S3:E6 Eliminating Shadows, Part II

[Lek]

[Station]

Jasper patted down his chest feeling his life box under his tunic. Hearing one breath had confirmed he was all back together. He truly hated transporter for traveling.

Jasper was no fool.

Yes. Lieutenant Kyle had issued orders to everyone. The scientist prefer to observe the room before heading to the science station.

"Good call," he complimented the Andorian. "I would had done the same thing."

"You are all jumpy," he snorted. "Don't shoot your own shadow," he added.

Taking the science station he had attempted to get files on brainwashing machine. He snorted. "I Knew that would not be easy."

Jasper eyebrows shot up as he saw a file that Leyton was in prison. The scientist turned to look at the. Andorian. "Question. Does the Captain aware that Leyton was in prison?" He asked.

[Mysterious Abandoned Science Station - AWAY TEAM - As CPO T'ealc]

"Unless you are seriously allergic to cat scratches or bites from the same or rodents, I think we have you covered Chief!" the medic said patting her medkit and winking.

[Unknown Space Station]

Lek's mood was not improved by the snide comments, but one thing he didn't understand was what they were talking about when it came to why they would be talking about cats. However, as annoyed as he was, he wasn't about to ask what they meant. He'd figure that out on his own. Regardless, since the very real dangers this station represented seemed to escape the other members of the away team, he wouldn't dignify their petty comments with a reply. He'd do his job and that was all he had to do.

"Last thing I need is a troupe of comedians." He thought as he continued to walk along side Briggs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sickbay - As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

"As you said, this is unnerving me, come on. Out of here, we'll go sit in my office until the others get here and I can brief them. Ms. Tragnar, guard this room please, not a word to anyone and wait until I authorise it open again." Maggie said to the most senior Security boffin.

Shaking her head as if to clear it she stepped into the Sickbay and hit her commbadge.  York to Sigurdsdottir, Engineering and Counsellor Ryder.  Please come immediately to Sickbay.  This is of the utmost urgency. York out.

"Liv, I honestly wish I was off duty right now, a Nebula or something stronger would be most welcome!"

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

Gianetti heard the captain call for an engineer and his initial reaction was to go himself, but as acting chief, he had a bigger responsibility. Lek had said keep the shields online before all else, so he called out to someone who should have the experience to deal with whatever the captain wanted. One Lieutenant J.G. Dashlish Tharn  a Tellarite female.

"Tharn, report to sickbay on the double."

"Aye Sir, on my way."

Grabbing a toolkit, Tharn exited engineering for the quick turbolift trip to sickbay where she sought out the captain.

"Lieutenant J.G. Dashlish Tharn reporting as ordered Ma'am."

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Engineering - USS Challenger]

Gianetti heard the captain call for an engineer and his initial reaction was to go himself, but as acting chief, he had a bigger responsibility. Lek had said keep the shields online before all else, so he called out to someone who should have the experience to deal with whatever the captain wanted. One Lieutenant J.G. Dashlish Tharn  a Tellarite female.

"Tharn, report to sickbay on the double."

"Aye Sir, on my way."

Grabbing a toolkit, Tharn exited engineering for the quick turbolift trip to sickbay where she sought out the captain.

"Lieutenant J.G. Dashlish Tharn reporting as ordered Ma'am."

[Sickbay]

[As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

"Thank you for your promptness Lieutenant, I'm waiting on the counsellor and the Captain, I'd rather brief everyone together." the CMO gave the Tellarite a smile.  "Feel free to grab yourself a drink from the replicator while we wait, I know this much - you're going to be rather busy for the next few hours so take the break while you can get it.  I was rather expecting Petty Officer Reyes, she seems to find herself in Sickbay rather a lot!"

[Sickbay - As CMO Dr. Maggie York]

York to Sigurdsdottir, Engineering and Counsellor Ryder.  Please come immediately to Sickbay.  This is of the utmost urgency. York out.

[Bridge > Sickbay]

The Captain was rather surprised to get the hail from Sickbay, raising her eyebrows she wished she hadn't already given Sukal leave to go pack.  She looked around the Bridge, she didn't have a lot of choice.

"Dradis, you have the Bridge, I'll be as quick as I can be."

[Sickbay]

"You called, doctor?  This better be good!" Ruth said with an almost bitter look on her face.  She gave a look at the nurses hoping that the CMO hadn't caught them snooping files again.  Maggie gave a small shake of the head.

"I understand you've called in Engineering and the counsellor too, what is going on, have the cadets become violent?" she asked noting that the security detail was still posted outside the room.

"Nooo..." Maggie said looking decidedly perplexed.  She couldn't put it off any longer.  "Captain, Lieutenant, we can wait for the counsellor to give his opinion but it's going to come down to your decision in the end.  Ma'am it's my unfortunate duty to inform you that Cadet Mr'aarra is an android.  A very advanced Soong-type android from the brief look I got before I sedated the 4 of them before there was major panic.  The first question I have to put to you is, do we switch her off?"

Ruth's head was reeling.  Android? Mr'aarra? Switch off??

"Woah, slow down, let me take this in.  Cadet Mr'aarra is an android.  Can anyone else confirm this?  Olivia? Chloe?"

[Zavrol Gohun]

[Transporter Room]

Kyle watched as the XO left the transporter Room. He then turned and took a look at the Away Team himself. Gohun had ran in at the very last minute. Kyle would deal with that when they returned. He replayed the Commanders words in his head and hoped like hell they could work as a team. He turned to the transporter operator. "Energize."

