Operation: Get Clark

Posted on Fri Oct 5th, 2012 @ 12:43am by Commodore Leon `Lee` Pike & Vice Admiral James K`Temoc Bremer & Lieutenant Saith i-Ki Baratan & Commodore Alexandra Harrison

4,259 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Mission 79 - Triangle
Location: USS Steadfast
Timeline: Following 'Engaging Clark'

As K’Temoc, Maal, and Saith entered the Transporter Room, they were greeted by two Security Officers and the Transporter Chief.

One of the Security Officers handed K’Temoc a Phaser Rifle, side arm, and tricorder. The other Security Officer and Transporter Chief did the same to Maal and Saith.

Once everyone had their equipment, activated the power supplies on their weapons, and were set, K’Temoc pulled out his tricorder and displayed an interior schematic of the Hawk class. It wasn't complete, there was a lot Starfleet didn't know about these Pirate ships yet, but they had a good idea where main systems and facilities were.

“We’ll split into two groups. Sargent Maal and I will proceed to the Bridge, Ensign Baratan, Petty Officers Grooms and Wells will head for Engineering. It’s a safe bet Clark and Winter will be in one of these two places. I want them taken alive, is that clear?”

Maal nodded:"Understood Captain." He then set his weapons to heavy stun.

Saith merely nodded her understanding, and holstered the side arm. She felt a small shiver of excitement go through her.

“All right, let’s go.” K’Temoc added as he stepped up onto the transporter pad followed by the rest of the Away Team.

“K’Temoc to Bridge, we’re ready.” He looked at the Transport Chief and waited. Now it was up Captains Harrison and Pike and their Klingon allies to decloak and deliver a precision attack. Knock out the transporters of the escorting Dagger class ship and Jon Westmoreland’s small raider, the Starlighter, before they could beam Clark back.

"Acknowledged." She looked over at Pike, "Ready?" She could feel her adrenalin kick in.

Lee looked at Alex and nodded:"Am ready Captain."

"Weapons ready. Disengage cloaking device." The Steadfast materialized, "Fire!"

Alex knew that there was a small window for the away team to transport and for the fire fight to begin.

Lee's hands flew over the controls for locking the phasers on target as the 3 Klingon Bird of Preys decloaked and moved in for the attack. Phaser beams lanced out from the Steadfast and hit the Starlighter.

He checked a few instruments:"Direct hit to the Starlighter's and the Dagger's transporters."

Alex immediately gave the green light to K'Temoc. As soon as they transported, Alex excitedly said, "Raise shields!"

As the Away Team materialized aboard the damaged Hawk class raider, K'Temoc raised his rifle and aimed down the corridor. The ship's alert klaxon was sounding, but the corridor was clear.

He kept his aim, holding his rifle with his right hand, he raised his left and gave a quick signal to Baratan to proceed, then he stepped forward with the big Klingon Maal right behind him.

Saith nodded, and looked around the corner. She started down the corridor with Wells and Grooms flanking her.

As they rounded a corner in the corridor, K'Temoc and Maal paused and watched two men race away from them as they ran toward the Bridge. K'Temoc recognized one as former Commander James Winter.

Unseen, he and Maal continued down the corridor quietly, but suddenly another member of the Pirate crew burst from an intercepting corridor and ran right into Maal. As he fell to the deck, the Bolian man looked up at the big Klingon. His mouth opened, but he froze for an instant. Before he could speak, Maal slammed the butt of his rifle into the man's jaw and knocked him out.

K'Temoc hadn't moved, keeping a sharp eye toward the entrance of the ship's bridge. Once he heard the impact of the rifle to the Pirate's face, K'Temoc started moving slowly again.

Saith tried to keep track as they swept down the corridor. Even though their map was incomplete, some things held true for all ships and one of those was the relative placement of Engineering. They started down a long hallway that ended in a T-intersection. As they neared the end they slowed, there was no place to hide on this end of the corridor.

They heard the sound of footsteps and flattened themselves against the wall, waiting. Saith lightly fingered the trigger of her rifle, in case it was needed. The running steps came nearer but then entered a doorway somewhere in the other hall. Wells chanced a look around the corner and shook his head, "clear" he whispered. Saith paused wondering if wherever that door led was important enough for them to follow. Clearly it was a place that they manned during an emergency.

