Chapter 14: "Twisted Mind"
=/\= - =/\=
"It's time to get ready," Admiral Michaev announced.
"I'm always ready." Meili Monoh, aka Agent QT, flashed a coy grin.
Kazra rolled his eyes.
"Then you have the bridge," Michaev noted. "Keep watch over our Romulan friend, while I take care of something with the boys." He flashed back a conspiratorial smile.
"Sure, no problem with me." She bounced into the command chair and inspected her fingernails casually. "I've got everything under control."
The Admiral chuckled and motioned the men off the bridge. He eyed Kazra, who was once again rolling his eyes, but Michaev was glad the half Betazoid, half Haliian didn't spout anything cynical. Petty bickering had to be put to the side now. It was crunch time.
Outside in the corridor, Michaev met Micro's big, greenish eyes. A flick of his head, "Go get it," and the Arkenite rushed off.
=/\=
The men all met again in the Umbra's armory. Zlar opened the weapons lockers and made himself busy with laying out their usual arsenal. He knew exactly who would be carrying what, aside from whatever personal favorites they might bring.
Michaev held out his hand to Micro, and the Arkenite handed him a device that the Admiral had to hold in both hands. He weighed it in his grasp.
"What's that?" Kazra quirked a brow.
"It's a portable rift drive generator," Michaev educated the agent.
"Rift drive?" Kazra looked puzzled. Even Zlar looked up from what he was doing.
The Admiral nodded solemnly. "Micro has modified it to be integrated into Romulan propulsion systems."
Kazra's eyes widened as Michaev handed him the small but unexpectedly heavy unit.
"I want you to plug that into the mining vessel's propulsion system," Michaev informed. "Micro will tell you how."
"Why didn't I know of this?" Kazra felt a little insulted that Waridi had been working on a special engineering project without his knowledge. And now the Admiral expected him to install and implement it.
"You did not have the necessary expertise," Waridi simply answered.
"Oh, ok," Kazra frowned, "I get it. I can handle regular engineering matters, but I'm too dumb to get into the more complicated thing, is that it?" He looked challengingly at the Arkenite.
"Nobody said that," Michaev put a hand on Kazra's shoulder, "calm down, Succuba. Micro's been working on this for a while, before we ever started our trip. It took me months to even get a hold of one of the units, and much longer for Micro to make the needed adjustments."
Kazra grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. "Why a rift drive?" he asked out loud.
The Admiral's lips spread into a wide smile. His eyes had a menacing twinkle to them when he explained, "We'll be making a little temporal excursion with our newly acquired prize."
"To where?" Kazra carefully placed the device into a satchel.
"Oh," Michaev sounded nonchalant, "a few years back... to a rogue planet in the Omarion Nebula."
Zlar laid down a phaser rifle with a loud thud. The three others turned to look at him. "Omarion Nebula?" The Andorian's brow furrowed. "Isn't that the Founders' homeworld?"
Micro and Kazra shifted their gaze to Michaev. All three agents stared at the Admiral, awaiting his response with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation.
Boris Michaev maintained a benevolent smile. His reply came as easy as if he was talking about why he had pork chops for lunch, "Let's just say, we'll be ridding the Alpha and Beta Quadrants of a lot of trouble and unnecessary losses," he grabbed one of the rifles and inspected it idly for but a moment, "and after we're done," he aimed the rifle's targeting light at the wall, a twisted grin on his face, "the Federation will reign supreme."
=/\=
Meili's hand slid over the Romulan's shoulder as she rounded his chair. It traveled up his neck to his ear. Her fingers brushed over the outline of its point, before she move around to his other side, letting her fingers trail over that ear as well.
"You know," she purred as she sunk onto his lap, "you are kinda cute for a Rom."
Temba, still in disguise as Arrain R'Kal, watched her intently. He had no idea what the concupiscent agent was up to, but it put him on high alert... among other things.
She flashed a flirtatious smile. "You don't like girls?" A finger grazed his jawline, then brushed over his lips, pulling the lower one down for a second before letting it snap back.
A semblance of a grin formed on Temba's face.
"You have interesting eyes for a Rom, you know?" Meili whispered, meeting his dark yellow eyes with her brilliant blue gaze.
"My whole family has them," Temba finally answered in a deep murmur, "it's a... genetic trait."
"I see..." She shifted on his lap. An impish sparkle suddenly flashed up in her eyes. She chuckled softly, "And here I thought we had relieved you of your guns."
"Hmm... you did take my disrupter," he smirked.
She purposely shifted once more, with more pressure this time, and leaned into him. Her voice was sultry and low, "Seems like being tied up is turning you on as much as m..."
The hissing sound coming from one of the bridge access doors stopped Meili's unabashed overture. She glanced to the arrival. Micro.
She let out a sigh, "You have impeccable timing."
"The Admiral wants you in the armory," Waridi remarked without giving any indication that he noticed what he had interrupted, "It is time to go. I will be staying on the ship." He moved to the helm console and sat. "He expects you at once."
