Shadow Operations: Resurrection
Season 2 Episode 3
Exploring Options
Jan. 25, 2019

With his offer declined, Reepchip obediently sat down. MacLeod could see at once why Reepchip originally stood in his chair: The Muran was so tiny he could barely see over the top of the table. With an apologetic chitter, he resumed standing in his seat.

After the briefing, Reepchip raised his paw. Do we have anything like these explosive devices we can experiment with, or any specs we can study? He then remembered something he’d learned while in Starfleet Academy. Also... isn’t there a strain of Andorian that has telepathy? Is there a possibility one of them is mixed up in this?

Ryramorl also had a question. What promises are being made to the youth by the revolutionaries? The fact that this revolutionary group were attracting the young came as no surprise to him; during the last days of the Carnora Republic the same thing had happened.

MacLeod listened to Reepchip and suddenly found it incredibly surreal to be talking to a creature of such diminutive size. He had no doubt the Carnora could handle itself in a fight, but his size and animal-like appearance made it hard to see him as anything but a... pet or mascot.

Collecting himself, the Scot moved ahead to attempt to answer Reepchip’s questions.

He slid a data padd across the table to the Carnora, Here is Starfleet Inteliigence’s analysis of the explosive compound. We don’t have an actual sample here, but this should offer some explanations.

MacLeod looked over to Tiri, I’ll let the ensign address the matter of Andorian telepaths. I am not aware of any involved in this. As far as promises being made by the revolutionaries—they are promising all Andorians freedom from Federation rule. A restoration of Andorian power and the removal of aliens from their world. For some Andorians, including many of their young people, it is an alluring prospect.

Cody watched the holographic feeds from the riots while he listened to Admiral MacLeod’s briefing. When he heard their assignment, he was somewhat surprised. When MacLeod asked for questions, Cody spoke up. Sir, assuming the ARF would probably only have Andorians within their ranks, how are we supposed to come near this ARF, let alone infiltrate and take the high placed persons in custody ? I mean, they want any non Andorian off the planet. So I assume we aren’t very welcome. Are we supposed to undergo sophisticated surgery to look like Andorians?

Daryl piped in. Aside from that, the way I see it, we aren’t dealing with some regular terrorist cell. These guys seem to be very well organized and we should thread carefully when going the surgical way. I mean, one simple DNA scan and there goes our cover. If so, this needs to go deeper, we would need to modify our personal shield generators to mask our human profiles, so we really look as Andorians, even when being scanned. But I assume that would rule out Ryramorl and Reepchip Daryl glanced sideways to the big Carnora. I think it’s a long shot to go the surgical way. Stealth all the way would be my suggestion. We did that before.

Mayla looked over briefly to Sh’avelith, now seeing the reason why the Andorian was part of the team. Then looked over to Railius who gave her a slight nod and coming to the same conclusion. They were going to have to infiltrate the ARF, find out who the leaders are, disable the explosive implants, and then extract them.

Ensign Sh’avelith, from looking at the data we have now, what is the best way to infiltrate the ARF since you are the only Andorian in the team. Would we stand out too much and raise too many suspicions? Mayla asked their resident Andorian.

Sh’avelith was in shock. The mission was to be her homeworld. And the target was the organization her brother had told her about just hours earlier. When Vree spoke to her, the Andorian quickly left her surprise behind, and realized she would be pivotal to this assignment.

She looked to Vree, I’ve heard of this group. My brother spoke of them in a conversation we had just a few hours ago. I’ve heard of them before. They are strictly an Andorian group. They believe in Andorian purism.

She glanced to Reepchip. The telepathic Andorians you speak of are the Aenar. They have white skin and are blind. They are rare in our society. It is unlikely one would be a part of this, but possible.

Mayla took a tally in her head as she looked at her team. There are some of us here that would immediately raise suspicions once we begin prodding the ARF. Admiral, my suggestion is to split the team into two teams; a primary team to infiltrate the ARF and the other will provide overwatch and support. She gave each of those members a nod. Commander Railius will lead the infiltration team with Sh’avelith, Jahkar, Ra’yral, and Charatetet. I will lead the support team of Thompson and Preet. Beckett will remain on board and research how to disable the explosives.

Beckett started to object. No offense Lieutenant, but humans and Trill will stand out too much as Starfleet, and we don’t want to expose the other team members as Starfleet by keeping together. And of the three of you, you are the only one without combat and infiltration training. So you will remain on board and research those explosives based on whatever data the Admiral can provide. The rest of us will provide overwatch support for the infiltration team. We will be in full combat gear and will leapfrog our positions to cover the rest of the team if they are to get into any trouble.

Commander, if I may, Sh’avelith began. I would be the only one in the team capable of infiltration, if that is the route you wish to take. We could alter the appearances of some team members to make them look Andorian, but my people are very suspicious by nature. It will be difficult to make non-Andorians pass.

