Shaken, Not Stirred

Posted on Fri May 22nd, 2015 @ 12:54am by Ensign Kai Sarkozi & Commander Sakkath & Master Warrant Officer Monique Bond & Senior Chief Petty Officer Edana

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Intel Decks

=^= Deck 27 - Operations =^=

Sakkath had left Lucius’s quarters and proceeded first to his departmental office where he reviewed the preventative maintenance list for Intelligence. Given the restrictions placed on the area, the starbase had been designed to provide access to most systems via Jefferies Tubes that offered no direct access to the sensitive sections behind the bulkhead. The Vulcan commander also had a few vetted mechanics capable of servicing power relays or redirecting conduits from within as necessary, usually under supervision. As it turned out, an ODN relay in Lucius’s office was coming due for upkeep. Convenient, Sakkath mused as he grabbed his tools and made for the turbolift.

“Deck 33,” he ordered, once inside.

Deck 33 is restricted to authorized personnel only, the computer replied.

“Command-level override,” Sakkath ordered, “Authorization Sakkath-five-nine-gamma-echo.”

The computer chirped in affirmation of his code and the lift slid into motion. As it went, his right hand found its way to his comm badge. “Commander Sakkath to Ensign Sarkozi. Please meet me at Admiral Hawke’s office at your earliest convenience.”

Kai’s surprised voice came back through the comm. =^= I’m on my way, Commander. Is everything alright? =^=

“Quite,” he replied. “I merely require access. The Admiral indicated you could assist me.”

=^= See you soon.=^=

The channel closed, leaving Sakkath in silence. A few minutes later Kai appeared, in uniform but her hair down. “Commander.” She flashed him a quick smile. “My apologies for the delay. May I ask what’s going on? We’ve not been back in here since Admiral Hawke was relieved of duty.”

Sakkath was waiting patiently outside of Lucius’s office, his kit in hand. He inclined his head to the Ensign as she arrived. “There is an ODN relay within that requires service,” Sakkath explained, “though that is only part of my purpose. Has Admiral Hawke informed you that his former wife is arriving?” he asked.

Kai smiled again as she entered the code to allow them access. “Oh yes, sir. He relayed the information with some...consternation, shall we say?” The doors slid open and she waited for Sakkath to enter first. “They are interesting. Sometimes happy, sometimes like matter and antimatter.” She gave a shrug. “This time we will see.”

Sakkath stepped inside, quirking an eyebrow as he did. “Given the violent nature of a matter-antimatter reaction that seems quite hyperbolic.” He had a look around, knowing he had never been set foot in this particular room, identifying Lucius’s workstation and access to the ODN relays. “The Admiral has several of his late son’s personal logs stored on his terminal that he wishes for Marianna to have. Given his current situation, I am tasked with their retrieval.” He waited for Kai to join him and for the doors to seal before speaking any further.

She followed Sakkath in and when the doors closed, she gave a verbal order. “Computer, recognize Sarkozi, Kai, Ensign.” A beep came and she continued. “Seal this room until further notice.” Another beep of acknowledgment came and she nodded to Sakkath. “That will also initiate the ‘soundproofing’ if you will. This room is constantly monitored for listening devices but this prevents anyone outside from using a portable device as well.” She stepped closer to Sakkath and looked up. “So what does he really want you to do here?”

The Vulcan Commander briefly wondered if his acting was poor or if the request seemed so out of the ordinary for Lucius that Kai was immediately keyed in, but his curiosity would have to wait. “The wall safe,” he replied simply, foregoing all pretense. “I was provided with one half of a code necessary to open it. You have the other. Lucius,” he continued, foregoing rank, “requires the isolinear chip within.”

Kai hesitated only a moment, then nodded. “Very well.” His use of the admiral’s first name wasn’t lost on her and so, as she turned to walk to the wall behind the desk, she felt comfortable enough to ask her next question. “How’s he holding up? Really?”

“He seemed in good spirits when I spoke to him earlier,” Sakkath replied as he stepped forward with Kai. “I feel certain the situation is weighing on him, but he is accustomed to hiding such things, or so I would gather.”

