The Price of Knowledge

 Episode Name:  The Price of Knowledge

   Written By:  Eidolon

         Cast:  Crayn, Donavon, Eidolon, Green, Hurley, Jem'Hadar Soldier, Krylow, Mendoza, Nevaren and O'Rielly.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Eidolon

     Aired On:  Mon Aug 08 02:00:03 2005

     Stardate:  55173.3

Time: Sun Aug 07 17:59:23 2005

Stardate: 55172.5

The stars around Sigma Iotia II shine brightly down on the planet, brilliant and beautiful.

There are things in the galaxy that do not shine, however. Things that were designed to move through the depths of space and not leave a visual trace.

Running lights extinguished, and hull covered with a diffracted carbon layer to make her nigh-on invisible to visual detection, the Defiant-class starship USS Indomitable slips into orbit of Sigma Iotia, hovering in the magnetic interference given off by its northern magnetic pole.

On the bridge, Captain Verne strokes his goatee before he turns his gaze to Lieutenant Nevaren of Station 419-Upsilon. "Well, we've got you here. I've uploaded our passive scans to your tricorders, but I can't get you anything active without setting off their alarms. If you need the calvary, just scream, and we'll come running. Any questions?"

Nevaren sighs and studies the passive scan one more time, memorizing what little they have, and then flips the black tricorder shut and slips it into it's holster in his upper arm. "Personal Cloaking Devices?" he asks, deadpan. "No, I think we're good, Captain. And Thanks." He turns to look at his team as he picks up his tightly packed missionn satchel. "You all know the objective people, lets go over it one more time."

Hurley closes her engineering kit, which she must've checked at least five times in the last hour, and turns her gaze towards Nevaren and says, with the sweetest smile she can muster, "Get in, get what information we can off their systems, design, install and activate a ..." she pauses and glances around the bridge, returning her innocent gaze back to her commander before finishing rather abruptly, "Ready on this front, Sir."

Krylow has narrowed his eyes a little while watching the viewscreen. When the Captain turns to them he pulls his gaze from the screen to settle first on Captain Verne and then Nevaran. "As a last minute recruit sir, I'm happy for clarification," he says simply.

Green doesn't even look up from giving her weapons yet another once-over. Finally satisfied- or as satisfied as she's going to get- she snaps shut the loading chamber on her rifle. "The Dominion has taken over the planet- peaceably, oddly enough- and established a manufacturing facility in caves near Capone Bay. Basically, we're finding out what they're doing down there."

Donavon snaps the last belt strap before sheathing her combat knife. Hands graze over her boots and legs to ensure all equipment is neatly secured. She gives her leg a light shake as a sound check. No rustle. She smiles. "And go in undetected. No one not even the Iotians or Dominion are to know we've touched ground. The last team faced a tank according to Foster." Next, she moves onto her phaser, checking cells.

. o O Green winces. "Don't remind me."

O'Rielly has already strapped his Type III to the back of his sporting black pajamas (AKA Special Ops Clothes), and has a medkit strapped to his back as well. A Type II is in a belt holster, and the only thing else that the Intel officer is carrying is a simple looking PADD that is anything but simple. He is studying the PADD, not saying anything.

. o O Krylow thinks, "A tank? I love the detailed briefs that we get. At least they give us weapons."

. o O Krylow is pensive, though not overly nervous, and slightly annoyed.

Crayn looks around at everyone quietly after checking his equipment one last time. Many different thoughts run through his mind right now.. Why him, why now? This wasn't a diplomatic mission, so to speak. He shouldn't complain.. At least he's going out, finally. Lucky for him he'd spoken with Jenell just before getting tapped for the mission, so at least his conscience is clear there. He listens as everyone adds in a bit of the info, mentally preparing himself.

"It's really quite simple," Verne offers. "Lieutenants Donavon and Green hit it on the head, as a matter of fact. I will add one caveat to that, however; do everything you can to avoid restarting the war. The last thing we want is the Dominion doing to the Iotians what they did to the Cardassians, whether you think that the dirty spoonhead bastards deserved it or not." He shrugs, as if 800 million Cardassian dead doesn't really bother him all that much. "At any rate, let's get this show on the road; Lieutenant Mendoza is waiting on the Apollo for you. I understand you're in for a real treat during the insertion." With a grim little chuckle, he turns back to the business of making sure his ship stays undetected.

Nevaren nods at his people and smiles at Krylow. "I beleive that should answer your question." he says with a cheeky grin. He picks up his cowl and stuffs it in a strap on his shoulder since he'll need it to hide his features even more then the rest of the team. "It's a standard drop and walk reckon, folks. In and out. By the book. Meaning there IS no book and we're winging it." He regards the captain and nods once respoectfully. "Beleive you, me, Captain. Thats the last thing we want here. We'll be good. Promise. And.. uhm.. dare I ask what the surprise is or should I pack an extra exhorbant pair of underwear? Cause I've pulled enough drops in the past 6 years to know that a treat usually, well, isn't." he says with a chuckle.

Hurley now looks directly at Verne, eyebrows lifted and eyes widened ever so slightly. Gaze turns towards Krylow, questioningly as color starts to drain from her face.

. o O Hurley thinks, "I don't like it when pilots have surprises for us."

Krylow nods once to the Captain, before adjusting his rifle a little. When Nevaren addresses him he says, "It does, sir." To Hurley he smiles a little and adds, "I'm betting on a rough ride. I hope you didn't eat within the last few hours.

Green glances toward Donavon rather soberly, before looking back to the Captain in silence.

. o O Hurley is already starting to feel sick and green from anticipation. She can just tell this guy is going to be worse than Randal.

"Hmm. Must be one of those loop-de-loops." Donavon fastens the last phaser and slings the med kit strap across her chest. Briefly, she returns the sober glance to Green, shifting towards Krylow and O'Rielly. Eyes close momentarily, breath concentrated, and she's ready to go.

. o O Donavon thinks, "All I ask, God, is not a repeat of Telaegor."

O'Rielly just smirks at the announcement of a treat. "Make sure it's a good kind of treat. I'm sure we can arrange a wonderful thank you for him when it's all over." Little bit of sarcasm? Bristol finally puts his Intelligence Tricorder disguised as a PADD into a sling on his left arm.

Crayn finishes fastening everything, making sure that none of the equipment makes noise from movement. He picks up a pattern enhancer, slinging it over his shoulder. He looks around as everyone speaks, doing his best to not look like such a wide-eyed Ensign. He nods, indicating that he's ready to go.

Verne just grins. "Mendoza enjoys it," is all he'll say.

Defiant-class starships being what they are, the trip to the shuttlebay doesn't take long, and the team is greeted with the one of the most ungainly creature to ever grace the spacelanes -- the Type X (Special Operations Variant) shuttlecraft. It resembles the Xa shuttles back on the station, with one important difference: wings extending from the nacelle housings. When the shuttle is boarded, there's two rows of benches down either side with restraints that secure bodies to the seats, which indicates that this shuttle either doesn't have inertial dampeners, or there's going to be a lot of situations where they lag and bodies go flying. While none of this is necessarily encouraging, the pilot, Lieutenant Mendoza, is at least a cheerful, smiling sort of fellow. "If you folks will get strapped in, we'll get ready to go."

. o O Green thinks, "If he flies like I think he's going to fly, Park's going to think we all have the flu when we get back."

Nevaren noted the slightly larger wings, of course, and a dozen other modifications (ie: things they DIDN'T put in). He straps in, making sure he and his gear are stowed tighter then a sardine in a can. "Lieutenant." he says non chalantly to Mendoza, "Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong but.. One doesn't usually NEED wings on a shuttle, correct?" he knows the answer of course. "How come I got the feeling that this is going to be a drop in the most literal sense of the word."

Wide eyes lock on the straps and Christine Hurley stops short in her tracks, forgetting about others who might be piling in behind her. But, before she can be pushed into a seat, she quietly takes one, slips into the straps and tightens her hands into fists that lay in her lap in quiet tension. She doesn't say a word, simply closes her eyes, draws in a deep breath and carefully, casually, controls her breathing.

. o O Hurley thinks, "Finding a happy, safe place for my mind. A good place. A safe place. One that doesn't turn upside down and leave my stomach on the other side of the galaxy..."

Krylow moves into a seat right near the door. You know, last one in, first one out kind of thing. Settling the rifle between his legs he quietly and quickly straps into place and settles back into the seat.

Green eyes the boat for a moment before piling inside. Noting Chris Hurley's behavior, Tay beelines for the seat farthest away from the woman, and briskly straps in. Hopefully any vomiting going on won't be of the projectile type.

"Ah. The Treat. G Treats." Meg mirthfully shakes her head while shoving herself up into the back of the shuttle. Placing the med kit to her front, she drops down next to Hurley. "Your grandfather would enjoy this trip," she remarks quietly before drawing arms through the straps.

. o O Krylow thinks, "Rob's a pilot and she's this worried? I would have thought he'd shaken her up by now in a shuttle. Of course, this will probably be really rough compared to Caleb's piloting."

