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Tick Tick Boom…Aimee Rian’s Control center…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present.

Posted Nov. 28, 2022, 3:26 a.m. by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) (Hjortur Ingi)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Tick Tick Boom…Aimee Rian’s Control center…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present.

Posted by Civilian Jessa Novar (Child) in Tick Tick Boom…Aimee Rian’s Control center…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present.

Posted by Civilian Jessa Novar (Child) in Tick Tick Boom…Aimee Rian’s Control center…When the past doesn’t match the future or the present.
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Aimee held her breath as the transport initiated and sent the child to the alien ship. For half a heartbeat, she waited for reports to come back that the Altantis had detected the transporter beam. When it didn’t happen she felt a wash of relief. Looking at the monitor she watched as the child seem to recover quickly observing the damage from the Marine assault and make her way down the stair to the sleeping area. “Biometric locks,” she said to the XO as they watched Jessa kneel down to the floor and activate a secret compartment. The Altantis crew had triple scanned the vessel looking for secret compartments and found nothing. The metal and crystals were novel and the Altantis’ computers were still trying to identify their chemical makeup. Biometric controls were not uncommon. They just had no idea where to look for them until now.

“It stood to reason,” the XO replied watching the panel slide back and reveal the contents in the compartment. As the room watched the child activate the armor everyone was thinking about applications within their own field. The technology might take a few years to reverse engineer but when it was accomplished, the Federation would be almost as unstoppable as the Borg once were. Now it was just time to field test how well it would hold up against the Federation weapons about to be unleashed on it.

Minutes ticked by as they watched Jessa move around the ship and finally to the bridge. Aimee let out a growl of frustration hearing Jessa muttering in her native language. Universal translators had eliminated the advantage of speaking a different language in times like this however right now it was serving a purpose and hindering the mission. Aimee watched the kid staring out of the viewport on the ship and rolled her eyes. If the kid did not pull this off the chances of the success of the mission would plummet to almost nil. A new operation would have to be taken from scratch with a lot more risk and complications. She watched the timer and itched to just send the kid to the brig; however, the mission was a carefully choreographed dance with many people having to do their part so the kid could do hers. She had wasted too much time getting nothing but one set of armor, some jewelry, and praying so far from the alien vessel.

She let her mind drift wondering what the child had said looking out into the black abyss of space as the communications officer and the ship’s translators worked furiously to decipher the cryptic message. It was probably more of the religious rhetoric that always seemed to be spilling from the asset’s lips. She despised and hated that the child seemed to waffle on her allegiances. The child should pick a side and not try to play whatever game Jessa was plotting out in her head.

Looking at the counter, Aimee felt a small measure of satisfaction as the transporter plucked her from the alien ship and into the brig. It was time to see what these aliens were capable of and if it ruined her prayers so be it. While they were not on the same mission they were all on the same team. Aimee Rian felt the sting of the Marines that had died. Any action she could do to make these aliens pay for the Federation blood they spill was worth it.

The silence in the room as they watched the child interact with the security officers ended with two words. “Go Rinker,” Aimee Rian said in a chipper tone. The cortical scanners Rinker ordered to detect possible telepathic links after his meeting with Rogan were starting to light up the medical readouts of the aliens brains like they were Christmas trees. It also explained the gibberish the child was utterening that seemed out of context with the bound security officer. The question was who did Jessa have the link with. The sensors seemed to be showing the group appeared to have almost a neural link with each other but Aimee was not a doctor. That would be Celia’s area once she was freed from the insufferable intelligence chief’s interrogation.

=/\=Ian and Rinker. I hate you. Why did you lie to me when I trusted you.=/\=

Jessa’s message made everyone in the control room sit up and stare in shock They had given her the tools for her freedom and planned the entire mission around the information that Jessa had no loyalty to anyone that had access to her.

=/\=Cut comms from the senior staff to the asset=/\= Aimee immediately ordered on her end. A spattering of curse words sprang from her mouth that would make the hardened soldier blush. Knowing there was a possibility one or both men would respond to Jessa, Aimee had to work fast.