Sakkath’s statement earned him an ‘oh boy’ look. “You have no idea,” Kai replied. “Or maybe you do, since you are family now.” Reaching out, she pressed her palm to the wall. There was a faint hiss and a rectangular area moved out slightly, then slid down to reveal a safe. She leaned forward for a retina scan, then nodded to Sakkath. “Enter your code please, sir.”

Sakkath lifted his right hand and keyed a sequence of commands with practiced ease, surprising given the fact he had committed the code to memory only minutes earlier. Thankfully, his world was data - ranging from the power usage of the station to individual asset numbers of the almost-innumerable pieces of equipment throughout 900. When complete, he gave Kai a nod and stepped back.

She quickly entered her half of the code and waited. The small screen flashed the code, then blanked out and the safe door slid open. The safe held only one small silver box, which Kai pulled out and passed to Sakkath. Immediately, the safe resealed itself and the wall panel returned to its place.

“I hope this helps.” Kai looked up to Sakkath with a slight frown. “Please be careful with this.”

Sakkath accepted the box, regarding it for a moment before setting down his kit. With his left hand free now, he lifted the tricorder from its place on his belt, slid the case into the pouch and replaced the tricorder atop it. The device now stood taller than it normally would, but not so seemingly out of the ordinary. The commander recollected his tools and gave a satisfied nod.

“I shall be cautious,” he promised, “and Lucius would not have directed me here if he did not believe it would be valuable.” With the vault hidden once more, he believed their business to be concluded, and gestured towards the door.

Kai nodded as she crossed the office. Reaching for the control panel to unseal the doors, she stopped before doing so. “Are you familiar with the term ‘dead man’s switch’, Commander?”

Sakkath gave a nod. “Generally a means of fail-safe, though occasionally used as a fail-deadly, for anything requiring consistent input from a user or operator,” he recited from memory in his Vulcan monotone. There were several pieces of equipment with such devices installed on 900. “Why do you ask?” he inquired.

“You hold one in your hand. Shall we?” She unsealed the doors and stepped out into the corridor. “If there’s anything more --” Her words were cut off but the flash of phaser fire, the beam blinding in the dim corridor. Kai looked momentarily surprised, then collapsed to the floor.

“Ensign!” Sakkath’s voice was elevated in volume, if not the actual emotion of concern. He resisted the instinct to lunge forward and check on Kai, exposing himself, and instead put his back to the side of the door inside Lucius’s office. “Explain yourself,” he ordered, mentally reviewing his options and his assets. He was quite certain that had been a Federation issue phaser blast, and he had come unarmed.

“The box!” a voice ordered. It was muffled, likely to disguise it. “Now! And you can go.”

Sakkath recounted the last several moments in his mind. Whoever this was knew what Lucius kept in his safe, as neither he nor Kai had mentioned a box even if the soundproofing had failed or been circumvented. That meant there was very little point being coy. He removed his tricorder and scanned the corridor, looking for lifesigns. One, strong, the assailant, and another, weak. At least that meant Kai had likely only been stunned.

The Commander looked to his tool kit, conceiving of jury-rigging a weapon or a distraction, and briefly considered the possibility of overpowering their attacker. He was a Vulcan, after all, and strong despite his inclination away from violence.

But instead he recalled what Kai had said, and retrieved the box, activating what he hoped was a fail-safe and not a ticking time bomb, depressing a sensor on the item he had been sent to retrieve before stepping into the corridor.

“I will be going regardless,” he said evenly as he regarded the assailant for this first time, “and I will be taking the Ensign with me.” The small silver box was prominent in his grip.

The figure before him was covered head to toe and the dim lighting in the corridor did not help. Whoever it was looked from his face to the box in his hand. “Throw it to me.” The phaser was raised and now pointed at Kai. “Or I kill her.”

“If I throw it to you, you will walk away with a lovely box and little else. If I lift my index finger, anything inside will be quite destroyed.” He was guessing, of course, but why else install such a switch? The Vulcan made a show of lifting the box and leaving only his thumb and index finger in place.

The figure hesitated, watching Sakkath. “Perhaps that is my intention. You have no idea what you hold there.”

