Shadow Operations: Resurrection
Season 2 Episode 2
Mission Briefing
Jan. 21, 2019

After Lazarus took her on a short tour of his new ship, she accepted his offer to have dinner with him that evening to catch up on their present lives. Then she received a message from Admiral MacLeod for mission briefing at 1600 hours. She excused herself from Lazarus, and quickly returned to the Resurrection to move her few duffel bags to her new billeted quarters on the Base. She didn’t know where her quarters were at, so she went straight to the quartermaster’s office to inquire.

I’m looking for my assigned quarters, she said to a man in an informal work uniform that seemed too tight for him.

Name? he asked without looking up from the console on his desk.

Commander Mayla Vree.

He snapped his head up. Sorry, Commander. Didn’t see you. He quickly tapping his screen.

Is that the standard uniform on the Base, Lieutenant? She asked, noticing his rank insignia for the first time on the right side of his chest.

Yes, ma’am. There are a few differences in style you can choose from, but this is basically it. It allows a lot of freedom of movement as we are all here to work and not to look pretty. He pulled out a small padd and held it out to her. Place your hand on the padd to code your DNA to your quarters.

She did as asked, and he passed her another padd. Your billeting, and map of the Base. On there are also duty stations and rosters of everyone on the Base, per your security clearance. Access to areas are automatically determined by the computer and your clearance level.

Taking the padd in her hand, she was about to leave when he stopped her. Wait, there’s one more thing. The computer is telling me I need to recalibrate your subvocal to the frequency of your...unit. Let me have your subvoc controller.

Slipping the padd into a pocket, she slid off a slim bracelet from her wrist and handed it over to him. After a minute, he gave it back to her. He pressed a key on his screen and a voice came over her subvocal.

Frequency programming verified and completed. Encryption Black Delta Resurrection, enabled.

Did you hear that? he asked. He didn’t know what it said, but as long as she heard it clearly, she was done.

Yes, I heard it.

Very good. Is there anything else I can do for you, Commander? He asked suddenly briskly and authoritatively.

No, I’ll be on my way.

She walked out of his office and followed the map on the padd to her quarters. She took a roundabout way to get there, so she can familiarize herself with the various parts of the Base. When she finally reached her quarters, she was surprised to see her quarters were the same size as the ones she had on Echo Base. She chuckled that her previous posting was also situated inside an asteroid belt, and that this was nothing new for her. In fact, the quarters looked nearly identical. It was the same prefabricated modular quarters all mining facilities used.

It didn’t take her long to get settled into her quarters. She basically just put back where everything was stored in her quarters on Echo Base. It gave her time to study her new team’s dossiers more closely before their first mission briefing together.

She didn’t like the base, not one bit, and suppressed a slight shiver as she made her way through the short maze of tunnels to her quarters. The hollowed out spaces of the dusty asteroid reminded her too much of the Reman fighting pits on ch’Havran (Remus.) The year she had spent there had been brutal and extreme to say the least. She shook her head to remove the horrific memories of the place and focused on reaching her quarters. She had glanced at a schematic earlier, and wanted to test if she’d be able to make it there without checking her location again.

In a few minutes she reached a nondescript door after travelling down several equally nondescript corridors and pressed the entry padd. She was rewarded with the door immediately opening. She surveyed the room before entering; a standard issue Starfleet bed, a dresser, a footlocker, a mirror, a small closet, computer terminal and a personal replicator. The room was a beautiful gray on gray motif. No matter, she doubted she’d spend much time in the room, and it was still larger than most Rihansuu ship cabins, although somehow her Rihansuu ship designers still seemed to make them feel elegant, albeit small and utilitarian. Her gear was already delivered, and she unpacked it, putting everything away neatly. She had left her S’harien blade with Senator Raillius’ shuttle in an extremely secure location, but she had brought her personal weapons, a high quality replica of her Sharien sword, and her House Raillius clothing.

The two green and black bodysuit outfits were extremely stylish, but more importantly they were constructed of woven ablative fabric. Each outfit was literally worth a small fortune on ch’Rihan. Senator Raillius had always believed in possessing few things, but anything possessed had to be of the very highest quality. He had cherished the lives of all his family and personal guard above mere wealth and had spared no expense to protect them. She traced her hand slowly down the uniform, watching it move and ripple to her touch. What would humans call it... perhaps something akin to.... she searched her memory of Earth culture... Mithril? Elven armor? She smirked, and a hand felt the tip of her ear. Apropos then. Her touch of her ear reminded her of a very important point in her life...

T’Aayla snapped back to the present; dwelling on the past wasn’t productive. She noted that Admiral MacLeod had summoned them to a briefing at 1600 hours. Until then, she’d use her time studying the schematics of the Resurrection. She busied herself by pouring over the technical and operation specs and designs of the Resurrection at the computer terminal.