. o O Hurley thinks, "Grandfather is a masochist."

O'Rielly removes his type III phaser and stowes it in a storage box for a trip like this. Like Green, he chooses a seat away from Hurley, and straps himself into the seat, getting ready for the fun ride ahead.

Crayn doesn't care where he sits. He makes his way in and straps the pattern enhancer down before strapping himself in. He closes his eyes, breathing calmly, entering into the meditative state he goes into on a daily basis. All is calm.

"Well, Lieutenant, to avoid detection, we have to keep everything on minimal power -- life support, internal gravity, inertial dampners, so on and so forth." Mendoza replies, rather good-naturedly, as he slips on a helmet and straps himself in to his own seat. "So, things tend to get a little bit bumpy. The good news is that once we hit the lower atmosphere, she glides beautifully. The bad news is that before that, she flies like I imagine a pregnant cow does -- especially because I can't use anything larger than the thrusters to steer us." He chuckles and adds, "Did I mention that I love my job? Apollo to Indomitable, release docking clamps."

Beyond the pilot's viewport, the interior of the shuttlebay just drops from sight, replaced by stars -- and then the planet, which starts to get much bigger in a hurry. Mendoza was true to his word: everything's on minimal power, and the ride is more than just a little bit bumpy -- it's very much bumpy, and loud, but only because Mendoza cranks up the internal speakers to play his music as the drop begins.

"Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride
You don't know what we can see
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free
Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away..."

GAME: Hurley has the flaw of Zero-g Intolerance at -2.

Nevaren ois inwardly and sighs, shaking his head. Whether at the explanation, the music, or the pilots enthisasm is anyone's guess. "Prophets preserve me.. " he mutters and then.. his stomach is in his throat. He gurgles and wallows hard and starts cursing in fluent cardassian.. words that the UT doesn't bother to parse and for obvious reasons. Something along the lines of the mother of the shuttles designer having relations with a rabid onelegged Pak-led on copious amounts of stimulants.

To her credit, Hurley keeps her mouth and eyes tightly closed, releasing no sounds as flyboy proves his love for his job. Her clenched fists remain in her lap and the rest of her body remains rigid thanks to the straps keeping her upright. The color that had drained from her features has returned in a very greenish hue, which fine for Nevaren, is most certainly *not* normal for this human girl.

As the ride starts and the shuttle begins to bounce, rattle and shake Krylow reaches up and grabs his shoulders straps, simply holding tight. He clenches his jaw and closes his eyes and probably tries to think good thoughts.

. o O Krylow thinks, "No, this is way worse then Caleb's flying. My shoulders are going to hurt for a week from these straps. This thing is a hunk of junk."

Green lets out a quiet groan, though precisely why is up for debate. Her neutral mask becomes even more so, though her lips move silently along with inner thoughts, as she tries to keep from clenching every muscle in her body.

. o O Green thinks, "Dead. Dead man, Caleb. Pick a coffin, buy a plot, make out your will."

. o O Hurley thinks, "Prophets, I am so sorry for ever teasing my grandfather for his piloting or choice of career - he *is* the greatest pilot in the universe - above and beyond anyone else. He really is. He really is. Happy place, go to your happy place, Chris."

. o O Krylow thinks, "And what the hell is this pilot listening to? Its as bad as the shuttle."

Donavon is one for the ride, judging by the lack of tension in her shoulders. Yet, the music causes her to snarl to herself, dark thoughts swirling.

. o O Donavon thinks, "If someone hurls because of yuir music, I swear Mendoza, I'm coming back to play YOU the bagpipes."

O'Rielly looks a little disoriented for a moment as the drop starts, but he seems to last through it okay. He just lays back, closes his eyes, and tries to breathe normally, hoping that nobody else has problems that will interrupt his own dealing with the ride. He does manage a smirk to the music though.

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "It's been a long time since I've done this."

Crayn breathes quietly, letting the air go through him. He smiles slightly to himself.

. o O Crayn thinks, "Glad I hadn't eaten anything recently. I'll have to try and find a skydiving holoprogram."

The re-entry is probably like none of them have experienced, either. The rattling starts to even out, replaced by the scream of ionized atmosphere past the hull instead. That even manages to drown out the music. Mendoza, however, seems to be enjoying the moment immensely. "Now passing 61,000 meters. ETA is a little over five minutes."

Nevaren sighs and thanks the prophets, out loud, for the muic being swallowed whole by the windsheer. "Why is it ALWAY Steppenwolf?" he asks. "Why not Simon and Garfunkle? Teneel and the Captain? David Bowie?" He looks at he peeple and sighs. "Okay, we'ew almost there. Remember, people, if we split up take a buddy. No loners."

. o O Hurley is feeling extremely woozy. Her stomach feels as though its turned inside out and her heart is fluttering around somewhere inside it. Her throat it tight and dizziness threatens her consciousness.

Hurley's eyes remain firmly closed, and by the expression on her face, it's probably best for the time being. Muscles are tensed and will likely be felt in the morning and that greenish tinge to her complexion remains for the time being while she continues to forcibly control her breathing.

Krylow winces a little at the increased noise, eyes popping open for a minute. With Mendoza's warning he closes them again. "Aye, sir," he calls out to Nevaren, before mumbling, "Steppenwolf? David Bowie? What can't it be music from the right century?"

Green lifts an eyebrow a bit, glancing toward Nevaren. "Who?" She shakes her head. "Never mind. Tell me later." At the buddy comment, she looks toward Krylow, the other brow arching inquiringly.

Donavon rolls her head back to the rest, eyes closing, and hums her own ditty. Simply, she waits for the ride to finish.

O'Rielly decides to kind of hum the parts of the music that get drowned out by the sounds of the re-entry. Seems he's heard the song before, much like Nevaren has. Like Donavon, he mainly just waits it out.

Crayn opens his eyes, wondering how anyone could possibly meditate with all the excitement going on. He smiles, grinning when someone mentions music, thinking to himself. When Nevaren mentions loners, he raises an eyebrow.. "No loners, eh?" He laughs.. shaking off the rest of what he'd say.

"Now passing 30,000 meters," Mendoza reports. "ETA is a little over three minutes. Altering course for primary LZ." The screaming starts to ease off, gravity slowly returns, and the bumping even eases up as the shuttle races across the terminator from planetary day into night. "Steppenwolf was listened to be Zephram Cochrane on his way into space on the Phoenix, sir. My great-great-great-great-great grandfather was in Bozeman when he launched it, in fact -- it's a family tradition."

. o O Crayn plays a song-memory, 'Some Enchanted Evening' sung by Perry Como

. o O Crayn thinks, "Yeah, this guy's a real Coch.....rane."

. o O Green thinks, "Which does not at all change the fact that you're utterly insane, Lieutenant Mendoza."

Nevaren unlockz himself and grabs his bag that is between his feet. "Everyone get ready for drop off.. Clean Dispersal." he orders as the shuttle is stable enough now (he hopes) to stand. "As any engineer doesm Lieutenant, we tend to worsphip old Zeph regularily.. Doesn't mean the man was right in the head." He double checks his gear and looks satisfied. "When we get back I'll definately have to lend you some of my music chips. Okay people, look alive!"

"So more than one thing must run in the family," Christine finally speaks in response to Nevaren's comment as she slowly comes back to life. Clenched fists slowly release as she reaches towards her straps, but doesn't unlock them quite yet, and eyes slowly flutter open to try to focus on the rest of the team. Still a little green around the edges, she's survived and somehow didn't lose her stomach contents all over Donavon in the process. "Three minutes," she says to the red-head casually, but more as a reassurance to herself.

Krylow slips out of his straps and stands, eyes open again. He fact he catches the look Green shot him and grins a little. "Sure, Tay, if you keep up," he teases a little as he lifts the rifle. Of course he had chosen a spot by the door, so with rifle at the ready he's standing there waiting.

Green gives Nevaren a bit of a startled look even as she neatly releases the straps holding her in place. She, too, rises, getting her gear settled where it's supposed to be. Last but not least is cradling her rifle in her hands, at the ready. Alek gets a bit of a smirk as she moves to join him by the door. "Eat my dust, Krylow."

Donavon eases out of her locked position, cool and crisp as though freshly napped. "If the swimming contains, I can offer a dose," she offers to Christine with a hand casually lain across the med kit. Her smile wryly lifts in seeing the green dissipate but uncertainty freezes it into place when eyes pass by O'Rielly.

O'Rielly unstraps himself from his seat and stands up, restrapping his type III to his back. He checks his PADD which is still secured to his arm in such a way he can use it without holding it, and his hidden Type I. Once satisified, he looks around at the rest of the team, but otherwise gives no reaction (especially no response that indicates that he notices the look from Donavon).

Crayn unstraps himself, and grabs the pattern enhancer, standing, ready to run out on arrival.

GAME: Mendoza contests his Vehicle Operations/Shuttlecraft vs Challenging and Fails.

GAME: Green contests her Coordination/Reaction vs Moderate and Marginally Fails.

