The Fifth Horsemen

Posted on Thu Mar 23rd, 2017 @ 3:08am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor
Edited on on Thu Mar 23rd, 2017 @ 3:18am

Mission: All the Kings Men: Wargames
Location: Cosmos - Engineering, others

It wasn’t a source of pride and newly minted Marine Captain Christian Rogers was sure that some people would be appalled to learn that Marines had training scenarios and specific advanced training courses on how to invade and capture a Starfleet vessel. Some people, Rogers believed, like a certain acting captain that needed to lighten up – a whole lot – would be horrified to learn this, as a certain acting captain that he refused to name even mentally because he was a Betazoid and could read thoughts. He was sure, however, that as soon as a certain acting captain learned that Rogers not only participated in, but designed and led, training on how to take over a starship, he’d be facing even more charges.

Since a certain needs to lighten up acting captain with the rather large stick up the rectum acting captain was already charging him with each and every UCMJ code he’d ever heard of, Rogers wasn’t going to worry about gaining further charges…except ones that would matter. His orders were to take out the ship with minimal casualties, which meant he’d given the order that all weapons were to remain on stun, unless absolutely necessary to save Marine lives. Which, considering their training and what they were facing, shouldn’t come to it.

There were considerations he’d have to make. This ship was a rogue Starfleet vessel, which meant he had to consider there were going to be a higher than normal amount of combatants aboard, but he could account for that. He didn’t believe there’d be another Marine squad aboard. If they faced anything, it’d be enemies wearing Marine uniforms. No actual Marines would be so dishonorable to the Corps as to rebel against the Federation. Anyone that did so gave up the right to be called “Marine” the moment they made that decision. If he found people wearing Marine uniforms, they would be treated more harshly than anyone else on the ship.

Aside from that, he believed he had the superior numbers in well-trained, experienced warriors. This was what they trained for, this is why they existed. And the security chief with his ‘why does the Victory even have Marines’ will not only be damned but will see why it was that the Victory had Marines. He may not have superior weapons, but the time these warriors put into their training with them made those weapons superior. He had superior armor, in this incident it would be the riot armor rather than the full on combat armor. It would allow them to move more silently, quicker, but had several built in functions required to take over another vessel, including Starfleet. Most important would be the half-facial masks to help create an EVA system, to avoid any ‘knockout’ gasses, grounding wires to help protect from shocks, energy absorbing and dispersing fibrous systems for temperature extremes, high resistance to even plasma level heat sources.

He had at least two combat trained medics with him, which was crucial to his plans. He also had several specially trained Marines, who worried that their advanced training would never come in necessary. Today would reveal just how well they did in their trainings in real world situations rather than just more training scenarios.

All in all, except for the reasons they were there, Christian had faith that the orders he was given by –

He wasn’t sure if he had to keep using the metaphors or could use the name now so just shrugged and moved on. He would prove the superiority of Marines in these type of assignments and help bring to justice those that threw away their honor, commitment and loyalty to the Federation.

In that vein, he passed on the ‘go’ order as soon as Cuprum gave it to him. He had his own people manning the trasnporters for this, using their training. First, they did modulate the shield harmonics because they didn’t care to waste the time on the Victory’s shields when they had to time the beam outs with the rotating shield frequencies of the Cosmos.

To that end, he could only transport himself and two squads on the first beam out. That was planned, others would come in afterwards.

But two squads should be enough to create the initial shock and awe, as well as throw the area into chaos giving them the upper edge.

“Go!” he ordered as they materialized on the two decks of the Cosmos’s Engineering department. The intruder alert klaxons were already blaring, having detected their beam in but even that should give them a second or two of additional time. That it was traditionally believed that transporters could not operate through shields gave them an upper hand where confusion was concerned.

Before he even finished the order, his sixteen Marines were already on the move. Phaser fire, set to maximum stun, were finding targets quickly dropping Engineers as quickly as possible. A few sonic grenades were also set off, set to alternating frequencies that caused those affected to vomit violently even as they were felled by sonic ‘tranqs’ that short-circuited their neural pathways. He heard the screams into the commlines of the ship, stating there were intruders in Engineering, but even as those warnings were cut mid-sentence, Rogers held no illusions the Bridge weren’t already aware of the intruders on the ship.

He figured he had seconds until the first of the security teams would arrive. The only question – where they professional enough to wait for their teams to merge and form a cohesive anti-intruder squad or were they going to try to be heroes on their own?

As the second squad beamed in, forming roughly half of the planned invasion force, they automatically moved to entrances to take out the first arrivals.