She looked at Vree, This group is ruthless. They are devoted to their cause and they will stop at nothing to accomplish their mission. My suggestion, as an Andorian, is to find them and hit them hard. Hopefully to take prisoners. That’s just my personal assessment, commander.

Beckett sighed. He was disappointed, but Vree was right, he didn’t have any training nor experience in that field. Well, back to science then. Guess he had to wait a little longer before getting any real action. Since the Resurrection had an impressive sensor array, maybe he could help the team a little more with surveilling the area they were in.

Well. His first real field assignment since very long. He felt excited about the idea to go back into the field. Especially since it would be a stealth mission. Though he also felt a little reluctant. Well, there was no way back now. He focused again on the conversation and pushed the reluctancy aside.

OOC Note: 100 Passings would be a little less than 77 UFP years.

Ryramorl listened carefully. Most Andorians I’ve met aren’t nearly as tall as I am and my tail’s a little hard to hide, he pointed out to Daryl. And Reepchip... —he glanced at the long-tailed Muran—well, I don’t know of any sentient species as small as his, and I’ve met more than most. He then licked his canines in thought. If it helps at all, he said, The Carnora aren’t a well-known race and if anyone knows about the Carnora, they know about the Olvern because of me and Talsyn’s gang, maybe about the Usarin if they knew of the late Oldragus. Reepchip’s only been a cadet at Starfleet Academy, nothing more. There is an old trick the Carnora pulled once about 100 Passings ago when dealing with another race—we had the Muran pose as our pets. If Sh’avelith needs to be in public, Reepchip could pose as some pet she picked up offworld.

Andorian purity is going to cause a problem, Mayla said looking at Sh’avelith and then to her team of mixed races. I’m not comfortable sending you in alone to infiltrate the ARF despite having the whole team as your backup. If comms are disrupted, you are entirely on your own.

Railius’ face was neutral, both of their minds going back to Sh’avelith’s dossier, which Mayla brought up in her eyes to peruse. The file shows her being an active operative for Starfleet Intelligence. Maybe she can do it on her own. But it still made her uneasy to send the Andorian in alone.

She looked to each member of her team again, then to Lazarus, who then gave her a tight lipped frown and a nod. She took a deep breath and let it out. If we can be made up to look Andorian, and pass a genetic scan, would that suffice to pass as one of them?

That would work. But if they take a DNA sample and test it in the lab, your cover would be compromised. Sh’avelith said.

But generally, once a scan shows Andorian genetic make up, why would they even bother testing a DNA sample? Mayla asked.

There’s always the possibility. the Andorian answered.

I have nanites in my DNA that allow me to effect a genetic camouflage. Mayla said quietly. They can be programmed to make my lifeform scan as Andorian.

And that classified information is not to leave this room, Captain Lazarus said sternly, giving a respectful nod to Admiral MacLeod.

The group sat in silence after that admission and declaration. They had questions about it, but after Lazarus’ gruff statement of confidentiality, no one deemed it worthy to question the man.

If Sh’avelith agrees it would work, I will accompany her down to Andoria Prime and be her backup. I also want Jahkar and Charatetet to provide overwatch tactical support and surveillance for both of us while we are on planet.

I want the rest of the team geared up while you stay on board the ship and wait. You will all be deployable immediately if the need arises. We need to hit them hard and fast.

And during that time, you all will assist Commander Railius on investigating how these particular sites have been exploited and infiltrated for the ARF to place a bomb in them. Maybe you can try to track where these suicide bombers are coming from. Use whatever surveillance footage you can get from the government. And just maybe, you might prevent the next incident.

But first and foremost, you will need to find a way to disrupt the signal to prevent those explosives detonating in the ARF member’s heads. That is your first task. We can’t interrogate anyone we catch if they die once in our custody.

Mayla looked to Sh’avelith if she had any other suggestions or input.

Reepchip couldn’t help but wonder what other surprises his new companions were hiding, but he was grateful that Commander Vree hadn’t agreed to the frankly humiliating dodge of posing as a mere animal. He spoke up. Will Jahkar and I be on the planet with you, then? he asked.

Vree gave him a nod. Yes, you both will be shadowing us wherever we go within reason to observe and report to us what you see. I like to know what’s going on around us. If we get into any serious trouble we can’t get out of, we’ll call you in.

Reepchip nervously shifted a bit, but Ryramorl looked at Sh’avelith. What are the ceilings in these places like? He got a number of strange looks, so he pointed up at the mouldings and fixtures on the Briefing Room ceiling. Reepchip could probably go from one corner of this room to the opposite and never touch the floor. One of my old profs at Starfleet Academy tells me that he scared her to hissing by hiding up in the ceiling. Reepchip’s slight cringe revealed that this had indeed happened. Furthermore, Ryramorl continued, in the Carnora Special Forces, that’s the role a lot of Muran take—taking a look from above. And I know sneaking through an air duct is a ridiculous cliche in old Earth movies, but... He looked at the slender, 33”-tall, 18-pound Muran, and felt he had to say no more.

