Capt. Shayne: A Bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
Randal Shayne
((Alpha Trounus Prison Facility))
Shayne: Good to be back. Where’s the fleet?
Hobart: As of our last ping, twenty minutes ago, the enemy fleet still appears to be holding just inside the Kokopelli Cloud.
Shayne twitched as a certain contemporary holiday melody spontaneously erupted between his ears. Thanks, Nolen.
Stros: With the discovery of the Tholian code embedded in the detention center’s systems, It leads me to believe they are waiting for some sort of ‘go code’ or signal. With the environmental systems still in flux, they would need to know for sure the temperatures were at acceptable levels before they could assist in any prison breaks attempt.
Shayne’s jaw set as Stros confirmed some of what he’d been suspecting, and dreading the confirmation of. This wasn’t just a plan; it was a highly coordinated effort on multiple levels, impossible without some kind of undetectable communication in and out of an otherwise magnetically-sealed prison facility. Until they found the source, every Sheliak and/or Tholian in captivity would be a liability just through their presence within the domain of their enemy.
Semara: =/\= Semara to bridge. =/\=
Shayne watched as Hobart immediately moved to tap his badge, paused, glanced at Shayne deferentially, and resumed his stance. The captain grinned proudly- even if Hobart wasn’t the XO, he’d trust the man to speak on his behalf anytime. But he bumped his own boob to accept the transmission.
Shayne: =/\= What’s the word, Lieutenant? =/\=
Semara: =/\= Just got back. Doctors Melville-Kilpatrick and Ohnari are workin’ on the body now… :: A heavy sigh. :: It’s in bad shape, sir. I don’t see a way to sell an escape story to the Sheliak short a’incineratin’ the body and leaving nothin’ but residue. Even then, there’s a risk of suspicious enzymatic traces if we ain’t careful. =/\=
The captain and first officer shared a brief look that might be immortalized in a Renaissance painting entitled “oy vey”. Despite the name, Operation Mincemeat would rely on a corpse’s credible story- a story made infinitely harder to convey if the body was showing any sign of its unfortunate abuses. They might need to pivot to successfully pull off the larger agenda.
Shayne: Understood. Wait one.
Hobart: ::softly:: We could shove the body in stasis, make it a problem for the Diplomatic Corps.
Shayne’s lips pursed thoughtfully. It did seem a waste to dispense with such an elevated body, but even his no-nonsense view of death and deference to those that had passed on was beginning to tingle uncomfortably. The captain replied with equal softness, directing his tone toward the problem and not the suggestion.
Shayne: ::as an aside to Hobart:: It’s already a problem for the Diplomatic Corps. If we take it aboard, we’ll be connecting ourselves ever more to a war crime.
Shayne scrutinized Hobart. The captain’s argument was, to put it succinctly, crap. They were already connected, they were already involved, and as much as the body had already been despoiled, the only correct thing to do (should Mincemeat be truly shelved) was to take it in tow, secure it in the morgue’s stasis bay, and deliver it to Starfleet for storage pending burial.
But he wasn’t going to admit that Hobart. Not yet. He flexed his eyebrows to give the man encouragement to decide.
Semara: =/\= Any chance everyone beamin’ up means we got a plan that forgoes our little ruse? The body might be worth more in our sickbay than floatin’ in a shuttle. =/\=
Semara’s words surprised Shayne. Perhaps that said more about him than her. It was a pragmatic suggestion, but it sounded somehow… colder coming from her. The warmth, respect, class and care she radiated did not hide the scientific skill she bore, but he’d never thought of her as someone who’d take the advantage.
It was difficult to describe, but in that moment, Shayne’s hatred of the conflict with the Sheliak morphed, however temporarily, into a personal vendetta. This is what slaughter did. This is what they could hope to look forward to; the best of them, elsewise content baking sweets and living life, forced to embark on the distasteful
Hobart: =/\= Get whatever data you can, and then put the body in stasis. =/\=
The captain looked back at the viewscreen, lifting a single eyebrow and nodding subtly at the first officer’s wise compromise.
Semara/Ohnari/Melville-Kilpatrick: =/\= Response
Hobart: ::to Shayne:: At the current pace, we should have the place cleared in less than an hour.
The captain nodded. Beaming them into a holding pattern was one thing; it now occurred to Shayne that beaming them back into reality would be a tricky prospect. The preservation of internal inertia was a complicated subject when discussing the finer points of transporter mechanisms. Rebuilding a living body, with all its necessarily moving parts, required rebuilding the energies that compelled motion, such as electrochemical transmission within the brain and blood being pumped throughout the body. The Sheliak and their super-fluid, silicon base, and the Tholians, with their organically crystalline structure, would be, the captain suspected, startlingly difficult to successfully bring out of transporter oblivion.
As with all nows, that was a problem for later.
Stros: ::Tapping at the console:: And shortly thereafter, we will have a quite exhilarating light show.
