Lt Cmdr Rayek tr'Lhoell[Katra Station - Transporter Room >>> OCC]Katra Station - Surface of Meridian to Katra
Once Rayek had them all beamed back to Katra, Beja turned to the Captain in the transporter room, “Captain, sir, I’ve just been informed that the Tholian meeting with the Klingon empire has been moved up and is taking place shortly. I think it wise if you attended.”
Beja then tapped her combadge, “Ensign Zex, can you meet me in conference room 7 near the Klingon embassy to let me know what has taken place to move the meeting up by 3 hours? I will be there in 2 minutes.”
Katra Station - Transporter Room
As the transporter shimmer dissipated, the Katra officers were deposited safely onto the station. Solluk looked to Wessex and Rayek. "I think you're both right. I have to brief Starfleet Command about this right away. Commander, get to the OCC and make sure station holo-assets are shut down, review recent computer logs for signs of systems infiltration, and go ahead and put the shields on random operating frequencies and nutation."
Beja interjected to advise him about the meeting being moved, and to suggest that he attend. He nodded.
"Very well, Counselor. I'll be with you as soon as I make my report to Starfleet. Go on ahead."
Then he looked to Wessex, "While you're seeing to the security at the meeting site, see if you can pull any intel from the Diplomatic Security teams about anything unusual they may have witnessed or overheard in the vicinity of any of the ambassadors. We won't overtly spy on resident diplomats, but any... unintentional observations... could prove vital."
With that, he headed to his ready room while everyone else was free to carry their duties forward.
Rayek took note of Beja's report to the Captain. His brow furrowed slightly at her mention of the meeting being moved up. This was unfortunate.
He hadn't yet had opportunity to check the new embassy for listening devices or other sensitive devices, nor did it seem like he'd have an opportunity the meeting now. He'd just have to scan the room with all the attendees present. Most didn't like having their 'little toys' pulled out and revealed in front of others. Besides which, it limited his options to just removing the device.
Rayek was also concerned that an immediate meeting gave Tess little time to rest. She had already looked tired during the last meeting.
The Captain's approval of his recommendations refocused Rayek's attention back on the situation presently. The Romulan nodded in acknowledgement of his orders.
"Yes, Captain."He made his way up to the OCC directly, though he briefly considered stopping by their quarters to check on Tess. He didn't because he'd just seen her via hologram not a minute before and even he realized that checking in on her so soon was bordering on the obsessive. Kurros' presence (or that of his replicant) made Rayek all the more paranoid. Who knew what the man that really up to?
Once at the OCC, the Romulan ordered Ops to shut down the holographic system completely, and ordered the shield frequencies and nutation to be changed every 5 seconds and synchronized with the transporter emitter. Changing shield frequency so often would limit how quickly the transporters could react in an emergency since the computers would have to time transporter activation for intervals between shifting shield frequencies. Without the synchronization, getting caught mid-transport when the shield frequency shifted could mean only part of your atoms rematerialized. Not ideal.
Then while Ops followed up on his orders, Rayek took it upon himself to call each of the Embassies to see if they'd had an unexpected visitor. He contacted the Dord first.
"tr'Lhoell to Dord Embassy." It took several chimes for his call to be answered. The face on the other end of the video comm did not look happy.
"Ambassador Boz, I'm glad I caught you awake. Due to an unforeseen issue and security breach, Katra has had to suspend all holographic system usage for the time being. We suspect the individual responsible may piggyback onto your system. We would kindly ask that you power down your holographic projection system until such time as we can confirm that the security threat has been neutralized - or else we cannot ensure your safety. The organization the individual is with is known to traffic people of importance - this is for your safety." Rayek subtly stressed certain words to pander to the man's vanity hoping to gain better compliance.
"I would ask you direct. Have you been contacted by Kurros? If so, is he still there?" Rayek was trying to determine if any of their efforts to disrupt the Thinker were working.
NPC Cathy Daniels[Freighter Wonderland]
Even depleted plasma from the drive systems carried a significant electric charge, so when the plasma was vented into the room, it momentarily erupted into a swirling plasma storm of crisscrossing lightning bolts confined within the metal bottle of the bay. Had the boarders not been wearing combat vac suits, they'd have been cooked by the discharges. But while they survived without injury, their equipment was not as fortunate. The pattern enhancers were cooked, the circuits within them burning out. Worse, the stimulated emissions from the crystal cargo created a field of energy that degraded the effectiveness of their heavy disruptor rifles.
