Paradise Falls

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:02am by Cailus Griffin & Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash & Lieutenant Nicholas Boucher & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant Commander James Smith & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Sasha Vieers (Deceased) & Katya
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:43pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Timeline: Part One of Two

ON:
It hadn't taken long for the plan to come together. Smith and Parrino had planted the message on the Pandora's communication network, while Temple had announced the investigation was over and that the Pandora would depart from Paradise. An hour had since passed, enough time for Katya to get her people into position and for the Pandora's traitor to make their way onto the station. The stage was set.

[Paradise]

Sitting at her desk, hands wrapped together in quiet anticipation, Chief Katya stared down at her console with deep, heavy breaths. The bright-haired Anh'Iran woman looked to her chronometer and smiled nervously. She was anxious over the moves to come, but energised about the potential outcome. When the clock ticked over to the pre-designated time, she pressed a button on her communications panel and leaned in.

"Now." She whispered.

In the lower levels of the station, a makeshift band of insurrectionists stood in the shadows, waiting their moment. The churning heart of Paradise's power generator groaned loudly through the Engineering bay, where Del'al laid in wait with a group of brave, strong merchants. At Katya's signal, they rushed out of their hiding place and overwhelmed the Guards standing on watch. Del'al took great pride in personally landing a fistful of blows towards his oppressors and in a frantic few moments, the rebels had overcome the Breen security. From there, Del'al moved towards the generator and started eagerly manipulating the controls. If they turned the power off altogether, it would cause a panic and the Breen would respond with brute force.

All they needed was a moment.

At the press of a button, the station was plunged into darkness, the hulking mass of a structure dipping into the black. After a number of seconds had passed, Del'al tapped again and the power returned, as if it had only been a mere glitch. Of course the Breen would come to investigate but by the time they figured out what really happened, the rest of the plan would have been enacted.

Back in her office, Katya had welcomed the darkness. From out of the shadows, a series of circling blue lights had quickly appeared, and when Paradise's power was restored moments later, she was now face to face with three Starfleet Officers.

"Welcome." She cooed.

"We understand you have a Breen infestation?" said Mindo, grabbing the proper gear from his toolkit for the ion pulse.

"Not for much longer, I hope." Katya replied with a slight smile. She quietly moved to the door and listened, before turning back to the others and nodding. "I have spent months a captive on my own station. I am prisoner no longer. Wait a few moments for me to distract the Guards, then exit this door. You'll take the corridor to the right and follow it around the corner. At the very end is the room you are looking for."

Without waiting for a reply, Katya threw open her office door and strolled out. "Listen here you Breen monsters!" She shouted at the top of her voice. "I'm going to see my people and you are NOT going to stop me!" The Anh'Iran stomped down the corridor with the Guards following soon after.

Mindo didn't hesitate. He heard the ruckus down the hall, a distraction that for the moment was working. He made for the door, checked the hallway to the right. It was empty.

"Cover me," he said to Smith and Parrino. Then Mindo smiled. "I always wanted to say that." He darted out of the room. When his compatriots turned to follow, the yells down the hall grew louder, and it was apparent they'd been seen. Mindo made the turn round the corner and out of sight, but the fight was escalating and moving closer. Parrino and Smith were faced with a challenge: join the fight, or follow Mindo...

Smith watched as Mindo disappeared out of sight, taking a look down the hall it was still empty but the longer he stood here the closer he the fighting got. As much as he wanted to join the fight they still had a job to do, Turning to Parrino he said, “let’s get going before the fighting get here, we still have work to do.” With that Smith ran down the hall after Mindo. Natalia followed her boss.

[Pandora - Bridge]

The Pandora meanwhile had already disembarked from Paradise when the power outage occurred. The Luna Class vessel was silently and slowly cruising away from the station on impulse drive, all too aware that Breen warships still lay in wait amongst the orbiting traffic that surrounded the Outpost. They had to slip by without rousing any suspicion, but also be prepared to fight if necessary.