“Okay, where are we at with the systems takeover?” Rogers asked. No, he wasn’t worried about the forces the ship could throw at them, he was worried about their defensive systems. Internal weapons, security fields, anti-personnel measures. Those had to get knocked out and knocked out quickly.

“Working on it, Captain,” Kawolski shouted back even as he fired and took out a straggler – an engineering crewmember that tried to hide from their original attack. She fell to the deck, maybe a few minor secondary injuries in the form of contusions and minor lacerations. Acting Captain Needs to Lighten Up only said there couldn’t be casualties, he said nothing of wounded.

“Project Already There?” Rogers asked as he gave the hand signal to begin restraining and securing the stunned personnel.

“Downloading now, Captain,” Dawsyn said from one of the computer banks at the side of engineering.

“Incoming!” this was from second squad as phaser fire sounded off again. Rogers shook his head. He hoped they would have waited. They would now.

--Computer Core--

Ziyal stood over the two stunned computer technicians. The intruder alarm sounded due to the phaser fire in the computer core. She silenced it. Her hands flew over the keyboard as she desperately entered commands to lock the computer core down. The forcefield sprung to life to protect the computer core. It would prevent anyone from entering the computer core. At least until they destroyed the power couplings. She frowned at that thought, losing was not an option.

Once Captain Reinhalt realized that he was going to lose the ship, he was going to initiate a purge of the system. It was standard practice when surrendering a ship. Deny the enemy as much information as possible. While she had copied a lot of vital data out of the system, and onto PADDs in her quarters, there was too much valuable information still locked away in the computer's core.

At that moment, a second intruder alert sounded, from engineering. Ziyal switched her monitor over to watch as the well coordinated assualt took engineering. She smiled, well that solved one problem. Two of them were getting into the computer systems. She pulled up what they were doing, one of them was uploading a program of some sort. She trusted that they knew what they were doing, and gave the upload priority.

The second one was acessing the defensive systems. That was a harder nut to crack. It was designed to not be able to be taken over easily. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out a solution to the problem. She grinned as she solved it.

Kawolski was trying to access a schematic. She gave it to him, then indicated the changes he would need to make. Much fewer, thanks to her being in the core. She dashed towards a bank to start making the changes from her side.

--Engineering--

“Kawolski?” Rogers asked, watching the entrances as best he could, his people spread among the four ways in – five if one counted the turbolift, but, well, some of the first squad had that eventuality covered. It would be a shame, they didn’t want to destroy any of the ship if they could get away with it.

“Does maritime salvage laws apply if you’re taking over the ship on orders?” he mused over the open comm line that included the Victory. He shifted it back to ‘monitor only’ mode after he asked.

“Almost there,” Kawolski said, his upper body buried deep into the inner workings of a cabinet panel. A few colored isolinear chips sat haphazardly on the ground next to him. As Rogers watched, Kawolski flipped over so that he was on his back, the stiffer armor protecting him from the lip of the cabinet as he reached next to him, pulling out isolinear chips and putting them back in a specific order.

“Dawsyn?” Rogers asked, gripping his rifle tighter. Time for the initial shock was running out.

“It's a big package, Captain,” Dawsyn’s respectful words couched in the “it’ll be done when I get it done” tone of every enlisted forced to speak to a micromanaging, idiot officer.

Rogers tried not to take offense but he was running out of time. If they didn’t get this done, then it didn’t matter their training and number superiority, they’d have to fight the ship every inch of the way – and leave the mop-up security teams at the same mercy. He wasn’t willing to let anyone that remained loyal to the Federation to come to harm if he could prevent it.

He heard an amplified shout of success, followed quickly by the meaty thud and muttered exclamations of surprise, pain and shame. “Okay, we’re in,” Kawolski said as he managed to get out of the compartment while probing his forehead. A thin scratch trickled blood but it shouldn’t have much of an affect on his ability to go forward. To the point where Rogers was going to let him decide on his own to call for a medic.

He noticed that his invasion force was now aboard this ship, the little more than eighty Marines, each and every one vital to the success of this mission, even if some of their skills were duplicated. Redundancy was key at this point.

“Got it, Trojan accepted and active,” Dawsyn said as he disconnected his portable interface and was hastily stuffing it back into his rucksack.

“Internal defenses are under your command,” Kawolski said, handing over a control nodule that attached to the lower arm of the armor they were wearing. The controls were simplified and the icons large to accommodate gloves, but it would work. Rogers glanced at the screen, then made a few quick taps before the security field came up, cutting off the alcove that contained the main isolinear command chips.

If only they were able to take over the entire ship this way, but there were too many failsafes that prevented that. “How are we down there?”

“Initial force down,” Sergeant Maximoff stated, “but there weren’t enough for comfort.”

