Chapter 10; The Main Course
Commander LeBeau hated to admit to anyone that she was a hacker. She preferred to call herself a computer security expert. Even though said skill had been what had given her the edge to get her current post, she still did to like to admit it to anybody. Even Will did not use the term in front of her anymore, although he still reminded her that her enjoyment of going around the rules was why she was here at least once a week. He had also told her that it was the same skill on the other extreme that truly gave him the desire to make her his Number One. 'I want someone that knows all the rules, how to uphold them, and how to break them.' She pulled the quote from her memory. 'I want someone who knows how to use the front door in a situation, as well as someone who can sneak in a window.' So here she sat with her head buried, almost literally in a Cardassian computer. No, she would never admit to being a hacker. Mostly because she did not want to admit even to herself just how much she loved to break all the rules that she had worked so hard to learn.
The password that Tom had given her had worked. It had only gotten them into a small maintenance system, but at least it had gotten her in. Now all she had to do was figure out how to get to the rest of the systems. Tom was right it would not take very long to get in, maybe a couple of days if she did not have any luck at first. However they only had a couple of hours. She kept her eyes on the terminal an risked asking a question that she was not quite sure that she wanted to here the answer to. "How long have these systems been here anyway, and do you know where they came from?"
The mole thought about it before he answered. "If memory serves me, this base was set up a little over six of your Terran years ago. These are the original computers that were installed then. But I don't think this was a new system, I think they bought the thing from a trader or something. As far as I know there hasn't been anyone to try to reprogram the thing the entire time."
"Damn, I knew that that mission would keep haunting us." Tina muttered as she tried to program one of the more lengthy decrytion programs that she knew.
"What?" from Tom."
She finished the sequence and knowing that it would take a few minutes to allow the worm to try to get through, she leaned against the side and looked at Tom. "I know that we have talked about this over the last few days. I want you to recall the last time that you saw the Captain and Counselor. How clearly do you remember it?"
"There is no way that I could ever forget that. So many things hinged on those few weeks that I have most of it etched into my brain." He stroked his chin in a gesture that was identical to Will when he was nervous or thinking hard.
"Do you know that we have had to use parts of what Will and Deanna went through during that escapade to get through several missions? It kept biting us in the butt." Besides, if it hadn't been for than enhanced bond that Mrs. Troi created, we would not have survived that other mission. "We also told you about what happened to Will in the Dentarus system six years ago. My comment was the thought that we will have to keep bringing that back to roost every time that we turn around. But with the coincidence sitting here I think that I am going to need some data from the Titan if we hope to get this done before being stuck here for a while. I can hack through Cardassian stuff fairly easy. But I think that the encryptions are actually Romulan, and I am going to need what I have on the Titan. But without a secure system it is too risky."
"I have an idea that might help." The Cardassian that had been their guide quipped from the door that he and Shanar were posting themselves. "If you sent the message on one of the older Order frequencies I doubt that anyone would pick it up before they received it. The problem is that I don't think that the Federation monitors those frequencies, even our own government doesn't know which ones that we use."
"I have an idea for that one." Dr. Ogawa surprised everyone by speaking. Since they had been in this room, she had been studying the information that she had gathered on her tricorder. She now had enough data that the sooner she could send in a report the better. She had concrete proof that the Captain could not have been responsible for the research that these people had obtained. She still granted that he might have been the cause of them being able to tie it all together. Will probably had more information on Genesis floating around in his head than over a hundred of the majority involved. There had been very little of that crisis that he had not participated in, at the very least as an observer. But it was her professional opinion that the Captain just did not have the background necessary for him to have kept the math involved in this in his head. So the sooner she could help get this back the better. "What if you sent a very quick burst on one of the emergency frequencies. Just your ID code and the new frequency. That would be enough to get through so that we could send them what we have, and not get caught in the process. I have to get this back anyway. It's not nearly everything but it is enough to prove that they were using Genesis technology, and get the Captain off the hook with the boss."
The First Office thought about the risks of breaking radio silence. While she could do this on her own, she would need several days to do it. There was also the information that Alyssa had given her. If things managed to turn sour here, getting what little they could out now might just make the difference. The words Access Denied flicked across the screen, in Cardassian of course. They seemed to mock her. Biting her lower lip in frustration and determination she made her decision, "Do it."
"Commander, I've picked up something from the away team sir." Lt. Heath reported and returned to staring at the packet while waiting for a response.
"What is it Lieutenant?" Troi left the command chair to see what had the woman's undivided attention.
