Friend or Foe?

Posted on 19 Aug 2024 @ 7:09am by Lieutenant JG Kemm & Commander John Reynolds & Lieutenant T’Mari Rael

2,176 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Shattered Unity
Location: Jem'hadar Cruiser
Timeline: June 19, 2390 || 0345 hours

Multiple columns of light materialized in a dark corridor, temporarily providing the only illumination. Thanks to modern transporter technology, the light did not last long, leaving a small group of Starfleet personnel behind. Scans prior to the beam-in showed that life support was still online. Kemm's nostrils confirmed such a claim, though it was clear that the air bore a hint of rancid. He instantly pulled out his tricoder and began to scan.

"Minimal power detected," reported the Engineer. "It appears limited to core areas of the ship."

T’Mari stood looking around, trying not to let the waft of an unpleasant smell turn her stomach. “There’s definitely someone alive here, I can feel it now we’re onboard. I can’t tell whether it’s the founder, or Jem’hadar.”

"Don't forget about the Vorta," Kemm remarked, still trying to scan the area around them. "Someone has to ration the white and the Founders usually keep their hands clean of that." A warning shot out from the tricoder. "There's no access to the deck below us. Life support is indeed operational, but it is failing. We should hurry."

T’Mari shook her head. “Sorry I meant the Vorta, I have no idea why I said Founder.” She offered an embarrassed smile.

John activated a light and grinned at the Counselor. He nodded in agreement with the Engineer. "What about the deck above us?" he asked. "Access and life support? Also, what does your Kelpian threat detection have to say? Anything nearby that we should worry about?"

Kemm started by feeling the back of his neck. His Kelpien ganglia had not emerged from the base of his skull, a very clear indication that there was no real threat at the moment. This was one of those moments that he was both thankful and agitated that he hadn't yet passed through vahar'ai. "At the moment, it is quiet. But just because it is quiet now, it does not mean that it will in the future."

The engineer checked his tricoder to prepare a response to the first question. "The deck above us is accessible, though there is some radiation seeping into the corridors. We should be fine as long we don't stay on this ship longer than an hour."

"Understood," said John. "One hour it is. That said, lets find an access hatch or something. I'm not familiar with Jem'Hadar ships." He started shining his light around the room; walls, ceiling, wherever they could hide a hatch.

"I can't say I am either," Kemm stated, monitoring the tricoder and taking a step or two forward. "I was but a child when the Dominion spread across the Alpha Quadrant. I'm actually quite grateful they never made it to Kaminar."

T’Mari looked around, if there was a hatch it was a well hidden one.

"Over here," Kemm said, pointing to a nearby access point. "Behind this hatch is a tube that goes to the deck above us." He closed his tricoder and opened the hatch. There was a small burst of wind as the air shifted, the smell of it a little more rancid. This time, it caused his ganglia to react.

John wrinkled his nose at the disgusting smell that flowed from the deck above. "Damn, how long have they been dead?" he said to no one specific. Kemm's reaction immediately caught his attention. John drew his phaser and shined his light up tube. "Commander Reynolds of the Federation starship Black Hawk!" he shouted. "Who's up there"

No answer came down aside from a little bit of smoke. "It seems," Kemm said, "that the danger may be the ship itself." He closed his tricorder after confirming there were no life signs in close range. "We should find the bridge or a command terminal."

"Now that's scary. Damn holo-horror over here," said John. "C'mon, lets get up there and find one or the other. Preferably a command terminal...I don't want to spend time looking for the bridge unless we're just another deck below it." John holstered his phaser and started climbing the ladder up the tube.

Kemm followed John up the tube, taking careful steps as he did. "It's a small ship, Commander. Six levels, and probably not that much crew unless they're carrying troops." As soon as Kemm's got off the ladder, he turned and bumped into something. He shrieked as he stared into a pair of lifeless eyes, each dilated pupil boring a hole into the Kelpian's soul.

The shriek made T’Mari jump as she emerged at the top of the ladder. This was one moment she was glad to have her Vulcan side, as she allowed it to take over dulling down her emotional side. “For want of a better word, fascinating.” She looked around seeing another body lying face down on the floor not far away. “There’s another.”

As Kemm regained his senses, he pulled out a tricorder and began to scan the bodies. "Plasma burns," he commented, "and blunt force trauma consistent with starship combat. These Jem'hadar died pursuing victory." He closed the tricorder and looked at T'Mari. "If we find any Jem'hadar alive, they will most likely feel cheated or shamed and seek death."

T’Mari nodded. “Which means we’ll have to watch our backs, they’ll want to die and picking a fight is one way of doing it.”

"Then it's a good thing we have a stun setting," said John. He looked around the surrounding area and shook his head. "A prelude to war," he murmured. He walked around the room in an attempt to find a working terminal and hoping that is was a command one. "Over here," he said. "Looks like it has just enough power, but I don't for how long. Let's see what we can get out of it, Lieutenant Kemm."

Kemm took a moment for a visual inspection and confirmed that its power source was reliable, even though portions of the controls were flickering. With his tricoder, the Kelpien switched modes so that he could try and read the Jem'hadar language. "I'll be a few minutes,' he informed the Commander. "This does look to be a standard terminal, and I may be limited in what I can access."

He turned to T'Mari. "Any updates on that feeling from earlier, Lieutenant? Distressed? Anger? Fear?"

T’Mari nodded. “There’s definitely fear, that I can sense, and a trace...of anger!”