Sakkath shook his head. “Not logical. If you wished whatever is contained within destroyed, you would have stunned me and assured your success when I fell. Instead, you hesitated.”

The hand that held the phaser twitched, the fingers moving back to the button. “I’ll be sure to tell the Admiral that her death is on your head.”

“It will hardly matter, as you will have to kill us both to have any hope of escape,” the Vulcan concluded. He could have this deck sealed with a word of authorization to the computer. “I see only one course of action available to you, and that is to take this box from me, keeping the switch depressed during the transfer, in exchange for our safety.”

“And if I agree?”

“You walk away, and I take the Ensign to sickbay.”

“Very well, but one wrong move and you’re both dead.” The figure inched forward, the phaser still pointed at Sakkath and Kai, the other hand reaching out. “Don’t be stupid. I’d hate to make your lovely wife a widow so young.”

The Vulcan’s focus was on the face of his would-be killer, knowing that each step closer shifted her focus that much more towards the box in his partly-outstretched right hand. She would have to be exacting in its retrieval to not activate the dead man’s switch.

And when she was in range he lashed out with the kit still in his left hand, aiming to knock the phaser wide, dropping his tools the moment he felt the case make contact. Simultaneously he clenched the box in his right fist, keeping it safe as his now free left hand sought to move forward, and find those five familiar spots…

Sakkath’s aim was true and the phaser flew from the assailant’s hand. A yelp of pain came from beneath the hood.

“NOOOO!” But it was too late. As Sakkath’s fingers made contact, the figure before him sagged to it’s knees and the hood fell back.

Sakkath maintained the nerve pinch for a few seconds as he impassively regarded the face of the officer before him. No immediate recognition dawned on him, and so he released his grip and allowed the limp figure to fall to the deck.

The weapons fire alarm had begun to sound and from farther away, the sound of running feet could be heard. A large Orion woman, Chief Edana, arrived first and seeing Sakkath, skidded to a stop, her own phaser was drawn. Seeing two officers down and Sakkath still standing, she now pointed that phaser at Sakkath. “Report, Commander! Tell me this is not what it looks like!”

“If you presume I have injured my father-by-law’s aide, then no, it is not what it looks like,” Sakkath replied emotionlessly, ensuring he was still depressing the switch on the small silver box. “Ensign Sarkozi has been stunned, kindly see her to sickbay. Her assailant has suffered the nerve pinch of my people, but no permanent damage. See her detained, and inform me the instant a positive identification has been made. I must attend Admiral Hawke. I recommend a guard be posted on both. Consult with Lieutenant Gilroy.”

Edana called sickbay and moments later, Kai was transported out. She then looked down at the other woman on the floor, her expression surprised. “Are you telling me that this woman attacked you and Ensign Sarkozi?”

“I am,” was all he felt the need to say.

“This woman.” Edana shook her head. “This is Lt. Benson’s paralegal. Bond, Monique Bond. What the hell’s going on here? Pardon the language, sir.”

Sakkath’s brow raised in curiosity. “The JAG officer responsible for Lucius’s defense?” he wondered aloud as he regarded the unconscious form before him. “More questions than answers, Senior Chief,” he admitted. “Please, see to my orders. There is much and more to be discovered here.” An instant of realization hit him as well, and he spoke to the computer. “Computer, download the turbolift records for the last hour containing access to Decks 33, 34 and 35 and transfer them to my personal station on Deck 10 for review. Encryption protocols for command level data. Local backup.” A JAG officer, a paralegal at that, had no business in Intel.

“Consider it done.” Edana tapped her comm badge once more, ordering a transport to the contained Security area and then a call to Gilroy. Once she was done, she turned back to Sakkath. “Those records, Commander. Please send them up? We need to know how she got here.”

“A matter I quite intend to get to the bottom of, Chief,” he assured her. “You shall have them, after I’ve seen Admiral Hawke.” He walked purposely back towards the turbolift after collecting his kit, and called for Deck 10.

**********************
Commander Sakkath
Playing with fire

Ensign Kai Sarkozi
Fired Upon

SCPO Edana
Stopping The Fire

MWO Monique Bond
Into The Fire