Captain Elric - Earth Spacedock
Captain Elric returned to Earth Spacedock and made his way to the Security office on the Recreation Deck. Entering through the doors, he found Commander Reeve sitting behind the big desk.
"I'd like to talk to the prisoner, please," Elric demanded.
Reeve looked up. "The prisoner? Oh, yes," he replied, standing and activating the wall console behind him. "We have a man named Prisoner, a Klingon male civilian with aggressive, honorable, resilient and stubborn traits." He swiped to the next profile. "Then there's a female named Prisoner, an Orion with traits described as seductive, stubborn and unscrupulous."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a second," Elric interrupted. "Is the computer just naming all prisoners as Prisoner? Passengers get their names listed. Why not these guys?"
The Commander shrugged. "Probably because they're the scum of the galaxy and don't deserve it? That or there's a software glitch caused by that android spider I saw trying to interface with our computer systems earlier."
"Dammit, Zeta," Elric cursed even though his companion wasn't even there. He had authorized the arachnid to familiarize itself with the consoles. "Forget it. I'm here for a human woman who was brought in for stealing at the Food Court today."
Reeve snapped his fingers. "Ah, yes, Claire. Yeah, she completely escaped. Didn't even bother to gloat. Don't worry, we have security teams sweeping Spacedock."
"Of course she did," the Captain sighed. He should have expected nothing less. "Thanks anyway."
---
Food Court
Instead, Elric went to get something to eat. It had been a while, and he was sure he replicated something earlier before he was interrupted. "Borscht."
"Looking for the archaeologist?" came the sly, side-comment from a nearby Rigelian civilian eating at a nearby table. "The name's Vitath. I just met and spoke with her before she left here. She said she was in trouble."
Elric turned to her. "Yeah, she stole a powerful El-Aurian medallion during a pop-up crisis."
"No, not with you. With some other people. A group of Caitians. She was trying to dodge them before she would flee the station. Said they would hurt her."
The Captain asked, "Where'd she go?"
"Club 47," Vitath replied. Then she interrupted his exit. "Be good to her, Captain. She's in a lot of pain."
---
Club 47
Krystal made her way to Club 47, ordered a drink, and just made her way over to the lounge that overlooked Earth. She needed some time to relax before anything else happened.
"Well... its done..." she said to herself before taking a drink. "The question is... am I even ready for all this?"
Elric searched Club 47 with no luck thus far. He took a stroll to the lounge to take a break and overlook Earth, after which he noticed Captain Jade. "Oh, sorry to interrupt. I didn't see you there. Everything okay?"
"Just got a lot on my mind," Krystal replied before taking a drink.
Elric sighed. "Same here. I lost my entire crew, and now I'm losing this medallion. I just hope I don't cost any more lives."
Krystal looked over at Elric, slightly concerned.
"Starfleet officially doesn't blame me for their loss in that battle with the Na'kuhl. Incident reviews cleared me, but I just can't help but think I could have executed things differently. If only I had known their strategy, or perfected my own. Anyway, I'm going on. My apologies."
Krystal put a hand on Elric's shoulder. "Nobody's perfect," she said. "You did what you could."
Elric thought about it. "Maybe you're right. I suppose there's only so much one person can do in a situation, even if he'd wish he could do more."
Krystal gave Elric a friendly smile. "That's all anyone can do," she said. "Try your best at the time."
Jim walked into Club 47, and looked around. He spotted Krystal and Elric, then made a bee-line for them, then sat down, seemingly confused, shocked, and even angry all at once; practically a bomb just waiting to go off. "Admiral Nat just arrested Scott for mutiny and the destruction of the U.S.S. Sally."
"Oi vey..." Krystal sighed.
Everyone nearby suddenly heard the purr of a Tribble close by. Jim looked around, and saw faces looking towards him. He looked down, and spotted a Tribble by his feet. He picked it up and examined it more closely. He turned it, as a Borg implant on the furry creature would become apparent to Krystal.
Krystal stood up slowly. "Captain... set that thing on a table and step away," she said.
Jim stopped for a moment, then jumped backward, dropping it as additional implants started appearing on the Tribble. "It's being assimilated? How?" He looked up, and noticed a light flickering behind Krystal. His combadge soon chirped. He tapped it in reply. "Dennison here."
"Sek here, checking the Firestorm over for any anomalies. We've found a light being assimilated by Borg technology. We think there may be some Borg nanoprobes scattered about the ship. We're already working to remove them, but it may take a little while, so we've shut down main power until we fine them all."