While the two senior officers conversed, Kemm poked away at the controls. He learned very quickly that his access beyond the terminal was limited. The ship's main computer was unavailable, likely due to inadequate security permissions, as were most command functions. There were, however, some things he could easily access. "Commander, I've been able to access an internal schematic of the ship. The lower decks are decompressed, as is most of the aft quarter. The bridge is on this deck, several rooms forward. Also, I think I'm detecting a lifeform there, but sensors are certainly misaligned."

John turn towards the engineer when he spoke. "How much more lucky could we have gotten," he said. "An eyewitness account and better computer information. Lead the way. Maybe the counselor can fill in any missing information from the misaligned sensors along the way."

T’Mari nodded. “I should be able to sense more as we get closer.”

Kemm nodded as he stepped away from the terminal. "This way," he said, beginning the trek forward down the darkened corridor. It did not take long for them to arrive in the command center. The lights there were flickering, as were several of the freestanding stations. One particular station was on fire, the flames licking away at the flammable portions of the terminals, left to consume unchecked by the disabled fire suppression system. "The oxygen levels in here are diminishing," Kemm observed after consulting his open tricorder. "We can't stay long."

"Then let's get it done," said John. He moved to one of the flickering stations and attempted to access it. "Not the easiest thing in the world to do right now." He coughed a little at the smoke. "Let's transfer as much as possible. I'll see if I can enable the fire suppression system and give a few more minutes."

T’Mari fanned the smoke away with her hand as she looked around. The air was thin as it was without the fire burning through more of the oxygen.

A cough could be heard, a loud and raspy one. A second passed, and then it happened again, coming from just a few meters from T'Mari's left.

“Commander!” T’Mari motioned to her left. “Someone coughed, I heard it.”

"Is..." coughed the voice, "...someone there?" A Vorta cautiously peered out from behind a console.

T’Mari was surprised to see her first ever Vorta. “I’m Lieutenant Rael of the Federation Starship USS Black Hawk.” She approached with caution drawing her phaser incase she needed to use it. “Are you alone?”

"Alone?" gasped the Vorta. "We Vorta are always alone, always outnumbered by Jem'hadar." She was sitting up beside the console, her left hand clutching a wound on her chest. One eye remained closed and bloodied while the other gazed up at the approaching officer. "It looks like our efforts were successful in repelling the attackers."

T’Mari nodded. “You were, but at a great loss.” She knelt down in front the Vorta pulling out an emergency medkit. “I’m not a doctor but I can patch you up enough to get you out of here. I will use this...” She motioned to her phaser, “if I have to, so please don’t do anything stupid.”

The woman chuckled and winced immediately in pain. "Typical Starfleet. Always assuming that the Vorta are not to be trusted, even when they're bleeding to death." She looked over at her rescuer who'd brandished her firearm. "Well, Lieutenant Rael, I am Gaamis. I assume I'm the only survivor of this craft."

T’Mari nodded. “I’m afraid so Gaamis, so I doubt you’ll want to die.” She reholstered her phaser so she could help Gaamis. “I’ll do what I can for your injuries here, but you’ll need to be transferred to our Sickbay.”

"Interesting," coughed the Vorta. "I have not seen a Federation sickbay before, much less the inside of one of your vessels. I look forward to the... what do you call it? The Way Mission?"

John grinned as much as one could in this environment. "That's close enough," he said. Putting on his official Starfleet for a moment, he continued. "And thank you for rendering aid to our ships. Mr. Kemm, I can't get the suppression system online," he said, turning his attention. "Seems to be a problem with relays somewhere. I'm not all that familiar with Dominion technology. But we seem to be stretching out our time here. I don't want to stretch it any further. What you've got will have to do."

"And what I have isn't much," Kemm announced. His tricorder was still open and beeping as he did his best to work through the console. "The logs appear to be corrupted. Whatever hit this ship hit it hard and fast."

"That describes it aptly," voiced the Vorta. "I didn't even get to see the attacker but for a microsecond. One glimpse and all of a sudden, we're losing control from an impact. I'm amazed all of the Jem'hadar perished so quickly."

“They hit that fast?” T’Mari looked at the Vorta in surprise. “Who in the hell can do that?”

"Besides the Jem'hadar?" choked Gaamis. "No one in this quadrant. Not the Selubassari or even the Federation. Even the Klingons aren't as savage. They at least are thorough."

"We need to leave," said John, noticing that the Vorta was choking more. "Get back to the Black Hawk and get to Sickbay. After we're checked out and breathing normally, maybe then we can carry on this conversation." He tapped his commbadge, "Reynolds to Black Hawk, have medical teams in the transporter room, we're bringing back a survivor, a Vorta. Standby for transport on my mark." He closed the channel and looked at the others. "Anything last minute that we need to know or can take from in here to help our analysts?"

The Vorta shook her head. "I'm afraid the ship won't be much help, Commander," she confessed.

Kemm closed his own tricorder. "Commander, I've collected all I can. With any luck the Black Hawk's computer and our intelligence team can recover some of the data."

John nodded an understanding and tapped his combadge. "Reynolds to Black Hawk, energize." The group shimmered out of existence from the damaged Jem'Hadar ship and reappeared in the main transporter room on the 'Hawk. They were immediately scanned by the medical team and then escorted to Sickbay.

While the Vorta would survive, the Black Hawk crew already knew the harsh truth: Finding evidence of the attacker was going to be harder than they thought.

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