"First we picked up a burst on the emergency frequency. All that was on it was Commander LeBeau's ID code and a second frequency. It was one that we usually don't monitor and I barely had a chance to change to the new code when the rest of it came in. It's a complete report of what they have found so far, as well as a request for more information. Comdr. LeBeau needs some of the decrytion codes that came from getting into the computers on Dentarus. There is also a message for either you or the Captain. Its text only, but it is not coded for being for eyes only."
"Let me see it." Deanna had expected the message to be from Tina. Instead she was rather surprised to see that it was from Alyssa. The brevity of the message was initially disconcerting until she had read the whole thing, which actually only took a few seconds. 'Captain is not responsible for the information that they have. The information is too complete to be from him, he did not have access to all of what I have seen.' Deanna straightened with a slight weight lifted from her shoulders. "Captain Riker, report to the bridge." He would be pleased at this news at least in part. He was off the hook with Nechayev at least. Hopefully when they got the rest of it they could be on their way.
"The good news first." He gazed at his wife who was currently looking as is she had seated herself in his chair just to tell him why she wanted him to physically come to the bridge. He could tell that she had received something that had been a bit of good news, by the sparkle in her eyes.
"Well the good news is that we now have the proof that we need to get you off the hook with Nechayev. What I just read from Alyssa is that she has proof that you need. I should know as soon as Karen finishes looking at it." She looked up at the science officer. "Talk to me Karen."
"According to what she sent, I would have to agree. I don't think that the Captain could have remembered anything like this, no offense." Will simply smiled in acknowledgement. "I'm not a medical doctor, just a rock hunter. I can't make heads or tails out of some of these equations. Unless you had spent several days at least trying to get these down I don't think you would have retained enough to go into your long-term memory. Someone else had to have given them this, either that or someone smuggled it out during the crisis in the first place."
"Either is possible and more likely than me seeing those equations and remembering them. I was quite busy at the time. Between running around and trying to keep everyone alive I only looked at the reports that I absolutely had to most of the time. I know that I read a lot of stuff and I can't very easily recall it all. I take it that not knowing exactly what I don't know is the bad news."
"And that Tina needs some of the logs from Dentarus. To boot, if Tom's reckoning is correct we only have about three hours until we get company."
"Get those logs to the Commander and tell them they have two and a half hours and then they are on their own for a while."
"Aye sir."
"We're going to get company." The Cardassian guard seemed rather concerned.
"Gotcha. Let me get this, I need ten seconds." Her hunch had proven correct and as soon as she had the sequences that Ben and Geordi had used during the mop up of that episode the whole thing opened into her lap. "That's it, lets move."
"There is a small access door behind that wall. We use it to bring in parts to fix the system. It has a separate code than the rest of the room. Go through there and you won't be noticed. I will stall them until you get out. They might just buy that I was doing some maintenance on the system."
"Good luck, and thanks." With a smile from each of the four Cardassians that sounded remarkably like senior staff from the USS Titan, they crawled out the back door.
When they had reached a building several dozen meters away LeBeau stopped Tom. "Mr. Riker, why am I having to crack this system. Shouldn't your friend there have all the codes?"
Tom looked at the Commander. "Before he was assigned here he was part of the Obsidian Order. Well, unfortunately for him, he had more scruples than he should have in that profession. Instead of befalling an accident as in what usually happens in those situations, his superiors, in a pique of sadistic mercy, sent him here as a token operative. He has less clearance than most of the guards. Believe it or not, he really does not know how to deal with computers very well. He just never needed it. He is as much of a prisoner as the ones that were experimented on."
No one heard Alyssa mutter to herself, "Control group."
Tina was sitting on the floor ten minutes later while they were waiting to make sure that the patrol had managed to leave the computer room. The last check with the tricorders had seen that there were still four people in the room, and that was about five minutes ago. "I think I have the rest of the code. If this works I should only need about ten minutes to get the whole thing onto a couple of chips."
"Let me see what you got." Tom was not a patient person. He had been trying not to pace too much. He assumed that everyone was getting irritated at him for the habit but he had had this particular habit from the time that he was a child. He felt a little relieved when Commander LeBeau had told him that they were used to it and that the only one that generally got on to Will about it was Deanna. Everyone else just allowed him the habit, mostly in hopes that he would leave them to their habits when they annoyed him. Tom had laughed at that and for the first time realized that he genuinely liked this woman. While not like Deanna in many ways he found her to be a funny woman that he enjoyed spending time with, and to top it off he now knew that she was a top notch First Officer and that the crew truly respected her. He unfortunately did not get a chance to look at what she had found before weapons fire interrupted the exchange. "Well so much for the quiet little break. I think we should assume that this means that the story Lentak told them did not hold up for too long. We are going to have uninvited guests in a minute. We might just blend in with the locals but I don't think the guards would buy four healthy people walking around together."
