Post Number: 145 *Two Halves of a Whole*

Posted on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 9:55pm by Captain Marius Pontmercy & Commander Jordan Haines & Major Charlotte Thrace
Edited on on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 11:34pm

2,712 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Obsidian

On:

Onboard the Arcadia, Marius was sitting in his chair, thinking of what was to come when he was startled from his thoughts by the Conn Officer.

"Captain, we are approaching the Neutral Zone."

"Finally," he breathed. "Time until we arrive?"

"Approximately one hour, sir."

"Thank you, Ensign. Open a ship-wide channel." He waited until he had confirmation, and then began to speak. "This is Captain Pontmercy. We are approaching the Neutral Zone within the hour, so everyone please report to your stations. I do not have to remind you that this is a dangerous mission, so I will need everyone at their very best. Pontmercy out."

If there was one place V'Lar wasn't a fan of being it was Romulan space, there were far too many people who might know exactly who she was. She tapped her screen at the back of the bridge where Okan and Joel were looking at data with her "If this outpost follows standard Romulan layout then beam in that area, it's a blind spot and close enough to the control centre." she said.

The hour passed slowly for Marius, but finally the time had come. He knew that the trip to the Maxis system would be equally as difficult, but for some reason he was dreading this portion. He glanced around the room, praying that everyone would return safely.

"Away team, assemble in the Transporter room," he ordered.

Joel headed on his way to the transporter room. He was more than ready to end this mess and get on with their lives back on the station.

Okan and V'Lar weren't far behind Joel, they wanted this over and done with as much as anyone and it had been a while since he and Joel had been a two person wrecking crew.

Marius walked into the transporter room, slinging a phaser rifle across his back. He hoped it wouldn't come down to a fight, but he hardly ever get that lucky. Once everyone was assembled he glanced around the room.

"We know the sample is in the compound, but not an exact location. We can assume that it's heavily guarded, so keep your eyes open. Any last things to be addressed before we head out?"

"No sir." Okan said priming his weapon. The rest of the room echoed Okan, and Marius nodded. He glanced over st the transporter tech.

"Energize," he ordered.

When he rematerialized, he noted that they were up on a ridge covered by dense foliage, as he had requested. He glanced around, trying to get his bearings.

"Right down there." V'Lar said "Can't get anything from the inside of the building but looks small from here, could be underground levels but no way of knowing with sensors being jammed. That does mean there's something here."

As the rest of the group and started their covert decent down the ridge, Marius walked beside V'Lar and Joel. He kept his voice low, but still wanted to ask.

"It seems quiet, but we know there is more than what meets the eye. What are you expecting?"

"From an intelligence perspective very little. A covert outpost is something that I'd expect to be a fairly small operation, potentially more scientists than soldiers but the Tal'Shiar do train even their scientists in heavy combat. I'm hoping there's a whole treasure trove of evidence waiting for us. But I'm sure Lieutenant Haines's tactical perspective would bring me down to Earth with a bump or two." V'Lar said. Marius cracked a small smile, and glanced back to the terrain in front of them. It seemed so innocent and unsuspecting, but he knew that that was the general idea.

"Eyes open everyone, I don't want to be caught unprepared," he ordered in a whisper.

Okan took point on the approach, that was his job, he was the best skilled in combat in the group and that wasn't ego or arrogance that was down to he was a Jem Hadar, he was genetically grown for this sort of thing. There was no sign of any opposition yet, which was somewhat to be expected if the estimates were right this was likely more of a scientific facility not a combat one, however that itself came with its own problems. He planted a charge on the wall and looked at Joel "On your count." he said

The breach was textbook, it was never really going to be anything but with the two marines there, next job was storming the facility, sweeping corridors and securing the place. They could see multiple labs that were full of what looked like large jacuzzi's, there was a control room that, once secure, V'Lar went to work on knowing they needed information and they were on the clock. Most troubling as far as Okan was concerned was the room with the green lighting, he'd have to write that one up later. There was one sealed door in the whole facility, presumably some sort of DNA vault which the Jem Hadar sargeant major began cutting his way into.

"Captain!" V'Lar called over the com "You need to see this now I'm in the control room."

Meanwhile, Marius had taken a position in the hall, his rifle trained and ready. So far there had only been two guards that had been stunned quickly, but he was nervous about the lack of opposition. This may be a secure science facility, but there still should be more guards. He heard V’Lar's call, and turned.

