Team Camila

Posted on 07 Mar 2017 @ 12:49am by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Captain Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Lieutenant JG Dean Winchester & Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper & Chief Petty Officer Sergei Andropov

4,763 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Endgame
Timeline: MD 17

The blue haze of the transporter faded away, revealing one of the lounges on Hub 4, one of the round personnel sections on the lower decks of the starbase. The room was empty, but the intruder alert klaxons were sounding. Instantly, forcefields were erected around the exits, containing the boarding party.

The team materialized back to back in two formations of five, each member carrying a transparent aluminum shield, a Type III phaser rifle, a Type II phaser, a belt with gas mask, tricorder, field medkit, hand restraints, extra energy cells for the phasers. two stun grenades each and two Anestazine gas grenades. Two members carried the essentials to quickly assemble a Phaser Drill and two other members of the Security team also carried a portable field generator.

Camila took quick stock of her surroundings and pulled out a tricorder when she saw the forcefields go up on the exits and began to scan the walls near the exits. "We need to get out of here and the quickest way is through the walls," she said. "We inside one of the hubs and need to get to the main station. Expect heavy resistance and try not to kill anyone. Weapons on stun only."

She approached the nearest exit and scanned the wall with it near the door and drew her phaser, raising the setting high enough to vaporize a section of it after she made sure it didn't contain any critical systems and hooked the tricorder back on her belt. "Be ready!" she called out as she began to fire.

Winchester set his Phaser Rifle on the highest stun setting it had, and moved into position to cover the Lieutenant as she cut through the wall.

In the corridor outside, station security, a small group of three, did not anticipate the corridor wall disappearing so quickly and violently. Yet, the trio had enough time to collect themselves and open fire on the boarding party. "Intruders in Hub Four!" shouted the team leader into a combadge.

Thatcher, shield on one arm and type II phaser in one hand appeared with her grouping, scanning to find herself behind a force field in an empty room. Her Chief reacted quickly and they found themselves outside in the hall when she heard the rallying cry of security. She reacted and moved to support but made effort not to get into the Chief's and Lt. Winchester's field of fire.

Winchester opened fire, downing one man, but missing the other two. And there was no doubt in his mind there a whole lot more Security officers that would be bearing down on them. They continued firing and somehow, a Phaser beam missed his shield and sliced across the top part of his arm. Grunting at the searing pain, he unclipped a stun grenade from his belt, clicked the button, and threw as he yelled, "Grenade out!!"

Station security was unprepared for the grenade. It exploded on impact with the floor, stunning the armed personnel. Their phasers and bodies clattered to the floor where they'd remain unmovable for the next twenty minutes.

"Form up around Commander Bast and make sure he stays protected," Camila said as she entered the corridor and headed up. Three Security personnel formed a triangle around Bast and brought their shields up as two others advanced with Lieutenant Camila while the others brought up the rear. The coast was clear so far, but she knew that could change at any second. She saw the turn leading to the crosswalk to the station ahead and prayed they made it across before anything bad happened.

Bast followed Camila and the rest of the group, a bit resentful at the escort they were providing. He was of the opinion that their close protection would only serve to paint a target on his back, but at this point, he knew better than to argue the point with her. He might outrank her, but there would still be hell to pay at home if he tried to argue.

Thatcher was just to the left and in front of Commander Bast. She was mainly left handed and good shot on that side so in protective detail circles or as she called them 'Turtle Shell's' she was often slotted in there. She moved with the group just swiftly enough to keep her position relative to the others and Bast as her eyes skimmed the area on her side, including the wrist mounted tricorder that was checking for life signs.

"Two by two," Camila said as she led the way down the hall. "Thatcher, eyes on Commander Bast. Andropov, watch our rear. Winchester, are you okay?" she asked as she headed for the crosswalk with her Type II phaser set back on heavy stun and her shield arm up.

Winchester replied, "Im fine Ma'am, just bleeding, not sure how far that beam cut down on my arm."

"Understood" Thatcher acknowledged and smoothly dropped back to directly to Bast's Left. The extra person in front dropping back just as smooth. She tried not to be too tense as they moved swiftly through the cooridor, knowing the empty hall wouldn't remain empty for long. She only hoped there were enough Starfleet in the response to avoid the Consortium going into overkill. The problem with the Consortium was they risked tipping their hand if they got too vicious too quickly. Thatcher for one did not want to harm anyone following, what they felt were legit orders and was ready to do what they needed to in order to end this. She kept her eyes moving from the area, to Bast, to her tricorder in a loop, careful to use her peripheral vision to assist.

