JDL | Commodore Ivanova, Commander Archer, Ensign Barnes, Atlantian Guards - "Bats In The Belfry"

Posted on Thu Mar 26th, 2015 @ 1:39am by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Logan Grant, PhD. & Commander James Archer & Ensign

4,895 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill

With Barnes riding astride, James pushed that Clyde as fast as her legs would carry them. Ducking and dodging snow covered branches, he swore under his breath, "If she's not dead, I'm going to kill her myself." In the distance he could see a blue roan horse tied to a dead tree and what looked to be the opening to a cave which was blocked by a recent rock slide. "I think we've found her."

At that point in the ride, Rocky had given up hope of ever regaining the feeling in her glutes from the hard ride. "I have my tricorder if you'd like me to scan!" she called over the wind, hoping that he'd stop for a moment so she could actually let go of the death grip that she suspected her fingers had frozen into around his waist.

"Rochelle," James yelled. "Can you hear me?" Climbing down off the horse, he tied the beast next to the other. Pulling out his tricorder, James scanned the opening of the cavern. "The cavern is definitely man made, and this rock slide is recent." He shook his head, "What do you think, Barnes, can we clear this big ass rock without causing another slide?"

Dismounting stiffly and resting her hand against the side of the humongous horse, Rocky pulled her Intel tricorder out and scanned it as well. "Hmm...five meters of rock between us. If I can get an accurate reading, perhaps we won't need to clear it. I still have the personal transporter, Commander. I could transport in there and get Commodore Ivanova out."

For the first time in their respective careers working together, the Commodore was actually happy to hear the sound of James Archer's voice as it was carried to her on the breath of the wind. It was a sound of hope and the only incentive she needed to uncurl from the sodden bundle of torn dress and cloak she'd created for herself and get to her feet. "I'm here!" Rochelle screamed through the crack between the door and the largest of the boulders blocking her easy exit. She was cold, shivering from the exposure to the elements that had pervaded the bunker the moment the rail gun had gone off line. Water and pebbles dripped and fell from between the rocks above her, warning her of their instability and promise of another slide. "We don't have a lot of time, Archer!" She yelled, her voice hoarse from the savage air blowing back in at her as she threw her weight back against the door even though she knew her efforts were in vain. "You have to move the rocks. Sending anyone else in here is a death trap, they have it rigged and I guarantee you there's iron ore all through these mountains. It's hopeless to try and beam anyone or anything in or out of here. They're smart! Too smart!"

"vaj QujmeH moQ roS," Rocky muttered in Klingon Well, this sucks balls. "Perhaps we can use our phasers and start at the top on a medium setting."

--

The trip up the mountain hadn’t been anything but arduous. The wind and the snow bit and blinded Kyym’s two precious minions, and playing hide and seek on narrow mountain trails only added to the extreme danger of the situation. They knew where Archer and Barnes were headed, knew there was only one way up and one way down and as such they allowed them to roll ahead while tucking into the reprieve of a wider box canyon just off the icy path. “Let them do the work.” The taller of the two said, tucking his muffler tighter around his face.

His compatriot nodded, burrowing into the furs of his own cloak, appreciating the way the canyon walls blocked the bitter wind. “No dramas here. We’ll just pick them off as they come back down the hill.” He grumbled with a chuckle, “Think the Queen is still alive?”

“If she is, she’s tougher than Kyym gives her credit for.” Thing one replied, “Sometimes I wonder just how intelligent Kyym really is. This can’t end well.”

“We’re under orders. I say we just stick with the plan and let her figure it out.” Thing two nodded to the other soldier who seemed to weigh the options before settling in for the wait, obviously amenable to the idea.

--

"That will take too long, Barnes." James stepped back and assessed the situation. There didn't appear to be too much more that could fall and considering the cave appeared to be man made, it would be sturdy enough. "Well get you out of there, Rochelle. Get as far away from the entrance as you can," James said, pulling his phaser, tapping the recharge button, causing the power system to overload and begin to cascade. He wedged his ray gun in the crack between the wall and the bolder. "Take cover!!" As the device began to beep and sing its swan song, James ran and jumped behind an outcropping of rock.

"Oh sweet baby Vulcan!" Rocky exclaimed as she saw what the Commander had done. Turning, she bolted for the outcropping as well. This guy is nuttier than a fruitcake! she muttered to herself mentally as she clapped her hands over her ears and hunkered down behind the rocks.

