JDL - Cmdr Waterhouse, Ens Barnes & MCPO Caine - "Cut The Cable, Drop The Cable"

Posted on Sat Feb 28th, 2015 @ 12:19pm by Commander Amelia Waterhouse & Ensign & Master Chief Petty Officer Rik Caine

1,538 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill

Amelia had hesitated to leave Rochelle's side, but she didn't want to warn the Atlanteans she was calling to bring more crew down. While they'd settled down a little bit with their ploy having seemingly succeeded at getting Rochelle to agree to stay and play queen, Amelia wasn't ready to give up without a fight and she needed some help — help which she couldn't risk tipping her hand about and having their beam down blocked. She left Rochelle under Archer's watchful eye, and managed to find herself somewhere isolated to make the call.

First she patched the call through her personal computer console in her quarters on the ship using a relatively low powered signal that hopped frequencies at very frequent intervals. The data passed through two levels of encryption: the standard fleet stuff, and another algorithm Amelia had been playing with with her father, using a public/private key pair. In her personal computer console, it decrypted the signal and routed it into the com system. Soon Ensign Barnes's combadge chirped.

"Please acknowledge incoming transmission from Commander Waterhouse," a computer voice barked at the ensign.

Getting the communication signal from the planet, Ensign Barnes was surprised to see that it was coming in on a public/private key encryption and an eyebrow immediately went up. Hearing the computer's message that it was Commander Waterhouse, Rocky felt like she was being tested. "This is Ensign Barnes."

"Please hold while an additional party is added to this transmission," the voice continued. Elsewhere on the ship, Master Chief Caine's combadge chirped.

"Please acknowledge incoming transmission from Commander Waterhouse," the computer voice barked at the gum-shoe.

Rik allowed a small smile to play across his lips as he raised a finger to a crewman he was interrogating to stop talking. "And what do I owe the pleasure, doll?" He asked with a lighter tone to his voice, a distinct difference to that which he had been using a moment ago.

Doll? Oh that's proper protocol Rocky thought when she heard the Master Chief Petty Officer.

"Rik, Catalina," Amelia said as the computer merged the call, syncing all three for voice communication. "Shit has hit the fan down here, apologies for the odd use of the com channel. Really don't want these bronze skinned fuckers listening in, would rather they don't know we're bringing anyone down, especially while they think they're winning by driving Almar back to the ship, and I think the Witchdoctor went with him." Amelia paced in the tall grass, her eyes moving around her, watching out for anyone attempting to approach. It occurred to her that perhaps speaking on familiar terms with Ensign Barnes was not the right approach, but she was beyond caring about protocol at this point, so she could only hope that the Ensign wouldn't continue acting like she was going to be eaten alive by the XO.

Rik a raised a brow as the call merged and linked together. He winced a little as the dots connected and he realised he hadn't been talking to Amelia in the first instance. The crewman scoffed and Rik shot him a look as if to warn him not to test him further. His tone changed and his brow furrowed as the message rang out clearly. "Witchdoctor?" He asked somewhat confused and shaking his head as he returned to the topic in hand "start at the beginning; what's gone down?"

"Is your location secure, Boss lady?" Rocky asked, switching from using proper protocol to the form that Commander Waterhouse was using. If things were really that bad, she didn't want the 'bronze skinned fuckers' as described by the Executive officer to home in on her.

"It's as secure as I can make it, given what I have to work with. I'm physically isolated, and I'm confident in my field encryption tools," Amelia answered Barnes first, her question was a good one. "As for what happened, they wanted to execute Almar for the crimes of his species, even though he wasn't even raised by them. Rochelle has agreed to stay as their monarch in order to get him out of their clutches, but we can't let that happen. I need you both down here, and I need you to beam down before it occurs to these assholes to try and block it."

Rik furrowed his brow as he listened to Amelia talk. The shit really had hit the fan on this one. Almar potentially being executed and the Commodore sacrificing herself to see him safe. He sighed a little and shook his head and took a seat in the interrogation room. "Anything else we should know before coming down?" He asked.

Upon hearing the commander, Rocky transferred the conversation to her combadge with a secure link and got up to go into the 'tool room' that Intel kept. The items in there were for Intel related missions, and she couldn't think of a better use to put them to than the current situation. Selecting a Personal Cloaking Device, Limited Range Transporter, Anti-Sensor Belt, Computer Jammer, an Intel tricorder, stun gloves, and four surveillance tracking drones, she put everything in a kit and headed for the transporter room.

Making a detour to her quarters, she quickly stripped out of her Intel uniform and changed into a pair of baggy black pants, sleeveless black shirt, and replicated a pair of sunglasses before heading to the transporter room. Tapping her combadge, she responded. "I'm on my way, Boss Lady. Should we do a direct drop or a slow cruise?"

"Archer or I can get you both entirely up to speed when you're down here. The shorter I keep the transmission, the less likely they are to notice," Amelia insisted, raising a PADD from where she'd held it by her side. Her fingers danced across it. "Cecil dug up schematics of the building, and I indicated where our rooms are. I'm uploading that to Rik's desk terminal, and I'm going to trust the both of you can sort out how to get here without difficulty. Any questions before I leave you two to it?"

Rik tapped on his console downloading the data to his mini-PADD and skimmed through it. "No questions here. Just need to get a signed confession, grab a bag and I'll be in transporter room three in..." he looked to the crewman and sized him up for a moment "ten minutes" he concluded.

Stopping at a weapons locker, Rocky pulled out a Type II phaser, holster and several energy clips and put them in her case. "When in Rome, go Roman," she said. "How many potential hostiles are we dealing with?"

"The whole population of the planet? They've honestly been going out of their way to keep us in the dark as to who's in the palace. They had fifteen guards in the throne room last night when this all went down, and they won't let me go much of anywhere useful to get a head count," Amelia grumbled. "Even my usual tactics are being shut down, they're expecting me. And I couldn't focus on it as much as needed because we can't leave Rochelle alone with them."

Rik couldn't help but smile at the sound of Amelia's voice and he paused a moment before speaking again, still shooting daggers at the man on the other side of the interrogation table. "We'll find a way" he said with sincerity. If there was one thing Rik Caine was good at, it was getting information from people who needed their tongues loosened. "Do we have carte blanche or we following S.O.P?" he asked.

Arriving at transporter room three, Rocky reached into the case and pulled out the anti-sensor belt and looped it over her left shoulder, then pulled out the personal cloaking device and attached it to her left hip. Next, she removed the personal transporter out and put it on her right hip. "I look like a modern gunslinger," she muttered to herself as she waited for Rik and any further words from the Boss lady.

"Let's try to keep it by the book, but ultimately the safety of our crew is the number one concern," Amelia insisted with a frown. "I've probably been out here too long, they know that I've tried to keep Rochelle in my sights almost constantly since we arrived, they'll get suspicious if I'm gone too long. Stay sharp, and I'll see you both soon. Waterhouse out."

"Understood" Rik said simply as he turned to the man sitting across from him and slid a PADD and a look of death his way. He mouthed the word 'write' and the crewman, realising that bigger things were happening, started penning his confession. Leaving the room he waved at a security officer to take his place to wrap things up and headed to his office. Time, it seemed, was critical.

When the Security investigator arrived, Rocky stepped onto the transporter with him and looked at the personnel on duty. "Energize."

=/\= End Log =/\=

Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Ensign Catalina "Rocky" Barnes
Encryption Specialist
USS Vindicator

Master Chief Petty Officer Rik Caine
Security Investigator/Chief of the Boat
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

 

RSS Feed