Under the radar

Posted on Tue Mar 24th, 2015 @ 9:19am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Commander Ryuuji Takasu & Jennifer Daxer & T'Shenn & Captain Leo Fox
Edited on on Sat Mar 28th, 2015 @ 10:17am

1,617 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Captains & Contraband

It had been twelve hours since the Tokyo had deployed the fighter wings to spread out the border control. The fighter pilots had been taking shifts to return to the Tokyo and swap out pilots. Eighteen cargo ships and civilian vessels had been stopped and searched in those twelve hours, however all of them were carrying legitimate cargo and were all properly licensed. Their captains had also not objected to the border patrol after being explained to.

"Commander. Another ship is crossing the border at high warp. They are using their sensors to try and remain undetected, however they are not match for our new advanced sensor network" Ryuuji reported as he looked up from the Operations Console at Taiga.
"Which area?" Taiga asked.
"Ours" he answered pulling up a map.

"Helm. Set a course to intercept. Red Alert!" Taiga ordered as she sat back down in her chair and pulled up the tactical display of the situation.

T'Shenn nodded. "Setting course. Should be there in five minutes. But I recommend caution, Commander. I have seen several ships that look old, but have fooled our sensors enough to be powerhouses."

"I doubt she's got anything that can match us" Taiga said. The Tokyo was a brand new design and boasted some of the most advanced and upto date weaponary and ship systems in the fleet.

The ship was an old class K freighter which was capable of warp six. The ship couldn't outrun the Tokyo and she definately couldn't match the firepower.

Taiga looked back at Jennifer. "What is the ship's name. I need details, and want to know where they've been. Or meant to have been" she said simply. She didn't want the ship to try and get away, especially since they were trying to hide themselves.

"They are not transmitting their transponder codes." Jen replied, as she looked over her readings. "Likewise, they are also not transmitting their cargo manifest, destination, or where they came from. Their cargo appears to be injector casings." She checked a few more things on her console, before adding more. "The freighter is equipped with 4 class 2 pulse phaser arrays, and 1 cutting beam. Based on their course, and speed, they may be coming from Romulan space."

"Prepare boarding and search parties. I have a positive feel about this one" Taiga ordered. The Tokyo had several Marines on board and they were well trained to board and search ships. This freighter was obviously trying to hide something and there was no way in hell that Taiga was letting them get away with it.

"I have four parties standing by Commander. Also a party for bridge and engine room of their ship to ensure they don't try anything fishy." Leo nodded as if confirming himself.

T'Shenn asked, "Permission to join the boarding party? I know I'm not a Security officer, but I have combat training."

Jen stepped away from her console, assuming that she was to lead the boarding party. "I don't see why not." She replied, then turned to Leo. "I will lead the assault on the Bridge. Perhaps you could lead the assault on the Engineering deck. I don't expect we will meet much in the way of resistance."

Taiga held up a hand to stop everyone from just rushing off the bridge.
"We'll hail them first" she said. "Open hailing frequencies" she ordered.

A few seconds later a middle aged man appeared on the screen. He had a scar on his cheek and he didn't look happy.
"What do you want Starfleet Scum?!" he asked rudely.

Taiga clenched her fists. "I'm Commander Taiga Aisaka of the Federation Starship Tokyo" she began.
"I don't really give two shits who you are Commander. Why are you chasing me?!" he interrupted her. His face scowled as he looked over the woman.
"You are not transmitting your transponder codes. We have reason to believe that you may be smuggling illegal cargo. You are hereby ordered to drop out of warp and prepare to be boarded" Taiga replied quickly crossing her arms.
"No" he replied. "I will not allow any Starfleet Scumbags to come aboard my ship. I'm trying to make a delivery here, I don't have time for this! Now if you'd just let me get on my way..."
"Obviously you don't understand what I just said!" Taiga replied fiercly. "I said you are to drop out of warp immediately!"
"Who are you to order me what to do!" He shot back quickly.
"I'm a Starfleet Commander. Its simple really, did you know it would take 1 short two second burst of my ships secondary phaser array to destroy your shields. Another 1 second burst from the primary array would breach the engineering section of your hull causing secondary explosions throughout your ship. In fourteen seconds your ship will be nothing but floating debris, oh and in those fourteen seconds we wouldn't be able to get a transporter lock on you or any of your crew"

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds as she stared into the mans eyes, fire glowing in hers.
"So. Whats it going to be?" she asked.
"You wouldn't shoot a civilian vessel!"
"You want to risk it?" Taiga asked. "Or do you want to stand down?"

