Shadow Operations: Resurrection
Season 1 Episode 10
Arrival At Ops Base One
Jan. 6, 2019

Keep that data stream going, Mayla ordered as she had to pull the Fearless away from the warbird when the suspected third warbird decloaked beneath them. This time, there was no way to avoid it and the ship took the full brunt of the blast.

Shields down to 23%, someone yelled from another station. That’s when Mayla glanced over and saw a betazoid male with a gash on the side of his head sitting at the science station.

Track that warbird, Tactical. Mayla hadn’t had the time or opportunity to ask his name nor his rank. And fire whenever you get the chance. She rolled the ship onto the starboard side. Give me control of the tertiary weapons array. A new panel appeared on her console as Tactical gave her access to four of the 16 phaser arrays, one on each side of the ship, and two of the rear photon torpedo launchers. While she pushed the ship in a tight orbit around the disabled warbird, following the third warbird, she quickly tapped in various firing solutions based on her maneuvers in a well practiced dance of her hands. With her in control of some of the phasers, she can fire them much quicker as she can anticipate where the Fearless was going to be at.

The third warbird cloaked just as a phaser blast enveloped it briefly. Mayla gave new orders to Preet. We need a shuttle sweep, Lieutenant. We have to find that last warbird.

I’m on it, Preet responded quickly.

Sir, Security reports of intruders on deck 2. Mixed races boarding party.

So definitely not the Romulans doing this then, Sh’avelith said.

Mayla kept silent for a moment, suddenly remembering what Railius had reported earlier. Her tactics for this last warbird will have to be changed. How much longer to download that data?

Eight minutes, at least, Sh’avelith said.

Eight minutes was a long time. If these were pirates or mercenaries, and if they find out what Jahkar’s team was doing, they might try to destroy their own warbird.

It was as if the other warbird read Mayla’s mind. Or rather, she read their minds. The warbird decloaked just as it started an attack run on the wounded warbird. Preet, ram all of the shuttles into that attacking warbird!

Before Preet could put out the order, the warbird opened fire with disruptors and blasted through the bow section of the ship. Mayla pushed the ship to one quarter impulse to close the range to the warbird before it could turn around for another attack run. Even at the extreme range of the phasers, she opened fire with her single phaser array and gave the warbird a glancing blow before it cloaked again.

Beam back the boarding party immediately, Mayla ordered.

We’ve lost transporter lock on the away team! Sh’avelith yelled. Some type of interference emanating from the warbird.

Some sort of electronic field generator is now interfering with all the sensors, the betazoid said as he scanned their own scans of the ship. I think it has something to do with their cloaking device.

Preet, watch for the warbird, and continue your sweep with the shuttles. We need to buy some time to break through the jam-

This is Commander Alantris on board the warbird! I need immediate transport from the disabled warbird!

How did she get over there? The man at Tactical started saying. But Mayla interrupted him. There was no time to think about that now. Maybe she was snatched at the initial barrage when the Fearless shields were momentarily went down.

Do you have a lock on her?

Negative. But I have her location. She is at the center of that interference. She may have caused it.

Give the boarding party her location and order them to go retrieve her on the double. Modify the transporter enhancers to break through that interference. That remaining warbird is intent on destroying that ship.

Ryramorl might have only been a lieutenant in Starfleet, but he did have some experience giving orders back home, so he barked out to the four officers the positions he wanted to take, each behind consoles for cover. Ensign Reepchip, can you get to a higher vantage point?

Reepchip’s eyes darted upwards. Negative, sir. Nothing for me to climb onto.

Hide behind the door then.

They kept their phasers on the door—and soon enough,it swished open to reveal a group of three Nausicaans. The four crewmen and Ryramorl defenders promptly opened fire, nailing two, but the third managed to avoid being hit. The third Nausicaan promptly raised his energy weapon, but couldn’t get a good shot. He drew a bead on one of the crewmen as he walked in but that’s as far as he got when Reepchip’s beam got him square in the back. Ryramorl gave him a nod. You two, help me seize their weapons. You three, cover us, said Ryramorl, including Reepchip in the covering. They removed the energy weapons and, to Ryramorl pleased surprise, several grenades. If need be, they could leave a little present behind.