“Prepare to move out,” Rogers said as he turned back to Dawsyn. “What about Failsafe?”

“Ticking down now, Captain,” Dawsyn said, giving a very worried glance toward the warp core. Already it seemed the primary power plant to the ship seemed to be winding down. “They’ll still have enough power for weapons and shields for another three minutes. Then, if we’re not done by then, it’ll be a fight again.”

Rogers nodded, but felt himself grinning. This is what he lived for – the epicenter of everything he loved. “Alright, good to go.” He switched the internal comm to the mainline. “Victory, Engineering secured, you should be able to commence security beam in to hold this section within three minutes, please monitor. Ship weapons should go offline within three minutes as well, once the shield’s go down.”

"Acknowledged," Bertrand's voice came over. "Be aware. We have reason to believe that the Crew have been augmenting their systems with non-standard tech, especially in regards to power regulation. Don't rely on them not having power."

"Understood, Commander," Rogers said as he looked again to the warp core. "After three minutes, won't be an issue."

--Computer Core--

Ziyal shouted in exaultation as they took the defensive systems down. She dashed back to the station to see that the Marine's program was already running. She smiled and started to open up a line to the officer in charge of the Marines. However, at that moment, a line of light seared past her right shoulder, destroying her terminal.

She spun around, firing her own phaser at the security member who was there. She had no idea how he had gotten in, but there were more behind him and the forcefield she had put up was down. She dove for cover as they fired at her. She set her phaser for a wide beam and swept the corridor blindly. She had managed to take out this security team, but ultimately she would be no match for them without the forcefield. The central computer was too important.

--Engineering--

Rogers opened up and added the internal comm systems of the Cosmos. “To the faithless, disloyal and dishonorable former Starfleet personnel of this ship,” he started off. That he was passionate about what he’d been told of their feckless behavior completely evident in both words and tone, “This is Starfleet Marine Captain Christian Rogers. You are hereby ordered to stand down, set aside any and all weapons and prepare to be taken into custody. Failure to follow these orders will result in military action taken against you.” He failed to include that his orders were ‘stun’ only. That wouldn’t do much as a threat. “Any continuing hostilities or hostile actions against a member of my Marines or Starfleet personnel that have remained loyal to the Federation will be dealt with most harshly, as only Marines can. We are now headed for the Bridge, any attempting to stop us along the way will be considered enemy combatants and treated as such.”

Rogers cut the open mic as he gave the signal to begin moving out. The turbolift doors were forced open, a single concussive grenade thrown in. The ‘whoomp’ of destructive kinetic force blew the car apart, leaving a wide gaping opening where Marines began streaming into it, dropping into the hole. Others began moving out into the two decks.

--Computer Core--

On security monitors across the ship, the invasion force doubled, then tripled, with the vast majority of the invaders making their way to the Bridge.

Ziyal hoped that they were proving enough of a distraction as she desperately tried to log into the computer with her own authorization codes rather then those of the datatech who's untimely stunning had left his terminal open.

The internal comms opened and a voice came across, "This is Captain Reinhalt of the USS Cosmos. Not only are we every bit as loyal to the Federation as you, we are willing to do whatever it takes to secure victory against the Jenarrii while you just play games and chase shadows. We have activated the Intolocutor Device. You will now find your energy weapons and grenades are useless. I give you this warning as my men's weapons are still active, and i do not wish to see you or your men, needlessly hurt.

Ziyal swore as she finished her log in. They were going to need that. First things first though, she needed to get her own security fields back up. She spotted that they had too low of a priority, and so due to some sort of energy drain, had been deactivated. She guessed the program she had let load had done it. She reprioritzed them just as another team of security rounded the corner to run directly into it.

--Turbolift shafts--

The Marine closest to Rogers checked his weapon and reported, "Confirmed. Weapon non-functional. No jam detected."

Rogers checked his own weapon. "That would have been good to know, Kawolski! That they could do that!"

The Captain's voice continued, "I know this will not stop you; you are Marines and you pride yourself at being indomitable. So let me also inform you of this. Should you progress above deck twenty we will evacuate the atmosphere from deck 19 to 11. While that will not kill your team, it will kill a number of personnel who live in that section, including civilians. I ask you to consider carefully before you progress. We are not on opposite sides here."

There was a pause and then the voice spoke again, "One of the disadvantages of having a training program for boarding Starfleet vessels, is that program becomes easily accessible to the Admiralty. We are aware of your procedures."

"We did know!" Kawolski's voice came across the comms, from back in Engineering. "We've planned for it! I've been asking to fix our weapon's hardware to resolve this type of problem for some time, but it keeps getting denied because the ship's captain is too afraid of letting us run around with active weapons at all times. What we didn't know was they were using a separate system."

