Future Past Imperfect

 Episode Name:  Future Past Imperfect

   Written By:  Fortunae

         Cast:  Devereaux, Duncan, Fortunae, Golden, Idisha, Stewart, Takamura

                and Turtledove.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Fortunae

     Aired On:  Mon Dec 16 04:23:13 2002

     Stardate:  52855.2

Time: Sun Dec 15 21:37:32 2002

Stardate: 52854.6

It was a surprise call to activation; not a scheduled training drill or Timefleet meeting that brought them all together aboard the Aegis. Agent Duncan seemed calm over the coms when he asked them all to meet him with their gear and in their Timefleet uniforms; but there is an air of anticipation perhaps because of the unexpected nature of the summons. Now, all gathered on the flight deck, the Timefleet crew await Agent Duncan's explanation.

Duncan looks up from a workstation as several members of the RRT enter and counts heads quickly then nods. "We have a situation people. The timeline is going to come under attack shortly and we need to perform a preemptive strike to quite literally save the federation and most of the civilizations in the alpha and beta quadrants."

Takamura takes a deep breath and nods solemnly.

Golden stands beside Takamura, trying to read Duncan for any sign of exaggeration.

Turtledove quirks an eyebrow, surprised. She glances briefly at Golden, then looks back at Duncan, regarding him quietly and curiously as she awaits further information.

Idisha stands with his favored kit slung from his shoulder and otherwise armed for bear. Or maybe makra. Or more likely the 'bad people' (tm) who are trying to end the world as we know it. He does his best to express a blasé expression at the dramatic word choice of Agent Duncan. But its obvious he's still not use to the...exaggerated nature of their tasks.

The futures aircraft carrier. The hazel eyes of one Ethan Devereaux pan the immense deck, sweeping from the forward bay doors, portside, then onto the aft bay doors all before resting them upon Duncan as he does his head count. Tilting his head to one side, then to the other extreme, he attempts to loosen the collar of this charcoal black uniform. He's never worn it before, but curiosity runs through his mind, then it's shaken off as the Agent giving the briefing speaks up - SNAP! Attention upon Duncan.

. o O Devereaux thinks "Seriously... I wonder who was the brilliance behind polished boots with black combat uniforms... and the same goes for our Rapid Response Uniforms."

Duncan continues after a brief reaction check. "We've received reliable intel that a race known as the Merkhan who are just outside the Federation boarder of the Draconis outback has developed time travel recently. Last month they conducted a successful time travel test and four months from now they are going to launch an attack on four of the founding members of the federation before they even came into contact with each other. The time period they're going to attack during is about four hundred years ago. The targets are Earth, Vulcan, Tellar, Alpha Centauri, and Andoria, apparently they also plan on taking Rigel due to strategic placement.

. o O Golden thinks "Ambitious bastards, apparently."

Golden says, "I've never heard of the Markhan, do we have any intelligence on them or why they want to take out the Federation before it forms?"

Stewart just stands at attention during the briefing, listening intently with a somewhat hardened expression. His hands are at his sides, eyes forward, head up.

Yes, watch the tension build in the Andorian. Its a fascinating thing really. Seeing all those veins pulse with barely held desires to kill. Ensign Idisha has one goal. Kill Markhan dead. Or at least the ignoble frostlings that would stoop so low as to stab from the shadows upon an unsuspecting foe and using cowards tactics to do it.

Turtledove listens quietly. She flicks a quick glance to Golden, then looks back at Duncan, awaiting his answer.

Duncan says, "They are an arachnoid race, and apparently quite warlike. Their goal is to conquer the rest of the quadrant after they stop the federation from being formed. Without the federation, even the Klingons will not be much of a problem because they wont have access to the technology they obtained from the USS Ranger, so they'll be too busy dealing with the Romulans to bother with the Merkhan's."

Like his teammates, Takamura stands at attention with a burning desire to eliminate this foe visible in his eyes. His lips press firmly together as he clenches his teeth.

Golden frowns as he counts back the centuries that Duncan indicated. "Earth wasn't even close to Warp capability 4 centuries ago, they would be put down easy or destroy themselves with nukes while attempting to resist an invasion." He furrows his brows, "This isn't something that can be handled through normal diplomatic channels I take it? Is this going to cause some sort of diplomatic incident in the present after we go and hit this species?"