Owen stood by the Conn station as Fick piloted the Luna Class vessel away from the station. Whilst the plan sounded like a good idea at the time, Owen's new concern was knowing that there were a number of Breen starships within the traffic lanes around Paradise Station and that at any moment, they could turn on Pandora and make their lives difficult.

He was concerned already that Nyx and the team were on the station performing their plan, which required a rendezvous later on to collect the Captain's Yacht...should all go well.

"Keep it nice and steady, Mr Fick," Owen said. "You're doing a fine job so far."

Fick snorted, his fingers moving over his console quickly. "Of course, I'm doing a fine job," he quipped with a grin at Owen. He did keep the ship steady, slowly, almost floating away from the station. "Flying casually..."

Owen moved over to the Auxiliary Ops station and checked the sensors once more, keeping them on a passive scan. It made him feel better for a moment before he touched the comm button.

"Nash to Lieutenant Boucher, how are the preparations coming?" he asked carefully.

Nick ran his hands over his instruments, completing his pre-flight check. "Alpha Squad is prepped for launch, sir. You give the word and we're a go. The bay is configured for three of us to launch at a time, so we'll need about ten seconds to get the entire squad out."

"Very well, as soon as I know, you will," Owen confirmed. He checked the sensors at the Auxiliary Ops station once more and then headed back towards to Fick at the helm. "I hope they get this over with soon," he said.

Fick nodded, his eyes moving from the viewscreen to his console and back to the viewscreen again. "Very soon, hopefully. Maybe, they just won't notice."

[Paradise - Entertainment Level]

During the blackout, Temple and Griffin had likewise used the momentary outage to beam aboard the station, finding themselves in the quiet back alleyway behind the Parlour. Following the instructions given by Kaleri, via the alien children she had rescued, the two silently made their way towards the secret hiding room.

While slipping through the narrow corridor that lead to the room, the lights returned and Nyx looked to Griffin with consternation, "We don't have long." He said gravely.

"Agreed," Cailus replied as they walked, his phaser in-hand and at his side.

Finally they emerged into the darkened room. Nyx searched around for the console and managed to turn on the dim, make-shift light the Breen had installed. As Del'al had explained, they had clearly been working on their plasma bomb project in the room, with tools and materials strewn around the place.

"The murderer is not going to come until the diversion is in effect." He whispered. "Let's find a suitable hiding place."

[Paradise - Command Level]

=/\= Firing pulse, =/\= said Mindo over the comm to the other teams. The pulse went off, and suddenly systems around the ship began to fluctuate, until several systems went completely down. Mindo was able to keep emergency power and life support online, and the station immediately went into emergency condition. "Let's hope that was enough," Mindo said to himself.

All across the station, Paradise Guards were doing their jobs; walking in squads on patrol around the Marketplace, or running after Katya as she stormed her way through the Command level, or trying to fight against the rebellion in Engineering. Until suddenly, the pulse blasted through the station's system. All of the Breen guards gripped at their silver helmets in unison, the overwhelming surge of energy causing a debilitating spike to their bodies. One by one they fell to the ground, driven into shock unconsciousness by the pulse running through them.

In Engineering, the rebels rejoiced in a single cheer as the Breen fell down. Del'al grabbed at their weapons and called out for the others to do the same. "Quickly!" He instructed, "Let's get them tied up!" The others did as they were told and began to drag the Guards away.

Above in the corridors of the Command level, Katya slowed her pace as she heard the Breen collapse behind her. She cast a sly smirk over her shoulder as she saw the pulse had worked. "Sorry boys, Mama's taking back her station." She said cooly.

In the Marketplace, traders and visitors were shocked by the sight of the mass collapse of their oppressors, but they didn't waste any time mourning. Sensing this was their moment, they began to round up the Guards and strip them of their weapons and gear. People came from everywhere to join in, an excited buzz of celebration in their voices. Some held makeshift torches in order to see amongst the dim glow of the emergency lighting, others helping to organise a suitable detention for the fallen Guards. An older woman ran from her shop with a spool of rope, everyone working together to detain the Breen as quickly as possible.

Madam Kroll was in the midsts of her rehearsals in the auditorium of the Casino when the power fluctuated again, plunging the stage into darkness. "I cannot work in these conditions!" She screamed in her fiercest Ferengi. From within the darkness, her assistant appeared with a small light.