"How long until you get this fixed, and what about the threat to decks 11 to 19?" Rogers asked as he kept pushing forward. He had his orders, this didn't change that and he sure as hell wasn't going to retreat just because of this. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

"Leave off the rifles for now," Kawolski said, "and go to sidearms."

Rogers sighed. Sidearms. Projectile weapons. He'd argued the format for those weapons, but Beihns overruled him on it. Projectile weapons. "We're under orders regarding casualties," he said. He and the rest of the Marines trained to take out the threat. That meant lethal accuracy. He could pass out the order for non-lethal shots only...but you train like you play and when it came down to a firefight, muscle memory took over. He couldn't expect them to not kill enemy combatants in this case.

"Got that in mind, Captain," Kawolski cut in. "Gunny had'em checked out with the less than lethal ammo. Hard plastic with NMI circuitry. Unless you're really close or they're really stupid, shouldn't actually kill anyone. As for the atmo evac threat, we're secure in our controls of that. Part of the defensive system we took over. I've already locked out those controls."

Rogers nodded, but he wasn't smiling as big. "Reinhalt, save the speeches for your court martial," Rogers said as he continued crawling forward and checking the position of his teams. "You want to prove your loyalty to the Federation, surrender into custody now. My superiors are annoyingly hidebound to the UCMJ, you and all the rest of your co-conspirators."

--Computer Core--

Ziyal turned back to the computer as the security team tried to get through the forcefield she had errected. Their progress was slow, but inexorable. She took a breath as she watched the Marines on the screen switch to their sidearms. She recognized them as projectile weapons that the lock down would not effect. She could turn their weapons back on with a bit of effort, but it would be useless unless they knew that. She wished she had included some way of communicating with her in her message to Smith. However, that was already water under the bridge.

She took a breath and then opened a line of communication to Captain Rogers. "Captain Rodgers, I am Lieutenant Ziyal Tajor, I'll be more then happy to surrender to your men, soon as they get to the primary computer core. Until then, I've erected a few force fields to keep security out, but they won't hold forever." She said, quickly and calmly briefing him on her situation.

--Turbolift shafts--

"Who the hell?" Rogers asked himself, not really expecting anyone to not just take the easy 'surrender' way out but to actively offer assistance in their mission? Well, as he'd already said: improvise, adapt, overcome. While the person speaking to him, this Lieutenant Tajor, had a distinctively Cardassian flavor to her thoughts, he wasn't sensing deception from her. Though, Cardassian, on a rogue Starfleet ship? He didn't know her role on the ship, but the possibility of advanced mental training wasn't completely disregarded. He checked his internal reports. They'd find out very soon. "Lieutenant, you should have relief soon. Some men are just around the corner. If you're helping us, then do what you can to secure that computer core. Take it offline if you need to."

He switched comms. "Maximoff, that's your new priority package, make sure it gets delivered safely."

"Yes, sir," Maximoff said tersely. Rogers heard the pop of their weapons before the line cut off.

-- Computer Core --

As he was closing the comm lines, not bothering with stealth and secrecy since they were known on the ship and were invaders, Maximoff noticed a security team around the 'corner', firing at the security shields in an attempt to overload them enough to bring them down. He was sure they were close because they, unfortunately, were still blessed with energy weapons. He just had to trust Captain's plans were going to work and soon they'd have their own weapons back. All of them. In the meantime, as he signed off, he gave the signal to begin the firefight.

The first row were taken out, with some satisfaction Maximoff watched them stiffen and then fall straight to the deck. The NMI circuitry in the rounds wouldn't last long, but the had more than enough to take out this security group.

The security team, finding themselves faced with armed and trained intruders left off the security field in order to round on them. Maximoff let his team continue the firefight while he crouched and looked at the controls on his wrist module - one of the few given to each of the squad leaders. Tuned to his biometrics, he unlocked the screen, brought up the schematic for the section of ship he was in and then began hitting controls.

Phaser beams bounced off as he caught the security teams between the computer core and a secondary hall field. "Going atmo," he yelled over the popping of weapons.

"Aye, atmo," his squad sergeant answered. He heard the hiss of his own facial mask sealing and hoped the others did follow instructions, because he began filling the area between shields with anesthezine gas. The security teams began to realize their danger, but it was too late. Trapped by security fields, the transporter controls in invader hands, they had no choice but to wait and be affected.

It took a few seconds longer than Maximoff liked, but eventually the security team went down. Taking down the force fields, Maximoff's teams first went in, confiscated the weapons from the security team - giving them energy rifles once more - then secured them to take them out of the fight. Tagging each, he had them transported to the Engineering holding section.