[Station]

They rematerialized in what looked like a command center. Kyle wasted no time getting everyone busy.

"Mister Lahr, see what you can find out about this station, any personnel and logs. Doc, no medical needs right now, so see if you can give him a hand. Jasper. I want anything from their science logs that you can find about this brainwashing machine I've been hearing about. Chief Lek and I are going to check out the station and see what we can find." he said with a glance at the Ferengi. From what Kyle could recall, the Engineer, much like Lahr, wasn't a fan of away teams either. "We might even find our mystery cat."

Before he turned and walked toward the door, he knelt and opened the weapons bag that he was still carrying. He turned and looked back at Gohun. "I want you to stay here for Security." he ordered as he reached inside the bag a withdrew two phasers and passed them over to the young security officer. He pulled out a third and thumbed the controls before extending his hand. "Doc, I know about your oath to do no harm. It's set to stun. The others will busy on the computers. This is just a precaution." he added.

He then turned for the door once more. "Ready to go see what we can break, Chief?" he joked trying to lighten the mood.

Gohun imagined how the mission would go.
Gohun After seeing the familiar light of the transporter process Gohun ends up in what appears to be a command center. The only problem is that it was empty. Gohun was not sure what to expect from the station but as paranoid security guard, he expected a trap in every place that he visited from every possible way.
Then his supervisor handed him two type two phasers. Putting one in his belt and holding the other Gohun simply nodded at the orders that were given to him. At which point he scanned this area with his tricorder and made note of all the away team's life signatures and set the tricorder to alert him if any new life signs appeared. Sometimes paranoia is just being prepared.
With that he walked into transporter room two.

[Richard James Litt]

[Bridge]

"Mr. Litt, thank you for being so prompt.  Rather an interesting task for you, but I'll wait for Mr - ... ah the man himself!" the CO said as Dradis walked in.

"Perhaps you can sit at the step by the Ops console Mr. Dradis and Mr. Litt at the helm?  She's on auto Mr. Litt since we're holding fire here while the away team is on the facility.  I have here a list of people who as of Dr. Vaughan's files had been turned or kidnapped by Leyton.  And another list of those reported missing.  It is my hypothesis that the ones not reported are still operating and still able to send messages home to family, who are working with Leyton.  The others... well they are probably on --"

"Ma'am, the station is deserted, there is no-one there bar..."  Grelek looked at the screen again adjusting filters to try to see what the DNA was.  "...what appears to be a cat and a few rodents."

"Relay that to the Away team please, Mr. Grelek." the Captain said with a smile. "Ask them that if the cat is well or at least only has normal cat conditions to bring with them, for all I know it could be a treasured pet of someone that has been there, and to look for clues that there has been more recent occupation of the station."

"Yes Ma'am!" the Vulcan replied.

"As I was saying Litt, Dradis... if you work with Mr. Grelek there and cross reference these lists, take out the ones that are on the missing persons list, make 2 lists.  Look at the dates that these people were marked as kidnapped, and hypothesise how many more people could be out there somewhere.  We'll hopefully get something from the Away Team if they can access the station computers.  But... thing is here, I know this is normally out of your area of expertise but I need to know how many... and how many if we rope in everyone on this ship with flying experience, could we get off a facility - potentially an armed facility - with the flyable craft we have attached to the Challenger.  I want to know if it's going to be more viable to do it on our own, or to ask a few trusted fellow Captains to come and help out with their teams.  Good luck gentlemen."  she finished.

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

"Aye ma'am..." He said nodding his head in order to show the Captain that he understood the gravity of that task.

Once they are seated Litt started to do what the Captain asked, crossing the information in the two lists.

"Chief... Do you know any way to do this smarter and faster?" He asked to Chief Dradis if he had some idea, while risking some names and noting another ones.

[Kyle Briggs]

[Space Station]

Kyle walked along with Lek through the abandoned station. Lahr had contacted them and told them how to enter the systems. He and the Engineer didn't really need do to that at the moment. So far, every door they approached opened for them and each room was empty. And there had been on sign of any cat. It was quite possibly the most boring away mission Kyle had ever been on. At least the others were having some luck with the computer logs and such. They had cleared three short corridors so far and were heading down the longest one they had seen yet. Kyle took one side as the Ferengi took the other.

"So what do you think, Chief? This isn't so bad is it?" he said just making conversation. Two doors later, Kyle almost smacked face first into the next one he walked up to. He had automatically just assumed it would open. He stepped back, entered his pass code and choose Command Authorization like Lahr had told them. He received another surprise when the door still remained shut. He pried open the control panel and saw some unfamiliar technology.

"Um, Chief? I got an uncooperative door here." he announced.

Kyle was an Engineer himself but he had been away for a while. He was quite sure that the Engineering Chief would be up to date on anything he wasn't sure about.

"Think you can get it open?" he asked.

[Olivia Briggs]

[Sickbay - Challenger]

Retreating to the CMO's office until the others arrived was definitely a good idea as Liv followed Maggie out of the examination room, still in slight shock by what they had seen and didn't blame Maggie for wanting something stronger, if they hadn't been on duty. She had seen many things during her time in the Fleet, but this was something else entirely, glad that Security was in place, until they could figure out their next move.

However before she could say anything, Engineering arrived, followed almost instantly by Ruth. Listening as Maggie shared with them, what they had found and what the CMO believed Mr'aarra to be. Under normal circumstances, she could understand how that might come across, but this wasn't one of those times and they had a serious issue on their hands.