Then he heard from the Fearless. He radioed Jahkar. Sir! I just heard that Commander Alantris is on this ship. Commander Vree wants us to retrieve her! Awaiting orders, sir!

The haze slowly lifted and familiar sounds rang into his ears as Cody gained consciousness. He was still in Sickbay. Even the soft ambient light hurted his eyes. He pinched until it got better. He tried to get up, but a wave of nausea made him lay down swiftly. A nurse came towards him and administered him a hypospray. The nausea disappeared. Slowly he sat up. He felt awful. The nurse had a stern look on her face.

You suffer from radiation sickness she said in a wry tone.

Cody grimaced Oh really... he started, but the look from the nurse made him shut up.

I’ve administered you suppressants for the radiation effects and some adrenaline and steroids to stay on your feet.... Cody gazed at her. This wasn’t standard protocol. But apparently, being sick was something to be done later within Shadow Operations. Apparently not when the ship was being blown to pieces.

Thanks for patching me up, he said as he carefully got off the bed and made a few steps to check his balance. The steroids kicked in as he felt better with every step. He opened comms to Commander Vree. Lt. Beckett to Commander Vree. Where do you need me ?

As he waited for Vree to respond, he walked over to Thompson. He was still unconscious. The EMH just finished his surgical sequences to replace a large area of Thompson’s skin on his arms.

He will be out for a while the EMH stated. And you should lay down too. You are in no condition to perform your duties.

Thanks for the heads up Doc Cody replied, while he walked to Raillius. She was slowly awaking, but she looked pale. A few nurses where administering all kinds of meds and checking her vitals continuously.

Then, He walked out of Sickbay and made his way to the bridge.

Jahkar heard Ryramorl in his ear mike. He keyed the device to respond, Go find her. We’re almost done here. Meet us back on Fearless. Jahkar out.

One of Jahkar’s team, an Ensign Sizemore, turned from his tricorder and spoke, Colonel, the warbird’s warp core is going to breech in a matter of minutes. We need to get out of here ASAP.

Jahkar turned to Ensign Samson. How long until the upload is completed?

Samson held up a finger while he watched the display on the large padd he carried, then, after a ten second delay, he looked to Jahkar, Upload complete. The Romulan data banks are over on Fearless.

The Federation Marine looked back up the corridor, past the smoke and dead bodies, and then looked to his team, Get back to Fearless. I’m going to go back up Ryramorl and Reepchip.

Aye sir, Samson said, packing in his computer gear. He tapped his comm-badge, Samson to Fearless. Beam out everyone inside the pattern enhancers.

While they’d been working, the rest of the team had set up the pattern enhancers around the section of engineering they were in. From inside the circle the enhancers had formed, the away team beamed out. Jahkar immediately grabbed up the four enhancers and tossed them into a dufflebag he then slung over one shoulder. With his rifle in hand, the half Klingon-Romulan made his way into the depths of the dying warbird, trying to locate his team mates and Alantris.

Jahkar to Ryramorl, he keyed his comm-unit. I’m bringing up your six. Let me know if you find the commander. I’ll catch up to you soon.

Jahkar to Ryramorl. I’m bringing up your six. Let me know if you find the commander. I’ll catch up to you soon.

Ryramorl to Jahkar. Reepchip will give you a...sonic lock, said Ryramorl, trying to think of how to translate the term into English. Reepchip: call out to him, he then ordered Reepchip. Reepchip gave a few barks, then Ryramorl said Bark lower. He might not be able to hear that high. Reepchip did, and one crewman nodded. Yeah, we can hear that.

Ryramorl knew it was giving away their position, but in this instance, it didn’t really matter. Jahkar would recognize the barking and yapping as belonging to no other and he could likely follow it.

A thought flickered through the big Carnora’s mind—if they had the time, lessons in the Carnora Military Calling Code could come in handy. The six made their way through the shuddering ship, Ryramorl and Reepchip trying to remember the layouts of the Warbird. Ryramorl then radioed Mayla Vree.

Ryramorl to Vree: We’re seeking Commander Alantris, do you know where she is? Also, Reepchip’s giving Jahkar a sonic lock on our position. Tell Alantris to listen for a high-pitched barking; that’s him. Vree would be able to hear Reepchip’s barking over the radio.