The Commodore paused, tilting her head for a split second and was about to protest when she remembered exactly who it was she was dealing with. "Son of a..." She hissed as she spun on her heel. The sound of her shoes squeaking and beating a couple steps against the wet metal grate heralded her approach before she bailed over the railing behind her, landed on next level's platform, and pressed her body up against the rocks under the stairs as best she could. The echoing roar of an explosion and the startled shrills of horses that rung out a split moment later preaches the holy gospel of never second guessing James Archer's use of the almighty kaboom as a means to a quick end. Rura Penthe echoed in Rochelle's mind. He'd blown the warden's office to high Hell after freeing the burnt Xepolite spy. Her million strips of latinum had gone up in smoke, but the debt had been repaid all the same. "Clear?!" She yelled up the cavern's stairs, wiping dust and mud from her face as it began to settle along her cheeks and the bridge of her frost reddened nose.

With her ears ringing and images of fruit bats circling for a snack on Archer's brain, Rocky dusted herself off and ran for the entrance to the cave. "Commodore Ivanova! Are you okay?" She called into the dust and gloom, coughing before she put a hand over her mouth and nose to block some of the floating particles.

Barnes. Rochelle could hear Barnes just over her head. Shielding her eyes against the dust, Rochelle sputtered and pushed herself away from the wall. "Barnes!" She called up to the woman, "I'm fine! Just cold. I need you to look at something! Get Archer and get down here!"

"Commander Archer!" Rocky called over her shoulder. "The way in is clear and the Commodore is well." She began to pick her way through the debris and larger pieces of rock until she came to wear the Commodore was. Quickly unslinging her Type III phaser rifle, she set it aside and shrugged out of her winter coat, handing it to the Commodore. "What do you need me to look at, Sir?"

James picked himself up off the ground, dusted his clothes, and made his way into the cave, giddy as a boy who just detonated his first cherry bomb. "Everyone's OK," he paused, "I have to say. That, was fucking awesome! It was alot louder and larger than I expected. I mean, I've blown shit up in my time, but that. That was fucking beautiful."

The sound of dripping liquid reaching a shallow pool of water beneath the hollow metal staircase seemed to sum up Rochelle's reaction to Archer's boasting and chortling like a school girl. She coughed, shaking her head at the glittery eyed Intel officer and waved Barnes' coat away, "You need that, we'll be out of here soon enough." She started and motioned for the two of them to follow her quickly down the staircase and jogged the corridor back to the rail gun. "I shut it down, big mistake." She huffed as she arrived back in front of the massive blue tinted weapon, "The heat the energy crystal produces is the only thing keeping this place from caving in on itself. They have it pointed at the Vindicator... Can you reprogram this?" The Commodore asked, looking between Barnes and Archer.

"If Barnes can't reprogram it, I can surely make it go away," James said in jest.

See if I offer anything like that again Rocky muttered mentally, wondering if she had been assigned to a ship full of lunatics, crazy bitches like Black, and now the Commodore. Following her down after putting her coat back on and grabbing her Type III phaser rifle, she looked at the weapon and stepped over to it. "Hmm..it's possible," she said after a moment. "I think I can do it." Concentrating, she took a moment to try to familiarize herself with the alien technology before she frowned. Here goes nothing. she thought as she began to work on the device, hoping she didn't vaporize everyone in the process. "Where do you want it pointed at, Commodore?" she asked after a few minutes of bypassing encryption levels and getting the feel for it.

"You would." Rochelle shot back at Archer with a quick roll of her eyes. Watching Barnes work was her priority and she took pleasure watching the woman's fingers fly and layer after layer of encryption crack and fail. The Atlanteans, however advanced, were no match for the brilliant minds of her crew. "Gibraltar." She replied without hesitation, "if it's possible. There's six more spread out along the planet's equator, but I'm not sure if they're all on independent systems or if they're synced through some sort of network. I did see information about their statuses when I shut this one down, though." Her frigid fingers worked to brush her hair back behind an ear, "I'd like a little extra leverage for when we go back and tell them where to shove it." She shrugged ever so nonchalantly.

Rocky gave a ruthless grin, cracked her knuckles and began to delve deeper into the programming. For a moment, she looked like she might panic, then her grin spread even wider as she found what she was looking for. For ten more minutes, she muttered under her breath, sometimes in Federation Standard, sometimes in Klingon, but she kept going without letting anyone or anything around her interrupt what she was doing. Finally, she stood back, feeling like she should shout in victory and throw her arms up in triumph. "Commodore, do you want all of them pointed at Gibraltar?" she asked.

