The unexpected prize - Part One

Posted on Fri Jun 17th, 2022 @ 10:11pm by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D & [DECEASED] Gil Silnan Tolbarr & Commodore Jacob Kane & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: Ares Ascending
Location: Rondac Planetary Installation: Power Plant.
Timeline: Several hours after the departure of the Starfleet Tactical Group
2141 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

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The three individuals in the power plant watched the screens in front of them intently. None more so than the one wearing a Starfleet uniform adorned with Admiral's pips. The situation had turned from one of triumph to a potential disaster in the making.

"Where did they all come from? I wasn't notified of fleet deployments on this scale..." Admiral White grumbled, not particularly addressing anyone, though the Cardassian and the Breen nearby exchanged silent looks. "Obsidian Fleet." He uttered the words bitterly, sensing that his influence over that particular asset had been overlooked along the way.

"They haven't detected us, from the evidence we have. This facility's natural shielding has protected us this far," the Cardassian said.

"Until that debris started to break through your 'impenetrable' shields. The other complex has been compromised," White snapped. "Too many loose ends. At least my clone up there in orbit can take the fall this time. If we'd been less fortunate, we'd have Starfleet marines climbing all over us." He shook his head. "No more mistakes, Okar."

The Cardassian said nothing in response to that. The Breen made some hisses and whistles from his cryo-suit.

"If the other facility has been fully evacuated then we shouldn't have anything left to concern ourselves with. Once the situation above is over we can leave on our own time," White replied, returning to watch the battle play out on his monitor.

---

After what felt like days, but had only been hours, Finn, P'rel, and Tolbarr arrived at the outskirts of the power facility. They gently dropped Tolbarr down behind a large rock and then Finn crouched behind a neighboring rock and started to survey the facility. "It looks like there's an entrance there, but it's guarded," she noted to her companions. "There might be a hatch on the roof somewhere too. See the ladder over there?" Finn pointed towards the backside of the building. "If we can make it to the ladder without being seen and enter through a hatch, it might give us more time to find the plant controls."

Barely lucid, Silnan groaned as the weight of his body shifted from the support in his arms from Keating and P'rel, to the support of a rock against his back. He tried to mutter something, he wasn't even sure what, like he was watching himself remotely, only a barest utterance mumbled from his lips.

Looking to Silnan and to Keating, P'rel eyed the ladder and considered their options. Walking in and out of view around a recessed door area, she counted three guards with no way of knowing how many others could be out of view. They were clearly agitated, as if something were due to occur, though the sky still painted with burning brushstrokes of crashing debris certainly added to the anxiety of the moment. It appeared at least that the worst of the debris strikes were over, and all around them large gashes had been ripped into the facility walls from the remnants of the orbital station. It was highly likely that the Athena had now left, and taken the task force with her. Captain Kane would believe that the three of them were dead, and that there was nothing to remain in orbit for. "We can't leave him..." the Vulcan sighed, "...and we can't get him up the ladder either".

Beyond the doorway P'rel followed the contours of the building; there were considerable assemblages of various pipes and conduits leading off the main cuboid structure. Most travelled across the surface though some penetrated the ground. From their proximity, the ground gently thrummed with a steady pulse of energy from whatever kind of power generation the new residents of Rondac were using, and some of the conduits pulsed blue light through transparent inspection hatches in time with the pulsing noise through the ground. "We have not seen any indication of wider knowledge of our presence..." P'rel began, unclipping the rifle scope from the weapon still stowed on Keating's back. Looking through it as she spoke, she thumbed the flywheel to move through the visible spectrums and noted the tremendous levels of power emanating from the conduits, and what looked like emergency energy dissipation manifolds. Passing the scope to Keating so she could also see the same thing, she continued formulating her idea verbally. "...logically the guards would be likely to conclude we are clones. I suggest instead we pose as the same, bringing him into the structure for shelter and further interrogation". She took a few paces back to Silnan and gently slapped his face to rouse him. "Once at the doorway we can deal with the guards however best befits our needs..." she finished, unsheathing the knife she had taken from a guard earlier and inspecting is, as if quantifying it's sharpness before re-sheathing it.

"I'm pretty sure they made my clone with all her fingers," Finn held up her bandaged hand. "I never saw her, but I swear I heard my clone at some point before I was thrown into the cell and I'm pretty sure that's the whole reason they captured me. She might even be back on the ship for all we know, and if she is then they'd immediately know that I wasn't the clone." Finn paused for a moment in thought. "What if you two take the front entrance as you suggested before. I can assist you from here if you run into any trouble," she signaled to the rifle on her back. "If you make it in without raising suspicion then I can take the ladder and enter through the roof. We can meet up in the main control room."

Acquiescing to Keating's suggestion, P'rel clicked the scope back to the rifle and moved to lift Silnan up into a shoulder carry. "I doubt it" P'rel shook her head. "You nearly made it back to Athena. They probably would have gone to a greater effort to ensure you were captured if they were going to replace you.." she thought back a moment to the station before it blew. "...Intercepting a transporter beam at the last second, whilst you were beaming from a station under attack, is hardly foolproof". Scooping Silnan's arms around one side of her neck, she braced herself on one knee and pulled his thigh over the other shoulder as she rose, wincing in pain as the wound in her side felt like it had exploded. "He wasn't in a holding cell by the way..." P'rel informed her, "... you must have been dazed when you sent me after him, the next time I found Silnan was in the cell with you".