What the tricorder could not detect, much less anticipate, was the sounding of the environmental alarms. "Warning," sounded the computer. "Environmental decompression detected in Hub 4, Decks Eighty through Eighty Two. Emergency systems are not responding. Evacuate immediately."

"Let's move, people!" called out Bast. "We need to get to the next section." He slapped on his breath mask, and pressed the group toward the far end of the corridor.

Hearing the computerized voice, Camila cursed under her breath. "Let's move!" she called, echoing Bast as she began to move forward. She double checked her phaser as she ran and didn't bother looking over shoulder. "Get your masks on and get ready to deploy Anestazine grenades because we're likely to have company as soon as we exit the crosswalk!" She pulled her own mask from her belt and attached it over her nose and mouth.

Winchester fell back, covering from the rear. As he did, he ripped a piece of his uniform off and tied it around his arm, which was bleeding, but in the current situation thats all the medical treatment he could give himself.

Thatcher put her phaser in her shield hand and quickly put on her mask before returning the phaser to its proper hand. She put the shield away to clear the other hand for the grenades, not thrilled but only having two hands did tend to limit one. She glanced Commander Bast, to ensure he didn't need help with his mask even as she picked up her pace to keep on par, unable to watch the tricorder continuously while running just tried to keep her eyes open.

Sergei hated ventmasks. But it beat being paralyzed, or dead, so he pulled it on. He kept his eyes open, looking for targets. I'm getting too old for shit like this, he thought. But it is fun. On occasion.

"Warning," droned the computer. "Atmospheric levels are at fifty percent and falling."

"We have incoming!!!!" Winchester shouted, firing a flurry of shots over his shoulder.

Bast looked at the direction Winchester was shooting, and saw nothing. He quickly scanned the darkened corridor with his eyes, but saw nothing, until a subtle movement in a wall panel caught his attention. He brought up his phaser rifle, and fired at the narrow opening. The panel collapsed, and a Selamat fell to the ground, stunned.

"Told you", Winchester said as he pulled his mask on and retrained his Rifle down the corrador.

"What?" Camila asked and spared a glance over her shoulder in time to see one of the Selamat fall from c over. "Nice shooting," she said before she turned her attention forward. She adjusted her phaser setting and fired at a forcefield emitter that was near the lock at the end of the crossway and watched as it blew out in satisfaction before she readjusted her phaser. "Come on!" she yelled as she entered the corridor and headed to the left.

The hair on the back of Bast's neck was standing on end. He felt lucky to have spotted that Selamat just in time, before Winchester could be tricked into firing on his teammates. Next time, they might not be so lucky.

A gust of air burst past the away team as additional air was forced into the section. That didn't stop the atmospheric pressure alarms however. It would only be a few more seconds and no air would remain on the deck.

Camila pulled her tricorder out and calibrated it to override the lock on the door. "Move, move, move!" she yelled as she waved her team through as the air started to get extremely thin.

Bast burst through the doorway and moved to the side by the control panel, ready to seal the hatch and protect their air supply as soon as the last of the team was through.

Falling back through the doorway, Winchester tightened the improvised tourniquet on his arm ,and re-adjusted his aim to face the door he had just come through.

Thatcher came running in right on Bast's heels, one more quick glance behind her and she was through the door quickly followed by the last few rear guards. "That it!" She said to Bast at the panel, through her mask.

As soon as the door was sealed again, Camila pulled out her tricorder and did a quick scan and compared it to the schematics they had of the station. "The secondary core should be five decks below us and about fifty meters to the left. When we get there, we're going straight down," she said. "Someone use a medkit on Winchester before he loses that arm."

A petty officer quickly got her medkit and pulled out a hypospray and went to the officer. "This is only a mild pain suppressor," she said as she pressed it to him and pulled out an anticoagulant to inject next. "That should seal it up for now."

"Very good, Thank you", Winchester said as he re-adjusted the aim on his Rifle and scanned for threats.

The rest of the team quickly assembled and began to move up the corridor again. Camila looked around and motioned for two officers to advance scout while she looked at the others. "Once we get to our objective, I want that phaser drill ready. We aren't going to have much time and expect the opposition to be heavy."