"Madame! Madame!" He called out breathlessly. "Security has fallen, the people are revolting against them."

"What?!" She screamed.

"Whatever killed the power also knocked out all the Guards, they're being rounded up!" He answered quickly.

Kroll licked her fanged teeth for a moment. "Gather my belongings and prepare my ship! It is only a matter of time before they ransack the Casino. We are leaving. Now!"

With a flurry, she left the stage, her assistant and bodyguards trailing after her. Kroll was not about to stick around to see how this song ended.

[Pandora - Bridge]

As the Pandora began to sail away from the outpost, slowly and inconspicuously through the exclusion zone, the Starfleet vessel approached the dense field of shuttles and ships who were still waiting to gain a berth on Paradise as they circled around the station. However, from within the traffic, a Breen warship casually broke out of orbit and began to head towards the Pandora's location.

With the children off the ship Krysia headed to the bridge, she wanted to keep in touch with what was happening aboard the station. Exiting the turbolift she nodded to Owen as she took her seat. "Is it my imagination or does something feel off somewhere?" She looked at Owen concernedly.

Just as Owen was about to answer, an alert sounded from a nearby console. Owen walked over to the console and ran a quick scan before confirming his worst fears. "Dammit, we've managed to catch the attention of one of the Breen ships in the area," he said, looking at the readout further as the design was confirmed.

He looked over at Krys and Fick. "We've got a Breen Warship casually following us," he explained. "Lieutenant, don't change anything, keep us on the same course and speed," Owen said.

"No fancy flying... or fleeing... got it," Fick responded. He kept the ship steady. "Maybe... maybe they're just going in the same direction..." he hoped.

Owen stared onwards at the viewscreen after hearing Ficks comment. "Lets hope so," he answered. However, the XO also trusted his gut and this situation seemed to be on a knife edge, with either a good or disastrous outcome on the horizon. He pressed the comm button on the console nearby.

"Nash to Lieutenant Boucher, we have a Breen Warship shadowing us out of the area, standby for further orders," Owen ordered.

Nick's pulse quickened slightly. This was it, what they were here for. "Roger that, Commander. As soon as you give the word, we can give the Breen something to shoot at to keep them off your back."

Krysia looked at Owen. "There's a lot of nervous people aboard Owen, all it'll take is one mistake." She gave her brother a concerned look.

"Hey, Commander," Fick spoke up. "These guys are making me nervous. It's getting hard to fly casually. They're sort of drifting this way." Fick glanced over his shoulder at Owen, briefly.

On screen, the Breen warship was indeed closing the distance - making a direct path to intercept the Pandora.

[Paradise - Entertainment Level]

Hiding in the secret room, Nyx and Griffin could just make out the sounds of the activity around the station. There was an obvious roar of excited voices running around them, as the people of Paradise began to reclaim the Outpost for themselves. Nyx hoped that Katya would be able to keep a grip over the people's excitement, and that rebellion didn't turn into bloody retribution - as it so often had done throughout history. The last thing they wanted was for Paradise to dive into lawless anarchy. But Nyx knew they had interfered enough, it would be up to Katya to maintain control now.

After a few minutes of waiting, it became clear that someone was approaching down the narrow corridor that lead to the room. In the darkness, Nyx looked over to where Griffin was hiding and gave a slight nod. Their suspect was arriving.

The Captain was barely visible from where Cailus was crouched down behind a table, but he caught the nod and drew his phaser to indicate that he was ready. The silence in the room was more than a little disconcerting given the far-off sounds of rebellion, as were the remnants of explosive manufacturing scattered around the room which showed that the enemy had dark designs indeed. The tension was electric, the footsteps getting closer...

The footsteps stopped upon entering the room. A quiet confused moment passed before they called out, “Hello?”

Upon hearing the voice and recognising it, Nyx’s heart sank. He stepped forth out of the darkness, phaser at the ready. Staring at the murderer before them, Nyx could only sigh. “Ensign?”

“Captain!” Sasha Vieers exclaimed.

OFF