Another, more audible sigh. Meili stood, a look of regret on her face. She grasped the Romulan's chin and lifted his gaze to look at her. "Too bad," she muttered, "but I'll see you later." A wink, and she rushed off.
=/\=
"Really?" Kazra shot a disgusted look at the two daggers Meili was wearing criss-crossed on her back. "What's it with you and always bringing swords?"
An exaggerated gasp. "Do I hear the sound of envy?" she mocked.
"As if," Kazra groaned, "I don't see the point. It's not like you can deflect weapon fire with them."
"You wouldn't understand," she flippantly replied and began arming herself with some of the selections Zlar had laid out, "brute."
"Ice," Michaev addressed the Andorian, "you'll accompany Succuba to the Engineering section. We're beaming in together and then split up. I don't want to chance two separate transports, just in case their sensors detect us." He slid a phaser into its holster. "Of course, chances are that they might still detect us, but at least then they can't raise shields to prevent any of us from beaming in. We'll already be there."
"Seems from what Succuba said there aren't too many people over there anyways," Zlar commented, "Mostly Engineers. Very little security."
"That might very well change once the weapon is ready and Terrh wants to take the ship out," Michaev surmised. "I know right now he seems to think that having cloaked ships around is all the protection he'll need. That miscalculation will cost him." He grinned sardonically.
Zlar chortled. "Considering how long we've been here watching him, and he had no clue..." He stashed a few reserve power packs.
Michaev nodded. "And now his wild goose chase after the ship where the shuttle originated from..."
"I'd say us dropping in will be a quite unexpected surprise," the Andorian finished the shared thought.
Michaev's grin darkened. Yes, his agents had a grasp of the situation, and the gravity of what it meant for this take-over to succeed. First the Founders would pay and then... the galaxy was theirs for the taking.
=/\=
"Admiral."
The tone of urgency in Kazra's voice snapped Michaev out of his sinister brooding. He whirled around, looking at the agent holding the amplifying crystal in his hand. Kazra's facial expression was grim. "What's wrong?"
"They finished with installing the thalaron weapon," he reported.
"Damn," Michaev cursed. He looked at his wrist chronometer. "The Klingons won't be here for another fifteen minutes or more."
"Amtor and most of the other workers are in the process of beaming back down to the planet," Kazra went on.
"And once they're off the ship..." Meili mused.
"...Terrh will most likely raise shields," Michaev chimed into her musing, "which means, we need to go. Now."
"But what about the Klingons?" Zlar interjected.
"We'll have to stall for time, if we must," the Admiral snapped, just a bit irritated that he had let himself get caught unawares. He grabbed the last of his supplies and headed to the door. "Let's go. We don't have any time to lose. We need to beam aboard before Terrh gets a chance to cut us off."
=/\= - =/\=
The quartette of SFI officers beamed into what Micro had deemed via sensors to be a spot devoid of personnel. Most of the surroundings visible to them lay in dimness. There was a strumming of sorts that permeated the mining ship, as if it had a heartbeat. The air was humid and laced with the smell of grime and dust. This was definitely a ship of labor, not of luxury.
Michaev quickly informed Waridi they had made it safely. Subcutaneous communicators would keep the four agents in contact with the Umbra and one another, but their was little chance of beaming them back out if Terrh would raise the shields. Thus far, the Tal'Shiar officer had not deemed it important enough to do so. Perhaps, Micheav thought, it was because Terrh still planned on carrying out some personnel transports.
The group split. They all had their assignments. It was time to find their targets and position themselves for the strike.
Zlar and Kazra began their trek downwards to the bowels of the ship, where the Engineering section lay and the main control of the thalaron generator. Michaev and Meili started moving upwards toward the central control level. They would have a slightly longer trip than the other two, but would most likely also encounter less resistance.
=/\=
It took only a few minutes for Zlar and Kazra to arrive in Engineering. The lighting was better there, but like with many Romulan ships, it still left much to wish for. They cautiously moved through the entrance. Kazra pointed out the strong glow of the thalaron generator in the forward section. They diverted their movement into that direction.
Zlar suddenly raised his hand. He squatted down behind a console. Kazra followed suit. Some ten meters away two Romulans rounded a corner and stopped at a display, discussing something on the monitor.
The Andorian motioned for his fellow agent to make his way around to the men's left, while Zlar set out to flank them from the right. If possible, they wanted to neutralize them without the use of phasers. It could all too easily sound an alert.
The duo of SFI agents sprung upon the unsuspecting Romulans. It was an all too short fight for Zlar. He possessed greater strength than his opponent and simply snapped the man's neck. Kazra, on the other hand, had more of a battle at hand. Not only did his adversary try to pull a disruptor on him, once that was eliminated, the man engaged Kazra in hand-to-hand combat.
Zlar was just about to jump into the fray when a disruptor hit seared his left shoulder. He whirled around in pain, spotted the Romulan officer, and immediately rushed him. The shock in the man's eyes left no doubt that he had not expected that move. He didn't get off another shot.
By the time the Andorian rose back up, leaving the prone body of the Romulan on the floor, Kazra had finally overwhelmed his opponent as well.