=/\=Open cells three, four, and five =/\= her voice blared out to the engineering agent on the team. Aimee cursed that they would not see what form of technology the young girl had to access the consoles. So far their technology was far more advanced than that of the Federation. If the simpering whiny little witch could incapacity three armed security officers in the brig with a flick of her wrist there had to be something that would let them control the systems of the ship. Unfortunately, Jessa would make them wait to find that out.

Picking up the stylus next to her, Aimee jot down the word telekinetic next to Jessa’s name with a question mark. This was the second time the child had used what seemed to be a psionic power. It was unfortunate Rinker had not placed a cortical scanner on the child. The question for her was twofold. If the child had it why hadn’t she used it before this to escape and was telekinesis this divine gift the child prattled on about? There was so much they didn’t know about these visitors which was why the command was allowing the Altantis to become a test bed.

Watching with intense curiosity, Amiee sent the XO a glance hearing the exchange between Jessa and the alien named Rogan through the open comm on Jessa’s chest. =/\=You were on the ship?=/\= Pausing for a second Rogan announced with crystal clarity, =/\=They destroyed it. We are not getting home unless we do substantial repairs. Did you bring more weapons?=/\=

“Play back the conversation between asset 1 and asset 2,” she snapped out an order. She knew that she did not hear Jessa inform Rogan about the ship however somehow he seemed to know the details. Writing his name down on the stylus, Aimee drew a line back and forth between them like a flow chart with the word telepathic followed by a quote. Glancing back at the readouts from the cortical scanners, it confirmed her guess with a high degree of probability.

Aimee watched as the group dynamics played out jotting down notes on her PaDD and keeping a watchful eye on the timer and communications from the agents placed all over the ship. It had been a scramble to get all of them into place but they had. Everyone was waiting for her orders and the timer to count to zero beginning the next phase. They were all experts in their field but the Altantis’ crew was sharp and resourceful. Everyone was going to be playing a game of cat and mouse in the next few minutes trying to outwit their counterpart on the crew with their only advantage being the gift of surprise.

“I told you playing this game could go badly wrong. Was it your intent to have four of them to handle?” The blue Andorian paced the floor rubbing his jaw. He understood the need to learn the weapons and tactics of the enemy you were about to face. His concerns however were abated by the noviceness of the child.

Aimee watched with rapt fascination as the girl seemed to be weaponizing her companions. She felt a cold knot of dread forming in her stomach. “Jessa continues to exhibit some degree of loyalty to a few members of the crew. We can use that to control her but would you rather not know what we are going to be up against when more than four show up at our borders,” she snapped angrily. “This is necessary. One starship for the life of the Federation. We have paid larger costs in blood.” Her body tensed as she watched the brutality of the Elders coming into play. She cursed herself silently for not rolling Rinker into the mission. Their psychological expert, Sam Smith, had erred on the side of intellect over primal instinct whereas Rinker however did not. The Rinker had issued in every report and conversation that the Elders in the brig were homicidal and certifiable exhibiting a host of mental illnesses from sociopathy, psychopathy, and narcissism. Smith said these findings were inconclusive and might only be presented as such due to the stress of incarceration and separation from the child.

Da Mu turned and stared at the girl. =/\=Are you challenging an Elder….Guardian,=/\= he said coldly turning to face her as he slowly raised his fists.

Looking at the countdown to the next transporter cycle, Aimee held her breath. With all of them now armored up, at least the child might have a fighting chance but Jessa’s work was done. The Elders were free and part two of the mission could not commence.

Aimee Rian

=^=Computer why is my comm badge inactive.=^= Rinker’s voice came through the comm’s agent earpiece.

“Okay, people we are moving into Phase 2. Damn that kid,” Aimee muttered. She had hoped the blurting out of the tantrum by Jessa would have just been ignored by Rinker and Ian. Unfortunately it was not.

=/\=Commander Rinker=/\= the voice from the counter agent comm’s officer placed on the bridge replied back.