Jim looked a little nervous, and replied. "We've found a Tribble on ESD that's in the middle of being assimilated. It's station-wide."
Elric took out his phaser and aimed it at the tribble. "Mirror Nat left us a going away present?"
"With our luck... probably," Krystal replied before tapping her commbadge and reporting the situation.
Elric fired on the tribble, vaporizing it. "Sorry you had to see that," he quipped. "What do we have to combat the nanoprobes? Omicron radiation?"
Sek replied over the comms. "Yes, but I'd seriously advise against using that on the station as a whole, unless you want to kill everyone on board, so we'll have to find and destroy the nanoprobes one by one, and that could take awhile."
Jim sighed. "Alright then. Get everyone on the Firestorm working on that, and I'll take care of things here." He then contacted Admiral Nat.
"What if we modified our weapons to fire a condensed burst of omicron particles?" Elric suggested. "As a precaution, a medical team could disperse Spacedock with inoculations for everyone."
Jim nodded. "That might work."
"There may be a reserve of omicorn particles in Spacedock's lower level science labs. As for us, if we get infected by nanoprobes, we may need an injection of Task Force Omega's immunosupport nanites. Though, I'm not sure Spacedock has any of those."
Admiral Nat's voice came over Jim's combadge. "We carry those on the Mephiles. I'll have a supply beamed over."
"I'll head down to Deck 65 and prep the particles into phaser rifle attachments," Elric added.
Jim nodded. "I'll get the omega hypos then, and meet you there." He then headed for the transporter room.
---
Earth Spacedock
Elric nodded to Jade and then left Club 47 for the main concourse. Zeta caught up with him and attached to his upper arm as he approached the turbolifts which did not open. "Damn, lockdown procedures." He then went to a section and accessed a Jeffery's tube, making his way down.
"Just another day in Starfleet..." Krystal sighed as she followed.
Jim and a group of Omega Operatives caught up and followed as well, taking all the Omega immunosupport nanites and the extra Omega personal shield units with them.
Elric climbed down the ladder, passing through floor-door after door as he descended the decks. He stopped at Deck 50 to catch his breath. When he was joined by the others, he snapped his fingers. "Ah, I forgot about the anti-omicron inoculations that need to be prepped and distributed."
Jim turned to one of the Omega Operatives, and after a moment, the operative nodded. "We got it covered."
Elric noticed the extra equipment. "You guys really come prepared. Anything for us?"
One of the operatives passed Elric and Krystal each an Omega personal shield unit, and a couple of hypos containing the Omega Force immunosupport nanites. Jim then pulled out a couple extra Omega rifles, and handed those one each to Elric and Krystal. "Omega Force Antiproton Autocarbine rifles." He then passed them each a headset. "Omega Force designed, naturally. We like to come prepared alright."
The Captain took the rifle, headset and put on the shield unit. "Fascinating. Thanks for these. We can get set up right in the lab." And then Zeta chirped, prompting Elric to take out his tricorder. "Huh. Something strange about Deck 65. I'm not reading anything down there. Possibly being blocked by a dampening field."
Jim stopped, almost going white. "They may have assimilated humanoids. If these are in fact a gift from Mirror Nat, then they're probably Mirror Borg, too. They're a hell of a lot more dangerous than our Borg." He turned to Krystal, then back to Elric. "Nobody goes anywhere without a couple other guys as support. Understood?"
Krystal looked over the carbine. "Hope you guys fixed the issue the older models had with the Borg adapting faster than against a MACO rifle," she said.
"All I have to say is the Borg sound Sweedish," Elric added. "Anyway, you guys up to stepping into the lion's den?"
"I'm a Starfleet Officer," Krystal replied. "It's kinda our thing."
Elric swung the rifle over his back and began climbing down to Deck 65. When he got there, inside another open jeffery's tube area, he tried to scan a locked door. The Omega Operatives would surely have a fix for this, but what was behind the door was the mystery.
One of the operatives turned to Elric. "We have a fix for this, naturally." The operative turned to Jim. Jim nodded in response as one of the operatives closed the door above after Krystal came through, and then another operative blasted the door open, causing swarms of mechanized green air to come pouring in.
One of the operatives shrugged. "Yep, they're airborne alright. If it weren't for these shields, Elric, Krystal, and Jim would all be Borg now."
Jim sighed. "Mirror Borg, put simply, are faster than you, and they shoot the moment they see you, regardless of your apparent intentions. Got it?"