When Ruth then naturally spoke to her and Chloe, as if to gain further confirmation, there was no doubt in Liv's mind and she wasn't about to go against her Boss, not after witnessing it herself.

" Chief York, is correct in her assumption regarding Mr'aarra, Captain, this goes beyond brainwashing and I have a feeling that Mr'aarra, isn't the only android amongst the four cadets".

[Lek]

[Space Station]

Kyle walked along with Lek through the abandoned station. Lahr had contacted them and told them how to enter the systems. He and the Engineer didn't really need do to that at the moment. So far, every door they approached opened for them and each room was empty. And there had been on sign of any cat. It was quite possibly the most boring away mission Kyle had ever been on. At least the others were having some luck with the computer logs and such. They had cleared three short corridors so far and were heading down the longest one they had seen yet. Kyle took one side as the Ferengi took the other.

"So what do you think, Chief? This isn't so bad is it?" he said just making conversation. Two doors later, Kyle almost smacked face first into the next one he walked up to. He had automatically just assumed it would open. He stepped back, entered his pass code and choose Command Authorization like Lahr had told them. He received another surprise when the door still remained shut. He pried open the control panel and saw some unfamiliar technology.

"Um, Chief? I got an uncooperative door here." he announced.

Kyle was an Engineer himself but he had been away for a while. He was quite sure that the Engineering Chief would be up to date on anything he wasn't sure about.

"Think you can get it open?" he asked.

[Space Station]

The fact they hadn't come under fire as soon as they beamed in or had found the station to be a multi-layered death trap did nothing to settle Lek's feeling of impending doom. In fact, being left to his own devices for what could go wrong only served to amp up his imagination of traps that were possible to find, so when Briggs found a door they couldn't open, the only thing that Lek could envision was that this was the one, the door that would kill him. His expression was pained as he approached the door to inspect it to see if he could get it open.

"The door has power, so it's not that it can't open. You used what was supposed to be the command code and that didn't work, so that implies this door requires either a manual code or uses biometrics like voice or retina to open.

"A manual code I can defeat, if it is biometrics, I can't. Let me check with Lahr about something."

Lek tapped his commbadge.

"Lahr, are there security logs that show the corridor we are in? I need to know what sort of option it uses before I can figure out a way around it. I really just need to know if it's biometrics or manual code."

Lek looked at Briggs with doubt in his eyes as he asked.

"Odds are, as this is the only locked door we've found, this is either what we are looking for or it's a trap."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge > Sickbay]

The Captain was rather surprised to get the hail from Sickbay, raising her eyebrows she wished she hadn't already given Sukal leave to go pack.  She looked around the Bridge, she didn't have a lot of choice.

"Dradis, you have the Bridge, I'll be as quick as I can be."

[Sickbay]

"You called, doctor?  This better be good!" Ruth said with an almost bitter look on her face.  She gave a look at the nurses hoping that the CMO hadn't caught them snooping files again.  Maggie gave a small shake of the head.

"I understand you've called in Engineering and the counsellor too, what is going on, have the cadets become violent?" she asked noting that the security detail was still posted outside the room.

"Nooo..." Maggie said looking decidedly perplexed.  She couldn't put it off any longer.  "Captain, Lieutenant, we can wait for the counsellor to give his opinion but it's going to come down to your decision in the end.  Ma'am it's my unfortunate duty to inform you that Cadet Mr'aarra is an android.  A very advanced Soong-type android from the brief look I got before I sedated the 4 of them before there was major panic.  The first question I have to put to you is, do we switch her off?"

Ruth's head was reeling.  Android? Mr'aarra? Switch off??

"Woah, slow down, let me take this in.  Cadet Mr'aarra is an android.  Can anyone else confirm this?  Olivia? Chloe?"

Lieutenant jg Dashlish Tharn
[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Tharn looked appalled at the doctor's suggestion and that made her respond in Tellerite fashion despite the doctor being a superior officer.

"Are you a, what is that human term? Oh right, a quack? You cannot 'switch her off' like she's a tricorder. She is a sentient being per the ruling of 42523.7 Maddox versus Data. Sentient androids are members of the Federation and are entitled to all the rights of any other citizen. You can order her and the others confined to the brig while we determine if they pose a threat, but only because of Leyton's proclivity for mind control, not because they are androids. Nor can you keep them sedated. If you so much as raise a hypo to do so, I will lodge a complaint with Starfleet Medical so fast your ample ears will spin. Captain, you simply cannot allow this or you will be complicit in the unlawful assault on multiple Federation citizens!"

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Space Station]

The fact they hadn't come under fire as soon as they beamed in or had found the station to be a multi-layered death trap did nothing to settle Lek's feeling of impending doom. In fact, being left to his own devices for what could go wrong only served to amp up his imagination of traps that were possible to find, so when Briggs found a door they couldn't open, the only thing that Lek could envision was that this was the one, the door that would kill him. His expression was pained as he approached the door to inspect it to see if he could get it open.

"The door has power, so it's not that it can't open. You used what was supposed to be the command code and that didn't work, so that implies this door requires either a manual code or uses biometrics like voice or retina to open.

"A manual code I can defeat, if it is biometrics, I can't. Let me check with Lahr about something."

Lek tapped his commbadge.