She glanced into the intersecting hallway. It was a fairly ordinary corridor. The only doorway was in the middle of the hall to their left. She thought about this momentarily. The lack of rooms on the other side indicated they were on an outer corridor. That room could be Engineering but it didn't seem right. It was a long way from anywhere except open space through the hull. "the perfect place for Security or a brig," she thought.

Although curiosity was pulling at her, she knew they had one objective. Then a thought struck her that chilled her, if this was a security area, they probably had eyes there. "we have to move!" she whispered harshly.


Meanwhile aboard the Starlighter, Westmoreland had been able to raise his shields. His transporters were damaged, but he had engines and weapons. He quickly kicked in full impulse and maneuvered his small ship behind the larger Dagger class vessel. He popped out long enough to fire a quick phaser blast at the Steadfast before ducking again.


K’Temoc and Maal approached the Bridge, they were only meters away. Maal check his tricorder and scanned the room. There were four people manning the Bridge. Two near the front, one in the middle, one near the door they would have to walk though. K’Temoc nodded then slung his rifle over his shoulder. He motioned to himself, then toward the person at the back wall. He then motioned to Maal, held up three fingers, then lowered his hand. Maal nodded, then K’Temoc held up three fingers again, then silently counted down…two…one…

The two Starfleet Officers silently burst into the Bridge of the Hawk class raider. K’Temoc immediately went for the person next to the door. Grabbing him by the shoulder, spinning him around, then bare handed chopping his throat. As the man fell, K’Temoc pulled his rifle back around and took aim. In the meantime, Maal has suppressed the two near the front of the Bridge, bolts from his phaser rifle sent both to the deck heavily stunned. That left only person sitting in the middle chair.

“Turn around, slowly.” K’Temoc ordered.

The man slowly turned to face Maal and K’Temoc…but it wasn’t who they hoped it would be.

“Where’s Clark?” K’Temoc asked angrily to Winter.

“I don’t know.” Winter replied with a smirk.

K’Temoc handed his rifle to Maal who quickly slung it over his shoulder, then re-raised his own. He stepped closer to Winter, “Now isn't the time for games, where is he?” K’Temoc grabbed him by shirt and lifted him up to his feet. As he stood, Winter shoved K’Temoc back and quickly drew a small Type-1 phaser he had hidden in his pocket. He fired at Maal, wounding the Klingon, causing him to back pedal into the wall behind him. K’Temoc quickly recovered and grabbed Winter’s arm before he could shoot again. The two men started to wrestle over the weapon. Winter took two quick jabs at K’Temoc’s ribs, and K’Temoc countered with an elbow back into Winter’s midsection followed by backhanded fist to the face, finished up with an open handed palm to his nose.

Stunned for a moment, Winter fell back. He shook his head, then rushed at the Captain. K’Temoc quickly side stepped Winter, and as the former Starfleet Officer turned back around K’Temoc caught him in the jaw with a fist. Winter hit the deck with a thud.

As he took a breath, K’Temoc watched Maal stand back up, holding his shoulder. The two me checked the other Pirates on the Bridge, none were Clark.

K’Temoc tapped his combadge, “K’Temoc to Steadfast, we've secured the Bridge. Clark isn't here but we have Winter. Four to beam directly to the Brig. Also, beam Sergeant Maal to..” But Maal shook his head. “…belay that, the Sergeant will be staying here.”

"Acknowledged. Activating transporter now." The group re-materialized. Phasers were on them as soon as they arrived. They were pushed into their cells. The brig officer had a big grin on his face to see that he had guest.

After the Pirates were beamed away, K’Temoc and Maal took a quick internal sensor scan and transferred the data to their tricorders. Now they had detailed internal diagrams of the ship and knew where everyone aboard was. Then they proceeded to lock the Bridge down and encrypt the controls.

“Let’s sweep the rest of the deck, then proceed to deck two.” K’Temoc said. Maal replied with a nod, and the two left the Bridge.

Westmoreland looked over his system status. He was trying to get his transporter working while he hid, but his hiding place was no longer safe as the Starlighter took a phaser hit from the Steadfast. Jon jumped back into the pilot’s seat and maneuvered away, firing his aft phaser array at the Starfleet ship.

“Westmoreland to Clark, where are you?”

