The Quiet Parade

Posted on Tue Apr 14th, 2015 @ 9:41pm by Ensign Corrine Steiner

Mission: Ill Tidings
Location: Stardock

[ON]

Corrine was conferring with station quartermaster when the call came in. =/Ops to Ensign Steiner...\=

"Steiner, here."

=/Ma'am, you asked to be notified when there was any news about missing Klingon freighter Koped'din. It's inbound now.\=

Worried heart now pounding, she asked, "Condition?"

=/It was attacked.\=

"I'm on my way!" No doubt, staton transporters were now busy, so she ran the half mile of corridors and stairs. Upon arrival in the Ops center, the out of breath woman saw the freighter on one of the big screens.

The officer on duty explained, "We spotted an inbound contact, but they didn't identify. No transponders. I was about to alert Maxwell's patrol when another inbound made contact. Take a look. Their long range Com array has been completely sheared off."

"Pirates?"

"Had to be. Look at the damage. It's precision and it's minimal." He zoomed in on two large holes in the hull which had been resealed with deployable solidity patches. "That's where they were boarded."

"Fangs."

"That's my guess."

Corrie nervously shifted her weight, "Still no contact?"

"Rescue cutter made brief hand communicator contact, asked what happened. The Klingons just asked 'What does it look like?'"

"Rescue teams?"

"They're on top of it, waiting for docking." He anticipated her question, "I've broadcast all due notifications."

Corrie rested her hand on his shoulder for a moment, "Thank you." She was about to leave him in charge and dash down to the dock. She stopped herself, though. She whispered to herself, "I mustn't." There could be no hint of a connection between her and Gob'kick.

Soon after the freighter docked, one of its intact portals opened. The victorious Commander stepped through and offered a 'prisoner' to the waiting security squad, a head on the end of his bat'leth. With little conversation, he proceeded into the base followed by his crew. Stardock personnel poured into his ship to carry out full scans and assessments. There were no unexpected warriors, weapons, or equipment aboard. A couple of the crew had died. Their surviving brother warriors had given full honors and now left the empty shells behind per tradition.

Besides numerous intensely curious onlookers, a couple of sinister souls were present. Speaking confidentially, one of them shook his head, "This is impossible! The Klingon had no chance! The tactical computer formulated the perfect attack plan! It couldn't have been wrong!"

His companion slowly shook his head, "The computer wasn't wrong. It simply wasn't given all the vital information."

"It doesn't make sense! If something had gone wrong, then the raider would have at least sent a warning symbol!"

"Look at the damage. There is no evidence of a prolonged fight. The raider hit perfectly, then..."

"Then was taken out. Starbase fighters?"

Again, there was a slow shake of the head, "No. No evidence of any long range flights sent out from here."

"There must be another Federation ship out there unaccounted for!"

"Our spies have heard no hint of it. Even if there were, how could they have known the ambush location and been ready to surprise the raider?" He squinted pensively, "Any reports of debris or radiation residues at the ambush site?"

"Almost nothing! Perhaps we should kidnap and interrogate Klingon crewmen?"

"Do you really think that an advanced intel operation would have told them anything? No... this reeks of a covert trap." He looked at his cohort, "You don't need a tactical computer to see that!" He once again studied the freighter. "We need to step back and study our Federation prey. Find out what they have changed."

[OFF]

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Ens. Corrine Steiner
Sinister Enemy Spies

Starbase 332
Pegasus Fleet