***EAS Hermes***
Ambassador Alecto Ayanami wearily submitted to the security checks before boarding the EAS Hermes currently docked at Starbase 234: Unity. The two Erassian soldiers guarding the entrance to the umbilical port waved her through after confirming her identity. As soon as she was through the next set of security checks she saw General Ivanov waiting on her. "You're six days late Alecto."
Alecto dismissed the comment and proceeded to hand over the item she had been sent to retrieve. It was a small everyday isolinear memory chip of Erassian manufacture. "They were onto us, they really didn't want this chip getting out. I was lucky to get out with this at all."
Viktor looked it over "And Agents Windsong and Raindrop, what happened to them?" He enquired using the codenames of the Intelligence Agents who had originally obtained the information.
Alecto simply shook her head in reply. They hadn't survived. She looked across at the Alpha Generation Hybrid before her who had plugged the chip into a padd and was studying it intently. The information contained on that chip was priceless in it's ability to save many lives. It was far too valuable for to have been simply transmitted to central command. Viktor sighed deeply and pressed a button on his watch.
::TAPS:: Ivanov to Main Bridge. Prepare a high level encryption microburst to Central Command. Priority Level Ultra Black. ::TAPS::
::TAPS:: Understood General. Message? ::TAPS::
::TAPS:: Authorisation Ivanov Obsidian 98749271 Omega. Initiate Falling Ivory. ::TAPS::
::TAPS:: Message sent General. ::TAPS::
"We cant save everyone can we?" Alecto asked slowly.
"No." Was the reply. "We depart in twenty minutes. Go back to your quarters and resume business as usual."
"Do you want me to ask Guzman for help? And what do you think was meant by distractions?" She said slowly wondering at the outcome.
Viktor shook his head sadly. "By the time Starfleet put together an effective sized Task Force it would already be too late...besides they have so many leaks at the moment the Romulans would only move quicker. Distractions usually means them playing shadow games or raids along some other point on the border but we don't have the resources to do anything about it." Before Alecto could say anything else Viktor turned and walked off in the direction of the Main Bridge leaving her alone.
******************
SD: 240812.24
***New Geneva***
Technician Quentin Peterson allowed himself to yawn for the third time in the space of a few minutes. He was bored out of his mind waiting for his shift to end. He checked his panel again looking for any signs of power spikes in the huge central fusion reactor pointedly ignoring the small fake christmas tree that was sitting on his desk. Christmas Eve and he was stuck working. Then again he had no family and few friends so to him it was just another day. Personally he didn't know why he was still working here in this mind numbing job living in a city where the news centred around feel good stories rather than what was going on in the galaxy on a planet which was significant for having no significance. At least it was nearing the end of his shift...to think that upon leaving school he had been excited about getting a job here in the Central Power Station the so called pride of the city which housed some 20,000,000 people, working out to about 96% of the planets population.
In the background he could hear the soundtrack being broadcast over the tannoys begin it's third repetition of assorted christmas songs. The first song the same as the previous two loops was Silent Night. Suddenly the lighting went red and his eyes snapped back to his panel. "Power levels are increasing exponentially!" He shouted. Around him the cries rang out as he furiously typed in the commands for an emergency reactor shutdown he couldn't really be sure but he was sure he heard his own voice more than once.
"We're being hacked!"
"Main systems non responsive...switching to backups!"
"Main firewall is breached! Initiating partition subroutines"
"Shit! It's no use the secondary systems are being overrun too switch to manual."
"We're completely locked out we have no access. We need to close all the Deuterium injectors by hand."
Quentin abandoned the futile efforts to shut the reactor down through the computer system a drip of cold sweat dripping down his back as he caught sight of the power level indicators reaching the red level from the corner of his eyes. He pounded down the corridor an started pulling at the manual shut down valve on the nearest deuterium injector.
It was inevitably typical with some fifty odd fail-safes built in to the automated system that the very last option an old fashioned manual valve would be overlooked in the regular maintenance. The last hope for 20,000,000 people and it was rusted shut.
Out in the shopping districts of the city Christmas shoppers bustled about buying last minute gifts, listening to the carol singers and enjoying the lavish decorations put up in the busy areas of the city. They barely had time to react to the blinding flash. Those in the outer districts may have survived long enough to see the huge burning mushroom cloud form towering above the city, crackling with massive bolts of lightning.
New Geneva City home to all the main interplanetary subspace relays and planetary communications hubs was decimated in a huge blaze of heat, light and destruction. Twenty million people dead in an instant and the world of New Geneva fell silent. Perhaps the ultimate irony which would never be known was the events of this night all played out to the tune of Silent Night.
In orbit a single cloaked Tal'Shiar Warbird departed from the silent world moving away to its next destination and mission.
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End of Part One
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Ambassador Alecto Ayanami
Erassian Alliance Ambassador
SB 234: Unity
General Viktor Ivanov
Fleet CO
EAS Hermes
Technician Quentin Peterson (NPC)
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