Krystal jumped down and scanning the area. Jim and the operatives followed and started keeping watch for Borg. Jim looked at another closed door, and scanned it.
"This door opens into a corridor with several doors to labs throughout it. We need to get to Science Lab 23." Elric paused, hearing a multitude of strange, mechanized buzzing sounds from behind the locked door. "Friends of yours?"
Jim scanned. "Yep, they're old friends alright."
Soon, sparks started flying out of the door, and the door opened. Two, large, burly looking Borg drones stood there. Clearly, the mirror Borg preferred adding armor and strength over reducing biological material. The drones immediately started walking towards the group, unusually quickly. The Omega Operatives shot them down.
Jim sighed. "No wonder they're all down here. They want to take control of main power so they can contact the other mirror Borg."
The group approached Science Lab 23 and Elric stepped into the door's humanoid recognition sensor. The door swished open, revealing a lab full of drones standing and waiting for instructions. These were the science officers working down here. Were all the labs full of drones? As soon as they noticed the open door, the drones opened fire.
Elric knelt down, allowing someone else to fire from above him. He pulled up his rifle and shot drone after drone with antiproton bolt bursts. One drone, moving fast toward them was hit in the chest and sent back into another drone. Elric fired the second setting on his rifle, engaging the full auto sweep which momentarily rapid-fired more bursts at incoming Borg.
Jim and the operatives began firing on the drones, taking them all down.
Suddenly, the lights went out. Jim and the Omega Operatives didn't appear to be particularly affected, as their helmets presumably had built-in night vision of some kind. Jim turned to Elric. "Well, they've got main power alright. Need a light?"
"Yes, thank you," Elric replied as he went over to the advanced storage dispenser and programmed it. "We may still need this ability to purge our computer systems." He then went over to the replicator and punched in a code initiating the production of empty housing cells. "Let's scout and secure the entire deck. Take out all drones here. Also need confirmation of the extent of power loss. Is it just this section of Spacedock?"
Admiral Nat's voice came over the comms. "It's station wide, evidently, as we've lost contact with the station personnel."
Elric began infusing the omicron dispensaries with the cells. "Halfway there."
A group of drones then attempted to feed into the dark room.
Elric finished and pulled out his rifle. He listened carefully for the drones and rapid-fired until they were out.
Jim sighed. "Maybe they should've installed anti-Borg devices rather than anti-Undine ones. Wait. Could we modify the existing devices to repel mirror Borg back to the mirror universe?"
"A report I read from Commander Reeve said they were designed to be phased, undetectable and inaccessible. Another report I read from Captain Aeris said they were somehow tampered with remotely using Undine technology by an Undine scientist in Fluidic space," Elric recalled. "If they're anything, they're a mystery."
He attached an omicron cell to his rifle and shot a nearby wall console with a steady stream of condensed omicron energy. With the nanoprobes cleaned out of it, he approached it and came close enough that his shield engulfed it.
"Zeta, can you tap into our backup systems and get internal sensors on this deck online?" he asked.
The spider launched a cable and one of its legs into the dead console and attempted. *Click!? Chhhirrp, click, click!*
"I'll take that as a 'no'," He glanced to the side in shock. "He's saying the power loss is coming from nanoprobes infecting the Main Reactor." Elric watched as Zeta unattached himself. "It would take too long to climb down to that section."
Jim sighed. "So our only choice is to attack the mirror Borg and find a way to take them out."
"Or we find the one thing that's controlling them. Like how Picard killed the Queen on the Enterprise and the surrounding Borg died from some kind of feedback," Krystal spoke up.
Jim sighed. "The central plexus."
Elric nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. If what Zeta says is right, the concentration of nanoprobes at the Main Reactor over anywhere else on the station indicates that the Borg are centralizing their technology there. There may be a faster way down into the bowels of Spacedock if we scale the vertical cargo tube in Section 8. It's down a few more corridors."
He packed the extra omicron cells in a satchel and slung it over his shoulder. Then he readied his rifle and aimed it, exiting Science Lab 23, out into the hallways.
As he passed the other labs, he found the doors to Science Lab 12 struggling to open and damaged. Curious, he kicked the opening in the door and caused it to continue its opening procedure. Inside the lab were bodies of failed assimilations. Starfleet officers and experts piled into the place like garbage. Shocked and appalled, Elric knelt down and took the pulse of one of the grey-skinned humans. "He's dead, Jim."