GAME: Krylow contests his Coordination/Reaction vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Donavon contests her Coordination/Reaction vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Crayn has the merit of Excellent Balance at 1.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Coordination/Reaction vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Crayn contests his Coordination/Reaction+A vs Moderate and Fails.

"Now passing 9,000 meters. ETA approximately one minute, thirty seconds." After his report, Mendoza opens his mouth to retort, but suddenly his console starts to bleep with a tone that is definitely a warning of some kind. "Hell," is all he manages to get out before the shuttle rocks rather violently and sparks shoot from the console.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you'll take note of the container marked 'Emergency Antigrav Harnesses', I need you all to put one on. Now." The way Mendoza says this is calm, but there's an undertone of urgency in his voice.

Nevaren remains on his feet, turning to the cabinet and starting to fish out harnesses, and tossing them to the rest of the team. "Everyone, get strapped in!"

Still being in her seat, Christine has to rapidly release the seat locks and make her way towards the door to retrieve one of the harnesses she's been ordered to don. A quick series of glances towards Donavon, Krylow and Green are shot, as she tries to stand on wobbly legs. But, the bright side is, gravity is back!

Being near the door Krylow moves to assist Nevaren, pulling the harnesses out and passes them around. He's also keeping an eye on the others to make sure they're successfully getting into their harnesses before reaching for one himself and starting to pull it on.

Green gets bounced like a pinball as the shuttle rocks, and it's probably only the fact that she curls to protect her precious rifle that saves her- instead of her skull thwacking the ceiling, it's her shoulder that hits instead. For the briefest split second, pain shows in her eyes, then she's on the floor again, and diving for a harness held out by Krylow, slithering into it.

. o O Green thinks, "Owwwww."

With a hand pressed to the bulkhead for support, Donavon makes her way to the door thus snagging a harness from Krylow. Arms shoved through, snaps intact, she whips her head about noticing the human pinball. "Holding steady, Green?"

O'Rielly takes the antigrav harness and puts it on, readjusting his gear as needed to get it on. He looks to Green and frowns, but doesn't say anything yet.

Crayn would reach for a harness, but *WHAM*... Big guy hitting the deck rather hard. Jo gets knocked during that initial lurch and lands on his back on the deck. He tries to recover as quickly as possible, a quiet.. "Ow' escaping his lips as he rubs his back, reaching for the harness and sliding it over him.

The shuttle continues to shudder ominously, and it becomes clear that Mendoza's fighting to keep it in the air. "I'm gonna blow the hatch," he yells over the din. "I want one jumper every three seconds. Got it?"

Apparently, he hopes so, because he blows the hatch without further ado -- and it goes spiralling away into the clouds, vanishing rapidly, along with debris that's swirling off of the shuttle in a rather large quantity from somewhere not visible from the hatch.

Nevaren chimes in, since he's in command. "GO GO GO!" he orders, encouraging people out the door.

The harness is barely clasped around Hurley's torso, legs and arms before she dives out the hatch, eyes closing automatically at the unexpected turn of events.

. o O Hurley thinks, "Caleb said /NOTHING/ about SKYDIVING."

Krylow slings one last harness forward into the cockpit for Mendoza, pausing a moment to look after the pilot. Then he clasps his rifle horzonitally across his stomach and steps out of the shuttle a few seconds after Hurley.

Green nods once, shortly, in response to Donavon. She doesn't have the chance to say more as the door is blown. "So much for leaving no evidence of our presence," she mutters, as she wraps her rifle strap several times around her wrist, and dives out.

Donavon twists aside the med kit and shoots over to the open doorway. "One, two," she counts off, and, "three." Barrel dive out the shuttle, she contorts her body according to training.

. o O Donavon thinks, "Kill Ronimo!"

. o O Donavon thinks, "I think that's the phrase!"

O'Rielly laughs slightly before he too makes it to the door. "I haven't done this in years," he says as he waits his turn. When the time comes, he doesn't hesitate and just jumps out since he had everything ready.

Crayn grumbles.. He makes sure the grab the pattern enhancer and jumps out of the airlock..... He remembers to keep himself quiet, fighting the urge to scream on the way down..

. o O Crayn thinks, "Pocahontas!!!!!"

The shuttle tears off into the clouds, and a second later, there's a bright flash as if there's an explosion that obliterated it. Of course, no one has time to really appreciate that fact before a grey and purple blur screams -right- over their heads -- briefly resolving into a Jem'Hadar attack ship before it too vanishes into the clouds.

The turbulence is intense, and sends them all spinning like leaves in a hurricane before the antigrav harnesses automatically right them and send them gently to the ground -- where they all land in the midst of a vast clearing in a group of trees, but missing two.

Nevaren and Mendoza don't appear from the sky above.

Krylow touches down on the ground, and drops into a crouch. He raises the rifle check around the edges of the clearing. After the quick scan he geatures for the rest of the team to move into his area, while he reaches for his tricorder.

Hurley's gaze is still torn towards where the shuttle tore off into the clouds and exploded. Touching down, though, she isn't quite prepared for, and is left to roll with the equipment strapped on her body to leave a long string of bruises on her body. Before coordination can be reclaimed, she has a tricorder in hand, aiding Krylow in his sweep of the area.

Green lights down, her eyes still scanning the sky before she looks around for Krylow. She moves opposite him, to sweep her rifle in cover of the area behind him, mask firmly in place.

GAME: Krylow spends a courage point.

Soft landing below, Donavon's feet touch ground. She darts off to the left flank, eyes peeled for activity, with her hand resting near her phaser. Head shaking, she signals to Krylow -- nothing seen.

GAME: Krylow contests his Personal Equipment vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment vs Moderate and Fails.

O'Rielly draws his type II phaser initially before he lands and holds it in his left hand. He crouches as he brings up his left arm to access the Intel Tricorder he has already handy and handsfree.

Crayn hits the ground, keeping low. He makes his way over to the rest of the group, awaiting further orders.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Moderate and Succeeds.

The night sounds of the planet are filled with crickets and various little insect noises, and the trees sigh with a soft breeze, but other than that, the air remains still and quiet.

Krylow snaps his tricorder shut and slides it away. "Alright, we've got a three klick walk to the southwest to reach the facility. Tactical column. Meg, you're in the lead, then O'Rielly, myself, Hurley and Tay. Keep at least three meters between us and stay low to the ground. O'Rielly, Hurley, I want regular scans. Meg, Tay, keeps your eyes open and keep us safe. Let's move," he says firmly, and readies himself to move.

. o O Krylow thinks, "This is even better. Virtually no briefing and I end up in charge. Luck be with you Nevaren, Mendoza. Find your way home."

GAME: Donavon spends a courage point.

GAME: Donavon contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Routine and Succeeds.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment vs Moderate and Succeeds.

Hurley slaps the side of her tricorder while Krylow speaks, glances up, nods, and frowns at the instrument again before giving it another good knock on the side. One last glance is tossed in the direction of the explosion and turns her attention back to the tricorder for another sweep. "Looks clear," she murmurs, now just loud enough for the subcus to pick up.

Green reports in a quiet but intent voice aimed at Krylow, "No enemy forces in sight." She nods once at his orders with an "Aye," and moves to take the rear of the column, continuing to sweep her gaze across the landscape, as well as above it.

Operation Meg Shield is underway -- stepping out, Donavon leads the pack. Through the darkness, eyes can only detect so far. She affixes her tricorder with her phaser, setting up a tracking system, and maintains a strict look-out. Face tightening, her response is low, barely pitched. "Aye, Aye."

O'Rielly keeps his type III where it's at and falls in behind Meg. He nods as he keeps sets the intel tricorder for continual scans, ready to pick up anything that isn't a bug, bird, or plant.

Through process of elimination, Jo figures he's taking the rear. Instead of reaching for a phaser, he takes out his combat knife, keeping it in his right hand, at the ready. He takes out his tricorder, keeping it in his left. He crouches to the ground as close as possible, constantly checking for anything trying to sneak up on the group.

It takes approximately 45 minutes, but eventually, the team arrives on the top of the bluff overlooking Capone Bay and the mysterious caves. The Dominion facility is there as well; a rather nondescript, rectangular, one-story sort of building down near the beach, surrounded by a fence and what would appear to be a grand total of two Jem'Hadar guards standing watch near the gate. To the north, the lights of the city shine brightly -- and altogether, it's quiet. Very quiet.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment vs Moderate and Succeeds.

. o O Green starts to feel a trifle alarmed. "It's quiet. /Too/ quiet. That ship /couldn't/ have missed our bailout. They're waiting for us. It's a trap."

Krylow signals everyone to stop on the bluff, and rests his rifle beside him on the ground. He gestures for Green to come over with him. "Everyone, full scans of the area. We need guards, information on the building, and anything else in the bay and the caves. Tay, tell me what you know from time," he whispers.

. o O Donavon thinks, "This reminds me of the Independent Consortium of Free Market Research -- land mines."

"Two guards," Christine says softly, kneeling next to Krylow to let him see her tricorder results. "Looks like they want to keep whatever's going on in there quiet, though. Sensor jam is keeping us from seeing anything else. At least /in/ the building."