"Phasers out people, lets be ready. Set for heavy stun, lets not kill them if we don't have to." LeBeau was well aware that Tom was talking about separating the team to try to get away from the guards. She did not think that it was such a good idea, especially when they did not have communications between them and they were relying on prearranged beam out coordinates to get home. No they would stick together unless they did not have a choice. "Guard the door. Alyssa stay in the middle. Shanar when we leave you take the point. I want Tom in the rear." She looked at the man, staring him down, "I just hope you are as good of a shot as the Captain." She returned to face the rest of them. "We give it five minutes if there is no more shooting. If there is we have a man to rescue." Shots again were heard, making any decision making moot. "Let's move people." By the time they returned to the control room there was still a firefight going on. Apparently the guide was rather adept at staying alive during a shooting match. Tina had only been expecting no more than the three guards that they knew about. She had to stop herself from the gasp she felt rising in her throat. She saw the man as he gave an excellent account of himself. If she counted right the current odds were one against twelve. They all took aim carefully as the knew that the only chance to do this with little effort was to take out as many as they could in the first volley, when they had surprise on their side.
Daddy! Julie woke mentally screaming.
Pumpkin?! Will was out of his bed so fast he nearly forgot to put his pants on before heading to his daughters room.
"What's wrong sweetie?" He sat on the edge of her bed and gathered her into his arms, holding her while she tried to calm herself down.
"Tina and Tom are in trouble, and I think we are too." She was nearly screaming and she shook harder as she said the words.
"Ssshh. Calm down Little One." He deliberately used Deanna's name for her. Often when Julie was upset using that name caused her to calm down faster. Will didn't mind knowing his name for her didn't work like that he was just glad that, like her mother, he could get her to focus through the usage of words. "Tell Daddy what's wrong. Why do you thing that we are all in trouble?" He hoped that it would be a normal nightmare brought on by anxiety, but knowing her and her mother he doubted that it would be a simple case of childhood jitters.
"I'm not sure," she sniffed. "All I remember is knowing that something very bad was happening to Tom and Tina. And that it made things really bad for the ship, and you more than anyone else."
"Let's call your Mom. I'll bet she will know if anything has happened in the last little bit. And if it hasn't at least you know." He scooped the little girl in his arms and headed for his room to check in on the bridge.
"Will, it is quarter to four in the morning. Is something wrong?" Deanna's voice held the normal command tone that she used while on the bridge.
"Jules had a nightmare. She thinks that something happened to the away team."
"Nothing that I am aware of. There is nothing on sensors at the moment that we did not expect to see, and we haven't heard from them since the last transmission. We are tracking the one incoming that we were expecting on patrol and I have ordered us to retreat toward the DMZ until they pass. Other than that it is normal Gamma shift."
"Thanks, I think that is what we needed to hear. Riker out." Privately, he added to Deanna as he returned the kid to her room. Keep a weather eye out. With everything that this kid has done so far, I wouldn't be surprised if she did pick up on something. Every time you have done something like this and I didn't pay attention I have had to eat my words of you just having a dream. Then to his daughter he spoke, "Ok squirt, you think you can head back to dreamland now?"
"Tuck me in, and a night night song?"
It was a rare thing for Julie to show her still very childlike side. Normally one would swear the girl was twice her age. Will however never allowed himself to forget that he was the father of a five year old. "Of course, isn't that more important than anything else in the world. That's what Daddy's are for."
Fifteen minutes later the girl was relaxed enough to feign sleep. Will knew that she was pretending so he would go back to bed himself. So much like her mother. He did not get past the kitchen without noticing a figure on his couch. "Now what Q?"
"I just wanted to check on how your were fairing. Had any insights?"
"A few. Now let me guess, what you have been waiting for is about to happen?"
"Very good. I see you have been paying attention. You realize that you are about to make decisions that will either save or destroy you and even if you survive it will change the course of your life as well as your daughters."
"That's nice to know, care to enlighten me?"
"What, now you want the answers when you are so close to the end of the puzzle?"
"Actually I just wanted to give you the opportunity to spout off. Otherwise I am going to take a shower and get a cup of coffee. So either impart your oh so lovely wisdom or get the hell out of my home." Will did know one thing, after this he was going to arrange for the whole ship to have shore leave, mostly because he needed it.
"Just make the shower a short one." With that typically cryptic remark Q left.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