With each shift in the other woman's expression, Rochelle's eyebrows rose, fell, and knit accordingly. There was a small measure of worry there, but the confidence in the Intel officer refused to waiver as the minutes ticked away until the obfuscating light of the crystal returned, and with it the heat. The Commodore sucked in a breath and shielded her sensitive pale blue eyes, reaching to drag Archer away from the heat source, not wanting to see him burnt, and smiled. It was a devious little expression, one that truly had no place on the redhead's face, but it was there and it wasn't unwarranted. "Yes. Yes I do." She nodded, motioning for Barnes to proceed and looked to Archer with approval. "Just don't get burned by that damn thing." She cautioned them both, though mainly Barnes who was insufferably close to the bright purple light.

"This thing is incredible," James said pulling out his tricorder to scan the mammoth weapon. "The Admiral had always said the Atlanteans and Civonians were technological power houses, but this is simply remarkable. Barnes, make sure you copy everything you see. I want details of this machine and when we get back to the Vindicator, I want you and Black to tear this information apart, and then we're going to take this info and reverse engineer it."

Ignoring Commander Archer for a moment, Rocky dedicated her full attention to the panel in front of her, her fingers now confident as they moved across it as she programmed it to the Commodore's desired target. A flash of genius came to her and she accessed the area of the device and power crystal and studied it for a few long minutes. Finally she nodded as she gained access to what she wanted; smiling coldly, she typed "vaj QujmeH moQ roS" and encrypted it.

It was then that she stepped back and took out her Intel tricorder and began to take a full scan of the railgun, walking around it as she did so. "While we may have the details of the device, Commander, it's going to take more than me and Ensign Black to reverse engineer it. That's more a matter of Engineering, Sir. Not that I would turn the challenge down, but to be honest, I was lucky that it didn't have a default self-destruct device in it when I re-programmed it. I would have to say that Commodore Ivanova's initial delvings into it would have set that off, but no one likes to lose their best weapons."

"Once you lot have the information deciphered from the scans and the schematics I sent up, take it to Commander Dahe'el. If he can design ships like Vindicator, he can reverse engineer this thing." It had never crossed Rochelle's mind to think about self-destruct Easter eggs when she'd gone hands on with the massive weapon and poked through it. It was set up like most big guns, simple and effective with the same kill and engage switches. It didn't take luck to stop it cold in its tracks. Or maybe the self-destruct had been there all along with the way the mountain began to crumble all around her the minute the heat of the crystal kicked off. It was an almost sickening thought.

She turned to look at the Commodore. "And I'm glad that that it didn't self destruct when you relayed the information to the ship, Sir. All of them are now programmed and aimed to Gibraltar and they are also encrypted to self-destruct now if anyone interferes with it." Saying that, she opened her coat and raised her shirt, pulling a small disc off of her belt on her left side and offered it to Commodore. "This is a personal transporter, Commodore. If anything should happen here, I would highly recommend using it to make it back to the ship. The Atlanteans are going to be very angry, very soon."

"We're going to need to get out of here as soon as we deliver the bad news." Rochelle grumbled as she took the device from Barnes and studied it quickly before reaching to tuck it into her... She sighed and pursed her lips. Her bra was on some farm animal somewhere, leaving her with having to settle for clipping the device to the neckline of her tattered gown. "I need council with your father, Jimmy, when we get to Cold Station Theta. This isn't going to end here and now. We all know it." The cold of her eyes leveled on Archer and her lips quirked into the briefest of teasing smirks as she settled and tugged on Barnes' gift, making sure it wouldn't just fall off and be left to the bronze heathens. "My next question is whether or not we can set these guns up to a remote monitoring system we can keep track of on the ship. Is it possible?" She asked.

"Jimmy? Eesh." The only person who had ever called him that was his mother, and even then it made him cringe. "Sure, no problem, Rocky. I'll get my old man on the horn when we get back to the ship."

Rocky listened to the Commodore speak to Commander Archer and wondered at her use of the very familiar nickname Jimmy, but rapidly decided it wasn't her place on a ship that was still new to her. She cocked her head to the side before calibrating her tricorder for a moment and making an adjustment on the panel of the rail gun. "Yes, Commodore. However, I suspect that the explosions will be able to be seen from orbit and picked up by our sensors between here and the wormhole, Sir."

James watched the gears turn in Barnes' head, "Don't even think about it, kiddo."

"Make it so. I plan to be half way back to Cheydinhall Sector before they blow this thing up." The Commodore sighed and shook her head, looking from the gun to the direction of the silo entrance. "It'll give us a chance to study exactly what the energy output of the crystal is when it goes critical. Call it scientific research. While you're at it, do me a favor and get complete scans of the crystal itself. I want to know what its mineral make up is and where it's obtaining its energy from." Rochelle added, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly. She could have sworn she saw something move in the shadows along the cat walk. Her chilled hand reached out to grab Archer's sleeve, tugging twice for his attention and wordlessly tipping her nose in the direction of interest. "I'm not getting warm fuzzies." She whispered, allowing Barnes to work.