GAME: Krylow contests his Personal Equipment vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Challenging and Marginally Succeeds.

GAME: Crayn contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Difficult and Fails.

GAME: Green contests her Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Moderate and Marginally Fails.

GAME: Donavon contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Challenging and Marginally Fails.

Green moves to take a knee beside Krylow, her gaze on her tricorder as she aims it at the facility. "We never got anywhere near here," she says in a low tone. Not quite a whisper, as those tend to attract attention faster than murmurs. "We detected a lot of ketracel white while we were over the caves though." She adds without preamble, "Alek, they couldn't have missed out bailout. That place is like an open invitation to walk in. It's gotta be a trap." Then her brow furrows. "I'm picking up a lot of polaron-based weapons. More than those two guards could account for."

Donavon refers back to her tricorder, pre-set, and nods confirmation, whispering low. "Aye. Picking up the same as Hurley. Guards may have security cards." And as an afterthought, she gnaws on her bottom lip, intensity warming her eyes. Tap, tap, she reconfigures scans. "Too much interference from the sensor jammer. Seems to cover the ground. Attempting confirmation of land mines."

O'Rielly crouches and moves over to Alek, extending the arm with the Intel Tricorder placed on it. "Alek, these subspace readings, look familiar to you?" he asks as he shows Krylow the subspace readings he's picking up.

Crayn shakes his head as he pulls in, keeping his voice quiet. "Whatever they're hiding in the building, it's in the caves too. I'm getting a jam from there."

GAME: Krylow contests his Intellect/Perception+A vs Moderate and Fails.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Routine and Marginally Fails.

GAME: Krylow contests his Planetary Tactics vs Moderate and Fails.

Krylow shakes his head to O'Rielly. "A little, but I can't place them. Maybe something with demolitions," he says before turning to Tay. "They might have missed us. That warship was moving really fast. Regardless, we have a mission to complete so until we can prove its a trap that's our target." He pauses a moment frowning. "Tay, Meg, anything about this setup strike you as having a tactical reason? O'Rielly, Hurley, Crayn, I want scans for other underground structures."

"Hang on there," Christine says, a little awestruck as she draws the tricorder back towards her to look at the results. "More lifeforms!" though she continues to murmur with just a bit of excitement in her tone. "Oh, just fungus on the rocks. Seems quite ubiquitous in this area. But! Ketracel white!" Looking towards Green, "So it /wasn't/ on the vehicle. She really was picking it up on the surface." Back to Krylow, "I'll see what I can find underground. One moment."

GAME: Donavon spends a courage point.

GAME: Donavon contests her Planetary Tactics/Small-unit+A vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Green contests her Planetary Tactics/Small-unit vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Crayn spends a courage point.

GAME: Crayn contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder+A vs Moderate and Succeeds.

Green glances toward Chris, lifting an amused brow. She simply nods, though, and stows her tricorder as she looks back at the facility. "They're leaving it awfully undefended for so many viable approaches, including from up here. Looks like they don't feel like they /need/ more defenders. The question is- why don't they? If I were them, I'd have so many troops and tanks about it'd look like an angry beehive."

GAME: O'Rielly spends a courage point.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Intellect/Perception+A vs Routine and Dramatically Fails.

Donavon shifts a notch upwards from her belly to take a wider gander at the region. Left, right, eyes squint to hone in on something specific. Lips purse together before her tongue clicks quietly to the roof of her mouth. "Unless there's land mines, electric fields...but in this case over there." She points out a path. "That's how they've been reaching the caves. They head through the gate, zig-zag through a course to the inside yard before reaching the cave entrances. Something's bound to have been set up to prevent anyone from walking around the fence's perimeter or the direct route."

O'Rielly continues to frown as he looks over his tricorder data. "I know what it is, I just can't place it. Come on Bristol, what is it..." he asks himself quietly outloud.

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "Come on you stupid brain, do your job already and tell me what it is."

. o O O'Rielly feels incredibly dumb and annoyed right now

Crayn blinks at first, and then jerks his head back after checking his tricorder.. "If anyone knows what the significance of ketracel white is, it'd be really great if you let the rest of us in, because... well... we're standing over a huge pool of it."

GAME: Krylow contests his Intellect/Perception+A vs Moderate and Fails.

Below, two Jem'Hadar unshroud and speak briefly to their comrades who are on guard, who move through the gates and vanish once again into their shrouds.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Intellect/Perception+A vs Routine and Succeeds.

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "Note to self, get caught up on Dominion Tech again"

Krylow nods to Green and Donavon. "Well, there is more than one way to protect things, Tay. Mister Crayn, ketracel white is the substance that the Vorta use to both control and keep alive the Jem'Hadar." He frowns a little watching the guard change. "We're got no numbers on the Jem'Hadar present who are shrouded. Unless someone can give me more information here is the plan. Meg will lead us down the path with Crayn and O'Rielly following as the first fire team. Three meters beteen each other at all times. Ten meter back I'll follow, then Hurley and Tay as the second fire time. Meg, you're leading your group if we get permenantly separated. Anyone have new information before we move?"

. o O Krylow thinks, "I don't like this one bit."

. o O Krylow is definitely uneasy about the entire situation.

Hurley purses her lips. "Alek, he's right, though huge pool of it is a bit of an understatement. There's enough white for a /lot/ of Jem'Hadar. An entire legion and then some. I think we've found out /why/ they're here." She looks over towards Green and remarks,s till softly, "don't you find it odd that they don't feel the need to have more defenders? But, then again, where were all the citizens /last/ time we were here? I have a bad feeling about all of this." Turning her gaze towards the building, she adds, just barely louder than a whisper, "Maybe they're /in there/?" Then, to Krylow, she shakes her head. "That's all I've got, Sir. Fungus and white. I'm sure quite a party we could produce with it, but it hardly gives us more information than when we started."

Green stares down at the compound. "Later, Jo," she says. "/Shrouded/. They're down there. We just can't see them. That'd explain the weapons readings. I'd give a piece of major anatomy for a grenade right now." An alarmed look is shot toward Krylow. "They're probably all around us too. They're just waiting for /us/ to make the first move so they can scream breach of ceasefire. This mission is blown, Alek. If we're going to prevent war, we'd best not go down there."

"The mission objective was to figure out what's inside, right? Secondary was to acquire plans and third," Meg tics it off with a head shake. "God," she mutters, snapping around to wave Crayn and O'Rielly close. "Reminds you of a place, Lieutenant?" is questioned quietly to O'Rielly in passing as Meg shimmies across the ground to head for the pathway. Eyes are glued for any activity, also paying heed to her tricorder.

This must be a funny mission or something, cause while he's still crouched there looking at his PADD, he lowers his forehead down to his knee and looks as if he's silently laughing. After a moment he shakes his head and looks up to Krylow. "I found our subspace distortions," he says with a dramatic flair. A pause then he says, "Houdini's." He looks to Meg and shakes his head, "Can't say it does Lieutenant."

Crayn nods to Krylow, replacing his combat knife and taking out his Type II. He makes his way over to Meg and O'Reilly, prepping to take position. He turns and nods to Green, with a smirk. "You might want to wait for your anatomy pieces to grow on you a bit before betting them away."

. o O Donavon thinks, "Oh, you do, Lieutenant. You do."

GAME: Krylow contests his Intellect/Perception vs Moderate and Fails.

GAME: Krylow contests his Personal Equipment+A vs Challenging and Fails.

"Meg, hold up," hisses Krylow, looking to O'Rielly. "Yes, of course," he says dryly. "For anyone who doesn't know houdinis are floating and cloaked mines. Which means," he says gesturing below, "We potentially have an area that's full of Jem'Hadar and houndinis to move through." He slides out his tircorder and flips it open to begin scanning. "Houdinis are only deployed at important locations. The Dominion shouldn't be deploying them here, it doesn't seem valuable enough. We're going to take a look at that building. I need everyone to scan for the houdinis. I can't them but maybe someone else can. We also need an approach path to that building."

GAME: Hurley spends a courage point.

GAME: Green spends a courage point.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Challenging and Succeeds.

GAME: Green contests her Personal Equipment/Tricorder+A vs Challenging and Fails.

GAME: Donavon contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Challenging and Succeeds.

GAME: Crayn contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder+A vs Challenging and Fails.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Challenging and Fails.

"Got 'em," Hurley says quickly, but still quietly. "Bring your tricorders over here. I'll transfer locations manually. Hurry, hurry."

Green's lips purse. She slings her rifle to her back, pulling out her tricorder again to scan the area. After a moment, she shakes her head. "I'll take Chris' word for it; I'm not getting anything." She stands to move toward Hurley, offering her tricorder, and grimly unholsters her Type II phaser.

. o O Green gets a sinking, helpless, hopeless feeling in the pit of her stomach that spreads out to fill the rest of her. "We're dead men."

