Red Rain
By Thalia Drogna
AN: Thanks again to my reviewers, it means a lot to me to receive your views.
"Sirius Alpha is famous for its scrap yards," said Reed. He was standing in the Captain's ready room reporting the findings of his investigation to Archer. They had lost Darwin's trail at Sirius Alpha so Reed had decided that there must be a reason why he had stopped there.
"So he bought a ship?" asked Archer.
"Not exactly. A man answering Darwin's description bought a space station. An old Tellarite deep space outpost that was being refurbished," said Reed. "I'd bet my right arm that was Darwin."
"I guess that's what Trip meant when he told us that Darwin had planned for this," said Archer. "Where is this space station?"
"We know where it was," said Reed. "But it isn't there anymore. Darwin borrowed a tug ship and towed it somewhere."
"So we're back to square one," said Archer.
"Not quite. I was able to get a schematic of the station and list of its weaponry. At least when we do find them we'll know what to expect," said Reed.
"How heavily are they armed?" asked Archer.
"Pretty heavily, more than Enterprise could manage alone, but if we can hit their generator then we should be able to disable the entire space station," replied Reed.
"That assumes that they fire on us," said Archer.
"I think it's a possibility that we have to consider," said Reed. "I know Trip's with them but it's obvious where his loyalties lie at the moment."
"I don't know, Malcolm. Trip left because he was trying to protect us, I doubt he'll want to harm us," said Archer.
"If it was only Trip that we were dealing with then I'd have to agree with you, sir, but he isn't alone in this. Colonel Darwin wouldn't hesitate to destroy us if he thought it was what he needed to do," said Reed.
"Yes, but we aren't his enemy. Trip will have passed on all the information that we had about Arroya's murderer, they know we think it's an alien," said Archer. "I don't want to open fire on them if I can help it."
"Yes, sir," said Reed.
"But let's have a plan ready just in case we have to," added Archer.
"Of course, sir," said Reed.
Trip's sleep had been shallow and disrupted, he no longer had T'Pol to help him out with his lack of sleep. In the end he'd given up trying to get back to sleep and gone to the mess hall to find breakfast. The mess hall on Water's Edge was far too big for the seven MACOs who currently occupied the space station, it was meant to cater for considerably more. It was early and none of the others were around yet, but even with all seven MACOs in the mess hall it had still felt deserted. The empty tables and chairs made Trip feel very alone and he reflected that really he was. No matter how much he wanted to forget it, Enterprise had become his home and he'd abandoned that to rejoin the MACOs, admittedly for some very good reasons but he'd still left without even saying goodbye. However, moping around wouldn't help him, shaking his head he went into the kitchen to find what he needed.
One of the first things the MACOs had done when they arrived was sort out the supply of coffee. Coffee was the life blood of a MACO unit. Trip located a mug and poured a cup of the steaming black liquid. It had been many years since he'd drunk MACO style coffee, it differed from the stuff that was usually served on Enterprise by being a much more bitter drink and was similar in consistency to engine oil. The coffee served on Enterprise wouldn't even be worthy of the name according to a MACO. Trip had of course grown used to Enterprise's version now, so this dark brew came as something of a shock to his system, however the caffeine hit was very welcome.
There were no stewards to make breakfast for him here so he had to get his own. A cooking rota had been set up for the evening meals, but breakfast and lunch were up to the individual. They had brought supplies with them that would last several months but very little of that was fresh food since they knew it wouldn't keep. Trip had a brief pang of homesickness for the freshly baked bread and cooked breakfast on Enterprise before reminding himself that was all in the past now. He doubted he'd ever see Enterprise again. He decided to eat on the run so that he could get to work sooner and if he kept himself busy then he wouldn't have time to think about the situation that he was in. He grabbed some ration bars before making his way to the generator room to complete his repairs.
It was early afternoon, station time, before Kanatova came to find him. He was elbow deep in circuits and wiring trying to track down an intermittent fault in the power grid. It was hard going given his lack of knowledge of the Tellarite systems, not to mention his tenuous grasp of the Tellarite language even with the help of a Universal Translator, but at least it was keeping him occupied.
"Do you want some lunch?" asked Kanatova.
"What you got?" asked Trip. Kanatova handed him a lunch box which he opened gratefully, he was starving. "Salad?" he asked dismayed.
"We need to eat up some of the fresh fruit and vegetables that we brought with us, the stasis units won't hold everything we brought. This station was supposed to be self sufficient. Besides it's healthy, so don't complain," said Kanatova. She gave Trip a fork and he sighed, digging into the pile of leaves. He was slightly mollified when he found the packet of blue cheese dressing lurking in the bottom of the box.
