ST: Battlefront "Hackers (Pt. 1)"

((Welcome to the Season 1 Finale of ST: Battlefront! I have a few segments already written for this, and I've decided that I need to start posting them for the enjoyment of others. I will try to not have this season slow to a crawl at the end. For now, enjoy the season finale, "Hackers pt 1"))

[[Episode 1.6]

“So you said it was a Constitution class. Sir?” Ensign Aron-Mu Ishii asked his XO, Edgar Calvin.

“Yep, Admiral Quinn told me she was an older ship, but Constitutions and Excaliburs are still frequently commissioned right now. I’m looking forward to seeing what she looks like.” Eddie said, smiling a bit. The bridge crew of the late U.S.S. New Orleans walked together through the halls of the spacedock.

“You’re actually looking forward to this, sir? I thought you would be nervous.” Summer commented, walking close to Desmond.

Eddie laughed, “I’m as nervous as a whore in church, but that doesn’t mean I’m not also excited. We have a second chance to prove ourselves.”

“I hate to remind you Ed, but you won’t be in command this time.” Solek reminded. Eddie scowled slightly at the burst bubble.

“I’m intrigued about our captain. What do you know about him?” Turek said, looking over the crew manifest on a P.A.D.D. as he trailed behind. He found it very odd that there was a technical paper for a medical history, and that it was admittedly incomplete.

“Quinn was mum on that Turek, but I hear we have to go to the Daystrom Institute to retrieve it. Trust me, it puzzles me too.”

“It? Interesting...I’ve never met a genderless species before.” Aron commented, looking fairly intrigued.

“It is possible that the captain is synthetic.” Desmond commented, glancing away from Summer for a moment. Eddie started laughing.

“Bingo, Des.” Eddie commented, continuing forward the hangar window hallway. The group of officers, including Solek, stopped.

“Our captain is a robot?”

“Hologram; I don’t know much past that.” Eddie corrected, stopping at the window. “Ensigns, take a look at your new home: the U.S.S. Exobyte.”

The bridge crew joined their XO at the window and looked out upon the re-commissioned constitution class starship. Eddie was right and it was amazing how old the ship looked. Desmond looked worried, a stark contrast to Aron-Mu’s excitement. Turek and Solek were fairly indifferent to the ship’s age, which was in contrast to Summer’s feelings, “Sir, this ship looks over two-hundred years old...Is it an able ship?”

“I believe so, Ensign. Very few systems have changed too significantly, and she has been refitted with a new warp drive system, replicators, and a few other systems that were standard on the New Orleans.” Eddie said looking back at his crew.

“What is our mission?” Solek inquired, trying to stay on subject.

“Fly her to the Daystrom Institute, and retrieve our Captain. Further orders will be given at that time.” The group felt collectively disappointed at the orders. “We’re scheduled to depart at 1100 hours. Make sure that your sections are ready to depart before then.”

“Yes Sir.” They said in unison standing at attention.

“Dismissed.” As the group departed and continued towards their new home, Eddie looked back at the ship in spacedock. Eddie thought to himself, This ship, this crew...This feels right...I can finally prove myself as a good officer...

“Excuse me, Lieutenant Calvin?” A nearby console chimed.

“Yes?”

“Admiral Quinn wishes to speak with you before you depart.” The console panel near the window echoed.

“On my way.” Eddie sighed, moving back through the hallway with a shoulder belt and a few personal effects in his arms. When he finally reached Quinn’s office he set the largest duffle down by the door and entered. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”

“Yes, Lieutenant, at ease...Normally I would be discussing this with the captain, but since the captain is for one, located at the Daystrom Institute on Galor IV, and two, hasn’t been compiled into the final matrix, I’m discussing it with you.”

“Understood, Sir. What is it you wish of the Exobyte?”

“Lt. Cmdr. Reginald Barclay will be accompanying you to Galor IV to return to his duties. He is informed that his first assignment will be to acclimate the Doctor’s ECH subroutines in a new holomatrix and ultimately activate the ECH program. The majority of the research and development for this new program has already been completed. I want you and Ensign Ishii to observe the final stages in this process, because should anything happen, the two of you will be the best chance the ship will have of repairing the matrix.”

“Yes, Sir. How does my restriction play into this?”