Turtledove quirks an eyebrow, surprised again. She shakes her head gently in mild disbelief as Duncan speaks. Who can understand the mad minds of a race bent on conquest and destruction? She glances at Golden again, as he speaks, then looks back to Duncan, curious to hear his response.

Duncan nods gravely to Golden "Our mission, as it has been worked out so far is to go in, destroy their time travel capability in such a way to make sure that they believe it was a complete and utter failure."

Takamura nods, squinting his eyes with determination.

Idisha quirks a brow. "You'll forgive me if I'm still working on the particulars of temporal physics Agent Duncan. I've a bit of a backlog trying to squeeze in a year of training into a matter of a few weeks. I trust you have a solution to this quandary?"

Clearing his throat, Golden says, "Okay, so we have to intrude into their temporal research facility, assumeably guarded. We have to take down their key scientists, remove their research data, and perhaps stage an explosion that is consistent with a disastrous outcome of some activity occurring there so it looks like we were never there? Is that correct?"

Turtledove listens quietly to Golden, her eyebrows ascending gently as she slips into thoughtful mode.

GAME: Turtledove spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Law (Temporal Law) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Law (Federation Law) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Duncan almost grins at Takamura. "Yes, we have a solution. The race has refused all overtures of contact/peace with the federation, so, about a month ago we will be attacking their research facility. The key scientists must be taken out and their research data must be removed and replaced with a false dataset that will explain the horrible catastrophe that their meddling has caused. Should we fail, then we will have to attempt to interdict the six invasions. Needless to say that option will be much more difficult.

Turtledove quietly raises a hand. "Agent Duncan. Your plan involves going to the Merkhan homeworld uninvited, essentially trespassing, and violating property and personnel with extreme prejudice. To say the least, these are acts of war. Since, as I believe it, no war has been declared... I'd like to see a Presidential authorization for this operation." Her tone of voice is clear and even, and her demeanor is utterly professional.

Golden cocks his head and considers Tera's point, he looks towards Duncan for a response to that as well as that sounded correct by his book.

Takamura hrms and nods. Could that be a slight smile coming to his face? He raises an eyebrow at Tera's question, considering her point.

Idisha cocks his head in thought. "I know this is going to hurt the brain. But as we're dealing with temporal issues... our being in this room means that they have already effectively declared war on us. By targeting our founders for assassination. Or do I miss my mark on this?"

Duncan nods at Turtledov's objection. "Quite true except for one thing. Temporal op's and legalities work outside of linear time. In the future, they will launch an attack on our past, wiping out our ability to respond and counter. Thus we will, in the present, go to their past, and stop their actions in the future, and thus prevent them from from unmaking our past and in the process impair if not destroy our present.

Turtledove considers that point. She can't help, apparently, but look at Golden to see his reaction to this information.

Golden rubs his temples as he personally tries to factor all this out. "I think Mister Idisha's point it an applicable one, though I am with Mister Turtledove wondering about presidential authorization. Hmmmm... if I get this correctly, if we don't go and do this, our president will never become president so he will be unable to give us authorization after they have launched their attack -- so we have been authorized to go and stop them from having the technology so that in the future they can't launch the attack that would have undone our ability to get authorization; thusly we can't get authorization because if we stop this no need to issue it will be necessary in four months when they would have made thier move, and if we don't act no authorization can be granted because there will be no one to grant it?"

Turtledove blinks at least once at Golden's self-debate, then turns to Duncan to get his response... to it.

Idisha pauses. Parse. Oww. Parse. Yeah. Mental note, I hate temporal fruitloops. "Sounds about right to me..." He looks to Duncan.

Takamura blinks several times, looking like his brain has overloaded. He just stands there dumbfounded.

Stewart blinks. And blinks again. And then says, "Are any of you listening to your own questions? But if temporal law doesn't follow the timeline, then might we not already be in a de facto state of war with them for the attacks they are about to commit?"

Idisha glances to Stewart, sighs mentally, and looks back to Duncan.

Duncan nods to Golden. "Essentially if we wait four months, there wont be any us to do anything about it let alone a president or a federation left to defend, and yes, Mr. Stewart, we are already in a defacto state of war with them because of the temporal nature of their attack."

Golden says, "Alright. So that's cleared up, good questions people. Let's talk mission goals and deployment. Do we have any onsite intel or recon to base an attack plan off of?"

Duncan calls up schematics, diagrams, guard schedules, you name, it Dunc seems to have it all, on the displays surrounding his workstation. "Will this do?"