"So why'd you get lunch delivery detail?" asked Trip.
"I'm the only one that isn't repairing something or running systems checks," said Kanatova. "And I know what you're like when you're upset. You throw yourself into your work and don't find time to eat."
"Who said I was upset?" said Trip, indignantly.
"You've left behind your whole life to join us here. I saw the hurt in your eyes when I asked you about why you weren't wearing your uniform," said Kanatova. "And I know you haven't been sleeping, so don't try to pretend that you're fine when I know you're not. I am a doctor, remember? In fact, for a while I was your doctor."
"How could I forget? Did you complete everyone's scans?" said Trip.
"I've got the Colonel and the Major to go, they've been too busy to get to sick bay. I'll have to pull rank on them if they don't come soon," said Kanatova.
"You're only a Captain," said Trip, through a mouthful of salad.
"As a doctor I outrank everyone on this station when it comes to medical matters," said Kanatova.
"I'd forgotten about that," said Trip. The Starfleet rank of Commander was the equivalent of a MACO Major, but given his probable dismissal from Starfleet, he didn't want to use his rank at the moment. Luckily everyone had reverted to calling him Trip so he hadn't had to worry. "Did you find anything on the scans you have taken?"
"Maybe," said Kanatova. "There is a very small area of the brain associated with memory functions that seems to be slightly unusual. It's almost like a dead area, nothing seems to be travelling through it or out of it. It's on all of our scans and I don't think it can be coincidence. If Major Hathaway and the Colonel both have it as well then that's conclusive proof."
"Why didn't anyone ever notice it before, I've lost count of the number of brain scans I've had taken during physicals," said Trip.
"Unless you knew to look for it then you probably wouldn't even see it. It becomes a lot more obvious when you've got five other scans to compare," said Kanatova. "Unfortunately I still don't know what it means."
"So are we going to try again this afternoon?" asked Trip.
"With the hypnosis?" asked Kanatova and received a brief nod from Trip. "Yes, unless you have don't want to."
"No, we have to get to the bottom of this and I'm the designated volunteer," said Trip with a smile. "All the important repairs are done, I'm on to the annoying stuff now. That's as opposed to the stuff that will kill us if it isn't fixed."
"I am very glad to hear that we won't be dying due to shoddy repairs," said Kanatova.
"Yeah, well next time you complain about your shower not working perhaps you'll remember that," said Trip. Kanatova just laughed.
Trip finished his lunch and then the two of them made their way to sick bay. They commed Darwin on the way and he met them there.
"How are the repairs going?" asked the Colonel.
"I'm just tidying up now. Everything important has been done. Weapons are fully operational should trouble decide to come calling," said Trip.
"Good work," said Darwin. "Now let's see if we can get to the bottom of this."
"You know the drill," said Kanatova, indicating the biobed. "I'm going to try to put you under deeper this time so that you'll hopefully remember more."
Trip nodded. "Let's just get it over with, Doc, and find out what we're really up against here."
He sank back into Kanatova's hypnosis.
It was night when they entered the city. Two teams in constant contact, each knowing exactly where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing. Curfew meant that there was no one else on the streets only a few patrols and probably the Secret Police. They crept around the streets hiding in dark corners as they made their way towards the weapons research complex that was their goal. With everyone inside they wouldn't be expecting trouble. That was what they hoped. Trip was with Darwin and heard the communicator beep. They were keeping radio silence so both of them knew it had to be something serious.
"I think we've been spotted," said Hathaway's voice.
"Think or know?" asked Darwin, this could put paid to all their plans.
"Pretty sure we're being followed," said Hathaway. "Not by the Secret Police either."
"Can you shake them?" asked Darwin.
Arroya shuffled up to Darwin. "We've picked up a tail."
"Hathaway, looks like we've picked up some friends as well," said Darwin.
"I don't understand, we've been monitoring the police frequencies, we'd know if they'd found us," said Arroya.
"Someone else is playing this game of cat and mouse," said Darwin.
"Great," said Trip.
"Hathaway, keep moving, but keep an eye on your own backs as well as ours," said Darwin. "We'll rendezvous as planned."
"Yes, sir," replied Hathaway.
"Who are they?" asked Trip.
"Uninvited company and that's all we need to know," said Darwin.
"Maybe we should give this one up," said Trip. "Call it a day and head on home."
"If they get in the way, we'll deal with them," said Darwin. "This is too important."