“So anyone get the score on the game last night between the Moon Rakers and Saturn Ringers? ” The comment from the engineer at his station was just to create background banter so the comms agent could send her message to those about to be locked in the conference room.

=/\=We are currently having issues with a solar storm. It is being addressed. Can I help you with something=/\= Her voice was not unknown to the senior staff but had just transferred over about a month ago?

“I got fifty credits riding on that game that I don’t have,” the engineer joked with a good-natured laugh as he began to do his part of the counter-insurgent operation.

Her response was transmitted to the rest of the counter-insurgent team causing several things to happen. The security feed of Jessa’s sick bay room would show the holographic image of Jessa in bed sleeping. This would only hold up until someone went into the room to wake her and their hand passed through the body. The counter-insurgent team’s engineers were locking down the conference room the senior staff was currently using as if it was a brig. All comms would be dead for those officers in the room, the exit from the room to the bridge would be fused shut, and a forcefield put up to try and delay the chief engineer from getting to the panel. Keeping everyone in the dark was never going to last forever. The counter-insurgent team was lucky it had lasted this long. The best they could do was try and delay the senior staff from working against them. The most they could hope for was no one on the bridge seemed to notice.

The unpredictability of whether or not the two Elders would devolve into fisticuffs or the senior staff realizing they were trapped made her react. Already the reports from the communications agent indicated Rinker noted the comm badges were not working. They had to move forward with the next phase of the mission. Tapping a button on her console, the coded message Tick Tick Boom appeared simultaneously to all the agents. Half a second later, the transporters initiated and engulfed the aliens to their first training ground: The area of the ship known as Marine Country.

=/\=Do not make me attack,=/\= Jessa’s voice boomed out through the microphone of her armor which was transmitted aloud to the group in the counterintelligence office.

“Oh this should be interesting,” the XO said in a sarcastic tone seeing the four aliens now facing the brunt of the Federation Marine Corp. “At least we can say the Elders shot first when this all comes to light,” he joked dryly.

Aimee Rian

The team watched as about a dozen or so Marines snapped to attention as if they had always been waiting for the Elders to arrive. It was not due to pre-warning but the drills and training that made them proficient as soldiers. Every weapon had been trained on the new arrivals in Marine Country before the swirling lights dissipated. As if they were one organism, the Marine contingent moved in a waved covering all areas of attack by standing or dropping to one knee. This caused the XO to let out a whistle and shake his head with a smirk watching the event play out and hearing Jessa speak.

=/\=We mean you no harm,” Jessa said in a slow and calm tone.

/\=Unīharukō bhāṣā nabōlnē,=/\= Da Mu snapped.

=/\=Triff. Pachāḍibāṭa ākramaṇa,=/\= Rogan called out.

Aimee’s fingers flew over her console silently cursing Jessa for attempting to ruin the mission with diplomacy. Thank god they chose to send her in with the Elders. The Elders would control her and her pathetic attempts for detente. =/\=Comms… what are they saying=/\= Aimee immediately started running the sound bytes through the computer’s translators.

“They are saying they are screwed,” Primrose guffawed from his seat. Picking up a drink, he settled back watch the visual feed as if it was a holovid on the large wall PaDD. No one trusted him with a console and inflated the Captain’s bloated ego by telling him he was observe as if he was a Captain on the bridge. The safety of knowing his rank shielded him, along with several Commodores and Admirals helped sell the lie.

=/\=If we don’t use their language how are we going to negotiate with them,=/\= Jessa responded.

=/\=Stand down. Or you will not live to regret it=/\= Varren said simply

“They are firing up weapons,” Aimee announced causing the XO to rise and stand behind her with his arms clasped behind his back. They held their breath waiting to see what damage the aliens could do when fully armed. They had attacked Captain Bordeaux with nothing but a primitive staff. Now they had not so primitive weapons. A slight tug pulled at the back of her mind. The Marines had suffered a lot of losses. Even though it was counterintuitive to the mission, Aimee Rian hoped the marines got to fire first.