Mayla nodded to herself lightly, acknowledging a report that surprisingly came over her subvocal. It was time to finish this. Her attention quickly turned back to watching the shields recharge slightly faster than normal with help from the warp core. She brought the ship in an orbit around the warbird to try to get in between it and the attacking warbird. Preet continued her sweeps with the shuttles as the Fearless quickly prepared tactical firing packages to be activated as soon as the ship decloaked.

Any word from the rest of the boarding party?

I’ve pinpointed the Commander’s location and provided coordinates to Lieutenant Ra’yral. Jahkar is on his way to back him up. Sh’avelith said.

Warbird decloaking off our starboard aft! Tactical yelled.

Fire tactical package seven, Mayla said, firing all of the port saucer section thrusters and the starboard aft thrusters to swing the bow of the ship to starboard to bring the full barrage of nine phaser arrays to bear.

When the warbird saw the the glow of the Fearless’ phaser arrays, it broke off its attack run and cloaked again. Mayla could see Preet and several shuttles converging on the warbird’s last known location, firing their phasers.

Interference has ebbed, we have transporter lock on the rest of the boarding party and the Commander!

Initiate extraction. Did we get the core downloaded?

It’s finished.

Lieutenant Preet, end game. Let’s open a hole. Mayla ordered calmly.

Affirmative. She loaded her final firing solution into her targeting computer and filtered it down to the shuttles.

Mayla took the Fearless on a slightly wider orbit to pull away from the warbird to lure the attacker in. Preet also moved her shuttles to open a hole. Both were ready as soon as the warbird decloaked predictably for another attack run on the other warbird. Both had already calculated the angles of attack the warbird would come in at. By the time the ship began to decloak, Preet and the Fearless concentrated all of their firepower on the single target. There was no escape. Just as the warbird fired several torpedoes at its wounded mate, four phaser arrays, and a full spread of photon and quantum torpedoes was already on its way to the attacking warbird.

Both warbirds exploded into brilliant twin suns that caused everyone to cover their eyes. When the brightness subsided, all they could see now were the lines of a darkened holodeck.

Holodeck is offline, the computer announced from above. Primary shipwide systems restored.

Mayla took a deep breath and let it out as the sim ended. The message she received over her subvoc reported that the intense holosim had to end soon. Raillius surprised them all with a team building exercise that sapped resources from the rest of the ship. The Fearless had had to shut down other systems to reroute power and computer cycles to the holodeck to maintain the sim.

She stood up from what was the chair at the helm of the Fearless and took note that everyone in the team was present before giving her next order.

Meet back here for sim debriefing in 30 minutes. Dismissed.

There was a silence as Ryramorl and Reepchip found themselves themselves in the holodeck of an evidently unharmed Fearless. As the reality of the situation set in, Reepchip began uttering a low-pitched (for him) growl. His trembling paws made it impossible for him to holster his phaser and it clattered to the floor as he suffered a fit of post-combat shakes. Ryramorl inwardly winced; Reepchip’s breakdown would be noted by Jahkar, Vree, and Raillus, and he hoped they wouldn’t dismiss Reepchip as completely unfit for combat. He touched Reepchip’s shoulder, and the Muran’s shaking subsided to the point where he could pick up his phaser.

I thought we were really under attack! Reepchip growled once they were out of earshot. I thought we were as good as dead!

As did I, which was probably the point. The training sims have the weakness that we KNOW they are training sims, and we are more confident and careless.

Reepchip growled. And then to turn into a week-old cubling in front of everyone—

Ryramorl gripped Reepchip’s shoulder and turned him so they were face-to-face. You’re not the first one I’ve seen to be rattled by their first combative experience. Hell, even I was. You’re tin, Reepchip, and that showed, but Jahkar will get copper in you yet. Now, I need to make sure my battle armour is actually in the armoury.

It wasn’t, so Ryramorl headed back to his quarters, getting his battle armour and—after a moment of thought—the weapons he used as a Royal Bodyguard as well. True, his armour wasn’t Starfleet standard, but it could be repainted to show UFP colours instead of that of the Carnora Pentarchy. Reepchip helped him carry some of the smaller stuff. As Ryramorl placed his armour in the armoury, he made a mental note to talk to whoever was in charge of the stores at their home base to make sure there was some sort of armour for Reepchip to wear. Heck, a uniform was likely to be an issue; he even wondered if they still had his. The two Carnoras headed back to the holodeck for the briefing, Reepchip now in control of himself.