"Yes, sir," replied Trip. He wondered what it was they were really after. Darwin had never kept his team in the dark before but there was always a first time. Maybe what they were here to get was too important to let the rest of the team in on. Trip wondered what could be that important that Darwin would risk the whole team when it was obvious that someone was onto them. It had seemed strange in the beginning that Darwin would want the whole team for this mission but who was he to question his Commanding officer.
They were dogged by their shadow all the way to the complex. It was unsettling to say the least, moving through the pitch black streets and knowing that they were being watched. None of them liked it but they had no choice except to continue on with the mission since Darwin was refusing to back down.
Arroya and Trip disabled the external security systems, the two of them working together easily as they had done many times before. As they arrived they saw Hathaway and her team taking up position ready to cover their escape. Getting in was the easy part, they'd need the extra fire power to get them out. They watched the patrolling guards, waiting until they had their patrol patterns down. Darwin gave the signal and they watched as Fenner and Dempsey did a good impression of two drunks having a good time, it distracted the guards long enough for Darwin and his men to get to the door.
Arroya and Trip bypassed the security and they were inside the building in less than thirty seconds. Breaking and entering was second nature to them by now. They made their way down the corridors of the complex, disabling cameras as they went. Trip had already put together a number of small devices to attach to the cameras that would make sure they looped and didn't record the MACO's entry into the building. He handed these out to Arroya who did the honours with gymnastic ease, making sure that the cameras never caught her movements. They had also stopped briefly to put the motion sensors out of action, Trip had carefully re-routed the wires so that no one would know that they weren't working.
They moved in complete silence, Darwin using hand signals to let his team know when the coast was clear to move forward. Ideally they hoped to get in and out without anyone knowing that they had been there. That meant dodging the patrols rather than dealing with them as they usually would have done. It took them longer than they had planned to reach the laboratory that they were aiming for, the main computer terminal room were they could access the data that they were here for. Then they came up against an obstacle.
So far all the locks they had come across had been electronic and easily circumvented with a combination of technology and knowledge of the base's systems. On the door that they needed to get through was a heavy mechanical tumbler combination lock.
"Damn, we're not getting through this without a plasma torch," said Trip.
"Lieutenant, we need to get through that door," said Darwin.
"I'm sorry Major, but none of my gizmos are going to help us here," said Trip. "This is mechanical." He took his scanner out and began to examine the lock. "And the son of a bitch is damn well shielded, I can't penetrate it with a scan deep enough to get a look at the tumblers."
"Didn't bring my stethoscope either," said Arroya, "maybe I can do it by listening." Arroya pressed an ear to the door and the other MACOs held their breath while she revolved the knob on the door to see if she could hear the pins as they fell into place. She tried for a few minutes before backing up and shaking her head. "It's too well maintained, it's absolutely silent. How much intel do we have on the scientists working here?"
"Enough," said Darwin.
"Birthdays of them and their families?" asked Arroya.
"Of course," said Trip. "If you can't break the lock, break the person. People use stupid stuff for passwords and codes, things they can remember. Like their wife's birthday."
"I'll call Dempsey," said Darwin.
Within minutes they had a list of numbers to try. "This is still going to take a while," said Arroya. "I'm going to have to try them all."
"Start with the lead scientist's details," said Darwin.
"Yes, sir," said Arroya. She carefully twisted the tumbler and was rewarded with a final click that indicated that the door was open. "We're in," she whispered with a little disbelief.
Inside the room was the computer core that they had come for. Trip and Didier got to work translating and cracking the security as they went. Rush and Arroya stood guard while they worked cradling their weapons as they kept an eye out for trouble. Darwin examined the room, what they had come for wasn't here. The weapons specifications were just an added bonus but this wasn't why Darwin was here.
Trip looked up from his work for a second and noticed his Commanding Officer.
"This isn't it, is it?" asked Trip, suddenly. "What are we really here for?"
"That is classified, Lieutenant," said Darwin.
"Everything we do is classified," replied Trip. "Major, we need to know what's going on here."
"Trip, this isn't like anything that we've ever gone after before," said Darwin. "I have my orders."
Trip sighed, shook his head and turned back to his work. That was when the door opened and the lead scientist and his assistant walked into the room, oblivious to the fact that they had just walked into the midst of a team of heavily armed MACOs. They stopped mid-conversation as they finally realised that five guns now pointed in their direction. None of the five members of Special Projects had wasted more than half a second in countering the new threat. Darwin indicated to Rush to move the scientists into the room and shut the door behind them.
"Co-operate and you won't get hurt," said Darwin.
"Of course," replied the scientist, "we won't get in your way. I am intrigued though. You're not Karavians nor are you Jarnans, we have no quarrel with you."