Reepchip and Ryramorl looked at the console in their room, checking out the specs on the ship. Reepchip was impressed, but something didn’t sit well with him. The specs say nothing about the runes on the ship, he chittered, his tail twitching.

It’s a Federation Ship, Ryramorl reminded him. I brought up that oversight with a few of my instructors, but they never listened. I’ll talk to Admiral MacLeod and Commander Vree— he saw who was actually captain of this ship, a Captain Quentin Lazarus he had never met—and Captain Lazarus about letting you do the inscriptions. They’ll have access to your transcript from Muransarak Academy, and I know how seriously Shaman-Engineer Goyakarakarak took Inscribing.

I was taught by the one who oversaw the Inscribing of the Five Thrones, Reepchip said proudly. Even being third in his class is worth speaking of. He then thought of something. Where could we get the ink, though?

I’ve got a program for the replicators to follow. Ryramorl quirked a smile at Reepchip’s skeptical look. They’ll just make the ingredients and tools. You can then make the ink properly.

They continued to look through what they could learn of the ship when they heard of a briefing at 1600 hours. Ryramorl stood up. You know, we should check if the uniform for Shadow Ops has been updated.

At the Quartermaster’s office, Ryramorl learned that there were indeed new uniforms—and not only was there one for Ryramorl, but they’d used the uniform measurements from Starfleet Academy to make one for Reepchip as well. And yes, they’re tailered to furred species, assured the Quartermaster. Your room working out for you?

Excellently, said Ryramorl.

They thanked the Quartermaster and headed back to their room to change uniforms and get ready for the briefing. The only thing that Reepchip kept of his old uniform was the vest—and that was simply for the pockets.

She had just finished perusing the specs on the Resurrection, most of which were upgraded from a Sao Paulo class ship, when a notification popped up on her screen. She had been given clearance to a new file linked to her last mission with Echo Team. Admiral MacLeod gave her and the team the access due to her participation in that mission.

She nodded to herself as she went through the few details of their holographic investigation. It didn’t matter to her at the time of the mission, but the few non-Klingon energy weapons they saw were Federation based. This data said the weapons came from a Section 31 weapons cache Starfleet had discovered emptied of its contents several years ago. This was no surprise. After the demise of Section 31 and Shadow Operations, any secret cache of weapons or tech was quickly hidden away and taken out of ’service’. Anyone with the knowledge of any cache was very high priced on the black market. At one time, Starfleet energy weapons were considered inferior to other races, but in the past 10 years, that had changed. Their reliability and interchangeable parts made those weapons more popular and easier to repair and modify.

But the next few details were alarming, and she wondered if Starfleet was going to inform the Klingon High Council of their findings. Jahkar had recognized the symbol for the House of K’hmal which was considered an outlawed clan among the Klingons 20 years ago. General Krang had been the leader of the House at the time and was a war criminal now serving time in a Federation prison. But even so, the House still had a loyal following that numbered in the thousands that were secretly scattered throughout the Empire. Even some outside of the Empire. These followers of General Krang believed he should be freed from Federation prison and challenge the sitting Chancellor.

The last piece was the identity of one of the Klingons that Sh’avelith had found with a tatoo on his face. Starfleet identified him as Grumlek of the House of Karkron. He was once an agent of Klingon Intelligence who was captured by the Romulans spying on their government about eight years ago. Grumlek was imprisoned and when the Klingon High Council was advised the Romulans had captured their spy, the council disavowed all knowledge of him. As a result he spent about six years in a Romulan prison before he escaped. He did not return to Klingon Intelligence, but apparently aligned himself with the House of Krang. Now that it was confirmed of his whereabouts, it added to the story of how this particular faction came about.

So was this something that had been brewing for the past 20 years, or is this something different that’s happened more recent? Is it connected somehow to other empires in the quadrant, or could the followers of this House be the catalyst that’s spreading across all of the empires?

Her chronometer chimed at her, reminding her of her required presence at the mission briefing. Before shutting down her terminal, she queried the computer to continue to assemble a report with this analysis included into the parameters to look for a common element. She wanted to see how deep this could go based on this new data.

It was nearing 1600 hours, so Ryramorl and Reepchip left their room and inquired at the Quarter Master’s office where the Situation Room was. Once they got their directions, they headed there.

Ryramorl nodded to Admiral MacLeod as the two entered. Ryramorl sat in one chair near the foot of the table and Reepchip stood in the one next to him, his tail coiling around the back for balance.

That Resurrection is quite the beauty, said Reepchip. I’m surprised, though, that in a ship THAT high-tech and advanced, the Federation would still overlook the inscriptions. If you wish, Admiral, as a fully-qualified Shaman-Engineer, I could do those for you. I got very high marks in Inscribing from Shaman-Engineer Ray’eevar Goyakarakarak, the very one who oversaw the Inscribing the Five Thrones.

He looked Admiral MacLeod in the eye. After all, what kind of loyalty would I be showing if I allowed this ship to be launched with no blessings from the Gods?