“Ed, the restriction only says you can't LOOK at the code, it doesn't say anything about discussing high level functionality and brainstorming. I want you to be in there listening and learning.” Quinn encouraged, causing Eddie to break a smile.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Good luck out there, now get to your ship, Lieutenant. You’re dismissed.”

Good start.

Acting Captain’s Log, Stardate 87745.43: the Exobyte has arrived at Galor IV and have achieved standard orbit. Ensign Ishii informs me that while the warp core is a retrofit, it is more than sufficient for achieving ideal cruising speeds and power outputs. Ensign Troi’s apprehension regarding her turning stress levels have been abated for now. Dr. Turek informs me that the medical bay is up to his and Starfleet's standards and as capable as the New Orleans’ medical bay. In a few moments I will be escorting Lt. Cmdr. Barclay to the planet, where I am permitted to watch as the ECH program is brought online...I wonder what I’m supposed to call it, aside from “Captain”.

The doors to the turbolift opened upon the main science lab and Eddie walked forward. Barclay and the Doctor were both enthralled with something on one of the panels. “Good morning, sirs, how is the ECH progressing?

“Ah, good morning Mr. Calvin...Everything’s...just...fine...There!” Mr. Barclay said through extreme distraction. The Doctor just glanced up and nodded. “Doctor, I believe your autonomous and sentience subroutines have been successfully recompiled around the ECH module. We're ready to run the program.”

Eddie walked forward to the console and then paused before moving back a step. “I...sorry, sirs. You were saying, Mr. Barclay?”

Reg smiled nervously having been briefed on Eddie’s restrictions against looking at compilers and any files and program logs. “Mr. Calvin, you’ve arrived just in time. We were just about to bring the ECH online. I assume you will want to meet your captain.”

The Doctor tapped a few keys on the console and smiled. “I must admit I was rather surprised that Starfleet would be interested in this project given how they treated me...”

“Doctor I’m sure that will not happen with your son.” Eddie commented casually. The descriptive noun spurred a pause in everyone standing around the holoplatform. “Did I say something wrong?”

“S-son? H-how e-exactly is t-this...” Barclay stuttered. The Doctor stared at Eddie, the expression clearly contemplating the truth and impact of the notion.

“I...well, I assume, Doctor, that you would give the ECH full sentience, and since you’re creating something that is part of yourself, does that not constitute an offspring?” Eddie stammered through.

“You’re right, he would be my son. I never considered that. That means I name him. This...this is important...What if I want a daughter? How will it look? Who would....” The Doctor paused to consider the fact. As he thought about this he left the laboratory completely distracted leaving Eddie to chase after him.

“Doctor, wait!” Mr. Barclay called out, beginning to chase after the two. A few moments later, Eddie and Barclay returned guiding the Doctor back to the lab.

“...I just can't make decisions about this lightly.”

Meanwhile, Ensign Ishii encountered the first issue with run-time, causing the ECH program to crash and corrupt the executible. “Sir, I’m getting some unusual readouts from the computer logs...but it’s no longer running!”

The technician on hand and the Doctor walked over to the console and looked over the Enhasan’s shoulder. “Something’s accessing a number of irrelevant systems.”

“This...this looks like it’s spreading like an infection!” the Doctor exclaimed. He motioned for Eddie to take a look. Eddie moved to the console and started scanning the logs scrolling across the terminal.

Barclay glanced up with a slight concern before returning to his console. “Computer note a log that Lieutenant Calvin is examining the logs at the behest of the Doctor...”

A few eyes glanced around realizing that Eddie’s restriction was actively being ignored by other officers. Eddie ignored it and continued scanning, “It’s a virus! Shut down the system, NOW!”

“I can’t!” Aron-Mu shouted. “The controls won’t respond!”

Eddie tapped his communicator quickly. “Lt. Calvin to OPS, this station is under attack!”

Desmond, Summer, Solek, and Turek sat around a table in the Daystrom Institute’s mess hall looking over P.A.D.D.s while they ate their lunch. “So, I hear this ensign Blaat has some interesting accomplishments with shield theory, his specialty is against the Borg.”

“That could be helpful. It looks like we’re getting a few more ensigns for security and tactical as well.” Summer commented setting down her P.A.D.D. to take a sip of her drink.