"What are you talking about?" Finn turned towards P'rel and raised a brow in confusion. "I wasn't caught in a transporter beam. I was in a jefferies tube, repairing sensors. They knocked me over the head with something and then I ended up in the cell with Silnan. I never even saw you in the station until you found us...did you hit your head on something?" She asked, wondering where the hell she had come up with these completely made-up memories.

P'rel arched a brow, looking quizzically at Keating. "Lieutenant, did you lose more blood than I anticipated, or are you being as...reliable in your assertions as usual?". She took a few steps with Silnan, almost as if calibrating her balance. "I beamed to the station to find Silnan, you were there, you told me you'd been attacked and pointed me down a hatchway to find Silnan in the brig...I was simply pointing out to you that your directions were as reliable as one could usually expect from you...". Whilst it was a barb, P'rel did take a moment to actually wonder if Keating had indeed lost more blood than she believed, or if she'd had a head injury. There hadn't been time to examine her, nor to barely talk whilst evading evacuating base personnel and dodging falling debris.

"I did NOT see you on the station and if I gave you directions, they would be accurate....Wait. You don't think..." Finn's mind churned. She had heard her clone's voice. Was it possible? "Could it have been the clone?"

P'rel's face and nose went cold, a fairly typical reaction where a human might feel their stomach tighten or cramp in the face of anxious realisation. "If that is the case, then we have no way of warning Captain Kane. To take the hypothesis to it's logical conclusion; the clone could be doing anything to undermine operations and would have certainly informed Starfleet that both Mister Tolbarr and myself are dead..." she turned to look at the building a few minutes walk away. "We must destroy this place, whatever their plan is will surely be heavily compromised by the removal of this facility. We can only hope the Captain uncovers the clone before it is too late...".

"Agreed. I'll make sure you get cleared to enter and then I'll meet you in the control room as quickly as I can get there. I'm sure I can find a way to burn the whole place down once we're inside," Finn replied with a menacing smirk, thinking this was how she would get her real payback for all the pain she had just been through. With any luck they'd even make it out alive and then maybe she could find the clone and kill it herself. There was no telling what sort of damage she'd have done in engineering on the Athena, but she was sure there would be quite a mess to clean up.

Having walked for a few minutes towards the door, the guard contingent seemed to have lessened. Though it only meant that less outside meant more inside. P'rel was at least reassured knowing that she and the guards were in Keating's crosshairs, although given her relationship with the Lieutenant it wouldn't have been the most comforting of thoughts in any other circumstances. A large Cardassian stepped towards her, flanked by a Breen either side. "Stop there!" he barked, and P'rel came to a halt with Silnan draped over her shoulders.

"What are you doing here?" the Cardassian demanded, glaring at the Vulcan. "Put him down - you're coming with us for interrogation. Now."

Wishing she'd agreed with Keating some kind of "shoot him" signal, P'rel decided to rely on her confidence instead. Releasing her right hand from Silnan's thigh over her shoulder, the Vulcan landed one swift hard punch to the Cardassian's chin sending him reeling backwards - in surprise it seemed, more than anything. "How dare you?!" she demanded in return, more forcefully than the Cardassian had demanded of her. "This prisoner is under the direct custody of Thot Sek!" with her hand having been freed in amongst a distraction, it had discreetly found the knife handle tucked in her uniform waistband - just in case. "...and the others..." she added, on the off chance that Sek had been present and killed in the attack. Posing an unknown as a fact was also a useful way of confirming if there were "others" involved here at a senior level. "Now stand aside!" she gestured dismissively with her head and took a step, deliberately placing the man between herself and Keating's rifle. "You two!" she shouted at the Breen guards, "prepare somewhere to hold this scum!" she hoped that if the Breen disappeared then either P'rel or Keating could dispose of the Cardassian without raising an additional alert.

Finn sat perched behind the rock with her rifle aim going between the Cardassian and the Breen. They hadn't attacked P'Rel, but they hadn't let her in either. We really should've talked about a signal, Finn thought as the scene unfolded at the door. It looked as though the intelligence officer was playing her part well enough, but she tightened her finger around the trigger of the rifle just in case.

The two Breen hesitated, giving each other a look as if questioning everything behind their cryo-helmets. One of them made a robotic hissing noise, then looked at the Vulcan again waiting to see if she would answer.

P’rel ‘s jaw tensed. She had no idea what the two Breen guards had said. Flicking through the few logical options in her head, she decided to just go with one and see; all the while giving a slight bend in her knees ready to drop Silnan and pounce, with a grip on the blade handle tightened further. “Of course I’m Lieutenant P’rel’s clone! You walking icicle, now go ready a holding area!”. Hoping that Keating was ready to shoot just in case, the Vulcan suspected that death or success may just hinge on what happened in the coming seconds…