Duncan says, "We lost some good people getting this data, so lets make the best use of it we can.""

Turtledove's brow furrows slightly as she studies the data intently. So intent is her studying that she doesn't acknowledge Duncan's question, she simply continues reading and thinking.

Takamura chuckles. Apparently, Duncan is as ruthlessly efficient as Idisha.

Idisha ignores the work schedules and the you name its. Going straight for the schematics and diagrams he fiends for technical data. A PADD mysteriously materializes in his hand and he starts making notes. Such and such explosive in such and such amounts, tensile strengths, resistor capacities, conduits and power transfer relays. Generally anything that can go boom and make lots of shrapnel in innocent ways.

Turtledove, meanwhile, seems particularly taken with the guard schedules, and the layout of the facilities.

Golden says, "Right. Okay. Mister Idisha, you're our best technical guy so you'll be with Agent Duncan going into the lab to implant the false evidence and ensure none of the real data is left behind as well as arranging the "disaster" so start thinking up applicable fireworks now. Mister Stewart, you and Mister Turtledove get familiar with the compound and guard rotations -- you're be scouting the approach to the facility and clearing the path with your sniper and silent kill skills, then you'll provide Area Supremacy coverage for the technical team as they move in and deploy. Mister Devereaux, you and I will be reserve support and keep anything unpleasant away from the compound once the game in play. Each group go over your salient data, make a game plan and then I'll go over it, we'll saddle up and head out."

Golden says, "Mister Takamura, while Mister Idisha and Mister Duncan are busy, someone will have to watch thier backs, I can't think of a better candidate for that than you. Get to it."

Takamura smiles at Golden. "Aye aye, sir," he says brightly.

With the mission objectives outlined and the Team broken up into smaller operational units for the deployment, the officers and agent of Timefleet move into thier smaller clusters and begin to pour over the data, exchange thoughts and cautions -- preparing to save the Federation from a disaster they hasn't been set in motion yet before it happens then.

GAME: Idisha spends a courage point.

GAME: Duncan spends a courage point.

GAME: Takamura spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Idisha (claiming advantage) contests his Demolitions (Military Explosives) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Takamura contests his Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails! JOBS: New REQ job # 449 submitted by Ssaedhe: Okie I've decided Journey

<CONTEST> Duncan (claiming advantage) contests his Physical Sciences (Temporal Physics) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Takamura (claiming advantage) contests his Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

GAME: Turtledove spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Planetside Survival (Urban) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

GAME: Stewart spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Stewart (claiming advantage) contests his Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

GAME: Golden spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Golden (claiming advantage) contests his Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Golden (claiming advantage) contests his Command (Combat) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

<CONTEST> Golden (claiming advantage) contests his Command (Combat Leadership) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

Act II -- Exterior scene of a dark planet with brown and reddish patches mixed between sullen blackened patches. Wispy clouds of a dunnish hue are visible from this orbital view. Cut Scene -- the dark surface of the planet. In a tenebrous copse of alien trees a bright pinpoint of light like a minature version of the anomaly outside Station 419 expands then contracts from existance. In the passage of it's short existance it has left seven figures who immediately hunker down into smaller posture positions and seem to access their local. One of them extracts a tricorder from his belt and silently moves it about before nodding to the tallest of the party. The tallest nods silently and makes a few hand gestures that send two of the seven away from the group and into the awaiting darkness of the alien world.

<CONTEST> Turtledove contests her Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Stewart contests his Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

The pair slink away from the larger party and into the alien forest, carefully weaving around the natural terrain obstacles and emerging near the course mark that the slighter, female figure had been navigating them towards. As they leave the cover of the foilage they lower themselves even closer to the surface and beging to lowcrawl swiftly over the strangely scented grass an up to the edge of a hill that will give them a fine view of the valley below them in which their destination lays. A small township is nestled in this lowered region, reminscent of a "company town" outside a dilithium mining concern or the the like. The active lighting at the doorways and about the township is of a ruddy hue and not like the familiar white light that is so common about the Federation. Above them twin moons of a bluish hue send feeble reflections down towards the scene... and one of these beams of light catches on Stewart's weapon making it flash in reflection. Turtledove quickly notices this but even as she cautions him and he corrects, they can make out two nightmarish bipedal klingon sized spider figures dropping to thier arms and legs and sleekly moving across the open descending plain from the hill to the village and in thier direction.

