Infiltration

Posted on Thu May 23rd, 2019 @ 1:31pm by Jaeih Dox-t'Aan & Az'Prel

Mission: Fractured Fairy Tales
Location: The Aehallh Station
Timeline: 2396

The Aehallh station was a notorious hub of illicit activity throughout the sector. For decades, the station has been the place to go for criminals and those wanting their activities to go unseen. Built and operated by a cadre of Romulan criminals, the station possessed a state of the art cloaking device that made it's location a highly guarded secret to smugglers and pirates alike.

One did not go to the Aehallh station casually, and one expected that whatever they did at the Aehallh station would stay there. It was known to keep it's secrets well. But it did keep them, and that was exactly what the Infiltration team from the U.S.S. Hera was counting on.

Slipping through the cloak in their own cloaked Romulan Scorpion was child's play for Jaeih Dox, having helped design the stations cloak over twenty years ago. And it had become quickly clear to the former Tal'Shiar agent that nobody had upgraded the system in that time. However, the cloak on their own ship was designed as a masterpiece of engineering between Jaeih and the Hera's R&D chief, Ensign Mona Gonadie. It's was the most efficient cloak ever designed and the Aehallh station had no idea that there was now a cloaked fighter magnetically sealed to its hull next to a ventral access port.

In the station, Jaeih Dox and her Vulcan Inflitration specialist and partner, Az'Prel, were already standing in a security sub-station in the lower decks. At their feet, were four security officers taking very unplanned naps. Two were naked, as the two women were adjusting the stolen uniforms for their own use.

"This should allow us some degree of anonymity, at least for a time." Jaeih commented as she fastened the uniform top over her light-weight body armor. "The records room, unfortunately, is on deck two. We should have about 12 decks to clear from our current location. How's our path looking, Az'Prel?"

At the security console, the refugee from a mirror dimension of horrors was scanning the multiple screens with squinted eyes, taking in all of the information in front of her and putting her logical mind to the task of planning the quickest route for the two agents.

"Not that good. If we can bypass security, we will be able to take the lift to deck four, but we'll need to make our way from there through the maintenance tubes on the other side of the deck. That's assuming we can pass the security checkpoint in front of the turbolift on this deck and on deck four. The maintenance tubes have security hatches between decks as well, which require keycards and codes..." The displaced Vulcan patted the pockets of the uniform she had quickly donned, locating a keycard on her person. "We just need a code for it then... And to get past all the patrols and stations without arousing suspicion."

Looking down at the two naked guards that were the former owners of the key cards in question, Jaieh cricked an eyebrow. "Well, we can always wake these two up and ask them in as pointed a fashion as possible. Unless you are capable of, and comfortable with, performing a mind meld to extract the information?"

The Romulan woman was stern and her focus was tight, but she also knew enough of Az'Prel's history to be sure and consider her feelings on the matter.

Az'Prel looked down at the two men in contemplation. "I am trained in this skill... I have not used it in many years though." Kneeling next to the man she obtained her uniform from, she placed her fingertips on the man's forehead, the palm of her hand covering his face, and entered a trance-like state. After a few moments, she stood and shook herself off. "The code is one two three nine seven. It rotates daily."

"Excellent... But... are you alright?" Jaeih asked, almost surprised at her own level of concern. It was something that was becoming increasingly noticeable since her time on the Hera, that she found herself more and more engaged with those that served with her daughter.

The displaced Vulcan woman paused for a moment before answering. "I was not expecting to find such a rancid mind among the denizens of this universe. I will recover. Please let us proceed."

"They cannot all be our shipmates, I'm afraid." Jaieh grabbed her own security card and straightened her uniform as the two women secured the unconscious guards in restraints and hid their limp forms in the storage compartment.

After a few moments, they were on the move. Walking professionally with body language that projected that they belonged there. Both women were well trained at exactly how to do this and made their way without incident down the dank corridor to the turbolift indicated in Az'Prel's investigation. At the lift, the waited for only a slight moment before the doors creaked open. Inside the lift were five more Romulan's, dressed not in the security uniforms of the station, but in modern military uniforms.