Donavon halts her approach, taking a knee. Rapping on her PADD, she verifies all the information. "Pinpointed the mines. and it verifies what I saw earlier." Her thumb jerks pathwise. "It's the only approach, Krylow. I don't like it any more than you do. It's putting a team right in the open." A frown and she extends a hand to accept a tricorder to copy and transfer her acquired data scans.

O'Rielly moves closer to Donavon since he's part of her team and downloads the info from her Tricorder to his intel tricorder.

Crayn sighs, shaking his head. He heads for Donavon, doing the same as O'Reilly. "Nothing here, either."

. o O Crayn thinks, "Invisible warriors -AND- floating invisible mines... Remind me exactly why I was in such a rush to go on an away mission?"

GAME: Krylow contests his Personal Equipment+A vs Moderate and Fails.

Krylow passes his tricorder to Hurley and lets her transfer the data, before taking it back and tapping on it for a moment. "Alright, we'll follow the plan I laid out. Keep low, move quick and keep your eyes open. I don't like this one bit, but we need to follow orders and the more we look the more questions we have." He frowns a little. "Hurley, try and and set up a couple of the furthest bombs on remote trigger in case we need a distraction." Sliding the tricorder away he nods to Donavon and lifts his rifle, waiting on the first team to move out.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Challenging and Succeeds.

. o O Crayn thinks, "Just think, I could've been enjoying the evening with Jenell right now. *grumble* Instead, I'ma gonna get myself blowed up.."

"You got it, Boss," Hurley responds to Krylow and reclaims her tricorder. Now on demolition control, she works on her orders, then reaches for the Type II she's had tucked away. It's no rifle, which is probably for the better. "Rigged. Ready on your mark, Alek."

Green nods once, shortly, as she takes her tricorder back, and moves toward the rear of the team to take her place. Her face is utterly expressionless as she brings her phaser up to 'ready' position.

. o O Green's mind whispers, "James, I love you. Take care of Monster. He loves you too."

Donavon reattaches her tricorder to its detection spot, phaser at ready. Eyes close for a prayer before she gestures to her team, gathering briefly for a short briefing -- "Remember the RoE. We do not fire unless fired upon." Sights lock on to Krylow for a moment before she nods and begins the trek towards the approaching pathway to the gate. Thankfully, for now, the bluff maintains cover.

O'Rielly rolls his eyes slightly as he looks to Donavon, and falls in line behind her as they start.

Crayn nods, moving out quietly with Donavon and O'Reilly.

The Jem'Hadar down by the gate just watch the path, like the good, fearless soldiers they are. The situation heads rapidly toward a showdown.

GAME: Krylow contests his Intellect/Perception vs Routine and Marginally Fails.

Krylow falls into his spot leading the second fire team after having met Donavon's look. He leads the second team until they near the end of the bluff. There he signals for everyone to pause for a moment, and points to Crayn and Hurley to come over. When they get there he asks quietly, "Your scans for underground formations and caves, did they find anything else? We're missing something. This whole setup doesn't make any sense. It makes the caves useless to get into and out of is they're being used for storage or work."

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Challenging and Fails.

Hurley shakes her head, consulting her tricorder o' wisdom once again. "Nothing at all. I could, of course, be missing something, and can keep looking, but with so much distortion around here - with the sensor jamming - it's difficult to find anything that's not right under our bloody noses. They're not very gracious hosts, you know."

GAME: Donavon contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Challenging and Fails.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Challenging and Marginally Succeeds.

Green looks toward Krylow quickly and briefly, then back along the path. "Good point. Are there other caves about? This particular set might be a red herring. A decoy."

Donavon is at the approach for the pathway. Still against the bluff, Meg reconsiders the surroundings before gesturing to O'Rielly to pass down the silent message -- halt. She taps her tricorder in a signal, then whirls her finger overhead -- scan paths. For all apparent reasons, the officer seems extremely hesitant to move in closer. So team one stays at the bluff.

GAME: Crayn contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder+A vs Challenging and Succeeds.

. o O Donavon thinks, "Suicide mission that'll raise the alarm. Then there will be no reaching the building. My team aren't ducks."

O'Rielly motions to Meg for a moment and points East. He looks down there and notices it, "There's our entrance Meg."

Crayn makes his way over to Krylow, doing another scan. "I hit a bunch of jamming but..." He blinks.. "Another entrance. 130 meters east of us... and... it looks clear of Houdinis.. I'm not getting any distortion." He looks around, "Maybe we should try knocking on the back door?" He smirks.

Krylow nods to Crayn and smiles a little. "Good. Finally a little luck. You found it, Mister Crayn, so lead us in. Give that information to Donavon and have her head for the entrance. We'll follow," he before moving from the edge of the bluff and gesturing for his two to follow.

Hurley follows as indiciated, tricorder and Type II balanced ahead of her as she moves.

. o O Green thinks, "Decoy caves. Decoy entrance. Whatever. This is still a lousy mission, with a lousy prognosis."

Green puts her own tricorder away, moving behind Krylow and Hurley to cover the rear at a nice, safe grenade-worthy distance.

Donavon peers through the darkness to locate the large shadowy figure of Crayn. Brows knit together, questioning O'Rielly of their teammates' whereabouts. "Hold here until--" and there when she squints is movement. Head nodding, she pats O'Rielly on the shoulder. "East then. Good to know we're on the same path." Wry smile, she wait for Crayn in order to inform him of the new approach, because at 30 feet of distance, whispers downward weren't heard without others eavesdropping.

Crayn makes his way over to Donavon and OR. He holds his tricorder up for Donavon to see.. he points eastward, with a smile, waiting to heado ut.

The entrance to the cave is little more than a nondescript hole in the ground, twisting downward at a fairly severe angle, but nothing that requires anything more than careful walking and watching your step. Of course, it's also very dark inside.

Krylow slips up behind the other team when they make it to the entrance, and glances down into the hole. "We'll move back into a regular column for this. Meg, you first and I'll follow. We're the rated climbers so if hits gets hairy we're the best suited for it." He turns back to the others. "O'Rielly and Hurley, then Crayn and Green. Let's stay quiet until we reach the bottom, if we can. O'Rielly and Hurley, run a scan as we descend."

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Moderate and Marginally Succeeds.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Personal Equipment/Tricorder vs Moderate and Marginally Fails.

Hurley lifts both eyebrows as she listens to Krylow and peers over his shoulders, and those of others standing around before he starts to descend. A confident smile forms and turns towards O'Rielly, head canted. "Careful," she says when it's finally her turn to start the climb down. "There's a forcefield at the bottom. I think."

Green nods once, continuing her rear-covering as the team descends.

O'Rielly nods, "My Tricorder isn't confirming it, but I wouldn't doubt it. When we get closer we can see how easy it will be to bypass it."

Donavon impassively nods, orders understood. Her approach is meticulous when making the descent. Ears tickle upon hearing Hurley. Again, her nods inclines. Phaser and tricorder out, she holds steady, a step at a time.

Crayn falls in behind Green, taking up the rear. He still has his tricorder and phaser at the ready.

The team descends slowly, finally reaching a level section of cave which aims off toward the south. There's a glimmer of light from that direction, but, before them is a Dominion-added apparatus that encompasses the doorway and hums: the forcefield, one would presume.

. o O Green thinks, "Note to self: remind Jo at an opportune moment that /I/ pick up the rear."

Krylow turns to back to the others. "Crayn, hang back and watch our backs. Meg, Tay check this system for any trips that shutting it down or disabling it will set off."

GAME: Donavon spends a courage point.

Hurley scrunches her nose as she eyes her tricorder. "They could've found a better place to refine their white. All this fungus is just... well, eew."

GAME: Green contests her Security/Security Systems vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Donavon contests her Security/Security Systems+A vs Moderate and Succeeds.

Green looks back over her shoulder as she finds bottom, eyeing Crayn for a moment, then she looks around toward Krylow. "Not exactly my specialty, Alek..." Which doesn't keep her from carefully approaching to examine the field, its anchors, and whatever electronics seem to be attached to it. Her gaze narrows on a specific section, and she points. "Yep, there's an alarm. Chris, can you get a deeper reading on that fungus? Call it a hunch."

. o O Hurley thinks, "Examine the fungus? It's /mold/. There's my examination. Oh, look. It doesn't have a keyboard attached to it, making it COMPLETELY USELESS TO ME."

Donavon, however, appraises the device with a curious eye. "Been a while," she murmurs, half in glee to even dance through security systems. The main panel located, she takes a knee to fiddle. Her bottom lip is gnawed upon during her work in progress but before long the monkeying with circuits is complete. "That should keep the alarm silent."

. o O Hurley thinks, "I somehow doubt, though, that Tay will be terribly convinced of that."

GAME: Krylow has the skill Systems Engineering (Shields) at least at level 5.

GAME: Krylow has the merit of Engineering Aptitude at 3.

GAME: Krylow contests his Systems Engineering/Shields+A vs Moderate and Dramatically Succeeds.

O'Rielly just sits there, waiting, looking around for a moment while others bring down the forcefield.

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "And I was brought along why?"

The forcefield shimmers out of existance with a bzzt sort of sound. The way is clear.