“Indeed. We should --” Solek began but was promptly cut off by the red alert klaxon. The four officers looked around to see that most of the researchers were starting to panic. “OK Troi, Guyton work on crowd control. Turek, get to the medical wing and report in.” He tapped his communicator in a quick breath as the officers jumped to their feet. “Solek to Lt. Calvin; Sir, what’s happened?”

“Solek we’re suffering a computer virus infection of some systems and we can’t prevent the spread. So far replicators EPS conduits and holo-emitters are completely infected. We fear the infection will spread nex...ummuni...tems...”

Solek rolled his eyes as he prepped to run down the corridors, “sounds like it already has.”

---

Back in the holomatrix laboratory, the scope the system’s infestation was becoming dangerously apparent. The holo-emitter platform started displaying various monsters and alien races. A few were quick flickers, others stayed cohesive for a long enough moment to unleash some attack or attempt. Eddie dodged a disruptor blast from the Klingon matrix before it transformed into a dragon. “Shut that thing off!”

“We can’t get a manual override, the main computer is locked out...we’ve got to get out of here!” Aron-Mu shouted, abandoning the console to find cover.

Mr. Barclay screamed from the other side of the room. “The doors are sealed shut; we're trapped!”

---

Solek raced through the corridor as the lighting flashed red. With communication down, there was little coordination among the crew and scientists. As he spun around a corner he saw only too late his oncoming impact with a young security officer. Uncharacteristic of most vulcans but quite in Solek’s nature, the surprised shock was enough to surprise the young ensign causing the two to hit and fall to the floor. “Who are you?”

“Uhh...Ensign Hreowr. What’s going on?”

“As far as I know Ensign Meow, a shit-storm; who’s your commanding officer?” Solek inquired of his new friend.

“It's Hreowr, sir, most of my instructors and friends call me Leo for ease on the earth tongue. I'm assigned to the Exobye, under Lieutenant Calvin, I think.”

“Well then for right now you’re reporting to me. We need to get to the holomatrix lab.”

---

Elsewhere, the turbolift doors opened to Turek fighting off an angry Bajoran hologram. After slipping out of the lift and letting the doors close, the young Cardassian medic looked up from his prone position on the floor to see a giant Talarian centipede looming over him. “Oh dammit..”

---

Desmond and Summer raced down a corridor of their own behind a security detail heading to the main computer. “Des, what exactly are we going to do?”

“On a starship if communications are down protocol is to secure the main computer, engineering and the bridge first. Since this place doesn’t really have engineering or a bridge, I’m guessing we need to secure the main computer.”

“But the command center of the station would be the same as the bridge - if there is an attack that would be where a response would be made.” Summer commented as she stopped running with the detail, causing Des to stop and look back at her.

“You’re right...Let’s head to the command center.” Before either could make a move, the holo-emitters materialized a holographic giant tarantula, and behind them the sounds of more clicking. Other giant tarantulas had been placed around them, pinning the two tactical officers in place. “This...could be bad.”

---

Solek and Hreowr made it to the section where the holomatrix lab was held, but found to their dismay the entire floor was covered in snakes. “Sir, I’m guessing from what we’ve seen in other sections, whatever virus this is has complete control of the holo-emitters that are on every space of this station...I think it’s wise to assume that with this level of targeting, the safety protocols have been disengaged.”

Desmond Troi crawled in front of his cohort through the Jeffries tubes. He stopped a moment to manually override the security hatch to the outer ring to the command center. “Just say it Summer.”

“I hate it when you do that...what are we going to do if the command center has been taken? We aren’t armed with phasers.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t remind me of that or voice that comment. It’s been on your mind for the past ten minutes.”

Summer slapped his ass in a spanking manner. “Keep your ass out of my head!”

“Careful, I may enjoy that.” The coy helmsman smirked as he looked back. Summer scowled a bit before breaking a smile.

The hatch for the outer Jeffries tube ring opened and began flooding water into the now open tube. In quick reaction Summer grabbed a hold of Desmond’s legs as he grabbed a hold of the door as tightly as he could. Within minutes, the new tube was completely flooded. The two ensigns quickly began swimming through the outer ring and struggled to open the hatch to the inner ring. Since the pressure was equalized under water, it was easier this time, but still did not provide an escape to breathable air.