Aimee Rian

“Well that is interesting,” Aimee said bringing up the cortical scan on Da Mu. Circling an area with her stylus she looked at the XO. “Prefrontal cortex is active. The same spot that shows up when we dope people up, to tell the truth.” Tapping her console she scanned the orders placed by Rinker. There were no pharmacological orders except for the anesthizine to put the cortical scanners on. This meant something else was toggling the area of Da Mu’s brain that dealt with the ability to detect lies and perceive the truth.

“Shhh,” the XO silenced her. “What is the Prism,” he asked Aimee, “and why are they so concerned that she had it?”

“I don’t know,” Aimee watched the disagreement playing out among the Elders. Bringing up the therapy notes between Rinker and Jessa, Aimee’s frown deepened. “If she mentioned it he did not seem to find it of enough interest to make a note of it. The three sessions they had only deal with notations on play therapy, making sure she ate, and that he felt she wasn’t suicidal. God, why couldn’t that man have pressed her more if he didn’t think she would try to kill herself? It is just hours and hours about how she feels and trying to deprogram her. “

“Well, that is rather unfortunate as is this battle. Knowing their defensive capabilities is nice but I would rather know what their offensive abilities are but our littlest asset threw up a wall.” Taking a few steps to focus the XO turned back to Aimee. “The command staff is locked in the conference room correct?”

Counter insurgent team

=^= Garren, please tell me you have EMP grenades over there=^=

The sound of this command instantly changed the course of the mission.
“You need to stop that,” the XO said knowing it would throw a wrench into the perfectly timed mission.

“I know,” Aimee said instantly trying to put into place several overrides in preparation for the altered direction the mission was taking. No one used EMP’s on a ship for the exact reason for what was about to happen.

“Then do something about it, Commander,” the XO’s voice snapped. It was not the end of the mission if they could not stop it but it would cause a nasty wrinkle.

“I am trying,” Aimee snapped back with a thick layer of hostility and anger.

The XO watched as the Elders began to take round after round against their armor. The phasers and other weapons pummeled the metal but seemed to almost be absorbed since there was not a scorch or burn mark left in each area it impacted. The occupants in the armor did not even seem to wobble after the first volley. It was as if the phaser bolts were nothing more than a fly against a windshield of a twentieth-century Plymouth.

Aimee Rian

The sound of the klaxons blaring through the ship took Aimee’s eyes off the fight with the Marines as she began damage assessment. The shot on the bridge from the counter-intelligence officers taking out the crew at the helm were muffled due to the klaxons but that was not the only thing signaling the mission was now a public situation instead of a clandestine one. “Damn what else is going to go wrong,” Aimee muttered under her breath seeing the senior staff finally exiting the conference room and hearing Jessa’s comm call echo through her speakers.

“Why is her comm still working after the EMP,” the XO’s question was rhetorical as he thought the process out. It was not a complex problem. Since the EMP did not take out the weapons of the aliens it must mean they had some sort of EMP protection against it.

=^=They were unsafe, they had very well-practiced lies that you had heard hundreds and hundreds of time. When someone hears something often enough, the lies seem to be the truth. Just like what they are telling you now. We never hurt Rogan. He was the one that injured our crew member. The injury you saw.=/\= Rinker’s voice blared through Jessa’s comm badge and into the command center.

“Why is that man talking to her? Close that line,” Aimee snapped. The influence on Jessa by Rinker and Bordeaux was not insignificant. The last thing they needed was for the aliens to suddenly, albeit unlikely, lay down their weapons and start playing ball with the other team.

=/\=Is that the mind seer?=/\= A new voice came into play. The sounds of a struggle made Aimee push numerous buttons on her console.