Without missing a beat, and appearing completely nonplussed, Jaeih commented, "Going up?" as the pair stepped in.

Those in the lift made room for them as one person stepped out, as if nothing was wrong while Az'Prel declared their desired deck. "Deck eight." The conversation in the lift then resumed - something about the latest biosynthetics verses cybernetics.

The remaining four Romulans didn't seem to have any open suspicions, but Jaeih and Az'Prel were, nonetheless, on guard. After a long, tense few moments, that lift arrived at deck eight and the doors creaked open.

As they got off the lift and entered the checkpoint, the four guards inside looked up curiously. "I don't recognize the two of you."

"We were just assigned," Az'Prel replied, swiping her card and tapping in the passcode, getting a green light from the checkpoint scanners.

As Jaeih swiped her own card and entered her code, she took on a more casual aire and rolled her eyes. "We transferred over from Commander tr'Arath's private security team last week. We've been on a running rotation for a while now." Years of smuggling meant the elder Dox had been here as a client many times and knew the terrain and the management well enough to bluff through a checkpoint or two. "Glad to finally have a posting on something that's not constantly warping. Besides, I missed the Coffee from the promenade."

As her light turned green, the lead guard waved them through with a light smile. "It's the only thing that makes working here bearable, good to meet you."

"I could use a cup right about now, myself," added Az'Prel in an attempt to add a bit more lightness to her own character as she headed deeper into the corridor.

As the two women made their way down the corridor, once they were clear of earshot, Jaeih whispered just slightly enough for only Az'Prel to hear her. "It actually is exceptional coffee. A pity we likely won't have the opportunity to have any. But duty calls."

Stepping to the side of the corridor, Jaeih looked down both directions to ensure they were alone. "Is this the maintenance tube we need?"

"Yeah, that's the one. There's a security switch on it though, so we'll have to bypass it." With a quick flick of her hand, Az'Prel had a multitool out and was prying the controls for the hatch open. Within moments she had the security bypassed and the hatch was hanging open limp. She then pressed the control panel back in place and motioned for Jaeih to enter first. "After you."

"Excellent. Thank you." Jaeih nodded as she began to climb. Her familiarity with the station made her taking point perfectly logical and the pair of women were working together like a well-oiled machine.

As warned, between each deck there was a locked hatch that required the use of their stolen keycards. Moving quickly, Jaeih swiped her card and entered the access code and they continued to their destination on deck two. "From here, pass cards may not be sufficient, I fear. The records room will be off-limits to all but the station chief as they have many, many records that very powerful people never want being seen."

"I assume they'll be using technology far advanced of what I'm used to, as well. We may have to rely on your expertise to get in and out safely while I watch our backs." As they discussed this last entry point, Az'Prel bypassed the last security door and got them to the maintenance hatch leading into the records room. Studying the systems for a moment a hint of a smile graced her features. "Or maybe I will be proven incorrect."

Pulling free her multitool again, she began working on the door controls, bypassing the higher level check for a regular check so their badges would work on it.

Looking down the corridor, Jaeih had a slight smirk on her face. "It's very difficult for a station that doesn't exist to get proper systems upgrades as.often as they need."

After a tense minute and a half, the door light turned green and the hatch scraped open. "Miss Az'Prel, you are brilliant."

"When you use duotronics as a security feature..." the Vulcan began, but left it at that with a shrug as they headed into the records room filled with various forms of data storage mediums. "Now we just need to find the records we need."

As the door closed behind them, Jaeih began shuffling through the index of a series of data tapes on the nearest shelf. "According to the data the Commander sent us, the stardate of the meeting was... 59331.13. If Arenara Artan met with representatives of the Orion Syndicate, these paranoid bastards recorded it. It's one of the ways they protect themselves from reprisal from any of their clients."

"In my universe, the Syndicate is a shadow organization that works towards the good of all non-Terran peoples. They still keep immaculate records, from what I've been told." Az'Prel headed deeper in and looked for a record-keeping system to see if what they were looking for had been logged. "If we're lucky, there's a log of every single piece of data in here."

