The "Milli-Cochrane Caper" 3.6

Posted on Tue 1st Nov, 2022 @ 6:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Andrew Eberstark & Lieutenant Commander Alora Baro

1,004 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Hunted
Location: Brown Sector
Timeline: MD 4, 2015

As the briefing ended, Andrew gave a nod to Baro and started to head in the direction where the criminal Theo had indicated was the nearest location of the multiple pulse grenades stashed in and around Brown Sector. It was up to the assembled Starfleet personnel, with whatever help the citizens of Brown Sector could provide, to locate and disarm all of them before detonation. Theo gave up the general locations of where the grenades were placed but due to their cloaking devices, finding them quickly would prove difficult. It was up to Commander Baro and himself to identify the first grenade and somehow reverse engineer its cloak to allow the rest to be picked up by normal scans.

The group dispersed with each team of two heading in their designation directions and Andrew looked again at Baro who moved as quickly as he did, both with tricorders at the ready. Making sure they were out of earshot of the other groups, Andrew asked, "How confident are you in reverse engineering this thing once we find it?"

"Honestly, good odds. If he's been tweaking Federation tech that's a much more solid option than a purely unknown type. There would be underlying foundations I can work from. Will take time though." Alora replied after a few moments of thought. Glancing over with a small shrug.

Andrew respected her confidence and gave a wry smile at the response, "I hope you're right. No pressure but even with the civilian help I don't think we would be able to locate and disarm the devices in time if we don't break the cloak."

Continuing their brisk pace through Brown Sector, Andrew glanced down at his tricorder, "Looks like we go left up ahead and it should be fairly close after that. Well the general area at least," adding, "You have your spider friends to help us cover as much of the area as quickly as possible right?"

Alora grinned and patted the case she wore, "I do." The grinned faded, "I do wish I had more time to test them though. These are still prototypes, if it were less of an emergency I would not have put them out into the field. I mean I feel pretty good about them obviously but..." She shrugged looking vaguely worried.

Andrew kept the same demeanor as they neared the intersection where they needed to turn left, "Pretty good is good enough for me considering the circumstances. The more help, the better no matter where it comes from."

As they turned the corner, the corridor opened up to a larger common area with various vendors and gathering areas. Both stopped in their tracks as they assessed the area. Looking down at his tricorder again, Andrew verified the location, "Well the good news is it's somewhere nearby. The bad news is it could be hidden in any number of spots. I'll go left and you go right and work our way to the center?"

Alora paused, "We will cover more ground but we shouldn't go far from each other, there's a wisdom to teams. How about a piggy back instead? You left, I go ahead of you and still left? Bit nearer if something happens?"

Andrew nodded in agreement and motioned with his hand, "Sounds good to me. Let's get to work. After you."

Alora nodded taking point with her tricorder, to be honest it had been a friend in security who told her about the term leap frog idea, only they used it to clear dangerous areas. Her parents used it too when they were younger during the First Occupation of Bajor only they didn't call it that. She paused, carefully moving the tricorder around, the signal seemed to be coming from two opposite directions. To determine which one was the 'Ghost Signal' aka the one that was just an echo of the real, which could happen sometimes, she brought the tricorder close to her body. The energy signals in a living body were enough to disrupt such signals enough to make it more obvious which one was the real. "More this way.." She gestured then continued on after being lost in her own devices for a moment.

Seeing her adjust her tricorder, Andrew did the same and kept following her lead, "Do you want to try to adjust the tricorders to focus on tighter EM frequencies? See if that helps narrow down what we are searching for?"

She shook her head, "In just a minute, if it gets between 345 and 563 then we tighten." She showed him the cone she was looking at on her tricorder, "As we get closer we can narrow it until it's within 10 ft."

Nodding in understanding, Andrew glanced at his tricorder as they moved within the area, continuing the search. They came near a support column of the common area and Andrew noticed his tricorder readings narrowing to Baro's parameters. Speaking quickly, "I think we have something here. Let's focus the search near this column."

Alora nodded, "Confirmed" She switched to manual and slowly adjusted the signal strength and frequency as she moved around the pillar. "I think you found something...."

Andrew followed her lead, moving around the column but their pace was slow, "The pulse grenades can't be too large so the sensor shield can't be too big either. Do you think the spiders can help us cover more area of the column?"

A tingling sense tickled the ears of Baro and Eberstark. Then a sense of words tickled their brains. ~~We can help ... we know where weapons are ... six of them.~~

Once the spiders began to show them where the grenades were secreted, it didn't take long to get them defused and transported to where others waited to destroy them.

Baro and Eberstark were exhausted, but they were also tired. Maybe they could grab a meal together?

~~Go. Eat. Rest.~~ the two felt in their minds. ~~The danger here is gone.~~ Suddenly, their sense of the spiders was gone, and tension seeped out of them.

 

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