"Lahr, are there security logs that show the corridor we are in? I need to know what sort of option it uses before I can figure out a way around it. I really just need to know if it's biometrics or manual code."

Lek looked at Briggs with doubt in his eyes as he asked.

"Odds are, as this is the only locked door we've found, this is either what we are looking for or it's a trap."

[Science Station - Ops Centre or wherever it is that Lahr and T'ealc are!]

[AS CPO T'ealc]

"Lahr?  I dunno if it'll help them any but this thing I found...  'EMASES94040 - 5578Bhx' The word spells 'Sesame' backwards.  As in 'Open Sesame' maybe?  Might be of use to Lts. Briggs and Lek?  Also I'm going to get this list of names I've just found up to the Captain, We need to let them know this might be an extraction bigger than we first thought!" T'ealc said with a worried look.

She scanned the list, many top ranking officials on the list - Admiral D'Arth, Captain Roger Carstairs, Lt. Cmdr. Nos Numiv son of Mobh, Captain Martin Tennant, Cmdr. Debra Marchetti, Captain T'mivur, Lt. Cmdr. Xash Keranat, Captain Ishrehr Th'thaothot and Cmdr. Rehlaov Ch'evakris....amongst others but the ones that jumped out at her because they were on the 'Deceased' list were 4 cadets.  Mr'aara, Rossario, Olivia and Haihes.

"Ah... Lahr....those cadets we have that came in on the Redav?  According to this they died in an explosion when Leyton took out the cadet patrol ship, along with another 150 Cadets.  This man is EVIL."

She put all the files into an encrypted electronic 'package' and sent it to the Bridge marked 'Urgent - Eyes Only Captain'.

Lieutenant jg Dashlish Tharn
[Sickbay - USS Challenger]

Tharn looked appalled at the doctor's suggestion and that made her respond in Tellerite fashion despite the doctor being a superior officer.

"Are you a, what is that human term? Oh right, a quack? You cannot 'switch her off' like she's a tricorder. She is a sentient being per the ruling of 42523.7 Maddox versus Data. Sentient androids are members of the Federation and are entitled to all the rights of any other citizen. You can order her and the others confined to the brig while we determine if they pose a threat, but only because of Leyton's proclivity for mind control, not because they are androids. Nor can you keep them sedated. If you so much as raise a hypo to do so, I will lodge a complaint with Starfleet Medical so fast your ample ears will spin. Captain, you simply cannot allow this or you will be complicit in the unlawful assault on multiple Federation citizens!"

[Sickbay - Challenger]

Retreating to the CMO's office until the others arrived was definitely a good idea as Liv followed Maggie out of the examination room, still in slight shock by what they had seen and didn't blame Maggie for wanting something stronger, if they hadn't been on duty. She had seen many things during her time in the Fleet, but this was something else entirely, glad that Security was in place, until they could figure out their next move.

However before she could say anything, Engineering arrived, followed almost instantly by Ruth. Listening as Maggie shared with them, what they had found and what the CMO believed Mr'aarra to be. Under normal circumstances, she could understand how that might come across, but this wasn't one of those times and they had a serious issue on their hands.

When Ruth then naturally spoke to her and Chloe, as if to gain further confirmation, there was no doubt in Liv's mind and she wasn't about to go against her Boss, not after witnessing it herself.

" Chief York, is correct in her assumption regarding Mr'aarra, Captain, this goes beyond brainwashing and I have a feeling that Mr'aarra, isn't the only android amongst the four cadets".

[Challenger - Sickbay]

[AS CMO Maggie York, and Ruth]

Maggie shook her head.  "No Lieutenant I am not a quack and I spoke out of turn.  This has just unsettled me. I confess I have sedated all 4 cadets at the moment but they will come round in approximately..." she stole a look at the chronometer on her wall.  "Twenty minutes.  It was the least intrusive thing I could do in what was about to become a panic situation, it bought us some time to think about this. I probably shouldn't have but it gave us a space to breathe in.  I know you can't 'turn off' androids but it does pose a very serious question of what to do with them.  Are there 4 actual cadets out there that these are copies of or what?" the CMO asked.

"Actually, ye--" Ruth began, then her PADD beeped.  She'd had all major communications like files routed to her, basic verbal comms would still come through to the Bridge but Dradis wasn't a natural bridge officer as he didn't have the opportunity very often so she decided to not burden him with anything too pressing.  She quickly scanned the contents and gasped.  A single tear managing to escape and run down her cheek.

"Captain? --" Maggie asked.

"There were 4 cadets named Pauline Rossario, Mr'aarra, Kenyi Haihes and Andrew Oliva which I'm sure is the real 'Cadet Olivia'... changing one letter of a surname is probably a typo.  They and around 150 other cadets were murdered by Leyton when he blew a cadet training ship, the USS Potomadin to smithereens killing all hands unless they managed to get some of the senior teaching staff off."

The Captain paused.

"First let's assume that they are all androids especially given the fresh evidence.  We need to quarantine them, confine to quarters with security and I want their memories scanned for the crimes they have supposedly committed.  Rossario was charged with attacking Admiral Leyton but when questioned she knew nothing about it.  Get the counsellor in on this as they may not actually know that they are androids if they've never been hooked up before.  How did you find out?"

"Nurse Smith was prepping Mr'aarra for brain scanning and rather than just stick the pads for the neural links to her fur which would hurt when we tried to take them off I ordered that she shave - after getting permission from Mr'aarra - a small patch.  I suspect she hit a pressure pad or caught a nail... I don't actually know since she screamed and fainted." the doctor explained.