He was also considering some of the tactics that the Special Forces used, and then asked, Do you know if these micro-explosives that you told us about back on Starbase 450 are triggered from afar, or by the operatives themselves? He was already thinking of looking up Andorian drugs—these operatives were less likely to trigger their suicide device if their brains were romancing the Clouds of the Prince.

T’Aayla kept her face neutral at the revelation of Commander Vree’s nanites. Had Starfleet been experimenting with Borg technology? Interesting. Apparently, the lessons of Khan Noonian Singh had been lost on Starfleet if they were developing enhanced or genetically engineered soldiers. Her 3xgreat grandfather had nearly been killed by such a creation and her interest was piqued by this new revelation. Again, she thought... . Interesting, but remained neutral. Still, it was good information to have. She wondered what else the Trill was hiding. It would be proper Rihansuu protocol to attempt to find out.

There is a significant probability that both of you will be compromised and caught, she announced. We should prepare for that eventuality and use it to our advantage. If you succeed, great, however in the case that you are caught, that will put you in close proximity to members of this terrorist cell as they will most likely prefer to interrogate you before outright killing you, so that they may understand who is attempting to infiltrate them. I’d suggest we also implant our own devices that would allow us to not only transport you, but those in close proximity to you, back to the ship. If we can use a transporter enhancer to lock onto any terrorist you come in contact with, such that we could beam through their shields or other scrambling devices, we could hold them in the transporter buffer, filter out all non-organic compounds and materialize them without their suicide devices. An implant would need to appear as a cybernetic enhancement, perhaps two that individually would not appear as a transport enhancer but combined would operate as such. At the very least we would need something that could act as a beacon that would allow an exfiltration team to recover you. That would be prudent. Given the terrorists penchant for self-immolation, it appears that a stasis field or transporter containment would work best to neutralize their suicide devices. We’ll give it more thought and research while you are both on planet.

Jahkar had listened to the ongoing conversation and had been mentally taking notes. He referred to the background data provided on the padds laying on the table and quickly reviewed some facts about Andoria.

When there was a lull in the conversation, he decided to speak up, Andorian cities are underground. Correct?

Sh’avelith looked to the half-Klingon, half-Romulan and nodded, Yes. All major cities are underground. They utilize the planet’s geo-thermal heat. For those of you who do not know, Andoria is an ice world.

Jahkar looked to the rest of the team, Andorian cities are tightly packed in subterranean caverns. Overwatch will be difficult. But we can remain close to Sh’avelith and Vree if they infiltrate. If we keep a lock on them, I can lead the support team on a site-to-site transport to their location.

Cody shook his head as he heard of Jahkar’s plan.

I’m sorry Colonel. Cody said. But site-to-site transports will be picked up by any sensor grid in the vicinity. Unless...we can modify the portable transporter relays to use a phased cloak, like the Resurrection has. Cody thought for a few seconds, running some numbers through his head. With a few modifications, we could even use the main deflector dish of the Resurrection as an ACB (Annular Confinement Beam) relay.. We might have to modify our personal cloaks as well, to align with the transporter emitters so there won’t be any glitch in their readings.

Cody nodded, after running a quick check on his padd. Yeah, that could work. Only things we need to take into account is that the thick layers of ice might cause some interference. Once we get there, we might have to check if the Resurrection can get the transporter signal deep enough into the planet’s subterranean cities.

OOC: I assume AI has taken a leap since the old days in SO and that we have access to advanced AI.

Daryl was thinking how to prevent captured members of the ARF from blowing themselves up. First, they had to figure out how the implants worked. Where they triggered through certain events automatically? Did the person in case actually commit suicide by activating the device in some way? Or were they remotely detonated? It was all possible. Once they captured someone, the need of a strong stasis and a dampening field would be needed to prevent triggering the explosive device. Daryl tasked his personal AI to come up with a list of these cybernetic implants in combination with small explosive implants. Then he focused back on the briefing.

Jahkar listened to the others planning the mission and a thought occurred to him. When there was an opportunity, he spoke.

Maybe we’re looking at this wrong, said the Marine. We are considering options to infiltrate this group. The best chance we have of that is Ensign Sh’avelith and maybe Commander Vree. But this team is, essentially, the very thing these terrorists want off their planet. We are collectively a walking target.

If we put ourselves out on the streets of the capital, how long do you think it will be, in this current climate of hate and unrest, before the terrorists come gunning for us? They’ll come right to us, and we can be ready for them. We bait them in and then strike, take them down and possibly get prisoners.

The half-Romulan/Klingon looked around, gauging the reactions of his teammates.