The Secret Facility (part 2)

Posted on Tue Mar 2nd, 2021 @ 10:59am by 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Lieutenant Aenar Torek & Ensign Chevy Tuff & Private 1st Class Trent Kushner

1,083 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Storm
Location: Far Side of the Moon
Timeline: MD 01

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Calith's phlegmy voice crackled over the channel, 'All body parts accounted for, Lieutenant,' she observed dryly.

[NEW]


'Airlock, twelve meters forward and left of us,' he called out over the comm curtly. 'Marines up front, Engineers at the rear. No lifesigns detected. Ionic interference is messing with the instruments, though so take care when advancing.'

Obediently, Tuff moved to the back, waiting for his turn to march.

Calith flanked Tuff, while Aenar slotted himself firmly in the middle, tricorder in hand as they advanced towards the airlock. They all pressed up against the structure of the facility, Aenar continuing to wave his tricorder around as he scanned.

Kara nodded to Trent. "You heard the orders. Let's see what we have inside."

Silently Trent nodded and kept to his corners.

They carefully approached the airlock, noticing nothing amiss so far. "Do you want to pick--not shoot--the lock?" she asked Kushner.

"You're no fun today." Trent joked. "I have some breaching charges that would certainly do the trick."

>>tag Any

'Structure is of standard build material, can't be more than twenty years of age. Airlock is standard, no particular countermeasures I can identify. Corridor behind is five meters wide and clear along to at least ten metres. Good to breach when you're ready, Marines.'

Tuff asked cautiously, "Do you think it is a good idea to forcibly enter? Perhaps we could search for a non-invasive way in?"

"Oh, I don't know," Trent said as he staring pulling his backpack off his shoulders where the breaching charge sat tucked away. "I'm rather a fan of 'knocking', aren't you?"

"Maybe not a knock, per se," Kara said, eyeing the structure, "But shouldn't we try to pick the lock before we blow the door down? I would rather not advertise our arrival if we can help it."

Frowning at his own mistake, Aenar chimed in, 'as quickly and as stealthily as we can, please.' His Bajoran-to-Standard was still a little shaky under pressure it seemed.

Kara smiled at Aenar. "I'll do my best." As long as it wasn't too technical. She wasn't a lockpick, but she could improvise. It took her a minute, and she ended up breaking the lock, but the door was open with little noise. "They'll have to replace that, but the door is open."

Trent sighed and looked down at his pack and tapped it consolingly. "Next time, my little friend." Slinging the backpack quickly over his shoulders, he stood and quickly took position beside Kara.

She nodded to Trent. "We'll go in first. You take right, I'll take left."

Trent nodded acknowledgement and leveled his carbine. His eyes narrowed and he tensed for the moment the door was flung open.

Tuff grunted at the breaking of the lock and the noise made. He privately wondered whether something important may have been destroyed. He also wondered what might be behind the door. Not enough facts were here yet and they were rushing recklessly ahead.

Calith tensed up as she crouched to the rear of their formation, backpack sitting awkwardly for the moment. She longed for the comforting familiarity of the Engineering lab.

Blowing a breath out, Aenar steeled himself, 'take us in, Marines.'

Kara nodded to Aenar, then to Kushner and went in.

They came on to a corridor that ran straight in for five feet, then crossed another corridor. The two Marines paused, checking the side passages before turning to the Chief Science Officer for orders.

The deeper they were venturing into the facility, the clearer the scans of the facility came. 'Not the left, at least five lifesigns within range. Right takes us to some sort of large chamber - clear for now.' Aenar nodded at the Marines, 'lead the way.'

"Is there a reason that we are not attempting to communicate with the lifeforms?" Tuff asked thoughtfully.

Aenar grinned, 'a secret facility on the dark side of the moon in the middle of an ion storm? They may in fact be dangerous,' Aenar patted Tuff on the shoulder, 'the faster we confirm what the facility is for, the faster we can establish whether they're hostile.'

Sucking in some air through her breathing device, the Benzite engineer piped up, 'if we could get to a console of some sort it may prove to be more useful than piecemeal scans of the facility with a tricorder.'

The Bajoran nodded at Calith, 'yeah - there should be a console nearby. Facilities aren't built for no reason.' He looked at the group, 'if we're all quite ready?'

Kara nodded. "We're ready." She led the way toward what she hoped would be a computer console so the others could get the information they needed. For now, she avoided the occupants. Like the Chief Science Officer, she wanted more information before considering approaching anyone.

Five doors down, they found what looked like an office of sorts, complete with computer. Kara checked the room, then nodded. "All clear."

Motioning the two Engineers to follow, Aenar made his way into the room. 'Bingo,' he said under his breath as he saw the wall of computer consoles in front of them. 'You think you can access their systems?' he asked of Tuff.

Tuff thought for a long time as he started walking along the consoles, looking for areas of input and special access. He doubted many would be visible externally. "In time," he said. "How much depends on the system, the encryptions, and any potential hazards and interruptions."

'Great,' replied Aenar, 'if you could get started Ensign - we're looking for the facility's purpose and who is currently occupying it, if you don't mind. Need us to lend you a hand?'

"I will get started in due time," Tuff responded. "I am just exercising routine safety protocols. Are you ordering me to bypass proper procedures?"

'Uh, no, Tuff,' replied Aenar quickly, suppressing an eyeroll. 'But I don't know if you noticed, we're on the clock a bit here - the quicker we get this done, the quicker we can get out.'

Kara said nothing, but she agreed with the science officer. She was expecting trouble any moment now and didn't want to stay too long in one place.

(To be continued...)

2nd Lieutenant Kara Melo
Alpha Platoon Leader

Ensign Chevy Tuff
Computer Specialist

Lieutenant Aenar Torek
Chief Science Officer

Ensign Calith
Engineering Officer

Private 1st Class Trent Kushner
Marine

 

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