=/-\= ROMULAN STATION -- PART I =/-\=
Cortez had never really gotten used to the idea of transporters,
something about having your body dissolved into a billion bits and
then somehow put back together again somewhere else always seemed to
put a sick feeling in his stomach. Its why he was relieved to have
gotten it over with and was actually smiling at the small five man
team who was now assembled on the Romulan Space Station.
Raising the rifle he held, Cortez quickly tried to scan the small room
they were beamed into. One thing was for sure....it was dark.
Powering up the flashlight that rested atop his rifles barrel, he
passed a glance to the outlined figures of his 'demolition' team.
Shifting slowly, they spread out, each turning on their own firearms
light source.
Andrus felt the sweat drip from his armpits along his torso. He was
breathing quickly, very inefficiently and his heart was beating at 200
beats a minute, in his throat. He had to calm down. He was on the
verge of losing it. He closed his eyes and mentally blocked everything
to find himself alone, forced to take in slower and deeper breaths. He
was not alone, how bad could it turn out to be? This was his job he
was trained for it. It was his choice. His will to be here. He
reopened his eyes expecting everyone to be staring at him, but the
darkness saved him from humiliation.
"Status?", Cortez asked, stopping to look at what appeared to be a
table full of tools. "Must be in some sort of storage room", he
thought to himself.
"Well it's dark", replied Rivers, his body unseen behind the glare of
the light beam.
"Shut-up and find the door", Jones quipped.
Andrus flipped open his combat tricorder and started the small thing.
What he saw bothered him. It was taking it's sweet time to load and
when it was operational the serrounding scan was taking too much time,
he frowned then lifted his head towards Barnes.
"Got it", Barnes said, finding the door controls and opening it,
allowing light into the room. One by one everyone turned out their
lights and quickly moved towards the exit.
"According to the sensor readings the Eagle was able to obtain, the
energy core should be roughly 200 meters down this hallway", Barnes
whispered, his eyes glued to the small PADD in his hand.
Richard nodded his head. "Ok, lets move, I'll take point, Rivers you
follow, Elbrums Barnes and Jones go next, in that order, remember the
idea is not to be seen, move silently do not fire your weapon unless
you absolutely have to".
Holding the rifle against his shoulder, Cortez moved quickly from the
doorway and pressed himself against the right side of the hallway.
Behind him, Rivers moved quickly also, leveling his rifle in front of
him and passing Cortez as he took point further ahead. Elbrum, Jones
and Barnes followed, covering the rear, and quickly scanning their new
location as they passed the first two and took point against the next
exit.
Andrus pointed his rifle forwards and moved out, his tricorder's
seemingly malfunction was still stuck in the back of his mind. He did
not like this. They where on a Romulan station, if they where not
detected yet it's because the Rommies where not expecting them, so the
Eagle was safe and so where they. But as soon as the would fire, no
doubt the sensor of the station would alert the romulans, just like
any starfleet ship security standard order of procedure.
Barnes gave the clear signal and Cortez began moving again, passing
the four men and stopping at the doorway of another area. Peaking his
head around the corner, Cortez spotted at least five Romulans. They
were all gathered around separate computer consoles, doing whatever
work it was they did. Fortunately they were oblivious to the men
standing just outside the room.
Richard held up a fist and with his hand, signaled to the rest of the
team what he had seen. He motioned for Rivers to keep moving past him
while he kept guard at the door entrance. They would avoid the room
and hopefully just slip right past the Romulan Techs.
Rivers followed orders and continued past the enemy, taking point.
Once he was quietly and safely past, Cortez gave the signal for Cadet
Elbrum to move.
Before he executed his move, Elbrum flipped his tricorder open and
scanned as he moved. He scanned for life signs knowing of the five
romulans in the room, he act as a control to gauge his tricorder. Then
he understood the problem. The five Romulans showed up only when he
was passing the open doorway. Something in the wall structure was
dampening scanners, at least the weaker tricorders.
He motioned for Cortez that they needed to talk. How where they meant
to avoid all their personnel if they could not see them coming?
Jones and Barnes moved next. Richard was the last to slip past the
room and moved forward further down the hall where Elbrum was
motioning to him. He stopped next to the man and whispered, "What is
it".
Andrus looked back, Cortez was right by him, weapon aimed and he was
all ears. ''sir. Combat tricorder is not functioning properly. Somehow
it cannot detect lifesigns beyond walls. I only detected the Romulans
when I passed the doorway.'' He reported. Honestly he did not know
what to do besides that and every detail was important.
Richard wasn't much surprised by this revelation, he'd had a hunch
that this wasn't a 'normal' space station since they'd gotten their
orders. "It doesn't change anything", he whispered, "Move out". His
reply was calm and certain and quick, no need to let the others know
about the bad feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach.
=/-\= END LOG =/-\=
Major Richard Cortez
CSEC
USS Chimera
+
Cadet Andrus Elbrum
Security Officer
USS Chimera