“Still aboard the Talon, on deck two. K’Temoc and some Klingon took the Bridge just before I got there, they have Winter.” I also saw another team heading for Engineering on deck three.” Clark replied over the comm channel.

“My transporter is down, I've almost got it repaired. Stand by.” The Starlighter shook as it took a hit from one of the Klingon Bird of Prey.

“Acknowledged.” Clark replied then closed the comm.

The Starlighter took another disruptor hit, “Damn Klingons!” Westmoreland said aloud. His fingers danced over the controls and the Starlighter quickly banked hard to port and away from the Klingon ship. A skilled pilot, Jon Westmoreland maneuvered in behind the Klingon ship at close range and fired a phaser burst into their aft shields, weakening them. He then eased back, before firing two quantum torpedoes at the Bird of Prey. Turning away, he watched the blue torpedoes impact on the Klingon’s aft section, a second later the ship exploded into a million pieces.

Alex watched in horror. She grew angry at whoever was operating the Starlighter but she had to keep her feelings at bay. Their orders were to take them alive so she got an idea.

"Captain Pike, if we could get the Starlighter's shields down, we could beam whoever is flying that ship off and onto ours since we are to take them alive. Let's get those shields down." She conveyed this to the Klingon ships that were left as well.

Lee muttered a few words in Klingon under his breath he then half turned:"Captain if we don't get whoever is flying that soon then the Demon bane and the Vengeance will for sure be looking to destroy it."

"My thinking exactly." She turned back to the screen expecting to see the Starlighter making a run for it but it wasn't. Westmoreland fired a couple of times as he moved towards the Hawk class and use it as a shield. Westmoreland figured that as long as the Steadfast crew was on that Hawk class, that they wouldn't fire upon him.

Trying to ignore the pounding, Alex deduced that the pilot didn't have Clark cause if he did, the Starlighter would be making its exit. "Looks like he's trying to buy himself some time. Let's do this!"

"Helm get me as close to the Starlighter as possible." Lee said as his hands flew over the controls getting a lock on the Starlighter:"Phasers are ready."

"Proceed." Alex watched on as her tactical officer worked his magic.

Saith and her team turned and retreated down the corridor they had just come from. Choosing the corridor to the right this time, they picked up speed and headed for the next junction. As she peeked around the corner, Saith smiled and nodded at Grooms and Wells.

She could see Engineering's door from their vantage point. Currently the corridor was empty, it was now or never although something nagged at Saith. Shaking it off she and her team moved forward. Grooms took one side of the door, Wells the other. Saith rolled into the middle of the doorway bringing her phaser rifle up as the doors came open.

"Favdt!" she exlaimed as fire passed over her head and hit the wall. They had known the team was coming, and they weren't under orders not to kill. She fired her rifle into the room sweeping as she did. She was vaguely aware of Wells and Grooms doing the same as they rushed into the room.

Saith prayed to the elements that they didn't hit anything that would blow them all up. She was only vaguely aware of the weapons fire around her, but she became aware of an explosion, she realized that she had felt it but didn't hear it. They hadn't blown up the Hawk class ship, someone else outside had biffed it. Saith quietly hoped it was not the Steadfast.

As suddenly as it had begun the fire-fight stopped. Saith peeked around the terminal she was crouched behind. She wasn't sure when she had made it there, but figured it didn't matter. The men in Engineering were all down, so was Wells. Grooms checked him and nodded, "he'll be alright." 'Messy, messy' Saith thought to herself as she acknowledge Grooms. Apparently not all of the crews' weapons were set to kill.

She checked the pirates and determined that none of them were Clark. Pleased that they hadn't accidently killed anyone, or gotten killed, Saith and Grooms secured the pirates to a railing, removed their weapons and communication devices. Finally, Saith moved to the terminal to see if there was anything they could do from there. Grooms propped Wells up and made sure he was okay and out of the way, then took up a position guarding the door.

Once more Saith swore softly, eliciting a chuckle from Grooms, "You have a potty mouth, you know that?" he quietly asked. Saith grinned at him, but pointed at the terminal. "Someone is attempting to remotely access ships systems. I am not a great Engineer, I don't know if I can keep them from doing so, how are you?" Grooms shrugged and gave her a quick rundown of his engineering experience. As little as it was, Saith realized he would be better at it than she, so they switched positions, Saith now guarding the entrance. She wondered if she dared contact K'Temoc, but decided against it.

