Lt. Robin Hopper: Terminate
Robin Hopper
((Inside Control Node – Mirrorverse))
Robin rematerialized and immediately took a testing breath. It was air, alright. So that much had been right about their scans. It was dark though. Very dark. She held her hand in front of her face and couldn’t see it. Reaching for her tricorder, she unclipped it from its holster on her belt and activated the built-in light, with Scotty following suit moments later.
M-Wil: Hey!
She offered their rebel accomplice a brief empathetic frown, with a tilt of her head – but they needed to see. The diffused light wasn’t very powerful, but it was enough to navigate around in the small maintenance space within the hub.
Hopper: Scotty – start preparing your signal blocker. Wil, any chance you can attempt to break into the computer via an access terminal?
Reade: I am on it Robin, will take me 2-3 minutes to get prepared.
M-Wil: I'll do my best…
Robin nodded, unsure if anyone could even the gesture in the dimly lit space. It wasn’t as small as she had figured, but it was cramped, briefly reminding her of her first shared bunk aboard the Wall Street. When she’d first stepped into the room, Lt. JG Hopper had found it dark and filled with smoke – or, rather, incense. She and her new roommate, T’sel, a Vulcan science officer studying neurology and telepathy, had had a strained relationship at the start…
oO I wish I’d paid more attention to her meditations now… Oo Robin thought to herself as she began pushing through the claustrophobic space filled with hot pipes and pokey-jabby metal grates. Instead of meditating, she did her best to focus her mind on the work in front of her, peering at her tricorder.
Hopper: I’m going to try and locate the source of that power signature…
As she moved away from Scotty and Wil, trying to locate the source of the control node’s rapidly-increasing energy build up, she furrowed her brow. In such a small space, it ought not to have been so tricky – but it was as if the interior of the node had been designed to confuse sensors and instruments. The air was not only dark, it was thick, and surprisingly humid – it felt like being stuck in some sort of archaic prison.
oO Whoever designed this node should be shot… Oo It occurred to her, moments later, that the designer of the node may well have been shot in order to keep its secrets… perhaps it had been designed with obfuscating its power source intentionally.
oO Sorry… Oo she thought a moment later, envisioning some sorry Betazoid Engineer meeting their tragic end at the beam of a phaser. oO I didn’t mean it. Oo
Reade: It seems the blocker is online now and looking for the signal. Let me help you look for the power signature.
Robin let out a sigh and collected her thoughts.
Hopper: Yes. Good. Link your tricorder to mine and begin running a proximity scan… we can try to interpolate the readings to get a bead on its approximate location.
She adjusted the necessary settings on her device to begin comparing her scans with Scotty’s. Their tricorders beeped encouragingly as they began coordinating their search efforts.
Reade: Hmm, it seems my tricorder is picking up a residual signal here. Could this be the power signal?
Robin made her way closer to Scotty, snagging her overalls on a grate covering a bundle of electrical wiring. It tore a small hole in the black garment and left a scratch on her back.
Hopper: Ahh. Great – now I’ll need a tetanus hypo too. ::Rolling her eyes:: Who knows what diseases this place is full of.
As she made her way closer to Scotty, the mid-point estimate shifted, moving off in a new direction and downward.
Hopper: Well, we’re closer… But if I’m reading this right, it’s below us. ::Peering down through the grated floor:: With only these two data points, though, it’s hard to know how far… ::Back to Scotty:: This thing’s not that big, though.
Reade: ::nods:: Hmm, you have a good point; I guess we are going in the right direction, though.
She glanced over to Wil, inadvertently shining her tricorder light at the Betazoid woman again and quickly shifting it out of her eyes. As she recovered, Wil gave an update on her own progress.
M-Wil: I'm having trouble getting into the more protected sections of the computer system, but I can turn on the lights...
With another flick of her fingers, the overhead lighting within the node came to life. Robin switched off her tricorder light. The interior lighting was still dimmer than she’d like, but their eyes would adjust. In fact, she followed the imaginary line drawn by her and Reade’s tricorder to a ladder, previously invisible in the inky darkness of the control node’s guts.
Hopper: I’ll take what I can get at this point. ::Small huff, beleaguered smile:: Alright, you two, ready to make the climb?
M-Wil: Let's go then...
((A few minutes later))
The ladder had, in fact, led into an even more-claustrophobic jefferies tube… or whatever this universe’s equivalent of that would be… that plopped them out onto tight platform that swayed slightly as they walked along it, following their tricorder signals. Looking down, Robin almost wished the lights hadn’t been activated. It was a drop of a few dozen meters on either side of the catwalk.
Reade: It seems to be coming from this way.
Hopper: ::Tense:: Great. Any time now.
At last their tricorder beeping appeared to reach a crescendo as they reached the end of the catwalk and found themselves face to face with a rather dull-looking grey access panel. Robin took a deep breath, letting it out sharply, and stepped forward, biting her lip as she pulled the lever to open it and hoping it wouldn’t unleash some horrible booby-trap upon them.
The panel swung open. No booby-trap.
Immediately, the Engineer got to work and Robin stepped back out of the way.
Reade: I think I may be able to shut it down. :: looking to M-Wil:: Do you have anything to say? Or add?
M-Wil: Whatever you do, just do it quick. You don't want to give the security system anytime to react.
Reade: Noted.
Robin took Wil’s warning seriously. Once they started fiddling with the node’s internal systems, whatever this security system was… a bluff, or a real core overload, their meddling could trigger it to spiral out of control. They needed to be swift, but they also couldn’t afford to be careless.
