Shadow Operations: Resurrection
Season 1 Episode 5
En Route to Ops Base One
Dec. 1, 2018

With the touch of a few buttons, Vala powered down the Talon class fighter. The flight was short, and she could have slipped the craft into the Fearless’ docking bay blindfolded. It wasn’t the first time she had boarded a Sovereign class starship. There were still a handful assigned to Starfleet Intelligence, and she regularly piloted missions from their hangar bays.

She made her way off the fighter and through the shuttle bay. MacLeod’s offer was too tempting to pass up. It was just the excitement and experience that she had been unknowingly looking for. While she was mainly a pilot, she had kept up on her special ops training through the years. She had even been known to run with a few of the SI teams she had flown on missions. It wasn’t often, but her combat ratings were high enough to add her to a team’s compliment when needed.

Vala asked the computer where the mess hall was located. It was dinner time, and she had a feeling that’s where the rest of her new team members were.

Well, there he was. Back in Starfleet. Member of the new and only Shadow Operations unit. Cody felt slightly overwhelmed. He sat on the bed in his temporary quarter, staring at his collar pips with the rank of Lieutenant. He never had any field training nor experience, so he was kind of anxious of what to expect. The others all had field experience in perhaps dozens of away missions, he thought. The last time he worked for Intelligence, he had done some analytics for a few away missions. But that was about it. So, he wondered why Admiral MacLeod had chosen him to be a part of this team. Well, there was no way back now, since the Resurrection already had left Starbase 450. So, he had to make the best of it. He got up, attached the pips to his collar and went to the mess hall.

As he was sitting there, Daryl Thompson walked in. He nodded to Cody as he made his way to the replicator bin. Cody nodded back and was quickly occupied again in reading the data about the mission, in between taking bites from the sandwiches on his plate. For whatever data there was. It wasn’t much.

May I join you? a voice snapped him out of his concentration. Thompson was standing at his table, with a plate with a large bowl of ice cream. Cody nodded, and Thompson sat down. Nice to meet you. I am Daryl Thompson.

Cody shook hands with Daryl. Nice to meet you too. Cody replied.

Daryl nodded. You are new to this, aren’t you? Daryl asked.

Cody nodded. Yeah, I am. I did some work for Intelligence for about a year, but mostly analytics and surveys. I served time as a science officer onboard of the USS Fenrir and the USS Saratoga. But mostly to investigate space phenomena. So, I wonder why the heck MacLeod chose me to join a team of covert operatives.

Daryl smirked MacLeod will have his reasons he said. I quickly read your background. You have quite some experience in the field of mining. You know your way around in large parts of the alpha and beta quadrant, inside and outside of Federation space and you probably know a lot about the business happening outside of the Federation’s grasp. Guess that might come in handy as we probably have to scour our way to obscure places and backwater planets and what not. Also, you probably know a heck of a lot more about science and space phenomena and stuff like that then the rest of us. Never hurts to have that knowledge in the team Daryl said, in between several large spoons of ice cream.

Cody nodded...that might be true. He did have a lot of experience in that field. But I don’t have any combat training. I mean, I do know some martial arts techniques and wrestling which I picked up during the years, but no real combat training. Besides the few fights when our cargo transports were attacked by pirates Daryl shrugged, scooping large spoons of ice cream. You will get enough training, don’t worry about that. And if possible, we will take your lack of combat skills into account. But I think Jahkar and Vree would disagree. If Mayla resembles her father, and she does, she will make sure everyone in this team is prepared for the unprepared. She will instruct Jahkar to make sure about that. He will make a cool killer out of you Daryl smirked. You know her father as well? Cody asked. Daryl nodded. When I went into Shadow Ops, I was a member of Bravo Squad, led by her father, Kyril Vree. He was a good leader for Bravo Squad. We often had the odds against us. I mean, REALLY against us. And though we suffered inevitable losses, he always pulled us through. In a strange way, I am the living example of that. What Ky learned me in the years under his command, came to good use in my time at Cotath.

