was nervous and borderline hesitant. But this was his job. He couldn't just let one tragic event define him, let alone hold him back in his career. He needed to get back out there.

"Like Freddy sir," Aiko replied then paused as if suddenly realizing that some people may not get her sometimes obscure Earth cultural reference. "Uh...I mean ready on your command."

She smiled briefly as she turned her attention to her equipment for the umpteenth time. She was no security officer by any stretch of the imagination, but as with most veterans of the Dominion War -- particularly the ones that had engaged in ground combat, she was sufficiently proficient in close quarter combat.

"Let's do this Commander" Sam encouraged as the team stood ready for the signal to beam out. Weapons drawn the team stood in a classic defensive circle on the platform. Ready for anything.

"An excellent idea Doctor." Jon replied with a slight smile." To the transporter tech, he said "Keep a constant lock on us and energize."

" Yes Sir" The transporter tech replied and input a series of commands into the panel, sending the team over to the breen ship.

Sam and her teammates materialised in a deserted section of the breen ship. The temperature was cold, enough to make her shiver despite the layers of uniform she was wearing. For a few moments they were silent, listening, watching and waiting.

Aiko's phaser rifle was out and at the ready. Now that they were actually on the Breen ship, she felt a significant amount of apprehension. Memories of her last time on a Breen ship flashed before her eyes but she steeled herself and willed them to the recess of her mind, as she had been trained to do.

She took a deep breath, feeling a tightening knot in her stomach. She tried to ignore it, instead focusing on her senses which, as a result of the adrenaline coursing through her, were very sharp. She felt the frost all around her, almost as a dull ache underneath the warm clothing she had on. Her eyes adjusted to the room they were in, and her ears listened for signs of movement, but all that was immediately audible was the hum of the engine.

Phoenix swiftly turned his back to the rest of the away team so that he could ensure that they weren't ambushed from the rear. He took less adjusting to the temperature on the Breen ship, since he grew up in the Pacific Northwest. However, the cold was a little much even for him.

Sam cautiously brought up her tricorder, scanning the region around them. There were no Breen in this section the ship, most of them being concentrated in Engineering, the bridge and a handful of other locations. There seemed to be a high number of casualties, a good number of wounded seemed to be congregated in one area.

" No Breen in the vicinity, they seem to be concentrating on repairs and wounded" She said softly to the team.

Jon stood listening to Sam's observation even as he pushed the demons of previous away missions away and he concentrated on the here and now. "Alright, we stick together for now. Let's see what kind of technical data we can find before moving on to other parts of the ship. Stay sharp. stay frosty."

" Got no option in that one" Sam retorted as she kept her tricorder up and scanning for lifesigns as well as nearby computer terminals that may give them the information they were after.

Jon turned and looked at Sam. "Exactly Sam." that was followed by a quick wink. "Keep everything tight and under control." He finished as he looked around at the alien technology.

Sam referred to her tricorder, leading the way to a computer terminal in a nearby room. So far so good they hadn't managed to be caught by any Breen. She assumed they were too busy repairing the ship and trying not to die.

"Lieutenant, Ensign - see if you can interface with their computer system and work out what the hell is going on" Sam instructed, taking up a defensive position just inside the door.

Aiko moved to the nearest computer terminal. For the moment she slung her rifle across her chest. She had a passing knowledge of Breen systems and knew this particular interface was limited to just providing general information on ship status. She activated the terminal, accessing its root directory.

There had been a nifty trick she had picked up from a specialist during the War. She paused as if trying to recall the memory before she proceeded, inputting commands into the console to to call up recent navigational data. She was careful to stay away from secure files that would trigger the computer system's intricate alarm system and warn whoever was on the Bridge.

Pulling out her tricorder, she remotely linked the tricorder to the computer terminal, using its much more familiar interface to comb through data.