"OK, I'm going back up to the Bridge, I need to address this problem..."

The Captain tapped the datapad.  "Besides I don't want poor Dradis sweating into his tunic too much.  Please, discuss with the counsellor how best to proceed with regards to the problem that the cadets might not recognise themselves as Androids.  We have one other option, The Enterprise-E is coming to pick up Commander Sukal, we could have them taken back to command along with Lt. Commander Amoreen and we have JAG deal with them.  But I want as much info out of them as we can get before then. I need to inform Command.  I'll be on the Bridge.  Dr. York you've been working too hard, when was the last time you had a break.  You are hereby on 48hrs light duties, you may assist but I want you to take a back seat on this for a little while.  Dr. Briggs, you're in command here for 2 days. Carry on."

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"I have the Bridge Mr. Dradis.  New information guys, I don't know where they are yet but we're going to have a much larger operation on our hands.  Mr Grelek, run these files through the computers, make lists of those that are deceased, reported missing and those remaining. I want those lists like yesterday.  Mr Dradis, Mr Litt, do we have an idea of our evacuation capabilities by transporter and embarked craft?"

More than ever, Ruth wished Sukal wasn't leaving or that Will was there to give her a hug and tell her it was all going to be alright.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

PO2 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Station - Command Center]

Lahr looked over towards the Vulcan and was a little surprised to see the grin on her features.  Since when did she become so facially expressive?  The few times he�d seen her about Sickbay she'd been like a typical Vulcan - composed, stoic- even a bit cold in demeanor.   Now she was grinning- and giggling?!

Sure he'd hear of expressive Vulcan's before - but they were like a myth- people spoke about them but no one you knew personally ever had seen one.   Lahr was tempted to video record the woman's quiet giggle as proof that he wasn't making it up.

Lahr's antenna had lifted somewhat at her earlier praise.   Yeah he was kinda proud of that idea too.   Though  the  comment from the science officer  - that he would have done the same- almost made Lahr want to snark back with a 'but you didn't'.  Something about that guy rubbed him the wrong way.

Was it because like so many others that he didn't know and therefore suspected as a possible Leyton spy?   Or was it the man's brash personality that had Lahr wishing he could put space between them?

A tap to his should startled the Andorian, and he nearly jumped.. before noting it was just  T'ealc pointing out something on her screen.   He leaned over to read it.

Then burst out laughing.  "Blooman huh? Gee thanks !"   the Vulcan giggled again.

"You don't need to change it on my account.  Hey are you like part human or something?"  Lahr couldn't help but ask.

Not long aftershe asked about  how to hook up to the Challengers computer.   "Now that we have Command access - yeah sync with  Challenger is doable.  I haven't done so because I'm a little worried that Leyton's people might have sabotaged their data with a virus or worm. And I don't want to chance infecting the ship."   He looked over towards what she was indicating on her screen.  "If you need something downloaded to the ship -let  me know and I'll scan it for any bad code."

He looked over the vast list of names  and  a thought ideas of what it might be formed.

"Here, let me see that. "  He did a name search  for Dylan Torngate and was  both stunned and unsurprised to to find the name on the list but with a line struck through it.  Lahr tried with another  known Leyton conspirator that had been  killed.   Again the name was on the list this time struck through and with a red D beside it.

Had T'ealc found a master list of those in Leyton's pocket?   He typed in Hecate- and found her name on the list with an asterisks  beside it.  What did that mean?  A special agent?  Or someone that was not to be fully trusted.

Turning slightly so that he blocked the view from Tealc and the science officer, Lahr typed in Solluk's name.   Nothing.    He'd been wrong about the Vulcan  hybrid all this time.   He owed the man an apology.   His antenna perked  - he was never more glad to  be wrong.

Continuing he typed in Kyle Briggs.. the other he had doubts about.   Again nothing..  Lahr's relief was very evident.

They needed to copy this list!  He started a scan for virus.  Then turned to T'ealc  and gave her a huge hug.  "Thank you for finding that  - it could turn the tide on Leyton! It looks to be a list of his operatives- those brainwashed and maybe even those just being coersced. Once this is virus-checked I'm gonna send it up to the ship  the Captain needs to see it. "

(OOC Post restored due to server outage - ShranLahr ch'Verret December 2022)

[Richard James Litt]

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm]

"Aye ma'am..." He said nodding his head in order to show the Captain that he understood the gravity of that task.

Once they are seated Litt started to do what the Captain asked, crossing the information in the two lists.

"Chief... Do you know any way to do this smarter and faster?" He asked to Chief Dradis if he had some idea, while risking some names and noting another ones.

[USS Challenger · Bridge · Helm and OPS]
As Dradis and Litt.

Dradis looked at Litt thinking in all the possibilities to answer that question.

"The faster way to do this job is read fast, Litt... We could try to program the computers to do this for us, but this would take more time than we take to read all of those names and cross the information, and, in this case, time is the key, so... Start to read." Dradis said with a little smile in his face.

"Aye sir... It's your call..."

Both men started to ready the documents and cross all the information they gave them and, about five minutes later Litt looked at Dradis...

"Sir... I found about 100 people that can be rescued..."

"And that makes 200 with mine..." He looked back to the young. "Now, the second part of the job, let's find out a way to rescue them with all we have... For yesterday..."

Litt didn't gave any word to his DH, he just started to search in the crafts log to take notes and see how many people they could transport.

