A/N: I'm going to try and keep any of the shorter chapters at a thousand words. Enjoy the next chapter! Please Review.
Chapter 10
Information
Ensign Munro and the Chief both beamed into sickbay from the Etherian ship. The Chief took off his helmet and allowed the Doctor to scan him. "You're fine, Chief. Your armor protected you quite well." he said
The Chief approached Munro "It was touch and go there for a little while Munro, but we got the mission done. Have the Doctor look you over and then go to Hazard Ops, the rest of the team will be there shortly for debriefing." he said, then walked out the door.
Munro spoke with the Doctor who gave him a clean bill of health, then walked out of sickbay and took a turbolift to Hazard Operations. From there he went to the locker room to wait for debriefing.
"I still can't believe we were all nearly killed last time." Chell was saying as Munro came up to the conversation in the locker room.
"Yeah…they messed us up pretty good." Said Biessman
"Well that's not really fair…we didn't know what to expect. We didn't have all the information." Said Telsia
"Hey Munro." Said Biessman
"Alex did you hear anything about where they're sending us next?" Telsia asked him
"I heard Chakotay and Tuvok talking about the scavengers." Said Chell
"Oh yeah?" replied Biessman
"I ran into Kim, he was going over the data we brought back. He says there's some kind of machine that brought us here." said Telsia
Another commando, Crewmen Odell, stood nearby. "Hey Munro, scuttlebut says I'll be along on the next mission. Some kind of stealth operation?" he said
Before Munro could respond Cortana called the Hazard team to the briefing room. They all walked in and took their seats. Commander Chakotay was in the front of the room with Cortana on a nearby holo-pedestal and the Chief was also seated in a reinforced chair near the front.
He nodded, then began speaking. "With the information your team retrieved, we've been able to learn a few things about our situation." A large screen on the back wall snapped on and showed the machine Munro and Chell had seen in the computer core of the Etherian ship. "This is called the 'Forge'. It's generating the dampening field thats keeping Voyager and the other ships trapped here."
Munro spoke up. "Do we have any idea what's running that thing? Or why it's here?" he asked
"No...the Etherians had no detailed information about it. For all we know it could be a simple machine." Chakotay replied. Then he tapped more controls and the screen changed to an image of an isotope. "This is Isodesium. A rare isotope that doesn't seem to be affected by the Forge's dampening field. B'Elanna thinks she can use it to complete repairs and hopefully we can escape. We've located a source of Isodesium. Unfortunately it's located here." The screen changed again to a structure of some kind. To most of the members of the Hazard team it looked as if a Hirogen, Malon, Klingon and a Federation ship all had a collision. Munro recognized the Federation ship as a Constitution class and the Klingon ship as a large Bird of Prey.
"What is that?" asked Munro
"The Scavengers base of operations." the screen changed again to images of the raiders that had greeted Voyager upon its entry into the graveyard. "These are the scavengers. A loose alliance of survivors from the other ships trapped here. They survive by raiding other ships for supplies, like their attack on Voyager earlier. It looks like they use some Isodesium but most of it is scattered throughout the base. It looks like they have a transporter inhibitor field surrounding the base. So a team of six will be shuttled to the base by Ensign Paris. Once there, Ken and Foster will set up an extraction point with pattern enhancers. Chief, you're up." said Chakotay
The Chief walked up to the front of the room. "This is a stealth mission. I will be along to plant explosive charges at specific points so we can destroy the base. Cortana will also be along, she'll provide you with tactical data and assistance with locked doors and secured systems. We also have a variety of new weapons for you to test. Cortana and I have been working on modifying UNSC weapons with Federation technology. We've been able to install a small replicator in the weapons themselves. The clips are now power packs with the capacity to replicate twice the standard amount of ammunition in any one clip. So instead of sixty rounds, you've got one hundred twenty. This will reduce what you need to carry. These power cells are rechargeable so hang on to them once they're expended. When they're on your belt, they are linked to your armor. If you walk up to a weapon terminal it will not only replenish your phaser ammunition but it will recharge your clips as well. Also available is the Active Camouflage used by Stealth Elite during the Human-Covenant war. The heat signature has been reduced but the duration has been increased and they are rechargeable as well. While it does hide you from normal eyesight, I wouldn't move directly in front of someone. The Active Camouflage can be spotted by a shimmer in the air and the scavengers could be trigger-happy. My personal weapon recommendations for this mission are as follows: Silenced SMG, battle rifle or assault rifle, silenced M6D pistol. Personally I believe the phaser rifle is too loud for stealth missions. I would seriously consider using UNSC weapons for this mission. Any questions?" the Chief asked.
"Very well, gear up and report to the shuttle bay." he said
Thirty minutes later the team was waiting in the shuttlebay. The ground crew was having trouble with the docking clamps on the Delta Flyer. Paris asked the Chief to see if he could reach the override. He did so quickly and the mission was a go. The team piled into the Delta Flyer and it took off for the Scavenger base.