GAME: Hurley contests her Life Sciences vs Routine and Automatically Fails.

Krylow finishes his work on the forcefield and tucks his gear back away. "Alright, there is less chance of an ambush now. Tay, Meg, you're with me on point. O'Rielly and Hurley, you're in the middle. Again, keep scanning for us. Crayn, you're in the back. Don't bunch up people." Orders given Krylow lifts his rifle and starts down the passage.

Hurley glances to Green, tilts her head and gives a rather... unsure... expression, crosses her eyes and looks back to the fungus. With a slight sigh, she scoops a sample on a tool she's not likely to use from the engineering kit (as long as Krylow isn't looking) and brings her tricorder up to ready.

. o O Hurley thinks, "I'm sure Galen will know what to do with it."

Nevaren has arrived.

Green nods approvingly as the field goes down, then looks toward Krylow as he starts to speak. Her brow furrows. "With you? With all due respect, Lieutenant, as mission leader, you need to fall behind a bit and let us grunts take the brunt." That said, she moves ahead, phaser at the ready.

Donavon's sly smile twitches when she slips right on by Green and Krylow -- grunt.

O'Rielly looks down to his tricorder. "Hold up. We've got a mass concentration of Jem'Hadar ahead." He pauses for a moment. "Their babies... so unless we're here three days, we should be okay. But it looks like they're breeding Alphas here."

Crayn brings up the rear, but stays by the door, in case anyone decides to pop in behind them.

As the team makes its way forward, a soft conversation makes its way up the corridor.

"I just don't understand how a Starfleet shuttle with a crazed Romulan engineer aboard managed to make it here alone," one voice remarks in a simpering sort of tone. A Vorta, it would seem. "Has he said anything yet?"

"His grasp of Cardassian colorful metaphors is rather keen," replies a gravelly voice. "He was armed with Federation weaponry, however... I'm not certain which he is."

The Vorta again. "Was he the one responsible for sabotaging the forcefields on the neonates? We've lost over two hundred of our next batch already."

"Unknown. He is quite... uncooperative. But he will tell us, or he will die."

"Good. What of the Iotians?"

"The slaves are constructing the white pools ahead of schedule. We'll start them on orbital facilities as soon as they are done."

The Vorta, one last time. "Excellent. Perhaps our facilities will rival those on Cardassia, one day. The Founders are pleased with your progress, First -- keep me informed."

The other, now clearly a Jem'Hadar: "It will be done."

The crew is above a large cloning area, where an albino Romulan in black clothing is in a chair, near several Jem'Hadar who look displeased. A rather large Jem'Hadar comes into view as well. "Who sent you? Speak, Romulan, or I will use your pointy ears to sharpen the teeth of a female Ferengi."

. o O Green swears fluently, frantically.

. o O Hurley thinks, "Prophets have mercy."

Nevaren is slumped in the chair, head hanging slightly as the jhem'haddar towers over him nevaren has seen better days. bleeding from his nose and forehed, multiple gashes and cuts.. even some nasty looking burns that have taken some of his hair and left terrible blisters. His lower lip is split and one eye looks very swollen. "You know, ya lizard, the cardassians at least were menacing. you... You're stupid. And you smell bad." he says, then spits on the grown, a streak of green heavey in his saliva. "Maybe you should have taken some pointers on REAL interrogating, you geneticaly faulted amateur."

. o O Green thinks, "And where the hell is Mendoza? Dammit!"

Krylow pulls back from the ledge and quietly gestures for the others to come closer. He crouches and locates five pebbles and arranges them like Nevaren and the four Jem'Hadar below. He points to Green and then the large one questioning the Chief Engineer. Meg and a smaller one. O'Rielly and another smaller one. Hurley and himself and the last one. He then adjusts his rifle to heavy stun and shows everyone else and gestures back to the ledge and the cover there before moving himself to take up position.

GAME: Hurley contests her Personal Equipment+A vs Moderate and Succeeds.

Hurley listens to Nevaren with both eyebrows lifted and jaw-dropped. After another sweep, she notices Krylow's silent plan, peers down towards the interrogation room and back towards Krylow, then her tricorder again. After rebalancing her tricorder, she brings her Type II in front of her and carefully takes position at a different angle than Krylow - to give them both a better chance.

. o O Hurley thinks, "I hope those baby Jemmies don't pose that much of a threat. There's no way to tell Alek about them. Not without alerting the big, ugly ones below."

Green moves in to take a knee, swiftly observing the pebble diorama. She nods once, flicks the setting switch on her Type II without looking at it, and moves, keeping her profile low, to aim her phaser around the corner at the chief interrogator. She sights carefully before pulling the trigger.

Donavon crouches to one knee to take in the full extent of the plan. Thumb upturned, she nods while selecting the appropriate setting on her phaser. She takes the opposite from Krylow and waits for his signal.

O'Rielly pulls his type III off his back and takes the time to aim the rifle properly at his target. It's been a while since he's fired at one, but he knows where he's supposed to fire still.

One of the four Jem'Hadar goes down under Donavon's steady aim, but this alerts the other three and they manage to get out of the way -- or, at least mostly out of the way. Krylow's shot grazes one and he sinks out of sight. So, that leaves two Jem'Hadar and Nevaren out in the open -- and the Jem'Hadar return fire.

. o O Hurley thinks, "Come on, Tay. You have to have smoke grenades or /something/ to give us some leaway here. Anything!"

GAME: Krylow spends a courage point.

GAME: O'Rielly contests his Fitness/Vitality vs Moderate and Succeeds.

GAME: Krylow contests his Fitness/Vitality+A vs Moderate and Succeeds.

Nevaren blinks as phaser fire lances through the room, crisscorssing and taking out to of his captors. Without even thinking he grabs the seat of his chair to which he is tied since his hands are at his sides, holding tight, and kicks out as hard as he can with both feet at the Jhem'haddar's knees. One, in hopes of helping his friends, and two, to push him back, hopefully falling over and NOT being a viabley accidental target.

Krylow grunts and pulls back for a moment. The shot caught him across his lower thigh and the uniform is torn open and blood is seeping out. "Keep it up," he calls out, leaning back to sight his target again and fire.

Hurley pulls back as soon as the weapons fire is returned and glances over towards Krylow. "We have at least one hit over here," she announces softly, before leaning back over to take another shot - AWAY from the Engineer below.

Only Tay's phaser muzzle and an eye peek out from behind the corner, as she continues grimly firing at her target.

Donavon makes no effort to say anything otherwise for the fire fight hasn't ended. She flips back around to blast off another round.

O'Rielly is hit by a bolt from one of the Jem'Hadar's weapons in the left arm. It splits his own uniform and has taken a little chunk of skin from his upper arm. He shakes it off and takes aim, supporting the phaser rifle more on his leg now since his other arm is a little weaker now.

GAME: Nevaren contests his Fitness/Strength vs Routine and Succeeds.

Green, Donavon, and O'Rielly blast the remaining Jem'Hadar, while Nevaren manages to tip over his chair and fall out of the line of fire. Silence descends on the cloning chamber in the wake of the firefight.

Nevaren is curled up into a ball as best he can, considering there is a chair tied to him.. or is it the other way around. Waiting.

Krylow looks down into the room below for a moment to make sure the fight is done, then gestures Green and Doanvon to descend. "Hurley, see to O'Rielly," he says, before moving to follow the two ex-TRT members. His phaser rifle remains at the ready while he descends into the room. "Meg, cut Lieutenant Nevaren free," directs Krylow, since he's knifeless. He does draw his Type II, apparently ready to offer it to the other engineer.

. o O Krylow is focusing on the room and mission, trying to block out the searing pain from his right leg.

Hurley grabs the medkit from Donavon before she disappears with Green and turns towards O'Rielly. "Arm?" she confirms, opening the kit and reaching towards Bristol's wrist. "How bad is it? Just a fleshwound?" the unspoken 'hopefully' is implied.

. o O Krylow thinks, "At least it wasn't in the shoulder this time."

Green moves forward, her eyes darting to all parts of the interrogation room as she moves into it, her phaser still quite at the ready.

GAME: Hurley contests her First Aid vs Routine and Succeeds.

Donavon manages yank the strap off in passing off the medkit. A quick glance, she nods to O'Rielly then hustles it on the double into the room. Phaser out, she waits until the team, mainly Green, is in position before dropping next to Nevaren. "Sir," she states while unsheathing one of her knives, "Anything broken?" She cuts at his bindings.

O'Rielly looks over to Hurley, "I think so. I can still move it, though it's a little weaker." He looks to Krylow and shakes his head.

Crayn moves forward from his position guarding the tunnel to guard at the mouth, where he can overlook the team if necessary.

Nevaren groans as Donvan helps him up, then inhales sharpley. "Shuttle shrapnel in my back? Two broken ribs? More bruises and cuts and burns then I want to know?" he asks. "Nah, I'm peachy. I checked myself over after I woke up from being knocked unconcious by the explosion though I think I have some nice welts from Mr. personality." he says motioning to the body of his interrogator." he limps slightly,, inhales again sharply and spits some blood. "Look, during my jaunt around town I saw everything. They're turning the place into another Cardassia prime. Breeding tanks and ketracel white pools. Slavery. the works. I blew up or sabotaged all I could before the goons got personal with me. You guys find anything else out?"