"That's odd," she muttered to herself then turned to her colleagues. "According to the unrestricted navigational logs of this ship, it has made several trips to a system not far from here. I was not aware that there was a Breen facility in this sector." She paused as she started downloading the navigational data. The information was very high level because she only had access to data that was unrestricted, but she suspected it would be sufficient to analyze further on the Washington. "It might be worth looking into in more detail," Aiko stated satisfied with the download.

"Download what you can into a tricorder and we'll dissect it later" Sam replied "Good Job"

"If they have a base in this sector, it is curious what they would want with a rather peaceful planet such as Casperia Prime. Perhaps there is something that they want with he planet?" Phoenix inquired.

Sam keeped her senses keen on the surrounding area, glancing at her tricorder every minute or so to keep an eye on the lifesigns in the area. There was Breen moving towards them from another corridor. Sam stepped backwards, allowing the door to close and maintaining her defensive position. " We have incoming, get out of sight" She hissed to the team.

Trinity sprang to action at the warning. Sliding her tricorder back into her utility belt as she pulled her rifle in front of her. The rest of her search of unrestricted information had not been informative. Nevertheless, she did download what information she thought was relevant.

"How many Commander," she asked, her tone hushed and even.

"4, they're moving this way" Sam replied in a whisper, holding up 4 fingers in case her voice hadn't carried that far. "Hold tight"

The Ensign did as he was told and covered himself. He questioned whether or not he was ready for another firefight so soon after the previous mission. Nevertheless, this was his job, and he didn't really have a choice, since he and the rest of the away team were intruders on a Breen vessel.

Sam went silent, listening with her eyes whilst her eyes remained on the tricorder. Perhaps they may get lucky and the Breen would pass by this room on their way elsewhere. If they were unlucky one of them would pick up humanoid lifesigns and investigate. She held her breath as they passed, heavy footfalls in the hallway outside reverberating through the door.

It was another full minute until she allowed herself to breathe again.

" We gotta get outta here before they come back"

"Agreed," Aiko replied feeling a mixture of relief and disappointment knowing that she would not be going toe to toe with a Breen soldier.

Sam scanned again, giving the all clear to the team and indicating that they should move out. As a unit they carefully entered the corridor, each officer scanning for anything that could be useful. A science lab was next on Sam's list of curiosities.
Her tricorder detected no life signs inside.

"I want to check for evidence of a virus being manufactured" she whispered to the team, looking carefully for their response.

Jon looked around, nodded to Sam. "Alright, if there are no answers here, we need to go where there are answers. Let's find the science labs. Let's move."

Sam nodded and they moved into the science lab, Sam this time heading for the computer terminal whilst the others provided cover. Hopefully it wouldn't take long to discover what she was looking for.

Jon took a position at the entrance to the lab, allowing Sam and the others to look for any information on a Breen virus.

Aiko took Jon's lead and found herself a position with a good view of the single entrance and exit in the room that afforded her a good firing arc. She ensured that her position was also not obstructed by any barriers that limited her ability to move, or quickly pivot her fire to any area in the room, should their Breen 'friends' decide to beam into the room.

Satisfied with her selected position, she hunkered down, keeping her eyes peeled on her tricorder, watching for the slightest hint of danger.

Sam moved to the console, using her tricorder to interface with the Breen terminal. It was indeed a science lab designed for research among other things. The last few projects were in the database, one of which piqued the doctor's interest. There were notes on a new virus, and Sam delved deeper into the file, eager to find out if it was natural or created.

"Sam, something you said earlier. Perhaps the Breen picked Casperia Prime because it's NOT a military target has no military target but it is a favorite vacation spot for troops on R&R. What better way to take out an enemy's forces without firing a shot." Jon proposed.

" You could be right, but something seems 'off'.. my gut tells me somethings not quite right" Sam admitted as she downloaded as much of the database into her tricorder as she could.

"Howard to Washington - I'm transferring some data to you now regarding the virus and a hidden base....we'll beam back shortly" Sam sent the data through to the Washington.

" Alright team, lets try and get out of here without getting our asses discovered."

TBC