Chapter 12 - Intruder Alert

RSS Endurance RSRN-1702-D

Bridge

Soren stepped back in shock. "How could you have escaped… you're responsible for all of this! Aren't you!" Soren accused while pointing at her.

"Why me? Well, I can say that I was the one who filtered ethanol into the atmosphere. But, destroying the ship's computer and navigation was the good crew's decision in their drunken stupor" Daisy spoke with a twist of irritation. She continued "Why do you defend them Soren? You and I, the Spartans and others could do so much more if we were just given what we deserve. We could rule over what is the Republic now with an iron fist! It is your birthright!"

"I do not believe that you actually are thinking in this manner" Lore interjected, stepping onto the bridge.

"What do you mean?" Daisy replied, veering backwards. "Lore, you are a superior being to even us Spartans! You should lead the Enhanced-"

"After reviewing the brain scans that your previous set of armor took, it seems that you do not wish what you have done" Lore droned while stepping towards her.

"What do you mean?" Daisy asked hesitantly with Soren giving Lore a confused look behind his visor.

"You are under the influence of an MA-1 implant; you have been resisting it. That is the reason you could not finish off Jai by yourself" Lore continued, stepping towards her. "What about the primitive tactics you used on Shield 006?"

"No… that's not true. That's impossible!" Daisy cried, stepping backwards in fear.

"Search your feelings, you know it to be true!" Lore said, arm stretched out towards her.

Suddenly, Daisy started to shake as if she was about to explode. Her legs started to wobble. Finally, she fell to her knees and ripped her helmet off. She clutched her head. "AGGHH! NOOO!" She hollered in pain. She suddenly froze and her previously glazed over eyes became clear.

It all came back to her. "What have I done?" She breathed as her eyes rolled back.

Lore rushed to her side and grabbed before she could fully collapse to the ground. Lore took his helmet off and placed it on the floor. She reached out to touch the Android's face. "Lore, I am so sorry" She croaked.

Then, she went limp.

"Is she-"

"Deceased? Negative, she is unconscious" Lore sighed as he got up. "She has to be taken to sickbay so the device can be removed from her cortex."

"With all due respect sir, we've got bigger problems than this" Soren countered while staring into the dead viewscreen. "Half of the crew will be dead within ten minutes if we cannot administer the anti-intoxicant into the air"

Lore glanced at the Spartans who were making their way onto the bridge with them. Lore knew that this would be an uphill battle, with the main computer disabled they would either have to reactivate it (somehow) or manually power the ventilation system and pour the gaseous form of the drug into the pump directly. He calculated that the task would take over fifteen minutes if they had to do it all manually, and by then over 25% of the crew would have died of alcohol poisoning. If they could make their way to the central computer core five decks down and reactivate the computer, it could cut the time down to five minutes, well within the ten before the crew started dying in large numbers. However, if the core were to be damaged beyond repair and they had to then manually circulate the antidote throughout the ship, it would take about 20 minutes in total before they could circulate the drug. By that time, Lore calculated in under a split second that about 50% of the crew; about 400 people would die.

There was not nearly enough time to deliberate with his staff, so he made the call. "We head for the Starboard Computer Core, it is our best shot to saving the crew and retaking the ship. Spartans, remain here and watch Daisy, ensure she does not harm herself or others. Soren, you are with me"

The conscious crew nodded and got to work. Soren flanked his superior as they left the darkened bridge while the Spartans surrounded their former comrade. Before Soren could leave the bridge however, a hand grabbed his arm and spun him around. It was Fred, and he wanted to come.

Noticing something was amiss, Lore spun on his heel to see what was going on with Soren. In under a millisecond, Lore decided that fighting with Fred to stay would just waste valuable time and would jeopardize the objective, so grudgingly he gestured for both of them to come along. This is going to be a long day Lore thought, trying to emulate a human thought pattern.

The three officers climbed their way down the service tunnel's ladder. The Starboard Computer Core's main control room was on Deck 7 while they were descending from Deck 1. For a team of average Starfleet personnel, it would take approximately ten minutes to navigate to the control room. It took Lore, Fred and Soren just under sixty seconds.

Still in pitch black darkness, after endless navigation through endless tunnels, the group of officers reached a grate that peered into a corridor. Directly adjacent was the door to the Computer Core. Without a second thought, Soren punched the grating: denting and sending it flying with a loud clang. They got out of the cramped tunnel and crossed the corridor. Lore got his fingers in between the sliding doors and pried them open.

Suddenly, Soren's HUD displayed a warning that no commando would like to see when they are vulnerable. Proximity Alert.

Soren's gaze darted to his superior officer and then Fred, who was getting the same warning. A map appeared in the corner of his HUD, showing him where the offending lifesigns were located. For a moment, Soren believed them to be just more drunken personnel that managed to hold the intoxicating effects of the alcohol at bay. However, the lifesigns that were detected were too organized and seemed to be searching the ship. They seemed to have fanned out from what had to be Hangar Bay: something that Soren dreaded to think about. He then initiated a deeper scan to see what species the lifesigns belonged to.

After just under ten seconds of scanning, Soren's HUD displayed the results. His blood ran cold as his eyes froze over in old terror.

