Alternative approach

Posted on Fri Nov 25th, 2016 @ 12:10pm by Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Bertrand Cuprum

Mission: Smoke and Mirrors
Location: Colonial Records Office
Timeline: Led t

Elijah had Kilbane with him as the two of them made their way to the Records Office of the Colony. The Captain felt that another talk with the Ministers was futile so he and Lieutenant Kilbane had decided to try their luck somewhere else.

"I wonder how many Starfleet Captains essentially commit a break in to gather intelligence?" He asked with a shrug as the two of them approached the office.

As they walked, Kevin thought for a moment on how to reply, "Well, with yourself Sir, you're liberating information not forthcoming from the adjudicative grouping of personnel indicative to the situation pertaining to the relevant oversight of perpendicular collective circumstances....or in plain speech, you're stealing information because the assembly basically didn't answer your questions on what happened to cause the current circumstance on this planet."

The Captain nodded. "A worthwhile endeavour." The two of them proceeded inside the Records building to begin their search. Elijah noticed the multiple floors of the Records Office with a small desk meeting them at the front.

With there being no-one around that he could see, Kevin studied the information on the desk that explained the layout of what was on each floor. He went through it three times, then turned to the Captain.

"What we're looking for isn't listed Sir" he said "not that it would have a listing labeled 'Items to be stolen', therefor, we have to assume that what we need is hidden."

He couldn't help feeling that what he'd just said was a "Teaching your grandmother to suck eggs" moment, however, he'd needed to point it out so that he could further explain how he thought they could proceed.

"Now, the normal thought process is that if you want to hide something, you hide it away, underground, out of reach and out of the way, but....... I have a gut feeling the people on this planet don't do things in a way that we would see as 'the norm', far from it!"

He looked upwards and said "My gut tells me that they'd hide it out of the way....somewhere up on the upper levels."

The Captain nodded. "We will need a distraction to get us there, how is your flair for dramatics Lieutenant?"

"Oh, Noel Coward's not a spec on me Sir..." Kevin said, moving past the Captain.

Striding purposely, he headed towards a door that he'd saw open a man come through and begin to walk up the hall where they were.

"You!" Kevin shouted at the man.

The man stopped in his tracks and turned at the voice.

Kevin kept up his pace "You, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing leaving us waiting here for nearly two time cycles!!!"

"What?" the man asked confused.

"YOU are the on duty register aren't you?" Kevin asked.

"Well, y...ye...yes" the man answered.

"Then you were supposed to be here two time cycles ago to meet the Arbiter here" Kevin said, gesturing to Elijah, where the hell have you been man, this is an outrage, heads will roll!!!"

"I didn't...that is to say, no-one said...there was no...." the man stumbled.

"Don't give me your woes" Kevin shouted "Just do your bloody job, and be quick about it!!!"

"Yes...yes, my job..." the man replied meekly, "Can you just remind me what it was the Arbiter needed again?"

Kevin looked like he was about to have a seizure, the veins on his neck and temples bulged and his face went an odd shade of purple as he screeched "ACCESS TO THE ASSEMBLY FILES YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!"

The man swallowed several times and replied "Yes, certainly, right away, if you'll just step this way I can show y..."

"Just tell us where they are, then leave us in peace, we have the references of the files we're looking for" Kevin said.

"Ah, um...it's just, we're not meant to leave anyone alone with the Assembly files, in case...." the man began to reply.

"In case of what...are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting, are you trying to say the Arbiter will steal them???" Kevin now shouted, whipping himself up into yet another fervor.

"No, absolutely NOT!" the man shot back.

"Then get us access to the files, NOW!" Kevin said "and if you're lucky, very lucky, and the Arbiter is in a kind mood, he may not report you for obstruction of due process!"

"Take the lift to level sixteen, the Assembly files can be found in sections one through forty eight" the man almost whispered.

"Right, away you go, and think yourself lucky we finally found you" Kevin said "and if I were you, I'd keep my head down for the next five or ten time cycles so we don't see you again!"

"Yes, of course...." the man said, scuttling away.

Once he was out of sight, Kevin walked back to Elijah and said "Was that enough dramatic flair for you Captain?"

The Captain looked at him. "Secretly I think you enjoyed that." He said with a chuckle as they proceeded to the Lift. "The question now is can we find what we are looking for."

Kevin didn't hide the fact that he'd enjoyed his little skit with the man from the Records office, but he did have a question for the Captain.

"Sir, I wasn't in the assembly meeting with you before, so, can I ask what it is we're actually looking for?"

"We're looking for proof that something is wrong with this Colony, unusual activities, transmissions or things of that nature." Elijah said as they entered the area they needed access to. "I'll start on the Computer terminals, you try the hard copies of the Data banks."

"Right you are! Kevin replied.

About twenty minutes later, he cam back to Elijah and said "Sir, There seems to be an awful lot of coded messages to someone with the reference 'open strides' regarding 'the mixture'. Now, the focal point of the message is a relay buoy, but I can't figure out why they'd send it short range, unless they wer.......wait a moment, that reference, it's familiar."

The Captain took a look. "That's strange.......Have you seen this?" He pulled up something on his terminal and highlighted a reference. "The Federation Signal was only recently acquired for use, somebody either gave it to them or allowed it to be found."

Kevin looked at the screen and said "Very strange indeed Sir, I wonder if it has anything to do with what's on the hard copie.....", then he stopped talking and looked sharply at Elijah.