"Arrived at pickup," Maximoff said over the internal comm to Rogers. Without giving any further warning, he overrode the security lockouts on the door and his team rushed into the computer core, ready to take out any resistance.

Ziyal sat at the terminal, quickly typing at it as she battled for control of the inhibitors. She glanced up at Maximoff as his men stormed into the computer core. She smiled slightly, still working quickly on the computer. "I'll be with you in a moment." She said, working to finish reversing the inhibitor.

"No, you'll put your hands up and step away from the console in three seconds or I'll stun the ever loving shit out of you," Maximoff said, the rifle already up and aimed. Two other followed suit while the remainder moved through the tiny room and began tearing panels off the wall to reveal large, rectangular blocks. "One..."

Ziyal did not look at him. "Your can't stun me with the Intolocutor Device up, so you might want to wait until I reverse it." Confidently presenting him with the information. She only had a few moments left before she completed the modifications, but if she could buy a second or two that would be good.

"I find that a blunt object hard enough to the back of the skull stuns the ever loving shit out of anything. However, these rifles, these aren't our rifles. We took them off some children in gold uniforms that are napping right outside the door. I'm betting they still work" Maximoff said as he fired off a blast just over her shoulder and hit the back wall. "Two..."

The others were beginning to disengage the lock tabs that kept the boxes in their cradles. A warning flashed very briefly and then was gone. As the boxes were lifted out, seemingly each one of some considerable weight, they were put into the rucksak of the Marine next to the removing Marine.

Ziyal had bought just enough time. She finished the program, and the Intolocutor Device reversed, locking out the ship security phaser rifles and unlocking the Marine's. She stepped back, raising her hands to surrender, somewhat pleased with herself that she had completed the program. However, the pleasant feeling went away when she saw the Marines removing the isoliniar banks. "Careful!" She warned, "You take this core's copy of the security systems offline, and it'll default to the secondary core and the security systems will come back under their control. If we have to, remove section K first, it has information that Starfleet Command needs to see."

"We're not removing the isolinear banks, just the backup data storage modules," Maximoff said, but nodded for them to grab the one she recommended. "Wouldn't want to take the computer system offline, it's working for us at the moment. Corporal Thane, your package."

Maximoff switched to his line with Thane. "Sir, this package is going to be a problem."

"You able to keep up with us?" Thane asked as he stepped over to Tajor and quickly clamped a flat silver bracelet the width of three fingers around a wrist. The other end was attached to his belt.

"I guess I'll have to. Although you can switch your weapons back now." Ziyal said unhappily.

-- Turbolift --

"Tell her to get in line, we've got others," Rogers said. He was about to say more when the comms were broken by another voice.

"This is Delta, heavy fire at torpedo storage, there are casualties, I think...I think Corporal de Lint may be dead. I need support and medics!"

-- Computer Core --

"Captain, I think we're the closest to there!" Maximoff said as he saw that his group was done with their mission here. As long as they got these backup modules to Starfleet, then the squints there could pore through the data and find that they needed to convict every guilty person on this ship.

-- Turbolift --

"Negative Gamma, continue with your orders and rendezvous with us at the Bridge. Beta, backup Delta, get those weapons out of commission before they can be used on the Victory or any other Federation ship."

"Aye, Captain," Sergeant Pratchett replied before his comm line was muted.

-- Computer Core --

"Aye, Captain," Maximoff said as he read his scanner. "We've got company anyway."

"Tajor is it?" Thane asked, his reptilian scales shimmering in the half light of the room, "I'm your shield and wall. You stay behind me at all times and keep yourself out of danger, Captain says you're a priority, so you get to our destination alive. I go down, then Lance Corporal Modesitt takes over for me and he's your shield. We're going to move hard and fast, so if you can't keep up, let me know and I'll carry you. Got it?" he asked, speaking quickly as he slung over his borrowed phaser in favor of his rifle. He'd named it Leia. "And don't try pulling some officer attitude bullshit with me, as of now and until Captain says otherwise, you're just a walking testimony, got all that?"

"Got it, but I'd appreciate having a phaser or something." She said unhappily. Her original one was disabled like all of the others on this ship. She looked at the PADD she managed to grab. On it was a feed from the security cameras.

"Okay, here they come, get ready," Maximoff said as he knelt by the door, only the barrel of his rifle sticking out. "Let's hope she was right about disabling their intraterrabang or whatever the hell it was!"