Shayne: Big bada-boom, Mr. Stros?
It might not be politic, but Shayne couldn’t imagine trusting the creation of cataclysmic explosions to anyone more than a mischievous, mustachioed Vulcan.
Well, no one except for an Ensign Lewis Little, who’d not been aboard the ship five minutes before ordering the warp core to be taken offline in the middle of a battle. The captain’s eye still twitched when he thought of that. Tram aside, Shayne was a proponent for criminal reformation in every respect; but there existed a few people that made the human resent that penal colonies didn’t allow the general public to look and taunt the condemned from behind transparent aluminum.
Stros: I have four high-yield warheads in place along what I believe to be the most structurally stressed point within the facility. ::Small red dots appeared on the map displayed on the viewscreen:: As well as smaller demolition charges placed in key areas to hopefully maximize structural damage. ::Several more blue dots appeared scattered around the map:: With one final charge placed within the vicinity of the facilities reactor. ::One last green dot appeared within the facility’s reactor control:: By my calculations, there should be more than enough munitions in place to turn the detention center into a pile of rubble.
Shayne’s eyes swept across the viewscreen as each of Stros’ explosive evolutions blinked in time. It was a professional, thorough assessment- structural, environmental and reactive elements would combine (if all went well) to utterly pulverize the rock, everything in it, on it, around it, and in all probability, looking at it at a distance of less than a light year. There was but one question on the captain’s mind.
Shayne: oO When did he have time to make this presentation? Oo
Shayne: How will we hide the evidence that shows it was blown from the inside?
It might be logical to assume an obliterated facility might have fallen victim to some kind of riotous uprising, but the fewer questions the Sheliak sought answers to, the better.
Hobart: Overkill?
Stros: By using Photonic warheads within the demolition, it would give the sensor residuals of some sort of ambush or attack from the outside.
To a Federation starship, or a bird of prey, absolutely. The Sheliak were aggressively fastidious, however; despite their reckless trashing of peace in the region of space they inhabited, Shayne had no doubt that, even if the initial fleet was taken down, a follow up mission would inspect the wreckage more closely.
Shayne: The charges around the power core will help confuse their readings; push associated debris farther from stuff like it, make it harder to put the puzzle pieces together in the long term.
A brief, explosive bolt of joy shot through him. How long had they been reacting? How long had they been without the necessary advantage to simply plan? They remained under a time crunch, but now they were banking on the future, and preparing for it appropriately. The ultimate irony, he realized; readying for a future that this mission had nearly denied them, if their guests from the upcoming timeline were correct.
Hobart: We still suspect that they know we're here, right? ::beat:: I suppose it would confuse the heck out of them.
Stros: Plus, a much bigger explosion. That’s one of the main points of this, if I’m not mistaken.
The captain gazed at the Vulcan sternly, and added with all due weight…
Shayne: Big bada-boom.
Hobart: Any plans for the defense platforms further out in the system?
No, was the blunt answer. The defense platforms wouldn’t be much help in booby-trapping the fleet, but they might make or break the mission in other ways.
Shayne: Thoughts?
Hobart: Leaving them in place would be inconsistent with an ambush, but it sure would make it harder for them to get here.
They had a chance to strike back in a way that they’d never been afforded before, on top of everything else. Taking the platforms down might hasten their arrival, but the Sheliak were cussed and suspicious. They already expressed bafflement at the Federation’s continued existence; going beyond their already humanitarian aims at attempting to lure them in with something too good to be true might just spoil the whole ruse.
Shayne: What if we kept the platforms online, but reduced their power output? Find that sweet spot so that it wards off their suspicion, but doesn’t require them to withdraw? If we get it right, we could rendezvous with the platforms, as if we’re counting on them for supporting fire, and then lure the fleet closer to the prison once the platforms have been destroyed.
Any plan, once it reached a tipping point of overcomplication, was a bad plan. He was hoping that his senior fellows would point out flaws in his reasoning; he might well be God onboard the Khitomer, but the Khitomer was a very small space in the vastness of the universe.
Stros : Response
Hobart: You know, sir, it was my first mission under your command that the Arrow blew up a prison, too.
The captain gave a small guffaw of realization.
Shayne: We’re making a habit of this, I see. Well, I never like detention anyw-
An unpleasantly shrill shriek echoed in the murmuring air. Shayne turned to face the tactical station.
Stros / Bridge: Response
Leave it to the Sheliak to make up their minds at the worst possible moment. Shayne gave Nolen’s shoulder an affirming clap.
Shayne: Get anyone still in the facility back on board. Red alert! Mr. Stros, signal battlestations. Stow breakables and secure the radish officers. Helmsman, take us to the defense perimeter.
Hobart/Stros/Bridge: Response
Tag/TBC…
Captain Randal Shayne
Commanding Officer
USS Khitomer
NCC 62400
G239202RS0