Krylow holds the Type II out to Nevaren and shakes his head. "We touched down a mile from the LZ and then made our way to the main entrance. Its full of houdinis and shrouded Jem'Hadar. Though," he says with a little smile, "Lieutenant Hurley's got a couple of houdinis on a trigger if he need to blow them. This place is huge hatchery and there's a large supply of white stored down here."

"I think you'll live," Christine says to O'Rielly with a kind, gentle smile. "Well, this time at least. No more of those hits, though, hmm? I'm not sure we have enough replacement plasma to keep you going if you get too many more." After getting the bandage applied tightly to the wound on his upper arm, a flash of concern crosses her eyes and she glances back to where the team disappeared into the interrogation room. "Alek's hurt as well. And... I'm sure Lieutenant Nevaren is, too. At this very least, this kit needs to make its way down there." She pauses and exhales. "Bristol, I think Caleb had the right idea. We need to slow this place down a bit, but discreetly. How much time do you think we're going to be able to get alone with one of their computers?"

Green doesn't look back from her guarding as she asks sharply, "Lieutenant Nevaren, where's Mendoza? Have you seen him?"

O'Rielly looks to Hurley, "If they're transmitting openly, I could do it much easier." He looks around. "We could do it in other ways, but all the things I can think of would likely be declared an act of war if we were caught."

Donavon offers a supporting hand to Nevaren's backside. "Hang in there, sir. Hurley will down with the med kit and we'll see to patching you up." That said, grim-faced, eyes slightly widen at the current prospects being suggested. "There's Iotians inside this base. Our orders were not to intervene but to report back. Prime Directive which I know," a breath, "the Dominion has breeched. I do, however, feel obligated to free them."

Nevaren is suddenly very quiet... He takes the phaser from Krylow, nodding, and looks down at it, thumbing it's settings. Satisfied he's got it set at the power he want, he finally looks at Green, his face as impasive and neutral as it can be. "Last I saw him I was trying to get hi to jump with me... He pushed me out just before the shuttle exploded. I haven't seen him since." he says, not adding anything else but a grim purse of his lips. He looks at his people, then nods to O'rielly. "Yes, it would." he says. "Hurley, where is the closest terminal where you can set up your little surprise?" he asks. "Cause if it can't be done in the next five minutes then I'm calling for extraction. We have too many injured and can NOT risk getting caught. At least with me it sewed some confusion. The rest of you... I won't risk it."

GAME: Hurley contests her Search vs Routine and Succeeds.

"If you're talking about the houdinis, sir, they're keyed to her tricorder," replies Krylow, moving to take up a covering position. "What's the goal, Lieutenant?"

Hurley bites at her lower lip as she considers O'Rielly, then glances back towards the rest of the team. "Heads up!" she calls softly towards Donavon after closing the medkit and tossing it down her way. "I see what I'm here for," she calls as she swings down and, with phaser at ready, rushes a computer terminal. Lucky her, it doesn't duck for cover upon her fast approach! "I'll see what I can do, Sirs."

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "I've been replaced"

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "By the woman I was supposedly dating in this timeline"

Green nods once at Nevaren's reply, then she rounds abruptly. "Lieutenant Hurley, we need to keep our presence as discreet as possible. All they know right now is that they had a Romulan prisoner. Not a Federation prisoner. Let's try to keep it that way." She looks toward Donavon. "We are seven, and half of us are wounded, some severely. As much as I'd like to free them too, it's a simple matter of logistics- the enemy outnumbers us by about a thousandfold. Ain't gonna happen." And back to Nevaren. "We don't need a distraction right now. We just need to get out, nice and quiet. If you blow those houdinis, the Dominion's wrath is going to fall on the natives while we're safely tucked into our beds back at the station."

Donavon's brows press together slightly as her head snaps at Hurley's call. Hands catch the medkit and the officer gets to working on Nevaren. "We haven't met opposition on our path here. If we're extracting, it's likely we won't met the same. I agree with Green on this point, sir. We shouldn't start fireworks, but," she eyes where Hurley stands, "we can see about shutting down certain systems. If it works to the Iotians advantage to escape themselves, so be it. We haven't the force as Green said to do this ourselves. And there's also the matter of the white." There's a light shake of her head and she quiets to tend to Nevaren's wounds.

. o O Hurley thinks, "Yes, Tay. I know we need to be discreet. But, why do you think Caleb wanted me here? To continually scan as we moved? No. He wants these computers shut down. Discreetly, without being able to be traced back to us."

GAME: Donavon spends a courage point.

GAME: Donavon contests her First Aid/Combat Medic+A vs Routine and Marginally Fails.

O'Rielly looks to Nevaren as he rejoins everybody. "We shouldn't leave this much white just out in the open like this. Perhaps we can sabotage the white somehow."

GAME: Hurley spends a courage point.

GAME: Hurley contests her Computer/Programming vs Challenging and Fails.

GAME: Hurley contests her Computer/Programming+A vs Challenging and Fails.

Nevaren nods at Hurley and turns to Krylow. "Another surprise all together, Lieutenant. Need to know. Sorry.." he says as he thanks Donovan and limps towards his gear, letting her treat him as he walks, that is in a corner. "Not the Houdini's, Green." he says again. He picks up his bag and pulls out the remaining peice of gear.. the transporter enhancer. "get the others out and placed." he says as he strugles to unfold his. "And set them to destruct after transport." He then looks to Donavon. "Oh, I think some of the pools are a bit murky already." he says with a faint knowing smirk. "As I said, I was busy. Hurley, how is it coming. We REALLY need to get out of here...."

GAME: Donavon contests her First Aid/Combat Medic+A vs Routine and Marginally Fails.

GAME: Krylow spends a courage point.

GAME: Krylow contests his Demolitions/Military Explosives+A vs Routine and Succeeds.

Krylow nods to Nevaren and swings his rifle onto his shoulder. Dropping to a knee he flips open his demolitions kit and start to withdraw material. The first is no doubt three pieces of actual explosives. Then comes the timing devices, which he works on for a moment before attaching each one to the aforementioned explosives. Closing his kit with explosives in hand, he makes his way to, firstly, the enhancer Nevaren has setup and attachs the explosive. After that he moves on to the other two enhancers and does the same. "Explosives set, sir," he says simply.

"Five minutes," Hurley says, mind now in geek mode as her fingers glide over the console. "Give me five minutes. Keep in mind, I haven't seen this.. like.. ever and, well, I need a bit of a handicap to at least get *into* the computer systems and understand it, then we can talk about coding the undetectable virus to start taking things out. But, I need some time. Five minutes." Of course, she's talking in geek time, which could mean anywhere between five minutes and five hours. Her eyes narrow and lips purse while she glares at the console outputs in front of her. "Oh, and a prayer. You know, that I don't set off alarms or something. I hate booby traps. *Hate*. Prophets watch over us. And no laughing this time."

Green's brow furrows as she watches Nevaren. "Somehow I doubt the Dominion is really going to suffer from losing the white here. Murky?" She says with dread, "And who do you think they're going to blame for /that/, Lieutenant? Are you going to be here to listen to the Iotians screaming when Dominion takes its retribution? Will it be worth knowing the Dominion lost a couple of pools of ketracel white?"

. o O Green thinks, "Dammit dammit DAMMIT! Never again. No more RR. I /hate/ this bloody cloak and dagger crap."

Donavon grumbles darkly at Nevaren. "Sir, if you don't sit still," though a smile plays across her face, "I'm not--" Any further complaints are uttered beneath her breath; she continuously works diligently. "Hurley, Lieutenant O'Rielly can provide an extra hand with those systems."

O'Rielly can't help but laugh again slightly. "Wow..." is all he says.

Speaking of alarms...

"Unauthorized computer access detected in Neonate Cloning Facility 1. Security personnel, respond," the computer says far too calmly before an alarm starts an ominous sort of hooting.

Suddenly, Crayn's head snaps up, and he gestures at the tunnel they came in through. "Company," he hisses.

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "Smart mission planning. Bring along somebody who's official job includes computer hacking, and who's seen Dominion Computers before, and then have somebody who's inexperienced... oh crap, set off an alarm."

Nevaren nods once again to Krylow. "Good work, Lieutenant." he says, then looks at green and raises his brow. "We have no CHOICE, Green. It's what I do. I've been doing this for YEARS now. If people get blamed for it then I'm sorry but the longer we keep the Dominion from actually getting online here for a while longer, though any means nessacary that don't expose the Federation or her allies then I am /obligated/ to do so." He winces and looks at DOnovan. "Sorry. Forget me for now. Hurley. you have THREE minutes... ah forget it. Everyone fall back and lets get OUT of here."

GAME: Hurley contests her Computer/Programming+A vs Challenging and Succeeds.