Stewart drops to one knee, assuming a ready aiming position, and drawing a beam on one of the figures as it advances. He notes to Turtledove, "If I fire, all hell will probably break lose. So if you have a quiet way to deal with them, speak now. Otherwise, mine's the left. Take right."

GAME: Turtledove spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

Turtledove looks Stewart in the eye, somewhat surprised. "Well. We could try to take them in hand-to-hand." She grins slightly. Perhaps she's even serious.

Stewart fishes his knife out of the sheath at the moment, transferring it to the hand holding the phaser. "We could. I really don't recommend it. They have more hands. Think fast, I'm low on ideas, here."

Out in the darkness, the residents still approach with a measure that indicates a natural proclivity to stealth, or predatory supremacy of the food chain. At this point, still quite visible in the Federation Nightvision goggles, they appear to be at 700 meters and closing at a rate of about 240 meters/minute.

<CONTEST> Stewart contests his Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Turtledove hrms as she caresses the hilt of Utlara. Her eyebrow quirks as she studies the natural stealthiness and predation of their opponents. "Stealth is priority one right now. I'm not averse to a personal encounter, in any case." Her eyes glitter underneath the goggles. Anticipation?

Stewart rests the Type III across his knee, going instead for his tricorder. "Try to get a scan of the things. Look for weak points. And then, if possible, sneak up and try for a quick kill of one. I'll cover you to deal with the other, unless it looks like you don't need any help." And with that, he begins scanning.

You know that expression that Legolas gets at the end of 'The Fellowship of the Ring', when Aragorn says, 'Let's go hunt some orc.'? Turtledove has that look. Exactly. "Aye sir." She whips out her tricorder even as her face breaks out into a quiet, glowing smile.

<CONTEST> Stewart contests his Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

Turtledove taps her tricorder a few times, attempting to scan for weak points.

<CONTEST> Turtledove contests her Personal Equipment (Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Looking over the tricorder display from her position the hill, Tera draws upon her medical studies at the academy on exo-anatomy to help with her Forensic training and gets an idea of where the tender critical points are on the Merkhan species.

Turtledove unleashes Utlara. The blade slides out of it's sheath, almost singing at being freed at last. She looks at Stewart. "Hold your fire as long as possible. See you on the other side." She grins and steps away... melting into the darkness like a shadow, heading for their prey.

Stewart hangs the tricorder back on his belt, picking up the Type III and aiming carefully, drawing a bead on one of the spiders. But for now, it's the waiting game.

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

With a fluid combination of speed and silent grace, Turtledove slips down the incline towards the approaching Merkhans -- nothing in her progress betraying her presence, she slips low as they draw ever closer and then as they begin to pass her, mindful of the weakspots she identified, she rises from the twilight surface to strike at her unsuspecting foe...

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Primitive Weaponry (Knife) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!

She leaps to the attack aiming for the sensitive spot behind the slope of the arachnid "skull", but perhaps a preternatural "spider sense" warns her target at the last moment causing it to shift to the side with adroit alacrity, leaving her unsheathed blade to merely draw a scratch of a furrow along it's dorsal aspect... it whirls with it's companion to return the favor, twisting with shocking spead as it raises itself to an upright posture and widens it's mandibles to pierce her succulant flesh!

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

The hungry bug is denied the delicious taste of Turtledove! She deftly dodges and, hopefully, rights herself for a more successful strike with the blade.

Stewart looking through the sight, Stewart aims for the bug that Turtledove is not currently engaged in battle with. The one that's in a good position to move around behind her. Once it's in sight, he fires.

GAME: Stewart spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Stewart contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

*Pppppsshhhhhhewwwwww* the report of the phaser rifle issues it's customary sound along with it's beam of golden light, striking the second Merkhan with force enough to bowl it over head over hindlegs as it was rising to an upright position. It tumbles back down the darkened hillside then lays flat on its back, appendages twitching grotesquely a few times until it is completely motionless --- meanwhile, Turtledove manuevers for another more telling strike on her own foe...

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Primitive Weaponry (Knife) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

With razor keen reflexes Tera weaves and ducks around the grasping and buffeting arm appendages of the Merkhan, avoiding it's clicking mandibles for the moment and well aware of the keen hatred blazing from it's numerous eyes... then slipping inside it's guard she applies skill and leverage to the superkeen Andorian blade and slips it through unresisting flesh so swiftly it takes a beat of two before the flesh parts and spills internal organs fourth like a disgorging cornucopia... it feebly tries to bite into her again...