So, you were in the first SO teams ever? Cody asked Daryl. Daryl finished his bowl of ice cream and sat back. Yeah, I was in Shadow Ops right from the early days. Second Training Squadron. We became a tight and smooth functioning unit. Then, during a mission I was killed and resuscitated, but somewhere in between kidnapped and replaced by a clone. A clone who led my life for over 13 years, while I was enslaved to work in the mines somewhere in the middle of friggin’ nowhere, apparently under a division of Section 31 of some sorts. Why? You tell me. Was I a threat to them? A way to recruit me for their own purposes? I don’t know. Eventually the clone went rogue. My best friend back then had the same faith. But he had been brought elsewhere.

Daryl paused for a moment as he thought of Greg, his best friend back in the days...Then he continued. Eventually they were captured, trialed and put into stasis. But Section 31 didn’t want to leave any traces so they killed off the clones. Cody noticed the expression on Daryl’s face hardened. So why they didn’t check in on me on Cotath and get rid of me as well is still a riddle to me. Probably things didn’t go as planned or I was forgotten. Eventually, after years, I was able to escape and make my way back to Federation space. Took me a while to get adjusted again in ’normal’ Federation life Daryl finished.

Cody raised his eyebrow as he was pretty baffled by what he heard. Sorry to hear that...You must have gone through hell mate Cody said. Though not imprisoned, I worked on dozens of mining missions for the family business. Gas mining in proto-nebula’s, asteroid mining, ice mining on moons, but also corona mining. It was always tense when you got stuck in the filament cavities or when a coronal loop changed into a CME (Coronal Mass Ejection). The profit was worth the risk though, so I’ve seen my share of tense action to get out of these situations alive. Daryl scoffed. Minus the torturing and threats to get killed every day. Daryl replied. We had the pirates for that part Cody stated dryly. Daryl had to laugh about that.

Cody frowned and thought about what Daryl told about his mining ’adventure’. What mining facility was that ? he asked. Daryl thought for a moment. It was on one of the inner planets of the Cotath system. The lower layers of the planet held huge amount of the more exotic metals like Ytterbite and Zircon and Plagioclase. We had to dig them up. Since the planet had quite some volcanic and seismic activity, it was always dangerous to go down. I saw a lot of the inmates die there. I was lucky to have survived that long... Daryl stared in the distance, thinking back about the time he spent there, about the ruthless guards, the inhuman work they had to do, riots, the torturing, about his comrades, his enemies, both from which died a lot during the time there. It was a hell back there Daryl mumbled absently. I bear with you. Cody said. I’ve been there, in Cotath. Shithole from what I remember. I was pretty young when my dad brought me along on mining missions. I went there twice. I think the equipment you used was installed by engineers of our company. Strange how things work out, hey? Cody smiled a wry smile. I remember it was a local mining company. Never thought about that they might enslave people or have ties to Section 31. Is the colony still there? Daryl shrugged. I don’t know. I escaped during a huge riot with a few others. A lot of the guards were killed. Took me about 2 months to get off the planet. Was glad I survived that long, as I didn’t trust much people. Section 31 still was everywhere Daryl played with the spoon in his bowl. That is about 5 years ago now. Daryl sighed. I’ve never come to know what happened to the other team members of Bravo Squad while I was gone. Maybe I need to talk to Mayla about that. Daryl pondered. Cody was silent, as he was thinking about the whole story Daryl told him. Then an idea struck him. He looked at Daryl. I wonder if there might be a lead from that planet to our current mission. You said Section 31 was involved. Isn’t there the possibility that there still might be something? Daryl looked at Cody. I don’t know. But I am no very eager to go back there. But still, it might be a lead. We’ll toss the idea on the table in the main mission briefing. We will see if Vree and MacLeod find it worth following. Cody nodded, then his commbadge chirped and the low toned voice of Jahkar came through Jahkar to Beckett. Report to the holodeck in 15 minutes. So much for the smalltalk Daryl grinned. I think I join you in the holosim. I could use a refresher myself. Haven’t been active in the field lately, so I am a little rusty. Sure thing Cody replied, and the two men made their way to the holodeck.