Looking across the room, Jaeih tilted her head with a puzzled expression. As she did she stepped over and picked up a bound book and flipped through it. "Az'Prel... Look at this. It's... an inventory catalog. Stardate 59400 to Stardate 59500."

The generally cynical Romulan agent let out a laugh. "Well, that's one way to keep rivals from accessing your data network. Hard disks and a handwritten filing system. Antiquated, but to steal the data you're only option would to be what we're doing right now. That likelihood of which is so remote as to be nearly implausible."

Putting the one book back, Jaeih began scanning the shelf for the right volume. "There we are. 59300 to 59400." Flipping through the pages, Jaeih got slightly excited. "The complete records for the date in question is... There. The cabinet to your left. There are seven data tapes marked 98776-1 through 98776-7!"

"Flimsiplast and paper, just like in my universe. Perfectly predictable." Az'Prel pulled out her tricorder and scanned the data tapes in the cabinet. "I'm reading the data we need dumped on... These two drives, including data from all over both quadrants. I recommend we take them and get out of here as quickly and as silently as possible." Pulling out the two small drives, she handed them off to Jaeih. "Is there any other data you'd like to grab while we're here?"

Securing the drives, Jaeih thought for a long moment before replying. "Actually... yes."

Stepping back over to the shelf with the catalogs on if, Jaeih began thumbing through them. "I've been here... many times. But one, in particular, may be of possible use to the Captain as well. The Romulan Baroness, who's vote she requires, I brought her here from captivity on Romulus years ago. I don't know if there's anything useful to be gleaned, but I handed them off to the Captain's mother here with..."

Looking through the catalog, the elder Romulan found the index she needed and stepped over to the cabinet to grab the files. "... Mnhei'sahe. Hnaev."

Looking in the cabinet, Jaeih had a confused expression on her face as the drives were gone as well. After a moment of consideration, Jaeih shook her head. "Well... Let's not waste any more time and get the information we came for out of here."

"Right..." Az'Prel headed for the door out and went to repeat her trick of opening the door the same way she had on the way in, but this time, something went wrong and halfway through, the alarms went off. "Oops..." was all she said as she finished the procedure and the door swung open, letting them out. "That shouldn't have happened but we don't have much time to get to the maintenance hatch now."

"Wait." Jaeih replied as the headed down the corridor towards the hatch. "In the event of a security alert, those hatches are sealed. But... We're security. Break my nose."

Without hesitating, the Vulcan woman hit her companion just hard enough to break her nose and leave a trickle of blood across her cheek just as the sound of running could be heard coming towards them. She then slammed her own head against a bulkhead just enough to give herself a nasty bruise and look like they'd been attacked.

Wincing for the briefest of moments, Jaeih pulled out the disruptor on her belt, stolen with the uniforms they were both wearing and fired down the hall to the records room, blasting the computer console. "Az'Prel, the maintenance hatch we came up, Destroy it. Then we throw the disruptors down it and hit the deck."

The displaced Vulcan woman then ripped the control panel from the controls for the door hatch and wired it so that the hatch itself popped open on its own before she wrenched it off of one of its hinges. She then set both disruptors to overload and tossed them in. "This is not going to be a kind explosion," she muttered as she grabbed Jaeih and leapt for cover further down the corridor just as they exploded, furthering their injuries and singing their uniforms.

It was at that moment that six more guards dressed like them rounded the corridor, weapons drawn.

Two of the guards ran over to examine the smoldering hatch opening, two ran past to the records room and the last two came over to Az'Prel and Jaeih. Leaning down to examine the two women, burned and bleeding, the propped them both up. "What happened here?!"

Shaking her head groggily, Jaeih squinted through the smoke and coughed, a trickle of green blood running down her face. "Two m... men in Black. They... They were in the records room. We... we went to see what was happening... they attacked us. Went down the maintenance hatch."

One of the guards stood back up and began shouting into his communicator. "We have two Intruders moving down maintenance hatch Delta from deck two!"

Pushing off the side of the bulkhead, Jaeih and Az'Prel played up their injuries. Grabbing her side, Jaeih winced and let out a muffled groan. One of the other security officers turned to them and looked them over. "Okay... You two get to the medical level."