Again the push was made to the command center. Desmond heard a clear thought from Summer. Death at a captor or death by drowning, I just want to breathe!

Des motioned for Summer to join him at the next hatch and to help him pull the doors apart. With both exerting force to the hatch, enough made a gaping crack, draining water into the room beyond. A bit further and Summer pushed through the hatch out onto the sopping wet floor, followed shortly by Desmond. After both caught their breath they looked up to see a horrifying sight.

---

Elsewhere, Turek was dodging lunges by the Talarian centipede as he carefully jumped to the other side of the creature. The confining space of the corridor was enough to slow the giant monster while Turek ran down the corridor and slammed shut the door in sick bay. “This is Dr. Turek reporting to sick bay for...Oh...dammit.”

---

“Sir, this is the holomatrix lab, but with no power to this section, I don’t know if we can gain access.” Ensign Hreowr commented.

Solek examined the door controls and looked back at the Caitian. “Can you try getting a manual override to gain access?”

“I’ll give it my best, sir, but I was never great at lock-picking.” The Caitian removed the access panel and began rummaging through the isolinear chips when Solek heard noises on the other side of the door. Some of it were screams, others were shouts, but the worst were the monstrous roars and the bangs on the lab door. Ensign Hreowr glanced up with concern for the scientists on the other side of the door.

Solek moved to another panel and removed it. “Ensign, I advise that you not listen to the screams and focus on your task...I’ll worry about shutting off the power to the room and shutting down the emitters.”

“Good luck, sir.” Hreowr commented as he returned to his task. Solek muttered a thanks under his breath, putting extra attention and drive into his focus.

---

Inside the holomatrix lab, Eddie and Aron-Mu had successfully corralled everyone behind a larger terminal while the two engineers set up fabricated force fields to keep out the hostile matrixes. Unfortunately, not everyone was saved and a few technicians lost their lives to the monstrous matrixes of fictional characters like Grendel and a pissed bottle-blonde drunk throwing bottles of liquor from her dog-inhabited purse. “Lt. Calvin, these force fields won’t hold forever. We need to migrate to the door and attempt to get it opened.”

“Unfortunately, if we move the scientists with us, then the shields will take full brunt out in the open. I can’t risk everyone like that.”

“Then let me go alone and do it. I can take a force field with me and get back here when it fails.” Aron-Mu volunteered, but Eddie shook his head.

“No, I’ll go. Your fabrications are better than mine, and you need to get working on getting another one constructed should this one fail.” Eddie said, grabbing the nearest fabrication at the base. Aron-mu nodded and slipped back with the scientists.

Eddie was halfway to the door when the force field generator failed, exposing him to the incoming swipe from the Minotaur’s swipes, slamming him against the wall. He landed poorly; bleeding and unconscious. The Doctor made a dash to help him, but a hit to the mobile emitter had him fighting to do anything useful.

---

Turek looked around the sick bay as a few more officers and scientists were brought in as hostages. The group of hijackers held a large portion of the medical staff, civilian scientists, and a number of technicians at rifle point.

Turek was certain that the EMH staff was likely corrupted and thus incapable of doing any more than harm a number of hostages. Turek raised his hands in surrender. The nearby thug motioned for him to join the other hostages. In a few moments, Turek had effectively reported into the medical bay and immediately to his own capture.

---

In the command center, the Orion boarding party held Desmond and Summer at disruptor-point with the other ops personnel. The lead Orion male frowned, noting the lack of station leader as he moved to the nearby console. “This is Danar. We have the station.”

“Excellent work, Danar. Kill power to the holomatrix lab, we’re ready to transport officers to secure the room.” A female voice cooed over the communication system. Danar pressed a few keys on the console nearby and the computer responded with an error noise.

“The main computer is locked out!” Danar growled in protest. Desmond could easily hear through the waterlogged ears that the voice was not happy with that news.

---

Aron-Mu looked at the prone body of his captain. The Doctor had stopped the blood flowing from the gash on his side and he hadn’t moved since his impact with the ground. He wasn’t sure, but he suspected that his XO was close to deadif not already. “Mr. Barclay, are there any power nodes nearby that we can disrupt to kill the emitters?”