About 10 minutes later, he looked at Dradis.

"Sir... I'm afraid that we wouldn't be able to do this in our own..."

"What you mean, son..."

"By my calculations we don't have enough crafts, nor pilots with enough flight hours to do this..."

"Okay... I listened the problem... But, what is the suggestion?"

Litt started to think a little bit and then he took a look at Dradis again.

"Maybe we can ask for some friend space ship... If we have some ship nearby, they can warp here faster than we make 3 or 4 rescue flights."

Dradis started to think about that and took a few minutes in his thoughts.

"The problem is now who we can trust... In our position, it's difficult to be sure about who's on our side, and who's not..."

"What about Belfast? They helped us with the Mjolnnir incident... Maybe they can help us again..."

Litt looked at Dradis while the man was thinking and the Captain approach them in the mean time.

[USS Challenger - Bridge]

"I have the Bridge Mr. Dradis.  New information guys, I don't know where they are yet but we're going to have a much larger operation on our hands.  Mr Grelek, run these files through the computers, make lists of those that are deceased, reported missing and those remaining. I want those lists like yesterday.  Mr Dradis, Mr Litt, do we have an idea of our evacuation capabilities by transporter and embarked craft?"

More than ever, Ruth wished Sukal wasn't leaving or that Will was there to give her a hug and tell her it was all going to be alright.

"Our lieutenant here have an idea that might save us a lot of time if all goes in the right direction. Tell her your idea..." Dradis said to Litt and then he looked at the Captain.

"Well... First of all, we found at least 200 persons for the rescue. But the problem is, we don't have the crafts nor the pilots needed to rescue them... So... We'll probably need some help, and I thought that Belfast could help us again if they are close enough to came here in a short period of time." He said to her and then awaited to see what the captain would think about that idea.

[Olivia Briggs]

[Sickbay - Challenger]

Lieutenant Tharn's response to Maggie's suggestion, was understandable, as well as a gentle reminder as to what they were dealing with and how they had to be careful and cautious. Whatever the reason behind replacing cadets with androids, they couldn't just assume that they could deal with them as machines. The last thing they needed was for complications or issues if they didn't handle this properly and would respect whatever was decided.

Of course that was the Captain's decision, as Tharn spoke to her about, not keeping them sedated and shutting them down. Listening as Maggie then responded, explaining why she had spoken out of turn, agreeing that they needed to do something with them, because of the threat. This, she could go along with, until they could determine more about why they had been planted here.

This of course, led to another theory from Maggie as to whether, there were real cadets out there and that these could be copies of them. It was definitely something to consider, before Ruth then admitted that it was plausible and why. The news wasn't a big surprise really, from what she knew about Leyton, as Ruth then gave her orders as to how to handle the four.

Immediately feeling sympathy towards Nurse Smith after hearing how she had fainted, but once she was awake, they could certainly confirm that. Understanding the need for the Captain to return to the Bridge, following this revelation, although hearing that Sukal would be leaving them, was definitely a shame and why the other option, wasn't ideal right now.

However there was some slight surprise, when the Captain then put her in charge for the next two days, whilst Maggie assumed light duties. Nodding her acknowledgement, before the Captain left and she allowed everything to sink in properly.

" Once Ryder arrives, we can fill him in and then go from there, in regards to getting information, but in the meantime, we need to wake the Cadets, reassure that everything went well and have Security take them to their quarters".

[Don Damien Addams]

[Science station]

'Waste of time,' Jasper hissed. The scientist had to try look in the science computers for the data. It would be to convenient for them to find. Leyton was not that stupid. The truth was Jasper had tried to look.

Jasper taped his combadge.  Ensign Meltem to Lieutenant Briggs, Leyton files on the brainwashing machine is not on the science station computer, he must have it at the machine's location. Permission to join you? 

(OOC Post restored due to server outage - ShranLahr ch'Verret December 2022)

[Kyle Briggs]

[Science station]

Jasper taped his combadge.  Ensign Meltem to Lieutenant Briggs, Leyton files on the brainwashing machine is not on the science station computer, he must have it at the machine's location. Permission to join you? 

Kyle watched as Lek continued studying the door while he waited to hear from Lahr and it was so silent that the alert from his commbadge made him jump. He stepped back and replied.

Come on down. The more the merrier. If we ever get this damn door open, there may be something behind it we could use.

(OOC Post restored due to server outage - ShranLahr ch'Verret December 2022)

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

PO2 ShranLahr ch'Verret
[Station - Command Center]

Lahr looked over towards the Vulcan and was a little surprised to see the grin on her features.  Since when did she become so facially expressive?  The few times he�d seen her about Sickbay she'd been like a typical Vulcan - composed, stoic - even a bit cold in demeanor.   Now she was grinning- and giggling?!

Sure he'd hear of expressive Vulcan's before - but they were like a myth - people spoke about them but no one you knew personally ever had seen one.   Lahr was tempted to video record the woman's quiet giggle as proof that he wasn't making it up.

Lahr's antenna had lifted somewhat at her earlier praise.   Yeah he was kinda proud of that idea too.   Though  the  comment from the science officer  - that he would have done the same- almost made Lahr want to snark back with a 'but you didn't'.  Something about that guy rubbed him the wrong way.

Was it because like so many others that he didn't know and therefore suspected as a possible Leyton spy?   Or was it the man�s brash personality that had Lahr wishing he could put space between them?