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

...and misses! Turtledove sidesteps the grasping, feeble mandibles easily and raises Utlara for the kill.

Stewart holds his fire for the moment, due to the risk of accidentally picking off crew members, though he keeps a line on the Big Bad Bug, ready to pick it off if an opening (or emergency) should spring up.

<CONTEST> Turtledove (claiming advantage) contests her Primitive Weaponry (Knife) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

And then the opening clear, Tera kicks out a foreleg as it comes down hard after missing her and spins inside so Utlara flashes out catching a spark of light from the twin moves before being buried by the force of the torque and the deadly aim of the young officer behind the brain pan of the unfortunate Merkhan before it slides in to the hilt piercing the grey matter therein with finality. The creature doesn't even gasp, a momentary twitch, then is eternally still leaving only Tera's gasps to fill the night with the sounds of life.

Turtledove takes a quick look around for reinforcements, before attempting to step back into the shadows.

The field is quiet, and soon Tera signals James to move down to join her. Once together they tag the two corpses with marker tags so the reserve team can handle the disintergrations as they close in on extraction time. This is the sort of evidence it wouldn't due to leave behind. Slipping further into the valley like wraiths through a graveyard the two officers slip into the small urban community and to the final sniper position that was selected some 4000 light years away from their current location. Making her hands into a stirrup, Turtledove assists James in a quick step leap grab assent to the low balcony of a building. James duck walks to the door opening on his location and sprays it quickly with a vapor epoxy protien glue that will keep it sealed for a few hours before dissolving tracelessly. He moves to his firing position and starts calculating his shots to deal with the sentries about the compound even as Tera slips back into the night to the landing grid. It's time to guide the tech team into play. James finds himself alone with his rifle, the targets, and the darkness. And this is quite satisfactory.

GAME: Golden spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Turtledove contests her Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Golden (claiming advantage) contests his Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

GAME: Takamura spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Takamura (claiming advantage) contests his Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

GAME: Idisha spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Idisha (claiming advantage) contests his Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

GAME: Duncan spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Duncan (claiming advantage) contests his Stealth (Stealthy Movement) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Act III -- Moving along the Twilight outskirts of the company town near the Merkhan Temporal Research Facility, the Timefleet Officers and agent slinks unseen and unheard towards their rendezvous for control of the fates to their quadrents. Behind them, along the rise where Turtledove and Stewart first paused to gain a view of the complex in the red lamped and moonlight filled valley Lieutenant (jg) Golden and Ensign Devereaux sink into thier positions to moniter the approach by road to the facility or out of it while their teammate proceed ever deeper into the Merkhan's den. Tera breaks ghostlike from the tech team and deeper into the urban complex to her support position; a backstop to assist Stewart should his own position become unviable due to the vageries of fortune. Agent Duncan crouches in the shadows beside a building's walls as Idisha and Takamura belly crawl with thier burdens of equipment up to the fence line. Effortlessly Idisha extracts the componants from his toolkit that enables him to run a current bypass on the electrified security fence without causing a break of current that would trigger an alarm. At his nod the husky asian slices the fence wire with the superkeen blade his companion forged for him and so a pass through the outerfence became a reality. Takamura covers Idisha as he slips thorugh the breech and carefully edges on his stomach to the safety of the shadows pooled beside the first internal wall. Agent Duncan then slinks his way to the fence covering Takamura while he joins Idisha, and then he himself moves to their company. Carefully picking their way, knowing behind them Stewart is keeping an attentive eye on the guards in the security posts lest they see the team and attempt to raise an alarm or shoot, the three commandos creep to the entrance of the main research building. Duncan quickly confirms the chroniton activity with a silent scan of his tricorder and nods to Takamura. Takamura pops open the security access port where his training will come into play...

GAME: Takamura spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Takamura (claiming advantage) contests his Security (Security) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

<CONTEST> Takamura (claiming advantage) contests his Systems Engineering (Security) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Working the bypass by ruddylight, Hiroshi seems confident and quick in his task... but just as his hand moves to seal the final circuit bypass he pauses. His eyes narrow and he glances dubiously up at the reddish lamp and then back at the circuit board... he looks thoughtful then puts his hands back to work reversing the last two optical cables he had set into place before closing the circuit. -- No alarm sounds. -- Then the doors slide open almost soundlessly.