During the assessment, Reepchip proved more capable than one might expect. His skill with a phaser was quite good, especially considering how large it was in his hands.

When it came to hand-to-hand fighting against simulated opponents, Colonel Jahkar soon discovered why Ryramorl had said what he did about Reepchip’s fighting style: The tiny Carnora’s style of hand-to-hand combat was based on feint and dodge, hit and run, and some downright dirty tactics. And when the opponent managed to actually get a hold of Reepchip, the Muran fought like a cornered rat, even using his teeth and claws to escape. In short, Ryramorl had the fighting instincts of a predator, but Reepchip had those of prey. One interesting thing the colonel would see—when Reepchip put on a burst of speed, he dropped to all fours to run.

Jahkar met with Reepchip and Cody Beckett on the holodeck and introduced him to one of his Recon Marine training programs. The program was straight forward, designed to test both officers in hand-to-hand combat and melee fighting.

Both faired well at level 5. They struggled some with level 6 and 7. Eight was a bit too much, but that was to be expected. Jahkar himself had only made it as far as level 9 and it took him more than a year to beat level 8.

After gauging both officer’s performances in martial arts and melee weapons, Jahkar ran them through several training sims. The first was infiltrating a Klingon outpost to steal data files, a task both were able to complete.

Next, he sent them on a mission to sabotage a Jem’Hadar space station. They did well, but ultimately Reepchip was captured and Beckett was killed. For a two-man mission, set at a high level, their defeat was anticipated. Overall, Jahkar found they’d done a good job and gave them both high marks.

Once they were finished, Jahkar sat down with both men and went over their performances. He was impressed.

You both did an excellent job, he told them. Reepchip, I will be honest, I was skeptical of your size, but you fought well and proved you are not inhibited by size. I believe you will use it to your advantage in real combat. I look forward to fighting at your size.

The Klingon/Romulan then turned to Beckett. You also did well. I was impressed with your fighting styles and your handling of melee weapons. I will report back to Commander Raillius that you are both fit for duty. Welcome to Shadow Operations.

Jahkar then eased back in his chair and glanced from Reepchip to Beckett, Any questions?

After the training sim, Jahkar submitted his report to Vree and Raillius and then got word to meet the rest of the team in an adjoining holodeck.

Reepchip toyed with what he’d called a Scorpion Dagger—a weapon he’d held in his tail like a sting. His use of it had resulted in his capture when the Jem’Hadar predictably grabbed his tail and swung him into the wall. Yes, sir. Should I be tested wearing my... He thought for the right word, stilts?. He explained that when serving on Olvern or Ataran ships, Murans wore mechanical stilts so they could reach the control panels (of course, Olverns and Atarins simply couldn’t fit on Muran ships), and he’d brought a pair with him. The stilts were designed to be removed in seconds, but Reepchip knew he could be surprised while wearing them.

Ryramorl entered the mess hall after talking with Jahkar. He knew Reepchip would do well—the Muran had been trained in combat back on Carnor—his only question was if Jahkar would find Reepchip’s martial arts dishonorable. Then again, likely not. Jahkar had trained Marines before. He was unlikely to be that hung up on honour over survival.

He noticed an Andorian who smelled of emotional distress and a whiff of an agitated Admiral MacLeod. Also, he noticed that the lieutenant’s pips she’d worn to the meeting were missing. A demotion, perhaps; he’d seen similar things in the Carnora military.

He could not remember what Starfleet protocol was for addressing the demoted.

She had sat at the Arch console of the holodeck for the past hour, waiting for the high-resolution scans to load into the holodeck’s memory quads and the computer to render them together into a program she could run and access. While she waited, she studied the profiles of her new team members, and attached personal notes to each one. Her memory of the few team members was from long ago, and they may have changed since that time due to over a decade of new experiences.