"Understood..." Thatcher replied, keeping close to Bast as they moved along. Once again using the tricorder and her own eyes to scan. She rather hoped the other groups were distracting security sufficiently but didn't dare take her eyes off her own mission to ask or check. She kept her body on Bast's one side between him and the left side, one hand near the grenades and one holding a phaser.

Camila was surprised when they made it to the point where she had estimated they needed to start going down. "Get the phaser drill up and working," she said as she checked her tricorder and looked around again. "Get the forcefield generator working, too. We'll be able to hold them off in at least on direction."

Her men snapped to setting up the drill and generator before they established a four point position so they could cover every direction, one around Bast and one to the left. "Keep your eyes open, people. Winchester, Thatcher, I want you to keep an eye on your tricorders and alert us if you pick anyone up. Commander Bast, keep your mind open for the Selamat."

She checked her tricorder again and moved to the phaser drill to line it up a bit better. "Everyone get your monomolecular ropes ready. We're going down fast, set up a perimeter, rinse and repeat for the next four decks."

"Understood." It wasn't a glorious job but needed. She kept by Commander Bast and checked continuously for any changes on her tricorder even as she prepared to to repel. She wondered briefly if this was how her ancestor felt. A Navy sub radar operator in World War II, the man sat for hours in tense situations waiting to see where the enemy was and would the enemy ships above drop depth charges too close. And all he could do was watch, wait and warn. Fortunately Thatcher could do a bit more in this case and did so as she readied herself with the rest of the team.

Bast suddenly heard footsteps coming from the far end of the corridor. He turned just in time to see a security team coming around the corner.

"Incoming!" he called out, taking position with his portable shield, and pointing his phaser toward the approaching hostile security officers.

"Defend this position!" Camila fired the phaser drill at the deck and vaporized a hole big enough for two people at a time to go down and worked on making it big enough for four people. She deactivated it and handed it to a burly Andorian enlisted man.

"Everyone get ready," she said. "They aren't going to give us time to do it easy. Now!" She watched as the Andorian jumped down with the phaser drill and two other personnel followed. Camila drew her phaser and fires a wide beam stun down the corridor in the direction Temerant was pointing. "Get down the hole, Bast! Everyone down!"

Winchester did as he was told, hitting the deck in a split second.

Thatcher repelled a small part of her mind loving the speed before she hit as she flew straight down. She hit the deck soon after, near Winchester and took up a defensive position.

Bast followed next, landing on his feet, and immediately getting down to a crouch, scanning the room with his eyes. What he saw was definitely not what he had expected.

Inside the quarters the group had just entered through the ceiling, a naked Orion woman with red hair made her way out of the bathroom with a towel in her hand. She arched a brow when she spotted the rather large hole with others preparing to invade her personal space. "I hope one of you is prepared to fix the hole you've put in my ceiling," Lyzandra stated, pointing toward it.

Other Security personnel came through the hole after throwing a Anesthizine grenade at the approaching Deep Space Eleven personnel and took up the art of staring at the busty nude Orion standing there.

Camila dropped down through the hole right as the Orion woman was pointing at it, landed and rolled, then came up to her feet. "We have to move....why is there a naked Orion woman pointing?" she asked, caught off guard. She aimed her phaser at the woman. "Who are you?"

Lyzandra arched an eyebrow when Camila pointed the phaser in her direction. "That's an interesting question to ask, considering you and your band of merry men... and women... decided to blast a hole through my ceiling. Given the riot gear, I'm assuming you're Security and know all about breaking and entering," she said, turning to reach for a white garment that was lying not too far away. "Are you one of the boarding parties that seem to be beaming over all over Deep Space Eleven?"

"We're Starfleet," Camila said. "That's all you need to know. Who are you?" she repeated her question as she moved her phaser to track the woman.

Pulling the white slip of a dress on, Lyzandra turned back to the group that just invaded her privacy. "My name is Lyzandra. That is all you need to know. Now... who is going to pay to fix my ceiling?" She asked, looking the group over. "It's a crime to break into someone's home... even if they are Starfleet."

"We'll worry about that later, Lyzandra," Camila said. "I'm Lieutenant Di Pasquale and we're about to have visitors here really soon who want to kill us. Can you lead us out of here and get us to the secondary computer core?"

Behind the Lieutenant, a few male Security officers couldn't keep their eyes off of Lyzandra and one looked like he was about to propose to the Orion woman.

Trying to fight off the pheromones, Winchester's finger tightened down farther on his rifle's trigger.