=/\=Remove Rinker’s badge =/\= Aimee advised the comms agent. The last thing they needed was for the head shrink to get into the kid’s head and try to talk her down. Again she silently cursed that no one had thought of rolling in one of the Atlantis crew’s established mental health professionals instead of planting an agent of their own. They could just cut the comms but without their electronics working, the kid’s comm badge was the only thing giving them audio updates in Marine Country. Studying data bursts visual image of the Marines being pushed aside and the alien’s working on the door to Marine country, Aimee sent out a message. There was no way to ensure they could contain the aliens unless the team stuck to the plan. =/\=All teams prepare for next transport=/\= Aimee announced. Her voice rang out across the bridge to ensure everyone knew what was about to happen. The information about defense was invaluable but the counter-insurgent team was sent here her to provoke offensive capabilities to know what they would be dealing with.

Aimee Rian

“Well he seems sufficiently agitated to not just play defensively anymore,” the XO commented.

=/\=How much time have you spent letting him twist your mind against us? It is time for a less,=/\= Rogan’s voice trailed off through the open comm line as the four aliens were engulfed by a transporter beam.

“Well now this is where the fun begins,” Primrose stated staring at the screen they gave him. “Their tech will give us a serious advantage the next time a bad guy tries to mess with the Federation.”

Aimee rolled her eyes and did not comment. Unlike Primrose, Aimee Rian knew the only way the Federation was getting the alien tech was over the alien’s dead bodies.

As the aliens materialized they were no longer on just one screen but four. The transport had been successful. All the aliens were on the promenade but separated into four quadrants. “Kill the red alert and lock down the turbos.” This would not stop the security teams but it would slow them down. Hopefully, it would take the engineering chief a bit of time to gain back control of the transporters and other systems the counter-insurgent team hacked.

Aimee Rian

=/\=We can’t. The crew has taken control back of the bridge, =/\= a voice replied. =/\=He found a way around Jackson’s hack. Trying to get it back=/\= The only other position that was duplicated in this mission was engineering. The secondary officer was deep in main engineering. At least for now, no one was looking at him with the commotion on the bridge and in the promenade. “You are not as good as you think Mr. Nash,” he said cockily to himself.

“What…what…what is this,” Primrose yelled out in a panicked rage.

Shifting her eyes to the message Aimee pressed play.

Attention crew of the Altantis. Four individuals have escaped the brig. They are armed and dangerous. Lethal force is authorized. Ian’s message was followed by images of each of the four aliens.

“What are we going to do? They know the aliens are free,” Primrose blustered.

Aimee looked at Primrose like he had just grown another head. “We set them loose on the Promenade. I am pretty sure Bordeaux’s message is not current news.” Looking back at the monitor, she felt a knot fill her stomach. The depravity for life and the lengths these aliens would go to made her sick. Taking children hostage was about the lowest thing one could do.

“We should have released them in the hangar. Less civilians,” she said to the man standing next to her.

“Possibly but we would not have gotten intell on what they are capable of. The loss of life will be tragic but the needs of the many out weight the needs of the fun. The Atlantis crew will be memorialized and respected. It is the least we can do for what they will suffer.”

Aimee Rian

=/\=I did not steal it and I am not a thief. You gave it to me. Ian but Rinker knew. He saw me use it. Rinker watched me use it. So did your XO. The big blue guy. The Aenar. He knew I had it to and talked to me on it.=/\=

“Cut the line,” the man said feeling his body grow tense. “If she outs suspicion on Garinder’Jen th’Jir they will come looking for us. The ship is not that big and it will eliminate our escape route Do it now,” the man thundered.

=/\=He=/\= Jessa attempted to describe the man she has seen but loud screeches filled every comm badge but hers. It cause her to pause as a voice came over her comm badge masked from anyone hearing by the white noise filling everyone else’s comm badge.

“Shut up,” the Andorian man spoke sharply.

=/\=Why are you doing this? People are going to be hurt. I just want to go home. Let me go home,=/\= Jessa snapped.

“Then shut up. We told you that you have friends but you can not be that stupid to think that you don’t have enemies.” The man’s voice rang out in Jessa’s ear. His comment was almost a whisper so it was probably not heard by anyone but Jessa.

Aimee Rian’s counter-insurgent team

The scene on the promenade played out in minutes but felt like hours to the team playing puppet master to the mayhem. No one spoke since Brix had spoken to Jessa and cut the comms for a private moment with her. The four screens in the room each held an image of an Elder and what was occurring with them.