After getting the sensors on the rail gun linked to her tricorder, Rocky went to where the crystal was situated without getting too close and began to scan it. "They appear to operate on solar power, Commodore," she said as she looked intently at her scan results. A part of her brain nudged her at the use of Commander Archer's use of her nickname and wondered how deeply he had delved into her time at Starfleet Academy. Putting it aside, she made a circuit of the crystal, scanning the connections to the rail gun and every piece of linked equipment in the area.

"I'll check it out, Rock," James whispered to Rochelle as he made his way over to Barnes, patted her down until he found her Type 2 phaser, and removed it from her holster.

"What are you doing, Commander?" Rocky asked when she felt Archer's hands on her and felt him taking her phaser.

"Keep working," James ordered as he tossed the phaser to Rochelle and drawing his back up piece, "but stay alert. Rochelle, you're with me."

"Yes, Sir," Rocky replied as she reached down and activated the personal cloaking device on her hip. Taking the Type III phaser rifle off her shoulder, she checked the setting on it and made sure it was set to Level Three, then set it beside of her before continuing her scans.

The Commodore immediately set her device to its highest level of service, nodding wordlessly to Archer as she crept off in the direction she'd seen the shadows bend around something lurking in the darkness. Her brow furrowed as the preliminary findings all pointed to her succumbing to a not unwarranted measure of paranoia. "Clear." She said, passing a side passage and nodding to Archer to move ahead, working to sweep the immediate area.

Calculating in the dark seemed a most impossible task to account for, especially with the incessant ringing that plagued his head. The explosion had done more harm than any of the Queen and her little crew could have imagined, it had spooked the horses out from under his partner and him. Rock against skull was an unfair pairing and he knew he was lucky to have avoided injury more serious than the knot that had risen near his temple. A single finger raised to press against his lips, motioning for his cohort to stay quiet; a task that was anything but paltry given the obscene angle his arm was twisted at.

As Rochelle passed, however, he couldn't ignore the opportunity. He reached from the chasm they hid within to lace the fingers of one hand around the back of her neck, jerking her tiny form backwards and into his chest, firmly wrapping his free arm around her and pinning her firing arm tight to her body. "Game's over." He growled roughly, staring at Archer while his cohort passed him, snatching the phaser away from the Commodore's grip and aiming it at the intel agent. "You move, she dies. Undo what's been done to the cannon."

"But the other one... She's gone!" His injured comrade all but stuttered, showing his unease. From behind Rochelle, the smarter of the two groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Cloaking device, you moron. If the gun isn't fixed, we blow up the cannon and kill everyone."

Making sure her anti-sensor belt was active, Rocky took cover behind the rail gun and called out. "Release the Commodore and Commander Archer or I will have all six rail guns fire on Gibaltrar. You cannot win."

"Enough of your crap! Do you want her to die?!" The tallest guard shook the little Commodore for emphasis. There was nothing to her aside from rose petals and down. Adjusting his grip on the Queen, he ducked away from the unseen banshee, returning to the darkness of the chasm. He knew only the woman he held remained in plain sight, and hey'd have to kill her to get to him and even then his death would be honored by Kyym. He'd be a martyr. "You blow up Gibraltar, she still dies. We'll just rebuild and come for the rest of you!" He roared.

Beside him, the shorter one only leered nervously at Archer, his arm shaking as he held the phaser out and refused to draw his eyes away even though he knew the unseen woman lurked somewhere near the gun. "I hope you know what you're doing." He hissed through clenched teeth. He'd receive no answer.

"Oh Jesus H. Christ, I die no matter what! We get it!" Rochelle yelled with enough sarcasm to choke a horse as Kyym's henchman dragged her backwards. Without the phaser in her hand, she'd been left weaponless. One armed, and weaponless - or so her keeper thought. Her eyes, wild in the dark and only highlighted by the purple glow of the crystal, locked with Archer's in a strangled attempt at non-verbal communication and she could only hope that he and Barnes would take the window she was about to offer. The man's grip loosened in an attempt to gain further purchase and the woman took the chance to throw herself down, sliding along the man's body as her legs folded beneath her. "BARNES, NOW!" she yelled, praying Barnes wouldn't get trigger happy with the wrong weapon and that Archer would soon be uninhibited by the 'moron' guarding him. As she dropped to the deck, her free hand plucked one of her hair pins loose from the top of her head, and sent it driving towards her holder's knee cap, praying her aim was true and that his buddy was about to meet an unfortunate end all his own.