Takamura mutters to himself at almost blowing their surprise. Cautiously, he peeks through the open doors, first left, then right.

As Takamura sweeps the sides from the doorframe with his weapon, he sees the corridor is oddly shaped. Narrow at the floors, wider at the ceiling... but he also notices something else... catwalk grating down the ceilings...

With the coast clear, Takamura quickly steps inside training his rifle on the overhead catwalk. Motioning with his head, he signals for the rest of his team to enter.

With his kit cinched up into the nook of his arm, Idisha's hand rests gently upon the hilt of his phaser II. But in his primary hand is held one of the beloved blades. Close quarters and silence begs for Idisha steel met with Idisha skill. With a calm and silence often bred upon the icy taiga, the Andorian follows Takamura inside of the building, trusting to keen ears to warn him of danger rather than in the lighting conditions therein.

Duncan brings up the rear almost walking in a sideways crouch trying to watch his footing and the terrain behind the team as they enter the building.

<CONTEST> Idisha (claiming advantage) contests his Search skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

<CONTEST> Takamura contests his Search skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

<CONTEST> Duncan contests his Search skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

<CONTEST> Duncan contests his Personal Equipment (Temporal Tricorder) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Duncan, after entering pulls out his temporal tricorder and makes a quick scan.

Moving in the dimly red-lit hallway inside the main structure of the temporal complex, the three operatives of timefleet are met with a disturbing stillness -- even the sensitive attenae of the engineer fail to detect significant sounds within aside from those made by his companions. Fooling the sensory organs is one thing though, fooling Agent Duncan's tricorder is a very different story. Though the sound of the device has been set to off, Duncan guides the sensor with long praticed skill until he finds what he's been looking for -- the clear signs of a temporal insertion matrix in containment standby... 35 meters inside the complex bearing north by north east.

Duncan gives takamura the "I've got point," signal and moves off carefully in that direction, phaser in one hand tricorder in the other.

Takamura motions for Idisha to go next, so he can watch their backs.

Idisha continues forward, giving a nod to Takamura as he keeps close to Duncan. Mostly just in case the man gets into trouble. The Agent's melee or other combat skills being a bit of an unknown he'd much rather take solace in being close enough to shove the man out of the way of incoming death.

As the trio move through the oddly shaped hall Idisha's attenae pick up a faint metallic twang... above them ahead...

GAME: Duncan spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Duncan (claiming advantage) contests his Search skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Takamura contests his Search skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

Idisha quirks his head of a sudden and, after what seems an eternity of thought to him, switches out his knife for phaser and taps the Agent on the shoulder indicating 'up'. A thumb adjusts the setting of his phaser to something a little more....intimidating.

Even as Idisha is tapping Duncan, he sees what the Andorian must have been warning him about -- unbeknownst to Takamura, hanging from the ceiling grating about 5 meters ahead of them are two dark "furry" shapes suspended from eight limbs each near a doorway, standing guard as it were.

*beep beep* the phaser sounds as the setting is changed...and suddenly the dark forms are in motion -- rapid motion as they spring with amazing speed towards the cluster of Timefleet operatives!

Duncan glances down at his phaser II noting that it is set to kill already, and raises it to fire.

<CONTEST> Idisha contests his Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

<CONTEST> Duncan contests his Dodge skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

The massive multilimbed shapes of the Merkhan spring at the Andorian and the Trill, Idisha is born towards the ground even as he was bringing his phaser to bear on his attacker and hits the metal floor with some force... but not enough to make an Andorian drop either of his weapons by any means. The Trill on the on the other hand, as if timing the entire matter in his head before it took place, gracefully ducks and sidesteps making his foe miss him completely and land heavily on the deck between Mycroft and the now aware something is amiss Takamura.

<CONTEST> Takamura contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

The Merkhan atop Idisha opens it's mandibles wide and attempts to rip out the sprawled andorian's throat....

Takamura spins around at the commotion behind him, and fires at the Merkhan that landed between him and Duncan. Fortunately he set his rifle on kill before coming down the hill.

<CONTEST> Idisha contests his Unarmed Combat (Ulieesar) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

The pouncing Merkhan is met with a toppling Andorian. But even as the blue skinned one is falling back and the spidery form reaching down with mandibled death, knees are tucking and as his back meets the grating his legs extend and toss the creature off of his form like a sack of flour.