"Take my place," he ordered Couldis and McMahon, who was standing nearby. To her credit the two /nodded, and fell into position once Marius left.

"What do you have," he asked the Intelligence Chief as he entered the room?

"These are Starfleet files from almost two hundred years ago." V'Lar said "File prefix says they were classified at the highest level. But that's not the problem, this one here." she brought it up on the screen "That's a Hydro bomb it's an explosive device that according to this was planted deep in a volcano on Qon'os by Starfleet, the detonator was left with a Klingon and has become some sort of badge of office for the Chancellor. I can imagine it was a great insurance policy back in the day. We wondered what the endgame of this plot is... it's got to be this." Marius paled as he thought about the ramifications of this information. He turned away for a moment, and glanced at the faces of the away team around him, one by one. Finally he turned back to V'Lar.

"Well, we know their plan, then. Send a secure message to Thrace and Haines, and let them know so that they are prepared to handle it. We have a job to do," he said to everyone else. "Find that DNA." He turned back to the Intelligence Chief. "Is there anything else in there that we can use? Can you download the information?"

"Yes sir." V'Lar said "Downloading now." Marius nodded, and headed back out to the hall. The team moved as one down the hallway, and he almost thought they may be alone, until he spotted a weapon being trained on them from farther down the passageway.

"Engage," he shouted, and opened fire! Being a science facility, luck was with them in the fact that there were not many guards stationed there, and within moments all resistance was dealt with.

"Got it," came a voice from within one of the rooms. Jordan came out holding a sealed container. McMahon came up behind him, holding his weapon ready. Marius sighed with relief.

"Great," he said. "Alright everyone, back to the ship," he ordered.

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The Klingon homeworld was never an easy place to navigate, it was fairly high up on the list of places Charlotte would rather not go but needs must in this situation. The very militaristic Klingon architecture was still evident and still dominant around the landscape as the team, having beamed down into a secluded area, made their way carefully into what appeared to be a central plaza. Looking around the eyes of the Starfleet team scanned where they were. "Chancellors residence is north." Hannah said

"Ok everyone stay close, let's not lose sight of each other." Charlotte said. Celine nodded, knowing that it was a wise call. She glanced around her, making sure to keep an eye on her tricorder as well.

"That's strange," she said in a whisper, "I am not picking up any life signs in the vicinity, but that wouldn't make any sense."

"It might under one set of circumstances." Hannah said "If you were here for the Chancellor you'd have to get through his guard first. And we're still behind in this chase."

Charlotte glanced sideways at Jordan, the pair were quite good at reading each other now and judging off of the look he wasn't liking what they were possibly walking into anymore than she was. "Ok on me." Charlotte said as they made their way up to the Chancellors residence, when they got closer they were greeted by the sight of several Klingon guards slumped against the walls clearly deceased.

"Looks like phaser wounds." Hannah whispered. Celine nodded her agreement, not liking where this was going.

"Get them out of sight." Charlotte said signalling to Yujas, the last thing they needed was the KDF getting involved in this, as that was bound to send things sideways. Stepping up to the door Charlotte's eyes narrowed as she pulled her Romulan disruptor, her preferred weapon when going off the map like this, "On my count." she waited a moment, looking at where one of the team had the override for the door ready. "Go"

On the word 'Go' the door button was punched and Charlotte, with Jude close behind her, led the way inside, this was about caution, weapons were drawn, raised and ready. The Chancellor's residence was grand spacious and very much a warrior's home. It was steeped in history, the first major room they came to they were met with a scene they'd dreaded on the journey there before them was what appeared to be Jackson crouching over the lifeless form of the Klingon Chancellor, blood flowed all over the floor. "Don't even..." Charlotte didn't even get the sentence out as the clone of Jackson turned and she fired putting him down. "That better be a clone Hannah."

"Oh it is." Hannah said looking at her scanner before double checking with Celine. Charlotte was looking at Marty who'd just felt the Chancellor's neck for a pulse, the shake of the head from the Counsellor confirmed he was dead.

"Damn it." Charlotte said

"We've got bigger problems." Hannah said getting something out of the clones grip "It looks like a detonator and it's got a countdown of forty five minutes and counting."

"Any clue what they're blowing up?" Charlotte asked.