As the Steadfast grew closer Lee let loose with a full power phaser shot slamming into the Starlighter's shields. Lee gritted his teeth and let loose with two more full power phaser shots at the Starlighter.

“Damnit!” Westmoreland said aloud as his vessel took several phaser hits from the Steadfast. He tried to maneuver his vessel closer to the Hawk. His shields were down to twenty percent. He decided the Hawk wasn’t the thing to hide behind. He eased the ship closer to the Hawk’s bow for a clear shot at the Steadfast, then fired two photon torpedoes at the Starfleet ship.

He knew the photons wouldn’t do much to the Steadfast, but they would provide a good distraction. As the Steadfast took evasive action, the Starlighter jumped to full impulse and made a run for one of the Klingon ships. Smaller than a Bird of Prey, the Starlighter tucked itself in close to the Klingon’s underside. From here, he knew the Steadfast wouldn’t fire on him, and one of the Klingon ships couldn’t target its own belly.

“Westmoreland to Clark, I almost have transporters back online, stand by.” Jon closed the comm as he jumped from his seat. He ran to the rear section of the small ship and pulled out the transporter’s power control unit. He looked at the damaged piece of hardware, then tossed it to the side. He grabbed a spare power inverter, ripped the panel off, and tapped in a few commands. He then pulled some spare opti-cable from a hatch and hotwired the inverter into the transport. After a moment, the transporter came to life and Westmoreland smiled.

As he jumped back into the pilot’s seat, he targeted the Hawk class raider and fired a phaser blast at the Pirate ship. “Okay Starfleet, your move.” He said to himself.

Saith felt the deck shiver beneath her feet as the rumble of phaser blasts hit the ship. Wondering who was firing on them, she glanced at Grooms who was trying hard to do something to help; anything. He was grimaced as the deck shuddered but kept his concentration on what he was doing. Saith noticed Wells starting to stir and knew that meant their prisoners would be as well.

Lee turned and looked at Alex:"Captain the Starlighter is firing at the Hawk class raider."

"That son of a..." Although the Starlighter pilot was pissing her off, Alex couldn't help but be impressed. "He's using our..." Her comment was cut short.

“K’Temoc to Steadfast, who’s firing on us?”

"Harrison here. It's the Starlighter!" Alex knew the Hawk class ship was in trouble.

“What the hell is he doing?! This ship can’t take many more hits..beam the Away Team back, now.” K’Temoc ordered.

Alex gave the order to beam them back even before K'Temoc finished his sentence.

Within moments, K’Temoc was aboard the Steadfast. Maal was with him, as was Baratan and her team. A Medic came up to treat Maal and Wells. Two Marines were also present and they escorted the Pirates Baratan’s team had captured away to the Brig.

Saith felt the tingle of a transporter and had a momentary flash of panic. ‘Who is beaming us off?’ she wondered. As she rematerialized it took her a moment to realize where they were. She relaxed a bit as the medic attended to the big Klingon Sergeant and Wells. She watched the Marines take away the prisoners and looked at K‘Temoc.

K’Temoc looked at Saith, “Let’s get to the Bridge.”


She nodded and fell into step beside him, Grooms following. As they moved down the corridor she reported, “we never saw Clark. There are other people on board that ship, however, we saw a couple headed into a room on the port side, outer section, level 2. We did not change our mission though, so I don’t know what the room was or who was in there. It is important enough to man in a fight though.”

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Alex was livid but relieved that the security team made it back safely onto the Steadfast. She watched the Starlighter remain where she was. She addressed Captain Pike, "The Starlighter hasn't beamed anyone aboard yet. Clark has got to still be on that pirate ship. Scan the Hawk class for any life signs."

As they entered the Bridge, K’Temoc saw the Hawk class they had just been aboard in flames again.

Alex turned around to see who entered the bridge, "The Starlighter is holding position."

K’Temoc sat at Tactical Two, “Starlighter has it’s transporters back online and is beaming someone off the Hawk…re-raising its shields now, but they are very weak. He’s trying to make a run for it.”

Saith glanced at the forward screen then moved to the station that had been running her cryptogram program. It was working quite quickly now and nearly a quarter of the message had been put into place. She knew it was too late for this particular mission, but it would help out with the next. Saith knew that as long as the pirates did not know this encryption was compromised they would continue to use it. Even if they did, it was hard to come up with new codes. They were almost always built on older ones.