After getting an overall view of her new team’s abilities, she turned to all the data the Admiral gave her in regard to all of their contact with the rebel terrorists. There were always patterns in the universe, whether they are natural or not. One just needed to learn how to see them. And hopefully having six lifetimes of experience as a Trill (two of those in Starfleet not including her own current life) and three lifetimes of combat experience within the Linea, she may be able to glean something from the sparse data.

The computer acknowledged completion of rendering the program. Mayla got up from her chair. Computer run program Overseer.

In a second, she was back on the Klingon homeworld of Kronos; standing outside the entryway to the garbage tunnel Echo Team had entered through. On the ground in front of her were the two dead Klingons, each with a knife stuck in their heads where the sniper rounds had penetrated the skulls. The two were positioned in a fashion where it looked like they were fighting and stabbed each other in the head. There were at least 60 more Klingons inside, all staged to look as if they fought each other to the death.

The stronghold was large, nearly 18 rooms and a sublevel. There definitely wouldn’t be enough time for her to do this alone before they reached their new base of operations. It had created a perfect opportunity to see how her new team worked together on a simple task.

She hadn’t reprogrammed her subvocal yet to the new frequencies used on the Fearless, so she had to use her comm badge. With a short tap, she called for her team to assemble in holodeck 1.

When they filed in, they saw the barren land around them with a cliff behind them. Mayla stood at the doorway in front of the two dead klingon guards and gestured them to assemble in front of her.

As the Admiral mentioned in the meeting, I am Commander Mayla Vree-your team leader. I have reviewed your profiles and in the coming days, we will begin to perform holosims to hone the team into a single efficient unit. I look forward to seeing everyone bring the best of their skills and abilities to accomplish any mission assigned to us. She looked to each one of them and stopped on the tall Carnora.

Ra’yral gave her a slight smirk. Are we already doing a holosim? he asked, referring to the daily training sims Kyril Vree had Bravo Squad do every day. He had served with her father for several years, even throughout the Linea campaign and made it back alive. And here he was again, serving with another Vree.

Mayla smiled at the reference but shook her head. No, Lieutenant. This was a recent mission on Kronos where this Klingon stronghold you see behind me, she waved to the structure behind her, housed a splinter group planning on destroying the Council chambers with all of the Klingon High Council in it. The Admiral said these rebel terrorists may be organized enough to create unrest and even terrorists’ attacks within empires of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. This is a high-resolution image scan of the entire complex after the Klingons were disposed of. As our first assignment together, I want all of us to go in and search the entire facility to look for any possible clues that may lead to any possible sources of this unrest. The leader of this group was in his chambers trying on his new ceremonial armor. He had planned on being Chancellor after the successful destruction of the Klingon High Council. It fortunately didn’t work out that way.

She looked to each of them with confidence. Remember, it’s just a three dimensional surface mapped image scan, so anything that wasn’t out in the open, the computer will render nothing. But it has minimally rendered items it recognized that you can move around like in a standard holodeck program. And for precision and accuracy, all of the dead klingons were also included in the scan. She looked at her chronometer. Let’s do this thoroughly and see if there’s anything to be found here. If there are no questions, let’s proceed inside.

MacLeod was in the captain’s chair aboard Fearless as the ship undocked from Starbase 350 and left the outer ring of the station. The ship gracefully accelerated out and away from the starbase and set off into space.

The admiral went over some reports on data padds and then looked to the helmsman. Lay in a course for the Argolis Cluster, maximum warp.

Aye sir, a young Trill male said, tapping commands into the helm controls. Course laid in, ready to go to warp.

Engage, MacLeod told the ensign.

Fearless then jumped to warp and was on its way to the location of the Shadow Ops base of command. He sighed and picked up a padd which contained a report on political unrest plaguing Andoria.

Let the team know we our on our way to the base, MacLeod told Commander Alantris, his XO. Our ETA is eight hours.

Alantris nodded and opened a channel, Bridge to Shadow Ops team. Fearless is en route to Ops Base One in the Argolis Cluster. Arrival in eight hours. Alantris out.