“I-I’m not sure but I believe there is one under the panel a few meters to the left.” The two engineers looked around in the direction of the panel: it was more exposed than the door.

“Gentlemen, whatever your decision, I need to get this man to sick bay as quickly as possible if there will be any chance for survival.” The Doctor reminded the urgency.

Outside the door, Solek and Hreowr scrambled in junction to open the door and cut the power. In true chaotic fashion, Hreowr succeeded opening the doors before Solek had cut the power, opening the door to the holomatrix lab and drawing intense fire from the shock trooper matrix that was currently holding dominance in the room. Solek scrambled, and yanked the core with little concern for safety or repair. Within seconds, the power to the holomatrix lab had died, and the emitters stopped functioning.

“Lt. Calvin are you all right?” Solek shouted into the room.

“No, Solek, he’s not.” Aron-Mu responded. The answer caused Solek to run into the room and see what he feared. P’murr followed closely and looked upon the engineers, the Doctor, and the few surviving technicians.

Before much movement could be made, Orion soldiers beamed in and held everyone at disruptor point. “Don’t try anything.”

The soldiers placed tags on each of the breathing officers and the entire group was quickly beamed to the command center. Shortly after they materialized, an ornately decorated Orion female appeared and immediately started verbally flaying Danar.

“You imbecile! I don’t want to see your face here until you bring me the station commander back here! Get lost!” She shouted kicking Danar out of the command center. She turned to look at Eddie, frowned, and then turned to the Doctor. “Is this the only uncorrupted hologram?”

“Yes, ma’am. He wasn’t connected to the library when the virus was launched.” Danar’s second reported.

“Have you found the ECH yet?”

“No, ma’am. There isn’t any file that seems to fit the description of a Starfleet captain that isn’t fictional.”

This was met with another scowl. “Are you telling me the virus was launched too early?”

The young officers listened closely piecing together that the Orions intended to steal the hologram that would become their captain. The female Orion looked back at them and frowned. “Knock them out, I don’t want them knowing what’s going on.”

Orion operatives moved to the ensigns and proceeded to knock them unconscious, leaving the Doctor still active. He couldn’t do anything, and just glared at the Orions in control. Before the rifle-butt hit Lt. Cmdr. Barclay, the female Orion halted the operative. “Hold it...we’ll need him to fix this mess.”

A scaly hand pressed a hypospray against the back of the pointed ear draped in blonde hair. Eddie’s eyes opened under serious grogginess looking back up at Turek. “Hey doc, what happened?”

“I informed the Orions that you were an expert on hologram programming to get them to let me tend to your injuries.” Turek said, grinning slightly. Eddie smiled through a scowl.

The young lieutenant sat up and looked around sick bay. There were two Orions guarding each door, and a handful of others guarding the medic office and supply. All of his officers and the engineering technicians from the lab were on various beds, unconscious. Turek followed Eddie’s eyes and saw they were resting on Solek. “He’s stable, but they won’t let me give him a stimulant to wake him.”

“Where’s Mr. Barclay?” Eddie asked, feeling a wave of concern wash across him.

“This was all they brought me and it was not pleasant trying to get them to let me run sick bay as I could. It seems the LTMH programs that usually run the place were deactivated so I’m not sure what kind of help I can be.”

“You’re fine, doctor, keep treating the injured.” Eddie commented as an Orion approached the table.

“What are you doing?” The green thug growled as he gripped his rifle tightly.

“I’m just treating a patient.” Turek said quickly.

The Orion punched Turek, causing him to fall to the ground. “You were told to do no such thing!”

“You told me to treat him for the lab!” There was another punch.

“You were not told to wake him!” Another punch. Eddie launched into the Orion and started throwing swings. The Orion turned from Turek to Eddie and started to return the punches. Green blood flew everywhere before more Orions jumped on Eddie and pinned him down on the bed.

“Stop this at once!” a decorated Orion Thug shouted into the room. The thugs stopped throwing punches into Eddie and let him sit up. A few glances to the thugs told them to back away. The new Orion pointed a disruptor rifle at Eddie. “You. This way.”

Eddie stood, gingerly and popped the cartilage in his nose to stop the bleeding. “I’ll cooperate if the rest of my crew is awakened and not harmed further.”

