Predators Part 6

Posted on Fri Jan 17th, 2025 @ 5:51pm by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant Gale Deekros & Lieutenant Hank Solomon

2,256 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Long Hard Road Ahead
Location: Science Lab
Timeline: 07 October, 2396 -0900 Hours

[ON]

The Firebird's science lab was busy as usual. A series of displays, each one flashing data from the latest asteroid scans, kept beeping and refreshing information. Hank was working quietly, getting himself culled by the rhythmic beeps from the workstations and the occasional swoosh of the doors sliding open or close as a fellow science officer joined him for some work.

The Dominion-originated electromagnetic field brought a new set of information and challenges to Hank's work. It was vital to recreate the exact frequency shift in order to retrieve the officers from their forced exodus.

"Any news with those scans?" he finally asked his rock expert, Lt. Gale.

Gale loved rocks. One could say rocks were his life. But the groan at his superior's question suggested there was little news to be had.

Yet.

"I know there is a way to make these stones, well, speak, to reveal the precise frequency that was emitted by the device anchored to them. The right variance on a scan, or combination of scans together, but right now, it feels as if I'm staring at an impenetrable darkness and the torches I pick up are all failing to light." The Trill ran a hand through his hair in clear frustration.

"So all of that is to say, no news at present, sir," Gale finished, "but that is not for lack of trying."

Hank's face unleashed a disappointed look.
"Ok, don't worry, just keep trying. And if you need anything, just let me know and I'll try to arrange for it"

For a moment, Gale leaned forward, concentrating intently on the console screen. Seemingly satisfied - or at least less frustrated - he groaned as he got out of the chair. From the pops and creaks, it seemed he'd been there a while.

"This needs a few minutes to calibrate for the next scan, and I think my brain could use some recalibrating - which is to say tea." Gale leaned over and grabbed a little silver canister.

"This is the Trill equivalent to mint - it has a natural stimulant, however, akin to Earth's tea leaves. I always have a pot or two growing in my quarters, wherever I serve. The replicators never use it justice." He ordered a cup of water, 2 degrees under boiling. "I've never asked, sir, but what your preferred concoction is for keeping you awake and thinking?"

“Oh, I don’t use “stimulants”” he followed the rock expert with his eyes as he got the trill tea from the replicator “I used to drink coffee, lots of it, while at the academy but then a friend of mine who was majoring in medicine told me the level of caffeine I was drinking was way too much. He told me that my body was not even assimilating that much, but my liver was surely getting hammered by it and my nervous system would have been damaged too in the long run…so I stopped”. He shrugged “From time to time I get a cup, but it’s a rare thing. Mostly just to be courteous with guests or such. But I prefer the decaffeinated one” he concluded turning his attention back to the problem at hand “So yeah, no magic beverages here, even if I would love to have one to find the solution to this puzzle”.

"I don't know if it's a quirk of Trill physiology - I'm certainly no doctor or biologist, though I am read enough in the field, Trills have robust toxin filtering. We're known for drinking even Klingons under the table." Gale chuckled as he took the cup of water, measuring two - no, three shakes of the dried leaves into the cup. "Mind, I've never been one for an abundance of alcoholic beverages. And if I was human, well, I'd certainly be more mindful of my intake. Just as you were. That couldn't have been an easy thing. But it seems you're much better off for it."

Gale tilted his head. "There are some delightful and entirely stimulant-free Trill herbal teas, sir. I'd be happy to add some plants to my cabin's little garden. It's - a very calming thing, to have something green and growing on a starship."

As Gail finished speaking, the air six feet away shimmered and faded, revealing two large Jem’Hadar warriors. They stood over six feet tall, were incredibly broad of shoulder and each held an exotic but lethal-looking rifle. Their eyes scanned the surrounding area and then settled on Gale and Hank.

“You will not move or speak,” the slightly larger Jem’Hadar said in a gravelly voice. “We have come for your research on the devices. Give it to us now or die”
Hank turned as he heard the shimmering sound of the teleport but was not ready for what he saw.
As his heart skipped a beat, he tried to come up with some explanation but tried to avoid giving them all they had to work with.

"We...we only started to research it. All we know is it was a frequency displacement of the tunnel, done by an alien technology we are not aware of" he explained stuttering trying to keep the focus on what they already found other than what they were trying to achieve using the rocks still in the lab so to try to keep them busy with relatively useless data and save the material for later study.

"Yes. That is the data we want. Get it. All of it. When you are finished, Four will examine your computers to make sure you have deleted all the data. If you delay, we will kill that one," he said and gestured towards Lieutenant Deekros.

Gale's eyebrows raised into his spotted forehead as he raised his hands - one still holding his piping hot mug of tea - slightly. "Now now, there's no need to be hasty. Or violent. We're scientists and we can handle this rationally and reasonably. My superior will get the data for you, which has been eminently useful to us," Gale said, with a slow nod to Hank that he hoped wasn't blatantly obvious, to show he understood their data was, thankfully, mostly worthless. "And then no need to kill me."

Of course, Gale's console, which had been merrily working on the newest scan while he got tea and captured by Jem'Hadar, chose that moment to burble to life with a merry set of beeps and a bright blue screen - a contrast to the thousands of scans that had given nothing but red. Gale looked to Hank, pleading and hoping he understood this newest data might be worth his life. Or a solid attempt at it, at least.