A tap to his should startled the Andorian, and he nearly jumped.. before noting it was just  T'ealc pointing out something on her screen.   He leaned over to read it.

Then burst out laughing.  "Blooman huh? Gee thanks !"   the Vulcan giggled again.

"You don't need to change it on my account.  Hey are you like part human or something?"  Lahr couldn't help but ask.

Not long aftershe asked about  how to hook up to the Challengers computer.   "Now that we have Command access - yeah sync with  Challenger is doable.  I haven't done so because I'm a little worried that Leyton's people might have sabotaged their data with a virus or worm. And I don't want to chance infecting the ship."   He looked ovaer towards what she was indicating on her screwnn.  "If you need something downloaded to the ship - let  me know and I'll scan it for any bad code."

He looked over the vast list of names  and  a thought ideas of what it might be formed.

"Here, let me see that. "  He did a name search  for Dylan Torngate and was  both stunned and unsurprised to to find the name on the list but with a line struck through it.  Lahr tried with another  known Leyton conspirator that had been  killed.   Again the name was on the list this time struck through and with a red D beside it.

Had T'ealc found a master list of those in Leyton's pocket?   He typed in Hecate and found her name on the list with an asterisks  beside it .  What did that mean?  A special agent?  Or someone that was not to be fully trusted.

Turning slightly so that he blocked the view from Tealc and the science officer, Lahr typed in Solluk's name.   Nothing.    He'd been wrong about the Vulcan  hybrid all this time.   He owed the man an apology.   His antenna perked  - he was never more glad to  be wrong.

Continuing he typed in Kyle Briggs.. the other he had doubts about.   Again nothing..  Lahr's relief was very evident.

They needed to copy this list!  He started a scan for virus.  Then turned to T'ealc  and gave her a huge hug.  "Thank you for finding that  - it could turn the tide on Leyton. It looks to be a list of his operatives- those brainwashed and maybe even those just being coerced. Once this is virus checked I'm gonna send it up to the ship  the Captain needs to see it. "

[Science Station - Command Center]

[As T'ealc]

T'ealc winked at Lahr and put a mocking finger to her lips "Well I didn't want to offend, and besides I like Andorians.  I get on well with most of the ones I've ever met!"

When asked about human heritage she smiled. "Shhh don't tell everyone, but yes, my great great grandmother was fully human, and my grandmother half human married to a human... and since my parents were Starfleet and they didn't want me following them around on the ships I spent a lot of time with Granny.  I eventually enlisted anyhow but after I'd taken medical classes.  I play the staid Vulcan in the sickbay because it gets the job done quicker, most people don't mess with the cool demeanour.  I don't get a lot of chances to let the inner me out!"

She grinned and said "Y'know, you and I should hang out sometime, I think you'd be fun off duty!  We make a good team finding stuff don't we?!  You seem brighter than you did when you were in the Challenger transporter room... is it because potentially you've made a new friend or because there's no real danger here... well unless the place is booby trapped."

[Science station]

Kyle watched as Lek continued studying the door while he waited to hear from Lahr and it was so silent that the alert from his commbadge made him jump. He stepped back and replied.

Come on down. The more the merrier. If we ever get this damn door open, there may be something behind it we could use.

T'ealc heard the communication.  She hit her commbadge and replied.

Lt. Briggs?  T'ealc here.  I found a code that could be designed to open that door, are there any panels to enter a code on?  If not I could get Lah.. - Petty Officer ch'Verret to try using them from here. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Sickbay - Challenger]

Lieutenant Tharn's response to Maggie's suggestion, was understandable, as well as a gentle reminder as to what they were dealing with and how they had to be careful and cautious. Whatever the reason behind replacing cadets with androids, they couldn't just assume that they could deal with them as machines. The last thing they needed was for complications or issues if they didn't handle this properly and would respect whatever was decided.

Of course that was the Captain's decision, as Tharn spoke to her about, not keeping them sedated and shutting them down. Listening as Maggie then responded, explaining why she had spoken out of turn, agreeing that they needed to do something with them, because of the threat. This, she could go along with, until they could determine more about why they had been planted here.

This of course, led to another theory from Maggie as to whether, there were real cadets out there and that these could be copies of them. It was definitely something to consider, before Ruth then admitted that it was plausible and why. The news wasn't a big surprise really, from what she knew about Leyton, as Ruth then gave her orders as to how to handle the four.

Immediately feeling sympathy towards Nurse Smith after hearing how she had fainted, but once she was awake, they could certainly confirm that. Understanding the need for the Captain to return to the Bridge, following this revelation, although hearing that Sukal would be leaving them, was definitely a shame and why the other option, wasn't ideal right now.

However there was some slight surprise, when the Captain then put her in charge for the next two days, whilst Maggie assumed light duties. Nodding her acknowledgement, before the Captain left and she allowed everything to sink in properly.

" Once Ryder arrives, we can fill him in and then go from there, in regards to getting information, but in the meantime, we need to wake the Cadets, reassure that everything went well and have Security take them to their quarters".

[Sickbay]

[AS CMO Maggie York][/b]

Taking a deep breath Maggie nodded.  She didn't like admitting that this had taken its toll on her.  She was missing Dr. Al-Hambra and she couldn't wait for the day she could get back to Innominatum, to Karim and Leyton was behind bars, she wouldn't desert the Captain in this campaign but she wanted to finally tell Karim how she felt about him.

Putting Liv in charge was something she would have done herself in her position.