Hopper: Don’t rush, just hurry… ::she cautioned, in a way which irritatingly reminded her of her mother:: I just mean, be careful.
Reade began working, accessing the system quickly. As yet, they had made no changes. But once he began his RFID blocking countermeasure, it could very well be do or die… succeed or get blown to high heaven.
Reade: Shall we proceed? I will contact John.
Hopper: Might as well give them a status update. oO In case this is it… Oo
A bead of sweat rolled down her brow as she heard the familiar chirp of a combadge being tapped.
Reade: =/\= Commander Carter, we found a way to disable the control node. I am starting the process now and will keep you posted. =/\=
Carter: =/\= Response =/\=
It was a short conversation, but nothing more needed to be said. Robin watched with bated breath as Reade began the signal blocking attempt.
Reade: Ok, starting the process now. Wish me some luck, please. :: Looking at Robin:: Let me know if any of the levels start to rise. I will try to compensate.
Hopper: ::Raising her tricorder:: You’ll be the first to know… Uh, after me, that is. ::To Wil:: Is there any way to monitor his progress internally? Maybe from one of the other terminals?
The Betazoid – who really looked nothing like her counterpart in their own universe, unlike Rivi and Polgonz… a phenomenon that really deserved to be studied, if they had the opportunity – made her way to another panel with fewer functions. She activated the internal systems monitoring displays.
M-Wil: It's working... the node is beginning to shut down…
Hopper: ::Noting a bleep from her tricorder:: Expand your frequency range by .5 gigahertz, Scotty. It seems to be trying other adjacent frequencies looking for a way to re-establish contact. We don’t dare let off the pressure now…
Reade: Response
Just then, an alarm began sounding all around them.
Computer: ALERT! UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED! DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES!
M-Wil: Oh #$@%!
Robin’s eyes went wide. oO I said I didn’t mean it! I said I was sorry! Oo Instinctively, she spun around, looking for whatever was going to attack them.
She wasn’t sure what she was expecting (a vengeful ghost, perhaps?) but certainly not the holographic phaser turret that shimmered into existence and began hunting for a viable target. A red laser light shot across the wall towards Wil, who thankfully ducked out of the way as a very real phaser shot past her, leaving a scorch mark on the computer terminal.
Hopper: Holy crap… ::To Scotty:: Stay with it, we’ll try to, um, draw its fire.
Reade: Response
Robin dropped to a crouch as a beam struck the grate behind her, leaving a smoking scorch mark where her chest had been a second earlier.
M-Wil: We have to get out of here!
Hopper: We can’t leave… Scotty needs to finish his work or we all get blown up anyways.
She dropped onto her hands and knees and began crawling towards a pipe that offered minimal cover – but not fast enough. As she tucked herself behind the pipe, a phaser blast from the defensive turret struck her left leg, sending a surge of painful energy up the prosthetic limb. Robin dropped her tricorder and groaned, as smoke rose from her leg, revealing a scorched hole and the circuitry within.
Hopper: Aaahhh!!! ::Clutching her leg, and pulling it out of danger::
Reade: Response
More shots rang out from the turret, several striking the pipe behind which Robin had hidden, before it began searching for another target. Wil, more exposed than Robin, now drew its attention. The Betazoid rebel, fortunately, was a little bit more practiced at evading phaser fire – or so Robin surmised.
M-Wil: Well hurry up! I hope one of you brought something to shoot back with!
Hopper gritted her teeth and tried to blink away the tears that had filled her eyes. The acrid burning smell of the bioneural fluid that had begun to leak from her leg carried her back to the drone attacks on Idrustix and the awful smelling goop that had filled them too. Images of that day from hell rolled through her mind – S’Raga struggling to breath after being hit, sliding down a frigid hill and crashing against the rocks, bludgeoning a drone with her spent phaser rifle in a fit of rage…
Shaking her head, she brought herself back to the present. Despite the similarities, this situation was different. For one thing, that turret firing on them wasn’t the real deal.
Hopper: No… But I know holos… Give me a second.
She reached for her tricorder, retracting her hand just in time to avoid having a hole blown in it as well and began networking with the access terminal Wil had activated.
Reade/Wil: Response
// Access to core systems denied…
Accessing diagnostic functions…
Diagnostic mode >> Core systems diagnostic…
Diagnostic mode >> Core systems >> Defensive systems… //
A string of code, representing the holographic defensive system began to fill Robin’s vision on the device’s small screen… A tricorder was hardly her weapon of choice, but it was going to have to do.
Hopper: Let me see if I can make one small tweak in the name of ‘correcting a system error…’
// Defensive system malfunction detected…
Enter correction… //
Robin breathed sharply through her teeth as she adjusted a single line of code haphazardly on her tricorder. There was another loud alarm tone in the room, only this time the computer-generated voice spoke a slightly different phrase…
Computer: ALERT! UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED! DESTROYING COUNTERMEASURES!
A second holographic turret appeared and, in a flash, both fired on each other simultaneously.
oO And that is why holograms will never replace people… Oo
As they shimmered out of existence, Robin attempted to pull herself to her feet, hoisting herself up using the pipe. The pain in her leg was excruciating – her nervous system interpreting the damage to the prosthetic limb as if it were her own flesh and blood. She couldn’t put any weight on it at all without feeling like was going to vomit.
Hopper: ::Grimacing:: Scotty… Tell me you’ve got it now…
Reade/Wil: Response
She shut her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall of the node.
Hopper: ::Tapping her combadge:: =/\= Commander… It’s off. =/\=
Reade/Wil/Carter/Wong/Esma: Response
TBC