<CONTEST> Duncan contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Duncan, with cool precision levels his phaser at the flailing Merkhan and vaporizes it in mid air.

Idisha gets up and brushes himself off. "Note to self." He says quietly. "Set phaser to fricasse, before, we enter a hazardous environment."

Duncan grins back to Idisha and turns his around to show its indicator.

Takamura chuckles quietly and grins at Idisha, patting his rifle.

As suddenly as it started the conflict is over. The scent of rapidly burnt on the way to complete thermal disruption flesh is in the air amid the less familiar alien scents that assail their noses. The door the Merkhans was guarding awaits and the three move up to it, unsurprised to find it too has a security bypass lock... Takamura pops the lid again with a rapidly drawn knife and....

<CONTEST> Takamura contests his Security (Security) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

...easily bypasses the security access code, the alarm and the lock... the door slides open soundlessly allowing the whining sounds of the devices inside and the strangely colored lights to flood into the hallway harshly -- the white and greens of the intruding illumination conflicting garishly with the ruddy lights of the hallway.

Inside the chamber beyond the three Timefleeters can see the device that dominates the center of this large oblong room is clearly the Temporal Translation device that will give the Merkhan their basis for conquest and domination uptime. Seven spiderly Merkhan are arrayed about the location, all at monitering consoles, all unaware of the doom that has just caught them at their moment of triumph.

Duncan glances over to Idisha and Takamura, points out two of the Merkhan's, then to himself and indicates that they should choose their targets, and that he'll pick up any that get missed.

Idisha looks at Duncan and just shakes the head with a silly grin on his face. He points at Takamura's chest and finds cover.

<CONTEST> Takamura contests his Planetary Tactics (Small Unit) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

Takamura sheaths his knife, and removes a grenade from his bandolier. He grins at Duncan and Idisha as he prepares to toss the grenade.

Duncan doesnt quite chuckle but indicates a terminal that the grenade needs to avoid if at all possible.

Idisha gives a large nod and hugs one side of the door, phaser at the ready to pick off any unfortunates that are tough enough to still be standing after the blast.

<CONTEST> Duncan contests his Physical Sciences (Temporal Physics) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Duncan eyes unfocus for a moment while a thought occurs to him, then he quickly puts a hand out and stops Takamura from activating the grenade, then points to the temporal matrix, making the "VERY BAD THING" sign, and then holds up his phaser.

Takamura nods as he clips the grenade to his chest, readjusts his rifle to wide beam and targets the maximum number of targets.

GAME: Takamura spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Takamura contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!

<CONTEST> Takamura (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!

Just as Takamura fires, one of the Merkhan moves at his console causing Hiroshi to involuntarily pull to follow his movement -- one Merkhan is unraveled by the force of the phaser connection, but the rest are alerted to the presence of the Federation operatives... even as consoles raked by Tak's shot explode brightly.

<CONTEST> Duncan (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Duncan steps quickly into the doorway and flattens himself against the wall, looking up, spots a native who is reaching for a panel on the wall next to himself and turns him to ash, while the rain of ash is still falling around him turns his phaser on one of the scientists near the temporal matrix, whom he also dispatches with alacrity.

<CONTEST> Idisha contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

Coming in low Idisha squeezes off a shot at nearby Merkhan, but the creature moves with uncanny swiftness and ducks behind its console leaving the golden beam to glance off the Temporal Matrix and richochet off at a strange angle that blasts a large section of the roof walking grid out of existance. Not pausing despite is frustration at the evaded strike, Thaal leaps forward in a high sommersault rolling off his shoulders as they impact on the floor and carrying himself with his momentum to stop in a crouch behind a console as cover deeper in the laboratory.

The roof grating, not accustomed to such abuses, and damaged between Idisha's impact and the explosions caused by Takamura, begins to creak ominiously with the sound of metal succumbing soon to the more powerful attraction of gravity. Meanhwhile, the Merkhan move around trying to get cover from this unexpected assault -- and across the grounds a sound that could only be an alarm begins sounding -- perhaps because of instability to the temporal matrix, perhaps because of the assault.

<CONTEST> Stewart (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Stewart (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Outside, the Merkhan in the watch towers begin to move to action, but in a rapid and well mentally envisioned aforehand manner, Ensign James Stewart cuts each of them down in rapid succession with a brilliant display of precision sniper work. There is no more activity outside... and little proof there ever was.

