Shadow Operations: Resurrection
Season 1 Episode 7
Attack!
Dec. 19, 2018

T’Aayla made her way through the holosim, noting the quality of the recording. It had indeed been high end surveillance scans that had recorded the video to recreate the space they now traversed.

Of course, things like scents and textures would only be approximations, and she noted some gaps in the recording where it appeared that the holosim program had filled in areas that had been missed by the scan with the most likely terrain, or patch of wall, or covering of rock. She nodded in appreciation, the Federation had spared no expense to outfit the strike team. High end recording equipment indeed. She retraced the assault in her mind, appreciating the efficient and deadly accuracy of the attack.

Her priority, however, was observing the team, watching them attempt to glean information.

They had mostly gone off on their own pursuits with little planning or organization. This time it was all right because the sim was meant to not only provide clues that multiple reviews had missed, but also to provide some insight into the various team members. Interesting she noted.

She wondered if anyone would run different lighting levels in the sim, often visual cues only became apparent during bright light, moonlight, shadow, or even ultraviolet light. Everyone was also operating on the plane of the terrain, very two-dimensional; no one had bothered to launch a drone for an aerial view. She’d have loved to pilot a small craft to look around, just to give herself an excuse to fly a fighter again, but the holodeck wouldn’t accommodate a static terrain and a quickly moving craft.

She’d hold off on her ideas to see if anyone else on the team thought of them and headed over to the hanger where the fighters were kept. She tried very hard to keep a straight face as she passed Big Bear sniffing and and Baby Bear chirping. She had worked with the big variant of Carnora before, but had never quite gotten used to them, or their scent, but they did come in handy—especially when dismemberment was called for. Entering the hanger bay, she noted another team member, Lieutenant Commander Preet, was already there. Ah, the other small craft pilot, she smiled. This might be interesting.

As she stood there and watched Jahkar study the Klingon leader’s body armor some more, Mayla thought back to Charatetet’s request to use echolocation. An ability like that would come in handy sometimes to see things when they don’t have the time to do a thorough search. For now, his use of echolocation would only give him whatever information is available when the imagers mapped the area. But she had given him the go ahead and give it a try. It would be interesting to find out what he found.

Her comm badged chirped. Sh’avelith to Commander Vree, nothing unusual about the ways in which these Klingons died. But I did find something on a Klingon. A tattoo. None of the others are wearing one like it. It appears to be... unique.

She tapped her comm badge. Alright, I’m sending Jahkar over to take a look. She gave him an SO hand signal and he returned with an affirmative before stepping out.

She then opened a channel to the whole team. Make certain you record anything you find so we can submit it together to the Admiral for dissemination. After that, she took out her tricorder and used the visual recorder to take images of the crest of the armor, and the one the mek’leth.

Ra’yral was searching the rest of the room with her, looking behind curtains and under the bed.

Charatetet has an echolocation skill, how could that help us here? Mayla asked Ra’yral.

Instead of answering her, he called to Charatetet and began to browse around the room to show her what the skill can offer in a situation like this.

Ryramorl looked up from where he was trying to peer under the bed. I’ll have him bark under here, he responded. I think he could also tell if one surface is different from another—for example, a false walll—but that wouldn’t come up here. He keyed his Comm unit. Ensign Reepchip Charatetet, I need you. In the commander’s chambers.

Before long, Reepchip showed up and saluted. Honored Sir, he said.

Bark under here, see what you find, Ryramorl said.

Reepchip poked his head under. He made a series of clicks, and from time to time his body jerked as if he were barking, though his voice was way beyond human hearing—though judging from the twitch in Ryramorl’s ears, it wasn’t beyond his.

Reepchip looked up at Mayla. Permission to enter this space, sir?

When Mayla gave him permission, Reepchip quickly scurried under the bed to have an up-close look under there as Ryramorl continued searching the rest of the room, including where it appeared the Klingon leader had stored his armour.

Jahkar arrived in the room where Tiri knelt over the body of a Klingon and he nodded to her. He hadn’t had a chance to speak with the ensign before, so this would serve as their introduction.

What do you have here, ensign, he asked.

The Andorian used her hands to turn the dead Klingon’s head to the side, fully exposing the tattoo. Computer. Increase lighting 50 percent. The dark chamber suddenly became better illuminated and the tattoo was now visible.

I’ve never seen a Klingon with a face tattoo, said Tiri.

It is not common, but it happens, said Jahkar as he inspected the piece of artwork. As he studied it, his brow furrowed. This is not artwork. It is not so much a tattoo as it is something this Klingon was marked with by someone else.

Tiri frowned,Like a brand?

Jahkar nodded,It is a mark given to an individual, usually in Klingon Intelligence, who has failed at a mission. Something to the effect of being captured by the enemy, bringing dishonor upon himself or upon his House.

With the increased lighting, Jahkar surveyed the room,I would say what you have here is someone disavowed by the Klingon government. And he is not of the same House as the Klingons I was looking at. The emblem on his armor is different.

Tiri recorded everything Jahkar had explained and she took close-up images of the tattoo on the dead Klingon. Once finished, she and Jahkar started back to the rest of the group.

No more evidence was found, at least nothing as telling as the emblems on the armor and the tattoo on the face of one of the Klingons. The team assembled back in the main chamber of the stronghold and was about to end the session when suddenly, all hell broke loose.

There was an explosion that rocked the ship and the holographic facsimile of the Klingon stronghold suddenly dissolved into the holodeck of the Fearless. Alarm klaxons blared around them and the ship continued to quake around them.

All hands to battle stations! came the voice of Admiral MacLeod over the ship’s comm system. We’re under attack!