Ziyal nodded crouching behind Thane, "Six of them, left corridor. They are coming around the corner in Three... Two... One... Now!" She said, her voice sounding calm. This was the closest she had ever been to real firefight. One which she had come to unarmed. However, she found herself reacting as she had been trained, if not unafraid, then bravely.

"Less talking from you," Thane said, more a hiss, as he concentrated on firing on the enemy. It really wasn't fair, since the weapons lockout was reversed.

"Back to the turbolift shafts," Maximoff ordered after they secured yet another group of defenders of the ship. These weren't security so it was even less of a victory for them. "Isn't anyone on this ship going to see reason and surrender?" he growled.

"We're moving out, if you can't keep up, jump onto my back," Thane ordered Tajor, "And you have a PaDD, whatever you can do to help us out would be appreciated and do you good in getting on Captain's good side."

-- Armament Storage --

Pratchett was in the back, with Hannah, as they hurried to their new location. They discovered the firefight was heavy, which, as he understood it, should not be the case since their weapons - he was told - were back online and the ship's weapons off line. Yet, as they approached the tail end of Delta squad, they were definitely under fire.

"Sure, this group gets to take their weapons off-grid!" Pratchett growled.

"I see three down," Hannah said, crouching behind the wall, gripping his rifle. "Can't tell their condition from here. What the hell is that?" He pointed to an object attached to a wire that went right into an ODN junction. While it was still weak, there was a security field separating the Marines from ship's security, essentially protecting them from enough of the Marine fire to keep them going.

"Why doesn't anyone ever tell us about these things?" Pratchett said. He'd heard about, and seen images of, portable ship shield emitters, but didn't know anyone actually had them. Much less got them to be useful. But he'd heard what Reinhelt said about the admirality having access to tactics, why not schematics and equipment as well?

"Concentrate fire on that device!" Pratchett said, hoping they'd be able to take it out. He glanced at the time countdown on his wrist module and time was running out.

"Get me some covering fire!" Hannah said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and crouching to spring out as soon as he could.

"You're nuts," Pratchett said, but did as the corpsman wanted. With a few hand signals, his team changed from attacking the device, temporarily, to lying down fire to allow Hannah to close the gap to Delta squad. "Eight second bursts," he said, giving the corpsman the count. They'd fire for eight seconds, then lay off for eight seconds. That was the corpsman's time to move.

Hannah gave a thumbs up and began counting.

-- Turbolift --

"Captain," Dawsyn said, "I don't think we're going to make it timewise. We're not moving through the decks as quickly as we'd like."

This was in response to the laser field grids they were working on disabling. Who the hell would put these things in a turbolift shaft, he didn't know. One malfunction to activate these things and a turbolift, and any passengers inside, were cut to small square chunks.

"Then we'll adapt, we still have time after the countdown is complete," he said, noting they had only a minute left. "It's not ideal but we're not done here yet. Besides, we're almost there."

He expanded Delta team's biometrics, hoping something would be done to take the three out of the red.

"Good, tell it to the unannounced, unknown and completely idiotically placed phaser cannons up there," Dawsyn said. "I'm beginning to think Reinhelt wasn't lying when he said they knew what we were planning."

"Not all of it," Rogers said, noting a red blip in Beta squad. "But we'll have to take out those cannons, won't we?"

"Yes, sir," Dawsyn said.

Rogers sighed. "Kawolski, get your team ready to move out, you're being activated for option Charlie. Be aware of non-standard obstacles. Try to think like a blithering, psychotic that lost touch with reality."

"Starship captain?" Kawolski asked.

"Admiral level," Rogers answered as he placed shaped charges on the side of the turboshaft. Then, using the controls on the antigrav belt, he and his team lowered themselves to below the blast radius.

"Shit," Kawolski said over the comms.

Rogers smiled, it was how he felt. Activating the charges, he watched the sides of the turbolift shaft blow out, disabling the laser field. All he had to worry about now, for the next few seconds, was the phaser cannons.

"Rogers to Victory, is security ready to come over? They'll be coming in a bit hotter than I wanted, make sure they know that." He swallwed hard as a red blip went dark. He didn't need to hear the comm line report that one of his Marines was dead. He'd already seen that.

He also saw that scanners were showing over a hundred Marines converging on the Bridge.

"Rogers to Reinhelt, you fantatical piece of shit. You don't know everything. We'll be at the Bridge in less than a minute, then I'm coming for you."

"Thank you for the update, Captain Rogers," Reinhelt voice replied. "And my condolences for your losses. This could have been avoided if your people had been open to reason."

-- Deck 28 --

Kawoski wasn't at all happy. His rifle lying a few feet away from him, hands behind his head and on his knees. The other four Marines with him were in the same position. They'd left Engineering, at least they left a lot of nice little surprises should someone get past the security fields and other defences, which they still controlled. He hoped they remained and suspected that their efforts were aided from someone internal to the ship. Between his training and that help, he suspected the Bridge crew were unhappy about the loss of control.