GAME: Hurley contests her Computer/Programming+A vs Routine and Succeeds.

Krylow looks to Green, frowning a little. "Lieutenant Green, now is not the time. The sabotage is done and we can't change it. Hooking his finger to the stunned Jem'Hadar. "The white was sabotaged by a half Romulan in black, but who do think they'll blam..." he starts, before cutting off at the alarm. "You're with me Tay, for covering fire on the retreat," he says, grabbing the shoulder of Hurley's uniform and pulling the woman with him. "Move Lieutenant. Now."

"Ok," Christine says with a scowl, "*Someone* wasn't praying. Fess up. Who was it?" Fingers fly even faster as the order to fall back is shouted and she resists Krylow the few crucial seconds she needs to finish her task before she's yanked away by Big Brother. "Complete systems shutdown and wipe in ten minutes. If we're lucky, they won't even know what hit 'em," she explains as she runs with the Engineer, Type II coming back to ready.

Green stiffens, saying bitterly, "Nice to know we can sink to their level. Or past it, since we know better." With that, she turns on her heel and stalks to a spot behind Hurley, ignoring the alarm going off and Crayn's warning. One might reasonably guess that she doesn't agree with the science officer's assessment. Only at Krylow's order does she reluctantly move forward again, to aim her phaser halfheartedly toward the entrance.

. o O Donavon thinks, "Mission's compromised. Now this? To Halifax!"

. o O Hurley thinks, "We're /not/ sinking to their level. We're buying Command some time to figure out what to do. After about ten minutes, they won't be able to use these facilities at /all/. Or, if it works the way I meant for it to work, *any* facilities linked to this one via computer networks. Hmmm. That wasn't terribly nice of me."

Donavon hooks an arm to half-drag or carry Nevaren. Stiffened eyes, concerned, stare at Krylow by his order. "Bloody martyr. Not in his condition," she grumbles but hurries along to cover the rear, phaser at ready.

O'Rielly shakes his head some more and moves into the area of the pattern enhancers. He raises his weapon and aims towards the entrance.

. o O Donavon thinks, "By God will someone yank that boy back? Bleeding profusely and he's charging into frontlines. I swear. Men on this Station."

Crayn leaps down from his perch, racing into the field created by the pattern enhancers with his rifle at the ready.

As the enhancers activate, Nevaren's communicator chirps. "Indomitable to Nevaren. Are you ready for extraction?" Verne sounds rather calm and unconcerned, to be quite honest.

Nevaren steps back into the traingle made by the enhancers and fixes Green with a cold look. "He's right, now is NOT the time. But just so you know I TRIED to make my sabotage look like faulty parts linked to the Dominion's fabrication. My getting caught because I was leaking blood and our little fire fight here might change that. I did what I could and what I had to. So NEVER question me DURING a mission, is that understood? Now get your butt in here. Everyone, get /in/ here." he then taps his hidden combadge in response. "Aye, We're good to go. get our sorry buts OUT of here, if you're please.

. o O Krylow thinks, "Tay's right. What the hell are you talking about Lieutenant? If you're willing to let the Iotians suffer you don't belong in a Starfleet uniform."

. o O Hurley thinks, "...Whoa."

Krylow continues to follow up the rear, making sure that he is the last or one of the last inside the enhancers and covering the their retreat the whole way. Once set he stands there with phaser rifle still raised and jaw clenched tightly.

. o O Krylow is fuming inside, so angry the pain from his leg is forgotten.

Upon Nevaren's tirade, Hurley looks suddenly very humbled and casts her eyes down to the ground as she hustles her way into the enhancer triangle as ordered. Now quiet, she simply waits for the beamout.

"I understand you quite well, Lieutenant," Tay says just as coldly, then she gives Nevaren a frustrated look as she retreats, considering that she was only following orders in moving to a defensive position in the first place.

. o O O'Rielly thinks, "Note to self, stick to SI stuff."

Donavon props the senior officer up before glaring at Krylow's backside. Already within the triangle, she waits and remains on alert, phaser ready.

O'Rielly is within the area of the pattern enhancers, and just waits, watching.

The transporter beam sweeps through the team just as the first Jem'Hadar burst through the doors, and three of the team members -- Hurley, Krylow, and Donavon -- are treated to the sensation of energy weapons fire passing through their body as they dematerialize and take no damage from the beams.

Aboard the Indomitable, the ship's engines thrum instantly to warp speed as the team finishes materializing on the transporter platform.

"The Dominion's gonna get one -hell- of a surprise," the transporter operator enthuses, grinning openly.

Nevaren nods at the transporter chief, takes a step off the pad.. and crumbles to his knees. he coughs loudly, wetly, spots of green decorating the floor in front of him. He wips his lips, shakily, and clutches his ribs. "Fine. they'll get a surprise. Just tell your captain to get this ship OUT of here." he says. "Prophets, I've had enough of this stupid planet for one day."

"Stow it, Chief," snaps Krylow snapping off the pad and lowering his rifle. "I want a site to site for Lieutenant Nevaren to the sickbay immediately. Advise them that two more wounded will be arriving shortly. Also advise Captain Verne that your officer Mendoza is still missing in action, though by accounts of Lieutenant Nevaren possibly killed in action." Krylow's tone is rather cold and hard compared to normal.

Eyes wide, Hurley takes a gasp of air as she materializes and automatically reaches towards where that weapons fire was aiming, hands naturally finding no injuries. Slowly, she turns her gaze to Donavon and Krylow in turn, eyebrows lifted. "A surprise moreso than... their systems shutting down?" she asks, once she finds her voice again, quite confused.

Green materializes, still looking rather stiff, her face expressionless. She steps down and eyes the transporter operator, and decides in a sickly tone, "I don't want to know." Tay turns and moves hastily to support Nevaren.

Tingling sensations intensified with the split shave of death has Donavon stumbling a bit once hitting the transport deck. Alive, the coldness in Krylow's voice but yet disregard to -- she purposely adds, "Do inform the med team that O'Rielly's and Lieutenant Nevaren's injuries have been patched however, Lieutenant Krylow has sustained Dominion weaponsfire and his injury has yet to be patched and remains bleeding." Now those bold heated eyes dart back to Krylow in demanding that he tends to himself now. Added for Hurley's benefit, her head gravely shakes and now permits a mere glance towards O'Rielly of all people.

O'Rielly just shakes his head after materializing and hearing of a surprise. Without bothering to look at everyone else he starts to head out of the Transporter room. "It's been a while, but I think I remember where the sickbay is. If I don't, it's a small ship."

Faced with conflicting opinions from people not in his chain of command, the chief compromises. "Captain ordered us to beam down a pair of armed quantum torpedoes as we beamed you out. They should have gone off about five seconds ago," he relates as he works the board to beam Nevaren to sickbay. "It'll be an explosion to remember. Probably set the Dominion back two or three months, if not more. Transport's set up, if your wounded would all like to step back onto the pad. Lieutenant Mendoza's already there, by the way, sir. We grabbed him as the Apollo broke up."

Nevaren thanks Tay soiftly for helping him up, wiping his lips with his cuff again. "This surprise better not get the Iotians in more trouble. I'm HOPING my sabotage jobs got the blame misderected." he growls, waiting for them to set up the site to site transport. "Or else... he WHAT?" he asks, "What Yield! There were CIVILIANS nearby! Are you CRAZ..." his anger and horror are cut off as he is caught up in the transport beam.

Krylow doesn't step onto to the pad. Like O'Rielly he's already walking out of the room.

"What?!" Christine declares, staring at the transporter chief. "So.... that computer work I did... was... it didn't... so we were down there for... What about the slaves?!" Words fail her, which is *probably* a good thing while she stares at the messenger.

. o O Hurley thinks, "My god. I held us up to shut down their computer systems - to make it look like a *glitch*, even on a timed basis - ALMOST got us killed and they BOMBED the place before it could work?! At least with a computer shutdown, the civilians would've had a *chance*! But... I can't believe this. They can't possibly be Starfleet. Something's wrong here. We weren't supposed to cause outward damage!"

Green closes her eyes. "I was right. I didn't want to know. A whole two or three months. Yay." She gives Nevaren a nod, and steps back to let him be beamed to sickbay; her expression is neutral, her eyes are haunted as she glances toward Hurley. Then she turns and makes her way slowly out of the transporter room, so that she can collapse privately in tears. Five seconds. They're already dead...

. o O Krylow thinks, "First Torda, now this. You got what you wanted, Lieutenant Nevaren. What do you say? By any means nessecary."

Donavon writhes inside, fiercely preventing herself from puking upon the floor. Horror revisited. Anger whelps and her fist SLAMS against the bulkhead. Sharp daggers in her gaze which passes by the transporter chief on her rigid walk out. Donavon whispers to herself, "In hell may you be because of your sins." No more, no less before Donavon gets the hell out of there.

O'Rielly is already heading out the door, if he catches the announcement of the torpedos, he doesn't stop, or show it, he just keeps going.

"Sometimes, sir, bad things happen in war," the chief observes blandly before he steps away from the transporter controls and exits the room.