You're Never Safe.

Posted on Tue Feb 9th, 2021 @ 2:30am by Admiral Audra Milne & Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD

Mission: The Gauntlet
Location: Carnwennan Station
Timeline: Current

“Oh Shae, he’s beautiful!”

Shae and Cailus were doing something long overdue; telling the family about Aoife, Eva, and Eoin. They were in a holodeck linked with Earth, the program running an Irish cafe so that Shae’s parents would feel comfortable. Upon seeing Eoin, Shae’s mother, Anna, immediately opened her arms to hold him, cradling him gently in her arms.

“So explain to us, dear, what happened with Aoife?” Anna asked as she cooed over the baby in her arms while Liam took Eva to give her a cookie and a cuddle.

It took awhile for Shae and Cailus to explain everything, and it involved revealing elements of her past that she hadn’t wanted her family to know, but it became necessary as they talked. Somehow, telling her parents even that little bit was enormously cathartic.

“And so we found the original Aoife, and somehow she knew us, had memories of being on the Pandora… We’ve renamed her Eva so she still feels a connection to her name, but it’s different enough that we can see the two girls as different people,” Shae explained. “And of course, on our way back to the Pandora, we were completely blindsided by Eoin.”

“Poor darlings, the hardships you’ve faced…” Anna said sympathetically. “But I do hope this is the last of the surprises for a while. I adore having more grandbabies, but this isn’t how I had hoped to get them,” she remarked with a humorous smirk.

“Oh, no no, no more of those surprises, I promise,” Shae said with a blush. “That being said, we were hoping for your help; Aoife needs to be laid to rest, so-”

“Say no more, love, just have her sent to us and we’ll do right by her,” Anna assured her daughter, Liam nodding in agreement.

Callus chimed in then. “My family on Mars have volunteered to help it all go smoothly,” he said, smiling as Eva took an instant liking to her grandfather. “We don’t know when we’ll be next be able to get back to Earth for a visit, though. The further away we are from Earth right now, the safer we are.”

“I understand, and I’ll reach out to Sophia; we’ve had her over for tea when she’s on Earth, such an interesting woman!” Anna declared, sitting Eoin in her lap so she could get a better look at him. The little boy looked around with his head bobbling about, but his icy blue eyes were alert and inquisitive. “Oh, look at that little tail, isn’t he the cutest!” Anna said in an adoring squeal, causing Shae to smile into her tea.

“He won’t have any problems getting dates when he grows up, that’s for sure,” Callus commented with amusement, glancing at Shae. He grunted then in at the sudden spark of a headache, but ignored it.

“And Eva as well, she’s going to be a real heartbreaker, I can tell,” Shae said with a weak smile. She cleared her throat and took a sip of tea, hoping it would calm her stomach, but it didn’t seem to be helping; no real surprise, she had been having some stomach upsets since giving birth, almost like a post-partum morning sickness.

“Aye, that she is,” Anna said proudly. When Shae cleared her throat a second time, Anna looked over at her daughter with some concern. “Are you alright, dove?”

“Oh, I’m fine, just the hormones upsetting my stomach,” Shae said with a dismissive handwave, and Anna nodded knowingly.

“Ah yes, it takes a while for everything to go back to normal,” Anna replied.

Then Eoin coughed, followed quickly by Eva, who dropped her cookie and slumped weakly against her grandfather.

“What…” Callus said before coughing as well. He got up, unsteady on his feet, his eyes watering rapidly. “Something is...something…” He took a step towards Eva and Eoin before collapsing on the floor, consumed by a hacking coughing fit, curling into the fetal position.

Shae wasn’t even able to get out of her chair without falling to her knees, her tea spilling around them.

“Call-” Shae tried to speak, but was interrupted by a dry wheeze, indicating that she couldn’t breathe. “Sophia! Call… Sophia… get help,” she managed to get out before collapsing onto the floor with a hacking cough just like her mate.