"You're Doctor Gliu, yes?" asked Darwin. The scientist nodded. Darwin continued, "then you should know why we're here."
"If you have come for the computer, then I'm afraid that you're too late," said Gliu.
"Computer?" asked Trip, looking directly at Darwin.
"Your commander didn't tell you?" asked Gliu. "How very interesting. Yet you appear to know about our other projects."
"They have a Quantum Computer here," said Darwin. "That's the real objective of this mission, to steal the QC and prevent Karavia from using it."
Trip was floored for a second. Earth hadn't even come close to a Quantum Computer. There had been a few experiments that looked promising but nothing had ever come to fruition or got past the most basic of systems.
"You really have a QC?" asked Trip. "One that actually works?"
"Yes," said Gliu. "We have tested it extensively and it does work."
"What's a Quantum Computer?" asked Arroya.
"It's kind of the Holy Grail of Computer Science," said Trip. "It's something which falls out of Quantum theory. Quantum theory states that every time we observe a quantum particle we are collapsing wave forms, before we observe that particle, it exists in-between states. A Quantum Computer contains all the answers to everything, when you ask the computer a question, it collapses the wave forms to provide the answer. Of course you have to ask it the right questions. It could be a really powerful tool or a great weapon, depending on who gets their hands on it first. One of the classic uses for a QC would be code breaking, a Quantum Computer could break any code almost instantaneously. Kind of handy for listening in to your enemies. Or it could be used to model complex situations and spit out answers in seconds. Pretty useful for planning battle tactics. How did you get past the decoherence problem?"
"Trip, we don't have time for you to play twenty questions," said Darwin. He knew what Trip was like when it came to technology, if he couldn't work out how it ticked then he had to pull it apart and find out. "Where is the Quantum Computer?"
"I told you, you're too late," said Gliu. "We destroyed the Quantum Computer."
"I don't believe you," said Darwin.
"That is your prerogative. I couldn't allow my government to use it in their war. It's too powerful a force for one government to possess. Unfortunately the Hunters had already detected its presence," said Gliu.
"Who are the Hunters?" asked Trip.
"We don't know," said Gliu. "All we know is that there were five laboratories working with Quantum Computers on Jarna, the Hunters came and destroyed the Quantum Computers, killed the Scientists who had been working with them and destroyed all the records. Jarna now refuses to do any further research in Quantum Computers. There are rumours, theories, that the Hunters are not from this area of space. The Jarnan reports on their activity talk about their unusual strength and ability to track."
"And they're coming here?" asked Darwin.
"We have reports of their presence on Karavia, we can only guess why they are here," said Gliu.
"If you knew about the Hunters destroying the other computers why did you build one?" asked Trip.
"We had hoped that if we conducted our research in secret they would not come, it seems that we were mistaken," said Gliu. "Somehow it seems that they are able to detect the presence of a Quantum Computer."
"What about your research?" asked Trip, "you must still have your notes."
"We have the plans for the computer but I had planned to destroy those as well rather than let my government build another," said Gliu. "It seems that the Hunters will do that for me in any case."
"They'll also kill you," said Trip. "Why should the Hunters destroy everything that you've worked for? Let us take you and the data off planet."
"I couldn't do that, it would be extremely dangerous for you," said Gliu. "The Hunters would know what you were carrying. I don't want to destroy my work, I would rather see it used by some civilisation for their benefit but there is no way to get the information off Karavia safely."
"Sir, actually there may be a way," said Gliu's assistant who had, up until now, been silent.
"What do you have in mind, Karod?" asked Gliu.
"Trian's project," said Assistant Karod. "It's not perfected but maybe we could hide the information so that it wouldn't be found by the Hunters."
Gliu nodded. "Of course, a good idea Karod, but not without risks itself. The next question is would we have sufficient repositories for the data. How many men do you have with you?"
"That is not the kind of information that we give out to anyone," said Darwin.
"In order for this to work we will need more than five of you," said Gliu.
"There are more of us. What exactly is it that you have in mind?" asked Darwin.
"To download the data directly into your brains," said Gliu. "We will have to split the data between you, it would be too big for one person to carry it all, and we need to build in some redundancy. If you give us safe passage off this planet for myself and Karod, and a copy of the information once we have left Karavia, we will give you the data and a means to get it off the planet."
"If you give us the information, then you have a deal," said Darwin.
Suddenly the room shook. Darwin's communicator beeped and he answered it.
"Major, this is Hathaway. This cold war just turned hot. The Jarnans are attacking the capital," said Hathaway. "We need to leave now."