Takamura takes a knee, switches back to narrow beam and targets one of the hairy buggers.

<CONTEST> Takamura (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Another Merkhan is disintergrated while ducking for cover, it's death wail unnerving in its complete alienness.

<CONTEST> Duncan (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Duncan dashes along the wall ducking for cover and suddenly popping up almost out of nowhere to burn a couple more of the arachnoid's before ducking again and dashing further around the upper level of the room.

<CONTEST> Idisha contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Idisha pops up from behind his console and lines up on one of the remaining spiderlings. Merkhan or whatever they want to call their frostbitten and dishonorable selves, they still cook up as good as any Jhem'haddar or Ferengi. Not that he's shot one. But he's thought about it.

Desperate and quite convinced that there is no hiding from these alien terrors.. the last Merkhan emits an undulating clicking roar and flips over it's console cover attempting to grapple and shred the kneeling Takamura!

Takamura gives out his own battle cry as he blasts at the incoming foe.

<CONTEST> Takamura (claiming advantage) contests his Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Caught in mid-air by the precisely aimed blast of Hiroshi, the last Merkhan is flipped head back and reverse tumbling by the proximity and force of the blast. Reddish Gold energy lights up it's black hairs as it falls towards the floor by only ash makes the full distance, a dispersed powered trace of what was once a living creature.

GAME: Idisha spends a courage point.

GAME: Duncan spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Idisha (claiming advantage) contests his Demolitions (Military Explosives) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Duncan contests his Computer (Data Alteration) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Brushing the ash out of his hair, Tak grins and slips the backpack off his back to give to Idisha. He then takes up a guard position near the door.

Duncan moves up to one of the consoles and begins keying in data, seemingly having no difficulty with the alien ideograms, after downloading their entire database into a memory chip which he quickly pockets, he begins uploading huge amounts of similar but spurious data, all of it similar to what he'd just downloaded, but some of it just slightly altered in a way that points to huge mistakes made in the theories behind the production and operation of the Merkhan's temporal device. "We could have destroyed ourselves with this insanity" would be the only conclusion that could be gathered from the data found in these machines.

While Duncan's computer skills make the evidence saitsfactory to all but the most scrutinized of examinations, Idisha takes his package of happy kaboom from the beefy Takamura and goes about planting his gems of joy. Four plasma charges set at cardinal points such that their own induced magnetic fields will contain the plasma and fuel the fires directly atop their target. Producing nothing but molten slag of most of the room. Wonderfully designed is the Merkhan power grid that way. They so very conveniently have used plasma conduits for their power source and given him the perfect excuse for a detonator. A power spike within the conduits themselves to set awry the magnetic field containing them. All very plausible. And all very deadly in its results. What caused the spike they wonder? Why their meddling with temporal affairs of course. All in readiness, Idisha ushers everyone out and walks out of the room letting the door close behind him. Sending the signal for the spike with a pushing of a button and a satisfied smile as he exits the building.

Bustling now with an unquestioned urge to get space between themselves and the Merkhan laboratory -- Takmura, Idisha and Duncan hustle out of the complex and race low but swiftly to the gap in the fence they created under the watchful cover of Turtledove and Stewart. As they clear the fenceline Tera moves from her own position and cross from shadow to shadow to beneath Stewart's position in time to catch his rifle as he tosses it down to her before roll flipping over the edge of the balcony and landing in a three point stance on the surface of the street. They couple move from their building and fall into the group becoming a quint and the Timefleet officer make haste now under the fire support cover of Golden and Devereaux who await them on the hill rise. As the five become seven the first signs of Idisha's handiwork become evident and a Blaring rush and whush ignites the night sky providing perfect opportunity for the team to vaporize the remains of the earliest terminated Merkhans. The hills blocks the true spectacle for destruction from being seen by the seven in black as they lope low and with celerity through the path scouted by Tera for the protective cover of the alien forest. They reach the woodline just before flying vessels swoop overhead towards the Temporal research facility. Moments later, back in their original landing position a blue light blossoms like the twinkle of the Anomaly and when it implodes there is nothing left to show that the Federation had ever trod on this far flung world. The sun is still not due to illuminate this side of the planet for some time, but the sun of their rise as a galactic power has already set before it could rise.

-- Fin --