Az'Prel held her head as she propped herself up, wincing in pain as she did so. "Hnaev... I think this headache is going to take more than coffee to fix..."

"Okay, get going, you two." The security officer commented as he turned to shout orders to the other officers investigating the destruction. Limping towards the turbolift, Az'Prel and Jaeih leaned on each other for support. Once inside the lift and out of sight, both women straightened back up.

"Excellent, that will provide some distraction." Jaeih rubbed her nose with a slight smirk as she called out to the lift computer. "Deck fourteen." As she did, the console lit with their destination illuminated and the lift began to go down.

The older lift creaked slightly as it moved slower than the two women were used to from the Hera, as the lift came to an unexpected stop on deck eight. As the doors opened, Jaeih and Az'Prel instantly resumed their injured postures as the four guards from the checkpoint rushed on, strapping weapons to their belts.

"What happened to you two?" One of the four asked as the lift doors closed.

"The intruders attacked us... We're on our way to medical." Jaeih replied.

Suddenly, the guards began looking at the two women suspiciously. "The attack from the intruders was on deck two. Medical is on deck six, two decks up." As he spoke, one hand lowered to his disruptor as he eyed the console of the lift that showed their destination as deck fourteen.

Reading the change in tone, Jaeih sighed as she glanced over to Az'Prel. "Oops."

The displaced Vulcan woman barely had to think about it as she reached over and slammed the heads of the closest to her into the wall of the lift, sending the two Romulan guards to the deck out cold. "A minor detail. Our persuasions are superior."

Lacking Az'Prel's Vulcan strength, Jaeih instead chose a slightly more vicious tactic. With one hand she folded her fingers into a knife strike at.drove it into the nearest security officers throat hard, sending him gasping to his knees while she kneed him in the head. In the same motion, she used his limp form to press it against the second man, pushing him against the side of the lift.

As he tried to un-holster his disruptor, Jaeih brought her other hand in for a hard blow just below his right ribcage. As her blow found it's target, the officer's eyes bulged momentarily as he gasped and keeled over. Keeping her hand hard against where the Romulan heart is located, she twisted slightly.

Az'Prel knew the maneuver well. Done correctly, it caused a minor cardiac arrest, rendering the victim, Vulcan or Romulan, unconscious with extreme pain. Don't incorrectly, it caused death. The guard fell to the deck and groaned, unconscious but alive.

"Indeed. And I think they agree. Lay there unconscious if you all agree." Jaeih looked up with a smirk. "See. They agree. "

Az'Prel nodded, almost pleased with herself that her attempt at a joke seemed to actually land well. "Indeed, they do agree. Such pleasant hosts."

As the lift continued down, Az'Prel and Jaeih striped the guards of their weapons and kept them at the ready for further trouble as they reached their destination on the lowest deck.

As the doors opened, the corridor was largely dark and empty. With their act of misdirection on Deck two successful, they were clear to return to the rear hatch and their waiting ship.

Once inside, Jaeih disengaged the docking clamps and the small cloaked Romulan Scorpion was quietly away and safely back into warp space. Handing back the data drives to Az'Prel in the back seat, Jaeih commented. "See if you can access these with the ship's computers. Ensign Gonadie made them well and they should be able to give us playback. Let's be sure we have what we need."

The Vulcan woman hooked up the antique drives as best she could, using a tricorder to convert the antique signaling patterns to ones that the tiny ship could understand. "It is fascinating that part of their security seems to be using archaic storage medium and format. Even in my time, 1024 layer binary data was outmoded and yet here it is - data stored in terabytes instead of teraquads." Soon she had the data feeds streaming to the small screens in front of each of them, displaying the list of records on each drive.

"Seems to be a clever conceit. Using significantly older technology that their current clients wouldn't recognize. On my own, I would be quite lost as well." Jaeih commented as Az'Prel worked and the two began to study the data.

After a few minutes scrolling through recording after recording of meaningless meetings between random faces, Jaeih and Az'Prel watched the security feeds intently until eventually, something of interest appeared on the screen. As it did, a sly smile stretched across the former Romulan agents face. "Miss Az'Prel... The Captain is going to be a happy woman. Let's get this home."