The last thing that Liam and Anna Brennan saw of their family in the holodeck were the children turning blue as they struggled to breathe, then the connection was cut and suddenly they were alone. Bolting from the holosuite, they ran to the nearest communications kiosk to contact Sophia, each praying silently that the children would be okay.

---

Meanwhile, on a starship clear across the galaxy in the Gamma Quadrant, Rear Admiral Sophia Azul was woken by the insistent ringing of her comms. She stirred uncomfortably in her bed, having only just fallen asleep. "Bridge to Admiral Azul. Bridge to Admiral Azul, please respond."

"Azul here," Sophia groaned, rubbing her eyes. "Go ahead."

"Admiral, we've got a priority one civilian subspace communication being routed from Deep Space Nine through the wormhole. It's addressed to you personally from a Liam Brennan on Earth." Sophia sighed, whipping the blanket off her bed and rolling out of it. She grabbed a gown on the way to her desk, pulling it on before pulling up the message on her desktop. She couldn't fathom why Liam would be calling with a priority one transmission. Civilian communications didn't have the bandwidth for a live call or even video messages, reducing Liam's message to simple text:

Emergency on Carnwennan; Cailus, Shae, and children all collapsed during holosuite transmission. Gas.

It only took Sophia a few seconds to process the implications, her mouth dropping. She'd heard about Cailus and Shae's insane circumstances, but they were on a starbase! They were supposed to be safe! "Azul to the Bridge! Get me a priority one subspace link to Carnwennan Station, now!"

"Right away, Admiral," came the rapid response from the Bridge. Sophia sat back in her chair, waiting, fidgeting with her gown anxiously. It was a gross misuse of her authority to use her comms privileges as an admiral like this; the real-time link across such a vast distance relied on dedicated high-tech Starfleet relays linked all the way from Deep Space Nine to Earth to Carnwennan, receivers that were meant to be used only in the most dire of emergencies, from missing starships to besieged planets to imminent invasions. Nevertheless, Sophia didn't care, just hoping that she could get through in time. She had only met Cailus, Shae and Aoife briefly, Cailus being the distant great-uncle (through marriage) of her husband, but she wasn't about to let them get hurt if she could do anything about it.

Besides, as she waited, her fears mounting, Sophia realised that it was even worse than that. If there was some sort of covert action against the family while they were in protective custody on a starbase, particularly a major base like Carnwennan, the consequences could be catastrophic. Who had Cailus and Shae pissed off to warrant such an extreme act?

[Carwennan Station - Ops]

The operations centre of Carnwennan Station was ablaze in red alert lights and the constant, steady drone of emergency klaxons. Officers were running to their stations, attempting to respond to the unfolding crisis. The doors parted and Admiral Milne entered, her face strikes with confusion. She had received the alert warning while she was in her office and immediately raced towards Ops, hoping it might have been the Pandora returning from the Expanse. The officer on watch was Lieutenant Commander Squall, and she stood from the command chair as the Admiral entered.

"Status?" Audra demanded as she approached.

"Environmental sensors were malfunctioning," Squall explained, "We thought it was a faulty processing connection but when we rebooted the system, the computer suddenly detected a highly noxious gas in the air filtration system."

With a fear growing in her stomach, Audra asked, "Source?"

"Unknown, sir." Squall replied, shaking her head, "We're running an internal sweep to find if the gas is present anywhere on the actual station, or if it's just in the recycler."

Ensign Green was sat nearby at a station as she received an alert. "Admiral Milne, there's a priority one subspace call from Real Admiral Azul coming in."

Audra nodded solemnly, "On screen."

The large viewscreem snapped on, showing a middle aged woman in her nightwear. The image had poor quality, reflective of the transmission being directed all the way from the Gamma Quadrant, but Sophia Azul's urgency was clear. "Carnwennan, there's an emergency on your station, in one of your holosuites. You have people in there, Cailus and Shae Griffin, and their children. They've been gassed and need assistance immediately. You might have hostiles operating on your starbase, targeting them."