Camila looked around and saw the looks on every males face with the exception of Temerant or one other male Security person, then she saw Winchester. "Stand down, Lieutenant," she told him. "You must have seen that she isn't armed."

"Listen to the lady, big guy. I'm not armed," the Orion woman said, looking toward Winchester. "Unless you count my curves. I've been told those are killer on more than one occasion."

Snorting in laughter, Winchester said, "Your Threats mean nothing to me. And furthermore if you fail to tell them everything you know, or try to betray us, then I'm the one who you have to deal with, is that clear Lyzandra?"

Camila turned to Winchester before she would even turn fully back around. "Shut up, Winchester. You're a nobody and you certainly don't tell people who are trying to help us what they're going to do. Go watch the hole."

"Come here sir," Sergei said to the young officer. "Let's let the Lieutenant handle this."

"You'r right Sergei, she's not worth it."

"I said go watch the hole, Winchester!" Camila barked.

Andropov looked at Winchester and jerked his head in the direction of the hole. "You've got your orders." The Russian Chief Petty Officer would have felt bad for the security officer, but he was reaping the rewards of his actions.

"Aye, that i do", Winchester said as he set his Phaser for wide beam and pointed it directly at that hole, prepared to drive off anyone who tried to come through it.

Thatcher when she first landed saw the figure and had aimed her phaser. Her eyes scanning hands and feet for threat, only then noticing the woman was naked. She blinked, once then twice then found elsewhere for her eyes to be but still trying to keep the woman's hands in her peripheral vision. As she shifted focus she noticed her teammates and thought their behavior odd until she remembered about Orion Pheromones. She shifted position, very subtly, to keep a better eye on them and the woman but her phaser was pointed upward at the hole they'd just made, trying to keep the tricorder in sight just in case more tried to follow.

Lyzandra knew time was of the essence regarding the Lieutenant's request, and she would get to it, but she couldn't help but notice the actions of the other woman present. In fact, she arched an eyebrow. "You do realize there's a medication for that, yes? I've never seen anyone quite so all over the place before. Or... are you on the medication for the reverse effects?"

For a moment Thatcher didn't realize she was being spoken to, trusting the Chief to handle interacting with the civilian. She processed the information and wondered at the cause, the only thing that moved on her besides a small body shift were her eyes. Yes they tried to watch everything but they were in hostile territory and Thatcher did not like surprises in a combat environment. She ignored the spurt of annoyance as a not worthy reaction and her eyes shifted to the woman, "I am on no medication, hostile environments require alertness." She explained in her polite Earth British accented English before returning a bulk of her attention to watching for people who wanted them dead, only shifting her vision every so often to check on her male teammates and others in the room. She actually couldn't watch everything at once and so shifted but she did try insomuch as she could while keeping focus on her most important duty.

Lyzandra turned her attention back to Camila. "In answer to your question... I will help you get where you need to go if you take me from this forsaken place when you leave."

Camila noted the headache she was getting and remembered that the pheromones of Orion females gave women headaches and that males would do anything for the Orion woman. "Then let's get see what's on the next deck down," she said as she retrieved her tricorder and began scanning under them. "We have a corridor that has a lot of doorways," she muttered. "Plenty of room for ambush." She looked back at Lyzandra. "Does your way save time and lives?"

Bast looked at the faces of the other team members, and how transfixed they were by the naked Orion girl. This situation was surreal. He regretted not stunning the girl the moment they had dropped through the hole, and the two minutes they'd already lost in conversation - the longer this went on, the longer the battle was taking place outside, and more people died. The intruder alarm could still be heard in the corridor, and they heard running footsteps from the other side of the door. He motioned for Thatcher and another female security officer to guard the door, while he trained his phaser rifle on the Orion girl.

"We don't have time for this," he said. "She might be a Selamat illusion. Lieutenant," he added, addressing Camila, "fire the drill."

"Go. I'll hold off anyone that comes this way," Lyzandra stated. Or at least, she'd try to. "You're almost there. The secondary computer core is two decks down, but it will be guarded. You'll know when you see it. I'll meet up with you."

Camila turned her attention on Bast for a moment. "You may outrank me here, Commander, but I'm in charge of this mission. Stand down." She looked back at the Orion woman. "Thank you," she said simply before she moved to get the drill set up and began to phaser another large hole in the floor. "Everyone, get ready. If they're tracking us, they're going to know where we're heading."