Lee growled low:"He's not going to get that far away." Lee's hands flew over the controls sending another phaser shot at the Starlighter.

K’Temoc smirked, “Keep on those shields. The moment they drop, we’ll transport.”

Saith took up position with her phaser in her hand; waiting. That familiar tingle of anticipation crawled up her spine.



“Starlighter is powering up its warp engines…transport in progress!” K’Temoc said. A moment later the Steadfast blasted off into warp and cloaked. “I’ve lost contact with the Starlighter…and I was only able to lock onto one person before she went to warp. I’ve disabled their weapon, I’m going to re-materialize here.”

K’Temoc tapped the command into his console, then stood and drew his phaser. Out the corners of his eyes, he saw Pike, Harrison, and Baratan do the same. A moment later, a man shimmered into existence before them at the front of the Steadfast’s Bridge.

“Mister Clark, welcome aboard the Federation Starship Steadfast…you’re under arrest.” K’Temoc said with a smirk.

Lee pointed his phaser directly at Clark:" jIH SoH Daq chenmoH wa' vIH 'ej jIH SoH."
(I dare you to make one wrong move Clark and I promise I'll stun you silly.)

Even though they got the one person they really wanted, the other one got away. Alex was not happy, not one bit. She moved a little closer to Clark and gave him a dirty look. She really wanted to punch Clark in the mouth. Instead, she looked at K'Temoc and Pike, "Get this jerk off...my...bridge!"

“Gladly.” K’Temoc said with a smile as he holstered his weapon. He grabbed Clark’s upper arm, “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way…your choice.”

He started to walk toward the turbolift, and Clark willingly walked along. Pike right behind him with his phaser still aimed.

“Good choice.” K’Temoc replied as he tapped the panel for the turbolift.

Clark didn’t have much to say as the trio entered into the turbolift. K’Temoc stood on his right, Pike on his left. Finally, the prisoner spoke.

Saith slid through the turbolift door before it closed. She stood facing Clark with her phaser still in her hand. She was between him and the door, but she was relatively sure he wouldn’t get out of K’Temoc’s hands.

“You’ve done well kid, you finally got me…but you know I won’t stay behind a force field long.” Clark finally said, smugly.

K’Temoc smirked, then reached behind his back and drew his mek’leth. Pike’s eyes widened for a moment, and Clark seemed to freeze. “Maybe now, but now,” He grabbed Clark’s left wrist and turned his hand over. He then took the blade and sliced into Clark’s hand, drawing blood. He released Clark’s hand and pulled out his tricorder, and scanned the blood, “we have your DNA. No more hiding, we will finally find out exactly who you are.”

Saith managed not to laugh out loud but did smile. K’Temoc was good, she had to hand him that. He had gotten Clark’s DNA quickly, smoothly, and all before Clark could react.

Clark’s face was red with anger. He’d been captured only once, and during that time had managed to keep his real identity secret. Now, Starfleet had his blood, his DNA, it was only a matter of time before they discovered who he really was…and hopefully, who was providing him help within Starfleet.

A few moments later, Clark walked into a security cell in the Brig. The forcefield came online and two Marine guards flanked each side of cell. A Security Officer was also on duty, sitting at the Security Station in the Brig. Two more Marines were outside the door standing guard in the corridor. As K’Temoc and Pike left the Brig, forcefields came online in the corridor, locking the Brig down from the rest of the ship.

Saith headed for the main Security room and found a terminal to work from. She pulled her cryptogram program to the console so she could work from there. Guiltily she looked at the console she had smashed earlier. She wondered briefly how much trouble she was in this time. Her personnel file was only a little less thick than her psych file, but for reasons unbeknownst to her she was still in Starfleet, still in officer track. She had to admit she was not sure how the meeting with the Admiral was going to go down. Despite her current feelings towards Clark, she was still having difficulties with what Starfleet brass had done, and she found she sort of understood Clark and the pirates. A little bit anyway, and she briefly wondered, when did a little bit become too much?


“Let’s get back to the Station.” K’Temoc said with a smile to Pike.

Lee nodded to K'Temoc as the two headed back to the bridge.

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