“Confirmed!” Squall called out, “Gas detected in Holosuite twelve. Only in twelve.”

“Damn it!” Milne cursed, wondering why she wasn’t aware of the family’s movements. “We’ll get them Admiral, I’ll let you know as soon as they’re safe.”

"Please do," Azul said with a worried look. "I'll contact Command and report my end of it. Good luck, Carnwennan. Azul out."

As the view screen switched off, Audra turned back to the Bridge, "Initiate an emergency transport from holosuite 12.”

Ensign Green hit the buttons on her station with urgency but could only shake her head, the computer sending back a series of error sounds, "Safety protocols have locked us out of site to site transport, sir."

"What about in the corridor adjacent?" Milne asked.

Green frowned as she looked over her screen, then she nodded, "We can get within ten metres, the nearest section."

Audra nodded, knowing every second gone was another second that the Brennan-Griffins did not have. “Computer? Activate the Shroud. Authorisation omega-three-five.”

There was a simple beep from the computer as Carnwennan went into high lockdown. The station was cloaked in an impenetrable protective cloak, emanating from a large shield generator at the top of the structure. No ships could get in or out. Throughout the internal decks, the lights dimmed into blackout, designed to give sight only to the security personnel equipped with sonar headsets. Communications were also blocked, cutting off any would-be infiltrators from the outside world and from each other. Sections of the ship were sealed, barriers placed in and around the holodeck and restricting all movement around the station.

With that in place, Audra tapped her badge. =/\= I need a medical response and security team to Deck 3 section nine!" =/\=

The corridor of the Residential wing was pitch black as concerned guests locked in their suites and rooms tried to find out what was going on. Some were aware of Carnwennan’s security protocols, while others were not, resulting in these occupants banging on the doors for assistance. Meanwhile, two large clusters of blue lights appeared - as four Security officers and three Medical personnel beamed to the location. They made a quick rush towards Holodeck 12.

The response was fast, but not fast enough. The security officers charged in first, phasers out and wearing respirators, only to find that the holosuite was deserted. The program was still running, the quiet cafe looking quite peaceful but also very empty. The only sign of any disturbance was the broken cup of tea on the cafe floor, a pool of it on the floor. Cailus, Shae, Eva and Eoin were all long gone.

Back in the command room, Milne, Squall, and Green waited with baited breath.

=/\= “Negative, sir. Occupants not found.” =/\= Came the Security Chief’s report.

Milne struck the desk with her open palm. “Damn! How long after the enviros went down was the gas detected?!”

“I initiated procedure as per regulations, Admiral.” Lieutenant Command Squall insisted, furrowing her brow. “Couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds.”

“Sensor logs report a site to site transport occurred exactly twenty eight seconds after the fault was detected.” Green chimed in, reading off her console. Squall threw up her hands as if to say “I told you so!” rather unhelpfully.

“They were prepared.” Milne commented scornfully, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks. She had failed to protect the family and felt ashamed, but there was an exact precision to Section 31’s operations that only they could pull off such a strike in a short amount of time. “Where did they go? Find me their destination.”

“A cargo vessel?” Green asked more than replied. “Well it was registered as a merchant ship but it has left the area at higher warp than that class is capable of.”

Milne sneered, “Well prepared.” The answers were only throwing up more questions - how did they not detect a ship masquerading as a merchant vessel in orbit of the station? She felt like they had practically left the door wide open for Section 31 to walk right through and take the Brennan-Griffins. Audra wasn’t about to give them up without a fight. Section 31 may have pulled a surprise extraction, but they were not lost yet. “Scramble the fighters, alert Starfleet command. This just became a rescue operation.”

In the shuttle bay of the station, pilots scrambled to their crafts as alert klaxons screamed through the corridors. Moments later, a gateway within the force field was dropped and the squadron launched out of the station at high warp. The Section 31 ship hadn't gotten too far just yet, but it would still be a race against time to catch them and - hopefully - save the family from harm. They could only hope they weren't too late.

OFF