"Took you long enough," Zlar noted, glancing down at the dead Romulan.
"You think internal sensors have picked up on the disruptor fire?" Kazra queried breathlessly, motioning to the other Romulan.
"I don't know," Zlar looked around, "I don't see any alarm lights flashing or other indication of alert. Who knows, this ship might not have internal sensors."
"It has to have something in case fire erupts," Kazra commented and walked over to one of the consoles, "With all the things that could go wrong with mining equipment, I doubt no safety measures are in place."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they got sensors to detect intruders," Zlar shrugged, moving to Kazra's side, "Why would a mining vessel be concerned about that? And they'd be using welding and cutting tools. Those could set off sensors if they'd be too sensitive to energy blasts." He looked around the section. "I think everything's secure."
"Alright." Kazra opened the satchel and extracted the rift drive generator.
Zlar motioned to where they had come from. "I'll cover the entrance, you do your work." He found a good spot and readied his phaser rifle.
"Admiral," Kazra contacted Michaev, "we've secured Engineering. I'm beginning integration of the rift drive generator now."
=/\=
"They're at their target. Starting to install the device," Michaev informed Meili in whisper as they both stepped from a lift. All had been quiet thus far, and they had not encountered a soul. But one never knew. Stealth needed to be maintained.
Somewhere up ahead, they could make out stronger illumination surrounding a large platform some two meters elevated from their current level. Micheav motioned Meili to the right. They carefully scaled a few smaller platforms along the curve of the ship's outer wall, until they were actually on a level a good three meters above the command center platform.
Slowly and quietly, they made their way in the shadows along the wall, approaching the large window section that gave a magnificent view of the planet below and the space between it and the asteroid belt.
Michaev suddenly halted, just about at the end of the platform they were on. He stuck his hand out to stop Meili's movement as well. Quietly, they both gazed down onto the control center.
A lone figure stood by the window. His legs slightly apart, his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze directed out into space. And where a Romulan's disruptor would usually be holstered on a belt, he wore a sword in its sheath instead.
=/\= - =/\=
Consciousness returned to Timir slowly. He shifted a little, pulled himself up, and leaned against the bunk. Aside from his head, nose, and chin, now his whole body was aching as well. He groaned. He recalled the sensation of his nerves sizzling when Zlar unloaded the phaser energy into his body at close range. It wasn't an experience he wished on anyone.
His gaze went around the small room. The door was closed, probably locked. Considering he was still on the Umbra, it meant the Paladin had most likely not made it past the asteroid field yet, or they had no clue where he was. In either case, he needed to find way to free himself.
Timir tried to raise up, but he only made it so far as to be able to sit on the bunk now, instead of on the floor beside the bunk. He caught his breath, feeling a little lightheaded still. There was no way he'd be able to force his way out of his confinement in this condition.
'First thing's first,' he reminded himself, 'find out what the situation is.' He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious.
Laying back and relaxing, he made himself a bit more comfortable. He just had to explore the ship via his unusual talent. But there was no way he had the strength to conjure up the sabre cat. Besides, the hataki would be much more inconspicuous, considering it was a mere few inches long.
=/\=
The little cricket-like creature materialized at the back of the Umbra's bridge, below one of the consoles. It looked around for a moment, then hopped onto a chair, and finally the flat part of the console's input section. It positioned itself to look toward the viewscreen, its visual and auditory perception linked with Timir's mind.
It was a weird experience to see surroundings through an insects point of view. A strange globe-like distortion warped its vision. Timir could make out two people on the bridge. One at what he knew to be the helm console and one on the opposite side from where his holo-creation was perched, though the figures were distorted.
He knew from observations earlier and the seemingly large head of the man at helm that it must be the Arkenite agent. On closer inspection of the other figure, Timir realized that one wore a gray top. All SFI agents had worn black, which led him to conclude that this person must be Temba, still disguised as the Romulan officer. But why was the Chameloid on the bridge? And apparently alone with the Arkenite. Where was Michaev and the others?
Timir knew he had to investigate further. Carefully, he directed the hataki off the console and onto the floor again. It hopped across the bridge and approached the chair with Temba from behind, cautiously keeping out of sight in the shadow of the console. Looking up at this proximity, Timir finally got his answer why Temba seemed frozen to the chair. Apparently, the shapeshifter was shackled to his seat.
The Halanan guided the insect on along the baseboard of the consoles, until it came to the very edge, in the same line as the helm console. Pressing to the wall, it could look to the viewscreen in the front at much closer range. If Timir wasn't mistaken, portion of the mining ship loomed in front of them. So close, he was certain it wasn't due to magnification, but due to actual proximity to the Romulan ship.
A booming - like thunder mixed with the deafening rushing of massive waters - made Timir cringe. His eyes popped open. He lost his concentration, and the hataki vanished from the bridge.
"They made it," he whispered to himself, realizing that the deep, rumbling sound had been the Arkenite's voice and what the man had said. Apparently, the other agents were on the mining vessel.
Arrain = Centurion (SF equivalent rank: Lieutenant)