The two leaders locked into a stare-down. Eddie was unblinking and pressing the thought that he wasn’t going to budge into the Orion’s mind. The stalemate broke with a win for Eddie: the Orion grunted and the guards moved back to the doors. “Let the medic do his job.”

Eddie followed in front of the Orion with the business end of his disruptor rifle pressed into Eddie’s back. He glanced around with his good eye and noticed the hallways showed traces of critters present but none were around. After a turbolift ride Eddie was led to the holomatrix laboratory. Inside, Mr. Barclay stood nervously at the control terminal while the Doctor stood on the platform, immobilized. The Orion shoved Eddie towards the terminal, “He’s moving too slow. I expect you to do better.”

Eddie glanced between the veteran Starfleet officers with concern. “How specifically has he been slow, and what’s been done to the Doctor?”

The Orion smirked hauntingly. “Your task is to extract the command protocols. No concern will be given to the original program. If you don’t obey, we’ll start killing hostages...starting with him.”

Eddie gulped.

It had been hours but Eddie continued to fake progress. In truth his talents had helped him secretly obfuscate the parts of the EMH that were the command subroutines. He had managed to send a coded signal to the Exobyte but there had been nothing to indicate that the signal was received nor was there a response. The Orions were starting to get impatient.

“You’re taking too long!” A punch connected with Eddie’s jaw as he spun to the ground.

“I’m doing what I can but the main computer is locked out. You’ll be lucky if there’s anything left to access. If you think I’m taking too long,” Eddie said, standing up and defiantly, “then you do it. Every Starfleet officer here would rather die than help you.”

Barclay looked at Eddie with a bit of concern. His comments on his intentions had become clouded to the veteran. In truth, Eddie’s smirk told the Orion the worst. The thug turned to Eddie’s console and saw what he had done, and the disruptor rifle swung and knocked Eddie down again causing a cut across his cheek and giving him a black eye.

“Shoot me and you’ll never get control now.” The Orion raised the rifle and pulled the trigger, hitting Eddie in the leg. The scream was bloodcurdling, but it didn’t phase Eddie’s resolve. “Now I’m just gonna be difficult…Keep firing. A few more shots and there’ll be nothing left of me.”

The Orion fired another blast.

---

“What do you think you’re doing?” a disruptor pistol was now trained at Turek’s frame. The Cardassian medic turned and presented the hypo spray.

“These two nearly drowned. I’m waking them up to check for brain damage.” The rifle didn’t lower, and the Orion stepped closer.

“You’re not doing anything.”

“But your boss…” Turek began in protest.

“…Isn’t here. You’re not helping anyone.”

Turek lowered the hypospray as he glanced around the room. Desmond lay on a bed and Solek on a third. Hreowr remained on the floor next to a few engineers and a command officer. A scowl fluttered on Turek’s face in frustration, but the Orion retrained the rifle in preparation to fire.

Summer watched the scene unfold from her vantage point laying on the bed, unmoving. When Turek glanced, she gave him as subtle a signal as she could that she was awake. Now it was only a matter of time before she could act in surprise.

---

Elsewhere, A Few Hours Earlier...

High above the upper atmosphere of Galor IV, the U.S.S. Exobyte drifted closer and closer on a collision orbit. Her attitude control was shot, main power was non-existent, but at least life support was still functioning. “Ensign Blaat, this is Frost. Come in.”

“This is Blaat,” the Ferengi responded. “Go ahead.”

“Ensign, Auxiliary power should now be online. Currently I have power running to internal sensors, communications, shields and weapons. I’m about to transfer life support off emergency. It should be noted that external sensors will be in the next pass, along with navigation and engines.”

“Thank you, Ms. Frost. I recommend we keep power usage to a minimum until then to keep our attackers thinking we’re still dead in the water. We have just under an hour before we drift into the upper atmosphere.” Blaat returned to his manual diagnostic on the sensor module.

“Good idea. Frost out.” Inside Engineering, the young female punched a few commands on the console. After an approving chirp, she picked up a small cord and connected it to a still operating Borg cortical node. A final command entered and the line was active: Director Hansen, do you read me? This is Jacqueline Frost onboard the Exobyte...Annika, please respond!

[[To Be Continued...]