He roared above her, his time in agony as the sharp, narrow pin pierced his flesh and lodged beneath his knee cap. "Bitch!" He cried, dropping to the deck atop her, reaching to try and pull the pin from his leg.

The Commodore didn't give him the chance. The additional weight of him against her back forced her forward, but it also meant her other arm was free. Bracing with one hand, she reached to free her hair completely, tugging away the pin as the copper curls of her snow wet hair fell about her shoulders. With a twist she drove it upwards towards the tender underside of the Atlantean's jaw, hoping his downward motion only only assist the jagged jabbing motion of her awkwardly angled arm.

Quickly grabbing her Type III phaser rifle, Rocky looked through the holographic targeting reticle and double tapped the firing stud at setting three, aiming at the Atlantean that held the Commodore as she stabbed the man with something. Tracking him, she fired once more to be sure, trusting Commander Archer to take out the other man.

A quick searing hot lance of pain shot through the Atlantean's under jaw, tongue, and into the roof of his mouth. The flavor of blood curdled along his lips, spilling out and down the curvature of his chin. He sputtered, coughed, but couldn't move his head to look down at the red-maned minx that had done it to him. Drawing a heavy breath, he was about to say something to her but it was quickly forgotten by the sound of phaser fire and a bright stinging sensation along her rib cage before darkness overtook him, leaving him hunched over the Queen's body.

"Garrat!" The shorter of the two screamed, taking his eyes off Archer for a split second too long.

James jumped at the chance. He raised and fired his phaser at the short Atlantean. As the phaser beam hit its mark the bronze skinned alien disappeared in a muffled scream and a puff of smoke. "Heh, that never gets old." Walking over to the incapacitated Atlantean, James checked for a pulse, dragged him off of the Commodore, and he couldn't help but chuckle as Rochelle scrambled to her feet. "Wow, this is one tough bastard."

Deactivating her cloak, Rocky came running up to where Archer and the Commodore were. "Is Commodore Ivanova okay? Please tell me she's okay." The words tumbled out of her mouth like a cascade as she knelt down to where the Commodore lay, reaching to check for a pulse.

Grabbing the other woman's hand by the wrist, Rochelle sucked in a deep breath of air. The Atlantean's body had practically crushed her, leaving her flattened against the sharp metal grates beneath them when he'd been rendered unconscious. Minutes had felt like centuries filled with the sick, sticky, hot sensation of his blood running along the back of her neck and over her shoulder - a sensation that made her want to vomit. "I'm ok." She replied, using the Ensign as leverage to help herself up. "Good shot, Barnes... Damn good shot." She flinched, staggering as the blood in her veins began running back to her tingling legs.

Looking down, all she could see was yet another nameless face that had tried, and failed, to separate her from her life, from her crew, from Landon, from Almar, from her father and so many more. It was all she could do to keep from hauling off and kicking the son of a bitch over and over again, but somehow managed with a heavy sigh and tilt of her head as she took a knee and deftly unbuckled the scabbard that hung from his waist. "They want to play like heathens, fine. We'll play by their rules. We'll bring his sword back to his master." She stated coldly, unfolding her legs to rise to her full height with the item in tow. "We need to get back to Gibraltar. Now."

"The weapons are all secured and I'm going to upload the information to the ship as soon as we get out of this cave, Commodore," Rocky told her. Looking at the Atlantean who would be asleep for at least three hours, she hauled back and kicked him hard in the ribs. "Jerk."

"I'll catch up," Jame said looking at the Commodore. "I just need a minute."

--

James stepped out, of the bunker and into the sunlight and wiped, what looked like Pepto bismol, off his knife onto his pants legs. He then sheathed the blackened steel blade. "All set?"

"Going to pretend I didn't see that." Rochelle hummed, shaking her head. She was cold, almost bitterly so, but knew that if she'd taken Barnes' coat it would have just left the Ensign to fare the elements alone. That wasn't in her vocabulary as a commanding officer. The horse she'd ridden in on was still nervous from the blast, trembling beneath her fingers as she ran her hand along the great beast's fuzzy neck and gathered her reins to mount -- the cold, in combination with the added weight of the sword made the action far less elegant and fluid than it should have been, and her bare legs immediately regretted the decision to tear away the extra shirting of her dress. "The sooner we get to Gibraltar, the better." She added, quickly asking her mount to move out. Heading back down the switch backs was going to be tricky with the amount of snow and ice that had fallen since she'd arrived, and it was only going to get worse.

---

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

&

Commander James Archer
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E


&


Ensign Catalina "Rocky" Barnes
Encryption Specialist
USS Vindicator

 

RSS Feed