Which didn't bode well for him in his current situation.

Trigger happy security forces were aiming weapons at them. Looking at them, Kawolski knew right away they weren't energy based weapons.

"Captain, we caught a group of Marines attempting to sabotage the deuterium tanks on Deck 28, what do you want us to do with them?"

Reinhelt voice came back, "Stun them. confiscate weapons and equipment. Monitor their activity. You will find a control device on their commanders hand which will give us access to the computer controls again. Don't kill the Marines. We are not at war with our own people."

"Which of you has the device?" the security officer asked. Kawolski stared at him, refusing to give up the wrist module. However, when the weapons were cocked and still pointed a them. He had to realize there could be 'problems' in the execution of orders, considering the level of psychosis running around this ship. The very idea that they were somehow 'saving' the Federation by betraying everything it stood for? No, he wasn't going to risk their lives on a stable and well followed command structure.

He also had his orders.

"It's not going to do you much good," Kawolski said as he slowly lifted his hands to remove the device from his wrist. He thumbed the dark screen just before tossing it over to the lead security officer.

The security officer nodded when he caught it, "Isometric controls. Naturally. Keyed to you."

He handed it to another officer who pulled a tricorder, scanned the device and returned it, "We have the codes ,sir."

The Officer nodded, "Then get the defences back under control. Secure them."

There was a pause and the Security officers looked at surprise at their weapons. The officer sighed. "They have reversed the device."

He picked up Kawolski's own weapon.

"I really hope you lot had yours set to stun," he said before firing it into the Marines chest.

--Turbolift--

The group was making good time. Ziyal had masked their presence from the interal sensors. Ziyal was listening on the open frequencies. 'He's really gone insane.' Ziyal thought, the situation was much worse then she thought. To her, Captain Reinhelt was starting to sound detached from reality. She knew how fanatically the crew agreed with their Captain. For almost a whole month, she had been something of an outsider on the command team. She had done her best to sound like someone becoming a loyal trooper. She had worked hard to earn being an insider in the crew. She wondered for a moment what Captain Reinhelt might think of her. The Marines were just doing their jobs. She, on the other hand, was a member of his senior staff and had betrayed him. She could think of more than a few rules she had broken. Desertion was a capital offense after all. Hopefully, in a few minutes, it would be irrelevant.

She shook her head, better to keep her head in the moment, where it belonged. They were approaching Rogers position. The plan was to get to the turbolift shaft and essentially jump down it. However, Ziyal's tricorder detected two phaser cannons at the top of the shaft. Ziyal thought for a moment, working out a plan. "There are two phaser cannons at the top of the shaft. We can either take them or find another way down. However, it appears that there are other Marines coming up the shaft."

Maximoff nodded, it was his job to protect the package. The phaser cannons were both in his way and probably trying to kill his fellow marines. That made the decision easy. "Ok, we are going to take them. Thane, Modesitt, you stay in the corridor with Tajor. Everyone else on me. With luck, we'll be on top of them before they open fire. The enemy's gate is down."

The other members of the squad acknowledged and changed their antigravity belts. It was slightly weird to see them walking on the ceiling, but Ziyal appreciated his plan. Thane and Modesitt sandwiched Ziyal in the Corridor. Then in one coordinated jump, the other members of the squad went out of the door and fell towards the phaser cannons.

Maximoff hit the ceiling of the turbolift shaft before anyone could react. Someone tried to fire one of the cannons wildly at the falling Marines, but the shots went wide. Maximoff fired his phaser rifle into one of the people manning the cannon, stunning them. They were no match for the Marines jumping down on them and in seconds they were all neutralized. However, from the door where he had left the Package, there was the sounds of phaser fire punctuated with the loud cracks of projectile weapons.

Ziyal ducked, trying to figure out where the shots had come from. She realized in that instant that they had used her trick back on her, masking security from the internal sensors. They were in cover, but even as Thane and Modesitt fired, they kept coming. Shooting some kind of projectile weapons at them. Ziyal worked quickly to activate the security force fields between them and the Cosmos security personnel. She was not looking at Thane when a bullet smashed through Thane's head, spattering Ziyal with blood and brains. Ziyal was not so much thinking as reacting when she swept the brains off the PaDD and finally activated the force field. She looked up at Thane to say something and saw his ruined head.