Bast approached Camila and spoke in a hushed voice, to avoid being overheard by the other team members and undermining Camila's authority. "You're in charge, then act like it, Lieutenant," he reminded her. "You're letting one civilian, who might be a hostile illusion, hold up your operation. We have enemy forces above us, and right outside the door. So let's waste time chatting with the sexy Orion girl," he said with heavy sarcasm.

You're in charge, then act like it, Lieutenant echoed in Camila's mind, but the sarcasm in his voice set her off. "You know what? I am in charge. I've gotten us this far and I'm going to get us to the core. You want to order my people around while I'm busy protecting a non-combatant who is only supposed to be here in order to keep a questionable mental eye out for Selamat? No. Do your job and I'll do mine."

Bast looked at the other male Security officers on the team, and wondered who's mind was the more questionable. But he refrained from speaking, seeing that Camila was already stressed out enough.

Thatcher nodded, pleased Commander Bast didn't seem affected like the others, left him to support the Chief and moved to guard the door as ordered, hearing no further instruction. Making sure she was between it and the room. Thatcher's partner took her position to overlay and support. Ensign Thatcher's visual attention finally narrowed to her tricorder and brief glances to make sure she knew where Bast was in the room at all times, though she kept her senses on high alert waiting for what may happen next.

Camila finished drilling the hole in the floor and checked the area with a tricorder. "It's clear, go, go, go!" she said as several of her people immediately lept down and began to set up a perimeter in the corridor.

Thatcher moved, pulling back toward the hole but acting as part of the rear guard until the others went down then took up her position near Bast looking for threats.

Falling back beside Bast and adjusting his Rifles aim, Winchester quickly said, "This is getting crazy, aint it?"

"I said go!!" Camila shouted at the others who seemed to be indecisive as to what 'It's clear, go, go, go!' meant and wondered if her Universal Translator was broken. Instead of waiting for further questions or people not following orders, she picked up the phaser drill and jumped down the hole she had just made and began to run another tricorder scan to see where she could drill next.

Five other Security personnel joined her and set up a watch on the door with tricorders and their phasers out while they waited for Winchester, Bast and Thatcher to catch up.

Lyzandra wasn't Starfleet, but she knew and order when she heard one. If she was going to be of any use to the group, that meant she'd need to go with them. Without hesitating, she jumped through the hole and moved out of the way so the rest of them could get down.

Thatcher knew orders but she was also instructed to watch Bast, so she went with current orders and split the difference, "Sirs, we need to move!" She glanced at her tricorder and seeing it clear outside the orion's quarters, trusted they would be right behind and quickly made to repel down.

"Understood", Winchester said as he started falling back, his heart thudding in his chest. As he did, he swapped out the power packs for his weapons and tightened the makeshift bandage around his arm, which was trickling blood again.

Bast was next down the hole, and joined the rest of the group.

Camila selected a spot and activated the drill once more and began to vaporize a section of the floor that would get them to the next deck down and where they wanted to be. "Move out!"

"Remember what I said... even though this is the secondary computer core, it will be heavily guarded," the Orion woman said to Camila. She prepared herself to go through the last hole. "When you hit the deck below, take a right. You'll know when you're there. I'll meet you there." With that, she disappeared down the hole and to the deck below, then went to the left.

Wiping the sweat off his face, Winchester slung his Phaser Rifle over his back. He rigged his repelling harness and moved towards the hole, lowering himself to the bottom. He quickly disconnected it, brought his Rifle up to the low ready position, and moved up to cover Camila while she was drilling.

"I'll be there," Camila said. As soon as she bored through the last deck, she motioned for the others to get down the hole. "Get down, go right. We're close now."

Security personnel began to go down to the new hole that had been made and once more formed up a perimeter. Two set up the portable forcefield generator in the corridor to stop enemy personnel from getting to them easy while the others checked their tricorders and scanned nearby doorways.

Thatcher was one of those checking her tricorder, their lives depending on warning. On time to prepare as best a possible response. She only hoped they could buy enough time to set this thing off.

Once everyone was down, Camila checked her tricorder and saw the secondary computer core was just ahead of them. "Leave the forcefield generator there," she instructed, which would block station personnel from approaching them from behind for a short time. She checked her Type III phaser rifle and started forward with the others coming up behind her.

Bast felt a cold touch in the back of his mind. Instinctively he jumped, and raised his weapon, searching the corridor in front of them. "They're here," he called out.

TBC

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