"Sangheili" Soren breathed.

Fred's gaze snapped towards Soren in shock.

"It is now more imperative than ever that we get the computer online" Lore droned, "Let us move!"

Soren and Fred did as they were told, scanning the hallway for any unwelcome guests from interrupting them. Then, they moved into the control room with Lore; who was already performing diagnostics. An officer was slumped over the main control panel, with vomit all over it.

Lore carefully put the officer on the floor and sat down at the desk. It was times like these where Soren was immensely grateful for the air filters in his helmet so that he would not have to smell the foul semi-liquid smeared over the console. But, nonetheless Lore wiped away the substance as if it were mere water, not caring about its foul properties. He did however, make a mental note to wash his hands at his earliest convenience as he had observed in the past that humans don't like shaking their hands with dirty hands.

Lore pressed a few buttons on the console, only to discover it was completely dead.

Soren desperately looked around for anything that could be inhibiting Lore from starting the main computer. As he scanned the room with his eyes and HUD, he noticed something peculiar. Someone had obviously in their drunken stupor shut the flipped the main energy breaker into the off position. This created a cascade effect in which every computer on the ship instantly shut down, as the Starboard Computer's breaker also routes power to all of the other Computer Cores. This was a known fault in the Galaxy Class' design: in fact, the Endurance was to be retrofitted at Mars Spacedock to correct this fault, but the ship was assigned to escort the Enterprise (which was only planned to take a week… but ended up taking twice that time).

Soren flipped the switch.

Suddenly, the lights turned on. It took a few seconds for the conscious crew to adjust. The Computer immediately jumped the ship to red alert and blared, "WARNING, intruders detected on decks 3, 7, 8, 10, 23, and 30. Quarantining…"

"Computer, replace the ethanol from the atmosphere with ethanarbizol at a concentration of 2500 parts per million" Lore ordered.

The Computer complied; releasing the anti-intoxicant into the air. They could hear hissing sounds all around them.

"It may take a couple hours for the crew to come around" Soren added, "Recommend we beam directly to the bridge to ascertain our current situation."

Lore nodded and said, "Computer, use the site to site transporter function to beam three to the bridge."

"Affirmative"

Suddenly, the group the dematerialized and before they knew it they were on the bridge. The Spartans seemed slightly shocked by their sudden appearance: apparently, they were not entirely used to the concept of matter-energy transport. Instinctively, Soren scanned the bridge. He noticed something that he hadn't when the bridge was dark: David lying on the floor.

Lore sat in the Captain's chair, and ordered the viewscreen to be turned onto whatever was directly in front of the ship. Soren moved through the crowd of Spartans on the bridge guarding Daisy's unconscious body. The Starfleet Commando took his former temporary position on this very bridge: Tactical.

Soren did as Lore ordered and turned the viewscreen onto the camera that looked forwards from the bridge. What filled the viewscreen turned the Spartans' blood cold.

A CAS-class assault carrier.

Lore immediately stood from the Captain's chair in 'awe'. The ship was massive by Republic standards; being over five kilometers long. but as the old saying goes: size matters not.

Soren's console started beeping. He looked down on it and said, "We are being hailed."

Lore turned to Soren; calculating his next move. He then turned to the Spartans and said, "Take Daisy and remove yourselves from the bridge. Your presence has a 97.5% chance of setting a bad impression during first contact procedure."

The Spartans nodded and Kelly carried the unconscious Spartan with the rest of them following. With a whoosh the Spartans were out the door of the bridge; leaving Soren and Lore alone with the currently unconscious bridge crew. "Onscreen" Lore ordered.

With a few taps from Soren's fingers, the viewscreen instantly changed from a live image of the ship hailing them to a live feed from the bridge of said ship. In the center of view, a large Sangheili stood with others working around him at different stations. He was clad in silver, reflective armor that was similar to most commando armor. The armor was not however, standard issue as Lore noted off the bat. It then suddenly clicked in both Soren and Lore's minds. The Elite that stood before them was the Arbiter or Thel 'Vadam.

"I am Thel 'Vadam, Kaidon of Sangheilios" Thel started.

"I am Senior Lieutenant Lore of the United Republic of Planets, and Acting Captain of this vessel" Lore greeted, "I apologize for the lack of communication. As you are most likely aware, my ship has experienced various… difficulties. We mean you no harm."

"Yes, indeed. I dispatched my warriors to attempt to discover what was going on over there. The only response we received from your Captain was a picture of his middle finger" Thel said, "When your ship started back up, we lost contact with them, what have you done with them?"

"Our Computer's security protocols dictate that it must contain any unauthorized lifeforms from moving throughout the ship. Your warriors seem to have been caught by this and are trapped behind forcefields throughout the ship" Lore droned.

Thel started to growl when Lore interjected, "If you are willing to overlook this… incident, we would be more than willing to receive you and your delegation aboard our ship to collect your Elites in about two hours when the rest of my crew recovers. We have never meant you or your warriors any harm"

Thel nodded, "Two hours. We will dock in your primary hangar where my initial boarding party landed. If you so much as lay a finger on one of my warriors…"

With that, Thel 'Vadam closed the channel, leaving the Endurance's conscious bridge crew to stare at his ship.