"Wait a minute...no, surely it can't be...I mean, that would just be purely coincidental wouldn't it...it really couldn't be so easy and obvious!" he babbled.

He leafed back through the hard copies he had with him, then looked at the screen again "I'll be damned....'open strides'...a Federation signal being acquired..."

He paused again for a moment and shook his head as if in disbelief "Captain, open strides are also refered to as 'gates', as in the way someone walks, and we also have a Federation signal! Sir, I could just be blowing smoke out of my backside here, but what if these references are about Admiral 'Gates', would it be so obvious?" he asked quizzically.

"Download what you can Lieutenant." Elijah said to Kevin. "We have outstayed our welcome here, so we best get moving."

"Aye Sir" Kevin replied, taking his tri-corder and beginning to download information from the terminal Elijah had been using. He then sifted through the hard copies he had with him, setting aside those that had any references to 'open strides' and also a Federation signal, and scanned them. Finally, he placed the hard copies back where he had found them and rejoined his CO.

Elijah pressed his Commbadge. "Michaels to Cuprum we found some interesting information in the records office."

Bertrand's voice came back from the ship, "That's what we were hoping for, Sir. You should be aware, there appears to be a large delegation moving to your location. If it didn't have some of the Counselors and security forces in it I would almost call it an angry mob."

Kevin looked at Elijah and with a wry smile on his face asked "Should I show my flare for dramatics again Sir?"

"Set Phasers to maximum stun." He said with a nod to Kevin.

Kevin required no second invitation, and at once produced his phaser and set it on wide angle dispersement , heavy stun.

"Number One, have all Away Teams converge on the Main Square for Beam Out," Elijah said as he and Kevin picked up their information. "Have Warrant Officer Kilvarn and Gamma Team close up Triage and set up a Perimeter."

"Aye, sir. The Marines are on their way. I am having difficulty getting tot he Mine team as they are underground at present."

There was a hammering on the heavy wooden door 16 floors below them. The poor harassed Clerk had been turning on the lights as evening was setting in and now moved to open the doors. As soon as the latch was open the doors burst open and the Clerk was swept up by the Mob.

"Where are they?" the red face in front of him demanded.

"The... You mean... Floor sixteen..." he squeaked.

Elijah looked down. "We can't get out that way......Any ideas?"

~Nothing like being put on the spot~ Kevin thought to himself. Actually, he didn't mind, it concentrated his thought process!

He quickly scanned around the floor they were on. So far as he could tell, there was no stairway, and no access hatches they could use to escape through. All windows were reasonably high up the walls and they were long and thin, so more could be looked at like vents more than windows.

Time was ticking by and his brain was working at full capacity.

~The lift carrying the angry mob is coming ever close....~, then he had it!

He turned to Elijah and said "We need to create the illusion we've vanished into thin air, so here's what we're going to do. This is a no if's or but's, we seriously need to do this or we're toast. We'll open up the lift doors over there, climb through and hold onto what we can till the lifts nearly at out floor. As it approaches, we'll let the doors close again, and 'gently' step onto the lifts roof and wait there. When the mob get's out, searches the floor they thought we were on and believe we've disappeared, they'll get back in the lift and go down to the ground floor again. We mustn't make a single noise as this is happening, or when they disembark from the lift at the bottom. We'll then wait a good half hour before we attempt to climb down through the roof hatch into the lift, and get out through the doors and into the main hall."

Elijah nodded. "We have no other choice." He said to Kevin as the two Officers didn't fancy being at the mercy of the Angry Mob that were looking for them.

Kevin nodded and made his way over to the lift. He found the manual release, activated it and was glad to see a gap appear as the doors opened slightly. Slipping his fingers gingerly between them, he pulled them apart and looked inside the shaft. There was enough of a space in the surround to offer room for him and Elijah to stand on as they waited on the lift to come up to their floor.

He gestured to the Captain that he was going onto the surround on one side and that Elijah should stand opposite him. Once they were safely on the surround, Kevin used the emergency keypad inside the shaft to close the lift doors and seal them again.

Looking down, he saw the lift approach them, and he calculated roughly in his head how long they had. Looking over at the CO he gestured that after three, the two of them should step quietly onto the lift roof. He waited, and waited, then held up his hand with three fingers showing.

Three, two, one, now.......and the two officers stepped onto the lift roof as it slowed down.

They could hear angry shouts and calls. Minutes passed as the disenchanted mob searched every place on the floor to try and find them, then eventually someone called thee search off. The mob couldn't believe the two they were after had disappeared into thin air!

All of them clambered back into the lift and it returned to the ground floor. Once they had all gotten out, Kevin once again gestured to Elijah that they should wait a few minutes before coming out into the lift themselves, just in case one or two of the mob had set a trap.

They waited a full, nerve wracking, ten minutes before they clambered down into the lift then ventured out into the corridor. It was all clear, and Kevin let out a sigh of relief, saying "I think they've gone looking elsewhere for us Sir."

Elijah nodded. "I hope the others are alright." It was startling to belief that after all this time on the Planet the natives could turn hostile.

"Come on we need to get to the Main Square." Elijah tossed Kevin the downloaded information in the form of a Datachip. "Guard that with your life, if anyone other than myself, Cordale or Bertrand asks for it.....Stun them."

Kevin caught the datachip, and putting it away safely replied "Yes Sir."

The two officers moved off quietly towards the Main square, and as they went, Kevin couldn't help but think there was more to this planet than met the eye....