Daryl was impressed. Commander Raillius had pulled off a convincing holosim. The team had been forced to handle a variation of hard, maybe even impossible situations thrown at them. As far as he could tell, they handled well. Well, they would find out in 30 mins when debriefed.

Cody was utterly surprised when the characteristic lines of the holodeck appeared. It all had been a simulation ! He looked around, and saw Thompson and Raillius standing a few feet away from him. HIs brain had to wrap around the fact that what he saw moments ago, Thompson and Raillius both unconscious on a biobed in Sickbay, had been a holographic impression. As they were dismissed, Cody went back to his quarters. He needed a few moments to sort his thoughts, So much had happened the past hour. Guess he needed to learn to cope with these hectic situations. He shook his head and exhaled as he entered his quarter and sat down.

Green Tea, hot he stated, and the next moment the replicator hummed and a steaming hot cup of green tea materialized. As he took the tea, the door chimed. It was Thompson.

Come in Beckett replied. The door opened and Thompson stepped inside.

Daryl. What can I do for ya ? Cody asked. Want some tea ?

Daryl shook his head No thanks. Just checking how you are doing. The holosim was pretty intense.

Heck yeah it was Cody nodded. I really thought we would be blown to smithereens. Raillius did a thorough job with that holosim.

Thompson agreed. Yeah she did. I am still wondering how the holodeck managed to simulate the radiation and chemical burns and the nausea we felt.

Cody nodded. Yeah indeed. As soon as the holosim ended, all symptoms where gone. He frowned, as this would mean that the holosim would have to be able to modify several neurological patterns in their brains. Not impossible, but not normally done within a holosim.

Daryl grinned. Let’s ask Raillius sometime. Guess she has the answer.

Cody nodded in agreement and sipped his tea.

Before the Commander speaks, she asked me to say a few words about the simulation. First, this type of surprise simulation will not be run again. Anything that happens in the future will be real. The reason is that you can have no thoughts moving forward that what is happening to you might be just a simulation. It will be real and you should treat it as such. She let that sink in. The sim was designed to place each of you in situations that challenged your judgement and dedication to your teammates. She paused for effect, Nothing builds trust better than seeing your teammates risking their lives for you and for the good of the ship. You will of course be running your actions over in your heads and analyzing what happened. This is good, make sure to build on the positives you find, and correct the negatives. The sim was designed to be as close to real world operations as possible. The holodeck safeties were changed to allow any injury that could be repaired 100% in our sickbay. You couldn’t be killed, but you could break your arm. Your bruises are real. The pain you felt was real. The core of the simulation was from a program I ran on Fearless over ten years ago when I served as her first officer under Captain Sortha, a Gorn exchange officer. The program was still in her holosim memory banks, and in that program I had replicated the Fearless down to the smallest detail for internal training purposes. Captain Sortha always felt real bruises and real blood did a body good. This sim was running multiple scenarios simultaneously and was adaptive along a set of prearranged possible actions. It took up a large chunk of Fearless’ computing power, but Admiral MacLeod was convinced to ... indulge me. She allowed an impish smile that was unusually uncharacteristic of her stern demeanor and gave a glimpse into her former identity as Jamie T. Marcus, but only for a split second. The smile was quickly replaced by her usual serious sternness. The guiding principle of the sim was to place you and Fearless in a dangerous situation, but never to allow a quick death, or end to the sim quickly. She paused, Had Fearless been attacked by three D’deridex battleships, she would have been destroyed in seconds, and unable to suppress a slight evil upturn from one corner of her mouth added, Especially if I or one of my brothers from House Raillius was in command of them. As my father, the late Senator Raillius, constantly drilled into my head, never underestimate your enemy. It wouldn’t have ended as well in real life as it did in the simulation. There are no do-overs in real life. Act accordingly. She turned to Commander Vree, Commander, they’re all yours.