The man could be seen pondering slightly, then the comm channel cut off.
"They're dropping out of warp" Ryuuji reported from operations.
"Good" Taiga said as she turned to face Jennifer. "Search that ship. I want every inch of it covered, oh and bring that stupid ass to my ready room. I want a word with him".

To say Jennifer was surprised would've been an understatement, as she stood there staring at Taiga for a moment. Never before had she met a member of Starfleet who had acted in such a manner during a sensitive encounter like that one. She visibly sighed, before finally replying. "Captain, may I have a word with you in private?" She asked, then added as an after thought. "Please?"

Taiga looked over at Jennifer. "I thought you were leading that away team?" she asked simply.

Jen pressed a few buttons on her console, and the ship's tractor beam grabbed the freighter. "I don't think they're going anywhere." Jen replied. "Besides, what I have to say will be brief."

Taiga didn't look too pleased. She pointed at her ready room door allowing Jennifer to lead the way.

Jen looked at Leo as she passed by. "Prepare your teams." She ordered. "I will join your shortly." With that, she led Taiga into the ready room.

Leo nodded. "You got it Commander" he got up and tapped his badge. "Teams Omega, Alpha and Prima prepare for deployment." he walked off the bridge.

Once both were in and the door was closed Taiga began. "You said this would be quick. Whats the problem?" she asked simply and straight to the point.

"Permission to speak freely?" Jen asked as she turned to face Taiga.

"Isn't that why you're here?" Taiga said simply.

"Did you happen to bump your head recently?" The question came out so casually, it was hard to tell whether Jen was mad, or not. "Never once in my life have I seen a Starfleet officer act the way that you did during that encounter. It was irresponsible, and reflects very poorly on the reputation of the fleet."

Taiga just let out a smile. "I'm glad you noticed" she said. "Because its very obvious that you have no idea how people like him respond to Starfleet" Taiga explained. "If you didn't already notice this is a very unstable area, captains of freighters avoid Starfleet like we're a plague, we're not going to get anywhere if we play nicely. Its the likes of people like him that need to learn that Starfleet can and will take action in order to protect The Federation and our citizens. If I have to... bend a few courtesy rules to do so then by hell I will" Taiga said her tone rather defensive. "Do you understand now?" she asked.

Jen raised an eyebrow, and had to stop herself from laughing. Instead, she shook her head, and gave the woman a smirk. "I do." she said simply. "However, I would be neglecting my duties as your Executive Officer, if I failed to point out anything I see as... a poor reflection, or bad idea."

Taiga nodded. "Our guests will not appreciate being held in a tractor beam for very long" she said.

"Understood." Jennifer said, then turned on her heels to meet up with the teams.

*Transporter Room*

Leo stood in a transporter room with a fully armed squad down on the marine deck, looking across the transporter room to another padd with another squad. Waiting on orders. "Alright marines." he said to his troops "We go fast. We go hard. We do our jobs. HOO-RAH!" everyone else yelled hoo-rah back. "We wait for our away team leader. We all have our orders. Myself and my team will hold down Engineering while the Securtiy Chief and you guys" he said the last two words pointing at the other team on the other pad. "Head up to the bridge to get answers. Protect the leader at all costs."

Not long after, Jen walked through the door. She appeared to only be armed with a single 20th century handgun, with several clips attached to her gun belt. "Weapons on stun. I am sure the Captain would frown on any lethal force." She said simply, as she stepped up onto the transporter pad. opposite Leo. "Energize."

Moments later, both teams were engulfed in the blue haze of a transporter matter stream, vanishing from the transporter pads.

To be continued...

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