“Did he just say they had two hundred galaxies under Union control,” Primrose let out a blustery laugh?
“That is impossible. We haven’t left the Milky Way and we are the Federation? If anyone would have two hundred galaxies under control it would be us.” Sitting back in his seat, Primrose sipped his drink missing the look between Brix the Andorian imposter XO and Aimee Rian.

The statement was far more concerning to Brix and Rian. Much like with their first encounter with the Borg or any other alien civilization, the Tech was new and in this case not well understood by those that sent the team. The message that arrived prior to the Elders, which sent the Atlantis to these coordinates in space, came from an unimaginable distance and according to the child, the trip only took one month. Primrose was not privy, nor was the crew, to a second message slowly gaining strength originating from the same place in space. If this was a scouting ship, the possibility of the main fleet arriving could not be discounted. This was why those in command had offered up the Altantis on a platter.

=/\=Jessa last chance to give up now or they will put you down for good=/\= Sam McIntyre’s voice bellowed through the comms on the consoles monitoring the situation. Aimee cast a glance at the man to her right. She had little doubt there would be bloodshed today. It just shocked her how long it had taken and she glared over at Primrose for the methods being employed. They had gotten far more data on the aliens from the child than the adults. They should have just let her out instead of trying to deal with all four of them at once.

Glancing over at the other monitor, he wondered why the female Elder and Rinker had not started to fight like it was with the other two males. She could not be interested in him physically so it had to be for another purpose. Touching a button on the console, she brought up the window to be larger.

As Aimee brought up the image of Rinker a whoosh of fire and smoke billowed across the screen originating in one of the sections of the promenade and spilling over to the other. “What was that,” Brix enlarged both screens.

“Seems the child found a way to create a force strong enough to punch through the forcefield?” Aimee confirmed as she started to read the information coming in. “Her robotic guards have sealed the hole for now but our troops do have access to the Jefferies tube and are clearing civilians.”

Aimee Rian

It had taken some time for Peter to climb to the same deck as the signal. Next, he crawled through the Jeffries tubes until he found the entrance to the quarters themselves, one eye still closed. He went the last part of the journey backward so his feet faced the entrance. When he finally arrived he started the final preparations, the most difficult opponent would be the Aenar, to counter any surface telepathic thoughts he was mentally reading through the repair manual for the ships internal systems, to be precise the lighting control units that could be accessed within the Jefferey’s tubes. He finally reached down and deactivated the signal disruption program on his tricorder that was masking his lifesigns and hit the panel to open the small door.

Peter tapped his combadge and called out “Thunder” and the lights immediately went out as he swung himself feet first out of the tube entrance, landing on his heels. He closed his right eye and opened his left and immediately adjusted to the sudden darkness, the preprepared Nightvision giving him an advantage over most other people. Unfortunately one of his opponents was Aenar and they didn’t rely on sight so he locked eyes on his first target and reach a hand inside his jacket then pounced.

He ran towards the Aenar and threw out his hand, two throwing knives flew past Bix towards the woman and the seated man Huh, Primrose He thought as his left hand flew towards the Alien and connected with his temple. A full-throttled punch with the brass knuckles inside his gloves meant that despite the fact he was turning around to the movement he could sense coming he didn’t really stand a chance. He crumpled to the ground bonelessly, the moment he fell Peter quickly drew his phaser with one hand and with the other pulled the hooded scarf over his head and face, it covered the top of his uniform making him into a mostly dark figure, no rank pip or division color could be seen. He tapped the combadge again and called out “Flash” and closed his left eye.

The lights suddenly went to 200% blinding the other two as he trained his phaser where the unknown woman was standing. After a few seconds the lights went back to normal and he opened his right eye, the one adjusted to bright light “Good afternoon” He spoke in a light tone “Hasperate is never hot enough for me” His smile was hidden by the scarf but the wrinkling around his eye and amused tone was fairly clear.

CIO

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