"No idea," Celine said, but then pointed up at a box in the corner. "But we have other issues. I know this was theorized, but now it appears, at least on the outside, that a Starfleet General just murdered the Klingon Chancellor. I don't have to tell you what a political nightmare that is...we could have three enemies in this war now."

Right at that moment Charlotte's com unit beeped, pressing the button on her wrist gauntlet she answered "Thrace." she said

"You've got a problem." V'Lar's voice came over the channel "There's a Hydro bomb on Qon'os, it's an explosive device that according to information we've found was planted deep in a volcano there by Starfleet, put there nearly two hundred years ago on some sort of classified mission." the channel cut out.

The looks of horror were very apparent as the away team looked around, digesting what they'd heard, "Hannah..." Charlotte said after a while "How bad would it be?"

"Qon'os would be uninhabitable very quickly. Millions dead." Hannah said "But that's small potatoes unbelievably. Bigger context, a Starfleet device was planted on Qon'os close to two hundred years ago and let's say it goes off, the Romulans, once it becomes known will say 'if Starfleet planted that device on Qon'os what did they do to Romulus fifty two years ago?' Talk about landing blows."

"The planet wouldn't be destroyed thought would it?" Charlotte asked

"No." Hannah said "Qon'os would still be here, just you'd need an environmental suit to wander the surface."

Charlotte bent down and picked up the detonator from the floor "Forty minutes." she said "No idea where that bomb is except deep inside a volcano, no environmental suits and no idea if we can even disarm the thing in time." she looked across the room at Jordan, over the years they'd shared many a look and communicated with them but this was a first - there wasn't enough time, it would take pretty close to the full forty minutes just to get into an environmental suit to be able to safely traverse the volcano. Taking a breath Charlotte refocused "Jude, Yujas erase the security records and vaporise the clone of the General." she said softly "Everyone else sterilise the place I want no trace that that clone or any of us were ever here. And then let's get the hell out of here." Celine nodded. The group worked quickly and efficiently, and were done within moments.

"What now," she asked?

"Now we get off this planet before that thing blows." Charlotte said almost not believing what she was having to say, every inch of her wanted to go volcano diving but there wasn't anywhere near enough time to find and disarm the device. "And I mean it, if we're here or in orbit when it goes off we're not getting out of Klingon space alive." Celine opened her mouth to protest... She was a diplomat... this went against everything she knew and was trained for.

"Can we alert the Klingons," she asked, desperation in her voice?

"You're the diplomat you tell me." Charlotte said "I will point out that you'd need to be able to explain this in a manner that doesn't say 'Starfleet planted a device on your planet nearly 200 years ago and it's about to go off'." she paused "Contacting Jackson's friend and finding some plausible cover would be my suggestion, but do it quickly and do it from the ship." Celine grit her teeth, but nodded.

"Alright, let's go. Someone better let the Captain know."

"We'll send the Captain a message once we're on our way. The less reason we give for suspicion the better." Charlotte said "And once we get back I imagine there's going to be plenty of talking and work to do."
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(Starbase Obsidian a few days later)

Marius sat in his ready room, still not believing what had occurred. They had managed to secure the General's DNA... but the Klingon homeworld had been destroyed. Celine had managed to contact the General's friend, and with that they had been able to evacuate a small portion of the population, but it was a small number, indeed.

"They don't train us for this." Charlotte said, leaning against the ready room door in civvies - she was about to hit the holodeck for a game of velocity. "Even the Kobayashi Maru doesn't train you for this. The good news is it's not as clear cut as the Romulans may have wanted but they got what they wanted, the unity of the Klingon Empire is fractured. The other good news is that it is in victory that someone reveals more than they'd like. We lost this round, but we've learned what we need to not lose the next one." she put a PADD on Marius's desk "Report based on something Jordan mentioned when I came back on aboard a few months ago. When the time comes it's something to think about." she half smiled and left the room. Marius nodded towards the back of her head, reflecting on her words. It was a tough blow, but she was right. They were not out of the fight.

Off:

Captain Marius G. Pontmercy
Commanding Officer
USS Arcadia/Starbase Obsidian Station

Commander Jordan Haines
Executive Officer
USS Arcadia/Starbase Obsidian Station

First Lieutenant Charlotte Thrace
Marine CO
USS Arcadia/Starbase Obsidian

 

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