Star One

The crew of the Hellcat was sitting on the Command deck watching the quantum slipstream as they passed through it. Rahel was sat in the Command chair, whilst Rashad sat at the helm. Logan was at the operations console, sending adjustments to the helm so Rashad could make corrections. The final member of the small crew was the Section 31 agent Azri, who had brought this little band together. She was sat at the tactical station, something that Logan wasn’t too pleased about.

“We should be exiting the slipstream in about two minutes.” Azri announced. “Once we’re back in normal space, we’ll activate the cloak and await the arrival of Star One.”

“What then ?” Logan asked. “Are we just going to knock on the door and they’ll open up ?”

“No.” Azri replied. “We’ll need to override the control systems for the hanger deck, which is the easy part. Once inside, the internal defences will need to be deactivated, which will be far trickier.”

“About to transit to normal space.” Rashad announced.

The small vessel emerged into normal space once more and quickly vanished from sight as the cloaking device was re-activated.

“How long ?” Rashad asked.

“If the data I have is correct, any moment now.” Azri replied.

As if on cue, a vessel emerged from sub-space.

“Looks like our target has arrived.” Rahel announced.

“Rashad, steer a course for the rear of the vessel, you’ll see a hanger bay there.” Azri ordered. “ Logan, the vessel will start its search for the nearest sub-space relay station then start transmitting data, that’s our way in. Tap into the same relay station and you should be able to access the vessel’s system through the carrier wave.”

“Got it.” Logan announced. “Overriding the security protocols, opening hanger bay doors.”

The doors to the hanger deck opened and Rashad piloted the Hellcat into the interior of the vessel. The hanger deck was huge, appearing to occupy the entire deck.

“This is some hanger deck.” Rashad commented.

“This is or rather was the heart of Section 31 in the early days.” Azri announced. “It was a carrier for over a hundred vessels as well the base of operations. At the height of the Romulan war, there were nearly sixty Cochrane fighters onboard.”

“So what now ?” Rahel stated. “We’re in, so how do we get around the internal defences ?”

“We don’t.” Azri announced. “Shutdown everything onboard, the power signatures will activate the defences. I’ll go outside and disable the defences; you’ll all stay here until I give the signal.”

“Azri headed off the command deck and moments later, the rest of the crew heard the sound of the port airlock opening and closing. They watched out of the windows as Azri calmly walked across the deck towards a door. She stepped inside and disappeared, appearing moments later and beckoned the rest of them out.

The three Starfleet officers rose from their seats and headed off the command deck.

“Hold on a second, I need to get something from the weapons locker.” Rashad stated.

Disappearing down the corridor, Rashad returned moments later with three small devices. Handing one to Rahel and the other to Logan, Rashad explained.

“There are Section 31 lancers.” Rashad stated. “They are programmed to only be fired by authorised personnel, who you now are. They have a multitude of functions, from a simple energy weapons, as a micro-grenade and as a last resort as a fighting staff.”

Rashad activated a button on the lance and it extended to become a staff measuring just over a metre in length.

“It can fire both energy charges and hard ammo, including smart bullets.” Rashad continued to explain. “It’s been in the Section 31 arsenal for over a hundred years and one of these has got me out of more than one fight.”

“Impressive.” Logan remarked. “Light, portable, easy to conceal.”

“Just right for a spy.” Rashad replied. “We should catch up with Azri.”

Leaving the Hellcat, the three Starfleet officers walked across the hanger deck and reached Azri, who was waiting by what appeared to be an airlock.

“Pheromone sensors.” Azri explained, pointing at vents in the ceiling. “I’ve managed to by-pass the system by putting it into a secured diagnostic loop, but it won’t last for ever. At most we’ve got an hour, which will be more than enough time for us to finish here. I’ll go on ahead and find the security office, from there we should be able to access the vessel’s schematics and find the research labs.”

Azri headed off down a corridor and disappeared; moments later she re-emerged and called them into a side office.