"I'm gonna get you all you asked," said Hank loud trying to cover the beeping of the consoles. "I'm gonna flash an isolinear chip with all the information we have then you can double check as we format this disk" he showed them the terminal from which he was working.

Once said so, he turned, slowly, and started downloading the pretty much useless data into the chip to be given to the two guards.

"Ah, yes, you can not be too careful, which is why you want to pay attention as we do the, ah, formatting. Because just deleting the data isn't enough," Gale said, as he motioned the Jem'Hadar towards Hank. Like his superior, it was time to use technobabble and information overload as a weapon.

"As you can see, Starfleet computers have rather sophisticated backups, and so we need something more thorough." Gale cleared his throat, but it was clear he was easing into brilliant (and hopefully captivating) professor mode ".Now, you would think just erasing the data would be enough! But no, given time and the right tools, we could recover it. What we want to do is to wipe the drive, which involves overwriting it with randomly generated data. This data has quantum-level randomness - We're not just rolling dice here. It's quite fascinating, actually," Gale continued, waving his hands to punctuate his words. "But, what's important to the two of you is that whatever was on the wiped drive is lost. Poof! Just like magic. Except it's really just science and cryptography."

Hank kept working hard on the data while Gale started his pitch. The CSO didn't really get why telling Jem'Hadars all that but at least he was distracting them.

"Here," he said finishing burning the last bit of data into the external drive to be given to the two enemies while taking care of selecting all of the useless data.

"Do you want to assist as we punch the erase button to format the data?" he asked the two soldiers.

The Jem'Hadar in charge, the one who had spoken first after beaming in, nodded for his companion to follow Hank. The companion grunted at the human. "I do not wish to assist. Only to see if you fail to do as we command and forfeit the other's life."

"I'm still very much NOT in favor of that," Gale reminded the warrior, even as he stepped back and thought of what his life was worth. Compared to the missing science team, compared to the Firebird's crew? A small thing, really. If he was Vulcan-born and raised, it wouldn't even be a choice. He was the one. They were the many.

Now it was a matter of making sure Hank stayed in the many and made the most of Gale's sacrifice.

Gale's back found the edge of his console, as he staggered back in what he hoped appeared to be exhaustion, if not shock. But his hand found the slick surface of the keyboard beside him, disabled the volume, and began what could be yet another disastrous life choice - no matter how noble it might be.

"So follow me to this console," the CSO said and walked the soldiers to the main science console and lectured them on how to delete the files.

Gale exhaled as the Jem'Hadar seemed to ignore him for the moment. His fingers moved rapidly along the keyboard, encrypting the files of that successful scan and sending them outside of the lab's network. Now it was only to wait.

"Sir, I've thought about what you said, about stimulant drinks," Gale said, ignoring the looks of the Jem'Hadar at his babbling. "I should make a note in my, ahem, medical file." Gods above and below, he hoped Hank understood his meaning. "The key to...unlock my health is a cup of plain water, at 95 C. I've only understood the...density of my actions during our talk."

The senior Jem'Hadar turned away from Hank and to the Trill, who was either inane or up to something. The soldier saw something flash across the console, which he now noticed was silent and within Gale's reach. With a crack, he struck the butt of his rifle across Gale's temple, and the Trill stumbled to his knees with a sharp groan.

His tea thermos stumbled out of his hand, still sealed, and still presumably filled with scalding hot tea.

And then the Jem'Hadar leveled his rifle at Hank. "Did I not tell you NOT to deviate from my orders? Explain his actions or you both die."

"Nooo" the CSO screamed.

Seeing Gale's dropping would get Hank's eyes wide open, his heart rate faster and faster almost starting to panic. His scientific mind raced through all the possibilities and opted for the best solution he could pick in that case.

The Jem'Hadars had all they wanted. They would have probably destroyed everything in the lab in any case since they wouldn't have trusted the formatting procedure. The only real assets to save, in that case, were him and Lt. Gale.

He jumped over Lt Gale's motionless body and tapped his commbadge while doing so.

"Solomon to Sickbay, medical emergency transport for two, NOW" he yelled while the images of the science lab and the two soldiers faded in front of his eyes as he and Lt. Gale were quickly and safely transported into sickbay.

The Jem'Hadar who struck Gale with his rifle managed one shot at Hank before the two scientists vanished in a shower of sparks, the beam striking the human scientist in the shoulder as he leaped in front of the other foolish scientist.

Gale didn't hear Hank's dramatic shout or his order for an emergency beamout. He barely felt the cool whisper of the transporter beam as it took him apart and reassembled him on another floor. Consciousness came back in a slow trickle and with an almost blinding, searing pain as his eyes fluttered open to the lights overhead - and the medical officers who were waiting, triggered by the emergency beamout.

A Bajoran nurse swiftly dispatched a colleague to stabilize Gale before moving him to a biobed looking at Hank and directing him to sit on another biobed nearby. The two scientists' arrival had definitely set Sickbay on edge, especially with Hank's clear energy weapon injury. "This wasn't a lab accident," the Bajoran man said, scanning the injury which was bleeding more than it should. "What happened?"

With his eyes still locked on Gale and his in a writing look he whispered "Jem'Hadars".
[OFF]

Lieutenant Gale Deekros
Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Lieutenant Hank Solomon
Chief Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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