She sat down and noted that no one had recognized the simulation for what it was. At any time, if someone had simply said end simulation or display arch the simulation would have ended for that person. She would have recommended that person for promotion for their keen observation and deductive reasoning. There were minor details that were not right about Fearless, things she hadn’t had time to update, and the narrative of the story arc was just too... scripted. All put together, the odds of it having been real quickly approached zero on at least an x squared curve of probability versus time. She also knew she had to talk to Commander Vree, not only about the crew reactions, but also about tactics. She didn’t know about other Empires, but the Rihansuu fleet had instituted countermeasures to simply beaming in explosive devices on their ships, as well as the ability to beam aboard through a single downed shield years ago. The ship had to be nearly a burning hulk before such events could occur given redundant transporter scramblers throughout the ship. Point defense phaser banks had also been installed in response to swarm attacks from small Jem Hadar suicide craft and shuttles. The cloak phase time had been reduced dramatically, as well as shield rotation and refresh speeds. She’d have to walk a fine line between helping her current crew and not betraying her Rihansuu family and adoptive home.

She listened to Commander Railius report on the sim, as if she needed to explain herself why the sim was done the way it did. Mayla had no problems with it. Sim or not, every situation presented needed to be taken seriously as if was happening for real. That will be the point of every holosim they work on from then on.

As Railius finished up, Mayla took note of the overconfidence her XO had in the enemy, which was a dangerous aspect when confronted with one in battle. The key to confronting any enemy is to never expect the expected. That type of thinking locks their mind into a box when you believe you know your enemy. Mayla wanted her team to be able to handle any situation, with any enemy known or not. Even seen or unseen. A battlespace is always fluid, and when opportunity presents itself, it should be adapted to and taken advantage of.

She stood up and activated a screen behind her, starting off with each team member's deployment, and using the available resources to accomplish a goal. She took the team through each scenario with each member of the team's perspective, so each person's actions and decisions made are evaluated and commented upon. Even though the sim didn't have the entire team work together, it showed what they can do if given the resources. Future holosims will focus more on learning each other's strengths and abilities so the group can function as a single organism.

With various input from Railius and Mayla, they both understood not everyone present was a raw cadet and cannot be treated as one. Mayla gave them reign when they spoke up from their own experiences and expertise concerning various situations that occurred during the sim, including Mayla and Vala's tactics. The debriefing wound down just as Admiral MacLeod walked in.

The doors to the War Room slid open and MacLeod walked in, looking alive and well. He looked around at the team and smiled roguishly. The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated, the Scot said with an impish grin.

He stood at the head of the table and looked around, Commanders Vree, Raillius, you can proceed with a debrief of the team when we deliver you to your base. For those of you overcome by radiation poisoning during the simulation, rest assure it was a very minor dose and was tailored to give you symptoms, but nothing else.

I viewed your performances remotely and I am pleased, you all did well considering the fact you were faced with what was almost a Kobayashi Maru scenario. But, I will let your CO be the final word on your evaluations.

We are arriving at Ops Base One. If you all would like, you can have front row seats on the bridge...well, make that standing room only. But please, join me.

MacLeod turned and led the way onto the bridge of the Fearless. The scene was much different than it had been in the holodeck. Everyone was alive, the hull was in tact and on the viewscreen they could see Fearless entering an asteroid field

We’re in the Argolis Cluster. The Krarron system, to be exact. Within this asteroid belt is a former mining facility originally operated by the Federation. It was abandoned 30 years ago but was seized and put into use by the Dominion as a Ketricil White distribution center during the war, 20 years ago.

Fearless moved deeper into the field and soon, the ship was moving directly toward one ancient asteroid. As it appeared they would run directly into the rock face of the object, the rock suddenly wavered and disappeared—a hologram—revealing the open maw of a hangar bay.

Fearless slowly passed through the entrance and into the spacious cavern of the former mining facility. There were visible durasteel modules built into the walls of the asteroid cave, with an overhead lighting array. There was enough room in the cavern for Fearless, and possibly one large or two smaller vessels.

In the other berth a small escort class ship was docked, lights from the cavern ceiling directed down upon it, illuminating its hull. MacLeod looked back at the team and smiled, There’s your ship. The USS Resurrection. As soon as we dock, you’re free to have a look at the facilities aboard the station and the Resurrection.