Lieutenant Mart Tucker - Among Us
Martin Tucker
((Deck 3, Main Hull, Bridge, USS Ronin in route to DS33))
Carpenter: The security patrol is responding. I can join them with your leave, Captain, just...::she takes an uncharacteristically hitching breath:: God, please don't let them go over there, sir.
Niac: Go Commander, we can do without you up here for a few minutes. Don't take any chances...we've had enough surprises for one day. Mr. O'Connor, what's our best estimate to get back to DS33? Chief Tucker, whatever that estimate is, I want it cut in half...I don't care how many hull plates we shed along the way. Doctor Beck, I'd recommend you get yourself back down to Sickbay...I'm sure you're needed there.
Upon hearing that Marty went to work, they had a scant few hours to make the repairs needed to pick up the fight at Deep Space Thirty-Three. He grimaced as the estimates started coming in, and he knew that Captain wouldn’t like it. So, like any good Starfleet engineer, he hedged his bets.
Tucker: Full shields should be restored within the hour, inertial dampers will take a bit longer as the generators are a pain in the arse to get to. I think we can get things done, in say four hours, give or take.
Marty knew damn well that was pushing it, but he had faith in his crews to get the job done. They’d been working like a well-oiled machine lately if drills were any indication. He hoped that was the case this time around.
O'Connor: Best current speed, about 8 hours. We’re a bit of a way out. I'll do what I can to find a shortcut though.
Beck: RESPONSE
Carpenter: Y'all saw the footage from those pirate vessels. Captain, you know better'n anyone what those RoLFs can do. ::she points toward the semi-cloaked platform:: How can we be sure that ain't another trap?
Tucker held a breath he didn’t know he was holding at the sound of the words RoLFs. Nasty things that can do a ton of damage without taking much. They were used by the Consortium, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t sell the highest bidder. People and things can be bought for the right price.
The Captain was examining the viewscreen, as a starfield played out in front of him. Like the Trill was doing, do did Marty, was the cloaking barrier and the region next to it that looked almost out of alignment. They could always whack it with a hammer.
Niac: We can't be, Commander. We'll just have to hope that whatever is out there our people can handle it. Now go...and make sure Lt. Cmdr. Alieth's team makes it to the shuttlebay unchallenged.
Carpenter/Beck: RESPONSE
Niac: Mr. O'Connor, standby to broadcast a wideband subspace message back towards Federation territory. I know it's a long shot but there's still a chance we can warn them about what's coming. As soon as I'm done I want you to go to maximum warp.
O'Connor: Aye, sir. Channel open…
Karrod stood and addressed the viewscreen, wondering who, if anyone, would be alive to hear this message when it reached DS33. He took a long breath and stepped forward.
Niac: =/\= Ronin to All Federation Outposts and Installations in sector A113. We have reason to believe a large Lattice Alliance strike force is heading towards Deep Space Thirty Three. It is unlikely we will be able to engage them before they reach your position. =/\= He paused, thinking of all the people on that lightly defended space station and the truly defenseless ones on the colony worlds and installations that lay beyond. If the Alliance won the day they'd all be at risk of extermination or worse. With them in mind his expression hardened and he spoke towards the viewscreen with renewed steel in his voice. =/\= We are coming. We will not abandon you. For your tomorrows...we give our todays. Ronin Out. =/\=
While Niac was giving his pep talk, Marty was working on finding the human/changling hybrid running amok on board the USS Ronin. If he could keep eyes on that rascally rabbit, he quickly accessed the Starfleet database on the subject of changelings. Apparently, according to what he was reading, it is hard to differentiate a changeling from whatever they have decided to change into.
O'Connor: Engaging Warp drive.
With the inertial dampers a bit wonky, everyone felt the leap to Warp. It wasn’t anything major, but usually, you wouldn’t feel. Marty could also feel the deck plate hummer a bit more than usual. If he was correct, something was wrong with the warp core or impulse drives.
That’s when he noticed he was starting to get locked out of subsystems. His hand flew over his console, placing firewalls faster than the hacker could get them, though Tucker's effort wasn’t quite enough, as he was locked out of engineering and weapons systems.
Tucker: :: nervously:: I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer here, but someone is in the computer system. Before I was able to block what was happening, I was locked out of engineering and weapons controls. I’d bet dollars to donuts that our intruder is to blame. I’m working on restoring those systems now.
Niac/Beck: RESPONSE
The starfield stretched, and the Ronin vaulted away from the J-0922A system at high warp, leaving behind only a few blasted hull fragments and a tiny, nearly invisible runabout trailing in their wake. It wasn’t but a couple of minutes before the ship sputtered and made an awful clunking noise as the Ronin unceremoniously dropped out of warp.
Tucker: Shit! ::he pounded his console::
Niac/Beck/O’conner: RESPONSE
Marty was working frantically.
Tucker: Yes, sir. I’m working on a back-trace now. If I can find the terminal, he can at least get its last known location.
Niac/O’Conner/Beck: RESPONSE
It took only a minute to backtrace the hack to a terminal in the Officers Mess on deck eleven. Tucker tapped his comm badge.
Tucker: Commander Carpenter, the subject's last known location was the officer's mess on deck eleven.
A couple of lights lit up on his console, one telling him that yes they had impulse drive, the other telling him there was someone accessing a Jefferies Tube, same deck. It had to be the changeling.
Niac/O’Conner: RESPONSE
Tucker: It’s now in Jefferies tube seventy-four dash gamma three. It looks like it’s headed towards environmental controls.
Tucker kept working, shutting down junctions in the tubes to herd the changeling in one direction. He wasn’t sure where he wanted to put him, but an airlock was not out of the realm of possibilities.
Niac/O’Conner: RESPONSE
TAGS/End Act I for Marty