Modesitt grabbed her, forgetting a second that Ziyal was still attached to Thane and dove for the open turbolift door. They fell, then were caught by Thane's body for a moment, then fell again as he slid into the turbolift shaft. Modesitt grabbed onto the wall with one arm, and with the other held Ziyal. Connected by the wristband, Ziyal felt like her arm was going to be torn off when Thane's weight hit the end of the cord. Modesitt could not hold both of them with one arm. Ziyal felt his grip slipping and grabbed his combat knife and cutting the rope that held Thane to her. Thane fell.

Maximoff saw all this happen in a sort of horrible slow motion. Then he changed his direction of gravity to the wall and went sprinting with the rest of the squad towards the two of them. Arriving, he adjusted Modesitt's gravity belt and the squad floated downwards to where Captain Rogers was. They put down, Maximoff looked at Rodgers. "Package delivered as ordered, sir."

Ziyal looked up at the taller Marine. "Captain Rogers." She said, and it took a moment to realize that he could not sense her thoughts. He could sense her emotions, relief at finally reaching their destination, horror at what had happened with Thane. But the actual thoughts themselves were closed off to him. He sensed that he could read them if he tried, but not casually.

Rogers's attention, however, was elsewhere. Nearer the bottom of the shaft really. On a body that tumbled past them in Marine green. Most of his head missing was about the most that Rogers could make of Thane as he fell past them.

After several long seconds he looked up, stared straight at Tajor. "You'd better be worth it," he growled before he glanced at Maximoff.

"Not her fault, Captain," Maximoff said, hushed and quiet. "He jumped in front of her, taking the round that would have killed her."

"You'd better be worth it," Rogers repeated to her. "Two decks up. Go."

Ziyal nodded, her mind not fully processing Thane's death. Not yet, not while the battle raged and things had to be done. Processing could be done later if they survived. For now, they still had a ship to take and a battle to fight. However, his reaction was filed away in her mind with the death.

She looked up the shaft, the door was closed about twenty-five feet up. She figured using her Parkata Urbatsu she could probably jump to reach the bottom of the lower door, then flip onto the cross beam. From there, she could climb the cabling to access the door controls. Opening them so they could access that deck. However, the all too recent reminder of her mortality and lack of armor, made her decide on a more cautious approach.

So without a anti-gravity belt of her own, She grabbed ahold of Modesitt. Then they started climbing quickly up the side of the shaft, making it up two decks to the door controlls. She and Modesitt waited for a moment, making sure that there was no one on the other side of the door. Then she activated the security forcefields to protect them as they entered and opened the door. Then they swung into the deck with no resistance. "Deck clear," Modesitt reported.

--Engineering--

The countdown finally came due. A ripple went through Engineering, an unseen ripple as it was made through code. Up to this point, everything else Rogers was doing, everything else he ordered and planned were merely a delaying tactic, keeping the ship looking and fighting elsewhere. Engineering was the primary point and the spearpoint of this invasion.

As the Marines were going out into the ship, taking out other sections, fulfilling other mission objectives such as taking the memory modules of the ship's computer core for evidence, or tagging the ship's store of torpedoes, the code introduced into the computer system was insidiously and invasively replicating itself throughout the systems. Like the viral plague it was, it finally blossomed.

Turning from a plague into a cancer. A cancer that has now metastacized throughout the ship's systems. Weapons were taken offline and locked into an endless diagnostic mode. Several control nodes were burnt out in this process. The only way to bring them back online was to shut the entire system down and replace the control nodes.

The ship's shields went down, leaving it defenseless. The ship shield emitters were similarly burned out due to the code placed into the system. It was the signal the Victory security teams needed to be looking for - now they could come over and hold Engineering and other areas as were Cuprum's orders.

Replicators were similarly offline. Command controls locked out. Only those with access to the wrist modules were able to control command level functions. The transporters activated, creating a site to site transport of the torpedoes off ship. Doors were sealed, trapping crew behind them wherever they were at the moment.

Power surges went through the entire system, frying the numerous unprotected consoles.

The warp core mix began creeping. Controls for this were shunted to only two of the wrist modules. One of which Rogers had. The other was unknown. If they weren't shut off, the warp core would breach containment within eight to ten minutes and the resulting explosion would take the ship with it.

Rogers stopped as his module flashed. He now had eight minutes to finish his orders.

"Rogers to Victory, we're a go for security, you should see the shields are now down, weapons should be offline - if you're pummeling of the ship didn't already take them out."

He sighed, as he glanced around at the two teams with him, not full teams because...there were dead and wounded. The weight of that pressed down on him, but he had to shunt it aside for the moment.

"You're good to go for part two, send Security over."

Cuprum's voice came back, "Roger that, Rogers. Security incoming. Proceed to capture points Charlie and Delta."