"Actually, waking them, potentially after checking the other 3 to make sure our assumptions are correct, and then confining them to quarters 'for their own safety' mightn't be a bad idea.  Would it be wrong in light of the fact that the Captain has a list of 150 or so cadets that have been killed, to tell them that the Security detail is for their own safety rather than us keeping them away from the rest of the crew?" Maggie asked uncertainly.

She pondered for a moment then said "We can ask Ryder to visit them one by one, so they can't collaborate their stories, in their quarters, if they are sharing we can move them to their own quarters, I don't believe the ship is so fully staffed that we don't have enough rooms to keep them separate.  What do you say?  And should I go and check on Kixa or do you want me here?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[USS Challenger - Bridge - Helm and OPS]
As Dradis and Litt.

Dradis looked at Litt thinking in all the possibilities to answer that question.

"The faster way to do this job is read fast, Litt... We could try to program the computers to do this for us, but this would take more time than we take to read all of those names and cross the information, and, in this case, time is the key, so... Start to read." Dradis said with a little smile in his face.

"Aye sir... It's your call..."

Both men started to ready the documents and cross all the information they gave them and, about five minutes later Litt looked at Dradis...

"Sir... I found about 100 people that can be rescued..."

"And that makes 200 with mine..." He looked back to the young. "Now, the second part of the job, let's find out a way to rescue them with all we have... For yesterday..."

Litt didn't gave any word to his DH, he just started to search in the crafts log to take notes and see how many people they could transport.

About 10 minutes later, he looked at Dradis.

"Sir... I'm afraid that we wouldn't be able to do this in our own..."

"What you mean, son..."

"By my calculations we don't have enough crafts, nor pilots with enough flight hours to do this..."

"Okay... I listened the problem... But, what is the suggestion?"

Litt started to think a little bit and then he took a look at Dradis again.

"Maybe we can ask for some friend space ship... If we have some ship nearby, they can warp here faster than we make 3 or 4 rescue flights."

Dradis started to think about that and took a few minutes in his thoughts.

"The problem is now who we can trust... In our position, it's difficult to be sure about who's on our side, and who's not..."

"What about Belfast? They helped us with the Mjolnnir incident... Maybe they can help us again..."

Litt looked at Dradis while the man was thinking and the Captain approach them in the mean time.

"Our lieutenant here have an idea that might save us a lot of time if all goes in the right direction. Tell her your idea..." Dradis said to Litt and then he looked at the Captain.

"Well... First of all, we found at least 200 persons for the rescue. But the problem is, we don't have the crafts nor the pilots needed to rescue them... So... We'll probably need some help, and I thought that Belfast could help us again if they are close enough to came here in a short period of time." He said to her and then awaited to see what the captain would think about that idea.

[Challenger - Bridge]

"Good work guys!" Ruth said a little smile coming readily to her face.  "As it happens..." she waved the datapad vaguely.  "We're probably gonna need a lot more than we thought anyhow so hailing the Belfast and seeing if she's still around isn't a bad call at all.  From what I recall she was going to DS4 but I may be wrong.  Grelek, check the area for known solid and dependable ships that we know are still on our side.  Sound out their Captains and ask if they can rendezvous with us in 10 days time at... belay that bit, just see who's in area at the moment.  I'll wait until Lt. Briggs is back, see if they can find some clue as to where they've moved these people to then we can decide on a rendezvous point.  Dradis, Litt, thank you gentlemen.  This wasn't your normal duty but you've performed with aplomb.  Go get yourselves a break for an hour, then Lt. Litt come back to man the helm not that we're going anywhere anytime soon!  I'll cover for now, Chief Dradis get your team to prep the shuttlecrafts.  I want all of them stripped out as much as you can, to maximise evacuation and passenger carrying.  The Butterworth, see if you can put some kind of seats in, The Cutty Sark take out the integrated rover, the Type 8s see if you can make them lighter and faster. Rope in some of Engineering if you have to.  Gianetti will advise who you can take."

Ruth sat back, they were closing the net on Leyton, she didn't know how much but they were.

"Grelek when you have a moment, it's not particularly urgent but schedule for when the away team are coming back, we need another meeting with Captain Hecate to analyse any information the away crew bring back. And thank you.  You too grab a drink from the replicator in my ready room, I'll allow drinks and a head break for anyone, we are a little thin on the ground until we get the shuttles with crew coming from Innominatum.  But good news is we should have a new shiny scientist coming soon to come play with our Mr. Meltem, so we'll have some atoms to throw at Leyton too!"

(OOC Post restored due to server outage - ShranLahr ch'Verret December 2022)

[Kyle Briggs]

[Science Station - Outside mystery door]

[As T'ealc]

Lt. Briggs?  T'ealc here.  I found a code that could be designed to open that door, are there any panels to enter a code on?  If not I could get Lah.. - Petty Officer ch'Verret to try using them from here. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's great news, Doc. We do have a key panel down here that has denied us access so far. Chie, We're a little hesitant to try any force not knowing what's on the other side of the door and we don't want to trigger any booby traps. 

Kyle glanced over at Lek and smiled.

Mister Meltem should be arriving any minute now. Give us two minutes and if Mister Lahr is able to open it from up there, let's do it. That way we can be prepared for entry. Briggs out. 

"I'll go in first, Chief. If there are any booby traps, we'll need you to deactivate anything I trip." Kyle said. Now they waited for Meltam and the door.