The conflagration of electrified plasma lasted only for a moment, and then the competing energy impulses canceled each other out and the room reached stability. But no sooner had that happened, than the freighter Captain was hurling himself into battle.
The physical charge came quickly, before the boarders could recover their senses from the miniature plasma storm. Creng was caught completely unawares. He found himself staggering off balance with a blade in his abdomen, which had been stabbed through a weak spot between his torso plates and his waist.
The pain was intense, and so was his response. Unleashing a powerful backhand- enhanced by the mechanical assist motors in his combat suit- he struck out with enough force to send his opponent flying.
Norvis and Bretia tried their weapons in the usual way, but the disruptors only made rude noises to indicate that there was a technical problem. Despite this setback, they did not hesitate for more than a second before positioning their weapons as clubs and advancing on the plucky crew members of this little freighter who had dared to engage them in the cargo bay.
[Aboard the Wonderland]
"Juuran, watch out!"
So, instead of fishing for his lost knife, he ran and ducked behind the crate. Breathing hard, Finn stood there for a moment, cradling his sore arm, but then had an idea. With a swift move he pulled the old fashioned rifle from his back, thumbed the safety off and tried his best to remember what he had learned about the weapon, that so far had only been a precious inheritance. With a bit of effort he climbed on top of the container and aimed, then fired.
Several times. Without any idea whether the bullets could even penetrate such armor suits. If not, he could still use it as a club.
NPC Juraan Ren
[Aboard the 'Wonderland']
Suddenly there was an odd sound - a loud bang that had Juraan turn around again to where it came from. Finn was firing an antique weapon at them - while he was in the middle. What the heck?!
Juraan believed he heard the crunch of the bullet penetrating the combat suit - but maybe it was his wishful thinking it was just the bullet scratching it. All Juraan could think of was taking cover so his Captain would not accidentally shoot him.
He had fled to the cockpit again, hiding behind the bulkhead near the door. "Cathy!", Juraan called to her, his breaths coming out in a huff. "Can you magnetize the deck plating?" He hoped the suits might cause them then to lie on their backs like an Alverian dung beetle.
Cathy continued to 'redline' the engines for every ounce of speed she could get. Even a decimal point more of warp speed could mean the difference between escape and capture. She couldn't be sure that the ship wasn't being followed - damn Romulans with their cloak technology! - so she assumed they were keeping up and that the one that could maintain this speed longest would survive. Cathy intended that to be her.
The sounds coming from the back did not sound at all promising of Juraan and Finn surviving though. Even across the whole of the ship... the impacts sounded painful. She thought she heard Finn call out something (the words were muffled by the distance and bulkheads).
Was he calling out to her in warning? Cathy glanced back but really couldn't see anything. Then had the bright idea to call up the ship's internal security cameras in the cargo bay area.
Within moments, Cathy had the visual on a side screen to her helm console and she alternated watching the events unfolding in the cargo bay, and keeping watch for anything that could be used to help hide them from their pursuers.
The 3 suited up boarders looked big and intimidating. Cathy was kinda glad she was needed to fly the ship. She saw Juraan grappling with one, while Finn climbed the crated cargo. He had in hand a weapon type she'd never seen before. The percussive recoil was loud and had Cathy flinching all the way up in the cockpit.
The skirmish with Juraan and the red suit broke up at the gunfire, as the Bajoran took cover just outside the cargo hold. If Cathy were in the Captain's seat rather than the co-pilot's spot she might be able to look over her shoulder to see him down below by the cargo hold door.
As it was though she could hear him call out to her.
Magnetize the deck plating? How the hell could she do that?
"Umm... Sure.. Gimme a moment on that!" she called back to Juraan.
Turning back around Cathy, checked the engine status and the time at max. Three minutes so far. She hoped the ship could hold it for at least 10.
"Computer, describe step-by-step how to magnetize the deck plating of a Kaplan F17.. and keep it simple." And so began the process of Cathy learning something new.