MacLeod had arrived on the asteroid base and immediately felt he’d been neglectful of his new Shadow Operations team. The accommodations were horrendous. They’d stuck his team on a desolate, outdated, overused mining asteroid smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

The facilities were being updated, with more than 50 percent of the work completed on installation of new computers, screens, projectors and monitors. The base had a habitat area for all of the team and the crew of the Resurrection. There were also training holodecks, an armory, an infirmary, an engineering section for R&D and repairs facilities for the ship, a brig and a mess hall and recreational center.

The Situation Room was similar to the War Room aboard Fearless, with state-of-the-art electronics, holographic projectors and multiple access points for computer interfacing. MacLeod arrived and took his seat there, shuffling through a stack of data padds when he was approached by Ryramorl Ra’yral and Reepchip Charatetet.

Ryramoral he had gotten used to through previous interactions. But Reepchip was something else entirely. He had been hesitant to accept the Carnora insistence that Reepchip come along with Ryramorl when he was assigned back to Shadow Ops. Even after the diminutive Carnora had been around for several days now, it was still a difficult adjustment to make.

But when Reepchip approached him and recommended having Resurrection inscribed and blessed by a Carnora shaman, MacLeod had to carefully give his response.

I appreciate the gesture, ensign, MacLeod said, using Reepchip’s honorary rank. However, Starfleet hasn’t been in the practice of blessing ships for some time. You have to understand, the Federation is an organization made up of representatives of many diverse cultures. A blessing by a Carnora shaman may be acceptable to you and Ryramorl, but could offend the other cultural ways of the other races represented aboard this ship.

Before Reepchip could further make his case, MacLeod leaned forward slightly and said, Thank you, but no. Please be seated.

Jahkar arrived in the base Situation Room after settling into his quarters. The base reminded him of Klingon accommodations, spartan and devoid of much decor. They would be sufficient, though he found it amusing Shadow Operations had gone from being the cream of the crop in its heyday, to the sparse, secretive surroundings they’d been give on Ops Base One.

The Klingon-Romulan wore Marine fatigues, his hair pulled back in a ponytail, as he stepped into the room and took his seat. He was curious about what their assignment would entail, but he had a sneaking suspicion it would address the ongoing turmoil the Federation was facing.

The biggest question to Jahkar was whether they’d be dealing with the Klingon threat Vree had dealt with prior to being recalled to Shadow Ops, or if it would be some other aspect of this giant mess.

The rest of the afternoon Daryl spent in Engineering, talking with engineers about the new systems onboard of the Resurrection, but mainly about the coaxial warp drive...it still was experimental and not as trustworthy as a regular warp drive. It also had some unpleasant side effects when travelling in the higher factors, like nausea and disorientation.

The engineers gave some hints how to prevent that, and Daryl had made a mental note about that. As it was almost 1600 hours, he made his way to the Situation Room to attend the mission briefing.

As he entered, Jahkar, Ryramorl and the smaller Carnora were already seated. Daryl sat down, waiting for the rest and the briefing to begin.

Once they were all assembled, MacLeod began his briefing of the team. Projected up from the table was a holographic image of a white planet, with some areas of blue and brown visible. Data projected up alongside the image, identifying the orb as Andoria Prime.

There has been another round of unrest and riots in the Federation, this time on Andoria Prime, said MacLeod. The Andorians report a terrorist organization calling itself the Andorian Revolutionary Front has been wreaking havoc on Andoria Primes for several months now. In just the past week they blew up a Starfleet recruiting center on Prime, killing six people. They have also detonated a bomb in a crowded nightclub in the Andorian capital, killing 37, 14 of those being young Starfleet and Federation personnel.

MacLeod changed the holographic images floating above the conference table from the peaceful picture of the white orb of Andoria to scenes of violence in the streets of the planet’s capital. Andorians in the streets clashing with security personnel, hover vehicles on fire and exchanges of phaser fire in the streets.

Andorian Security Forces hit back at the ARF, sparking riots in the streets for the past several days, MacLeod continued. So far there are 52 dead, 130 injured and more than 400 arrests in three nights of rioting.

The ARF is advocating Andorian withdrawal from the Federation, re-establishment of the Andorian Empire and the removal of all non-Andorians from their homeworld, said MacLeod. While using violent tactics, they have still managed to gain the support of many Andorians, especially among the younger population.

Your mission will be to travel to Andoria Prime, locate the leadership of the ARF and try to bring them down, said MacLeod. We need prisoners. Andorians high up in this organization who might be able to provide us connect the ARF to the rest of the unrest throughout the quadrant. So you’re going to need to find a way to neutralize those explosive devices in the heads of the ARF leadership, assuming they are like the other groups Starfleet Intelligence has encountered.

MacLeod looked around the room, Questions? Now would be the best time to ask. And we have an expert on Andorian culture here, so I would ask Ensign Sh’avelith to feel free to offer any insights she has at this point and to be open for questions.