A Plan (by Pher, Joe, Shane, Sal, & Ethan)

[Ethan Neufeld 0]

Troy and Ethan had joined Pher and Sal as they stood in the passageway, though Ethan remained just inside mess hall and aside from the doorway. The Orion turned to face them. "I'm seeing this as a double mutiny. Neither Chief Engineer is following orders, and both will shut down comm if they aren't getting orders they like. Neither will stand down before the other. Both are using the ship's equipment against any who oppose them. From where I'm coming from, if either of them won't stand down they have to be taken down, but I'd like to try to talk first. Neither chief engineer thinks the other will act rationally. As far as I can tell, they might both be right. It takes two to tango, and neither one wants to stop the dance."

 

"Chris? Captain Taj? I'm seeing this as a double mutiny. Neither Chief Engineer is following orders, and both will shut down comm if they aren't getting orders they like. Neither will stand down before the other. Both are using the ship's equipment against any who oppose them. From where I'm coming from, if either of them won't stand down they have to be taken down, but I'd like to try to talk first. Neither chief engineer thinks the other will act rationally. As far as I can tell, they might both be right. It takes two to tango, and neither one wants to stop the dance.

 

Tomar Raj and Shane joined the group just in time to hear Pher's last comments. Pher looked at Tomar and Troy as she continued, "We've also got an AT boarding party from the Vestibule, that's apparently tangling with Ford's people. They too aren't responding to comm. While they aren't under either of your chains of command, so I can't use the word 'mutiny,' I'd like to talk to them and work with them rather than against them. If we can't get the chief engineers to stand down, I'd like as many people acting together as possible in the chief engineer hunt. I'd really like to see one individual in command. I known. New. Experimental. Radical. Never work. I'd like to try, though."

 

After William and Ethan had finished mechanically jamming the door open, not wanting to be caught in the open, they’d gathered back inside the mess. William had also fused the Main Circuit to discourage eavesdropping. The atmosphere was getting light, but not quickly enough to convince them that they needed to rush. Ethan stood a few inches from the open doorway next to the bulkhead, and briefly glanced at Shane who was favoring a disruptor wound to the shoulder and was apparently on edge.

 

"Troy," he intentionally addressed the man Joe had placed in charge. "I'm not a part of your crew, but I'm with Pher on this; I'd like to see this end without further violence. I know the Verbistul's Security Chief and she believes she holds the moral high ground here. You're not gonna talk her out of doing what she intends to do by appealing to her better judgment. Or with threats." He glanced pointedly at Pher.

 

"But you might be able to redirect her. Given circumstances," he said, glancing at Tomar and then the room in general; "I think it's likely we’ll find Ford in Main Engineering. If not there, then Auxiliary Control or the Bridge -- depending on how trustworthy you think the men you left there are, Captain.”

 

The Bajoran exhaled an exasperated sigh, overwhelmed by the weight of a command newly thrust on him just hours ago. "We were effectively blind on the Bridge," he told Ethan. "Ford managed to cut our access to internal sensors, along with a great number of other systems. I have also hit one wall after another when attempting to contact the people under Ford's authority. These men with me here I trust. I can not vouch for the men I left on the Bridge any more than I could vouch for Ford, though odds are at least one will contact me if something goes awry. Assuming you locate Ford, there is still the question of removing his control."

 

Ethan nodded, splitting his attention between Tomar and Troy. "I'm sure we can pin-point his exact location with ODRIs easy enough. I propose a two-pronged application: a team to negotiate directly with Ford and a secondary team. The negotiating team would attempt to open a dialogue with Ford and negotiate,” he said, turning toward Shane; “control of the ship. Shane would go with them -- in cuffs, if he's willing -- to demonstrate that he's no longer a threat to Ford or the Capricorn. The secondary team would secure the deck against possible retaliation from Ford's associates. That team should be prepared to move in toward Ford's location via maintenance access and temporarily sever the hard connections into that location if negotiating fails. Or, if we can gain control of the transporters, transport Ford to another location that we've secured for him.

 

"We'd redirect the Verbistul's Security Chief and her people into serving on the secondary team; as an engineer, William should also accompany them. And, if it's not asking too much, I'd like to take point on the negotiating team.

 

"That is if you agree with the plan."

 

"I ain't goin' nowhere in cuffs," snapped Shane as he slung one of his captured disruptor rifles round his good shoulder, "especially to that low-life, jykin' peTaq Ford. And don't start gettin' ideas about cuttin' hard lines from MENG, thats a good way of killin' everyone else aboard the Capricorn. Besides, both Will and I have our ODRIs linked to the main computer; that allows us access to anything once we break Ford' encryptions."

 

Ethan stared at Shane, having anticipated the other man’s resistance. “Not gonna argue with you, Shane; the decision is Parsons’s. But I’m trying to help make you less a part of the problem and more a part of the solution right now.”

 

The wrinkles of Tomar's face creased further as he shot a frown at Shane. "If I am not mistaken, this 'link' you are maintaining is precisely the reason that we are in this mess. I am taking your crewmates at their word that Ford is mistaken about your involvement in the cargo bay attack. Showing more cooperation would go a long way toward proving them right."

 

He looked away from Shane to readdress the rest of the team. "It is very possible that knowledgeable people positioned in the right places could disable key hard lines for a short time. As this would be a last ditch effort, I'm trusting that it would not be long before we retake engineering and it becomes safe to re-engage the connections. You could manage to pull it off such that only a few systems are impacted and only for a short time.

 

"My men and I are at your disposal, whatever you decide. I cannot imagine that my command authority is going to count for much with Ford's people, but," he moved around the team to the two rifles he'd offered. Showing no signs of the long, hard years in his bones, he bent over to pick one up. "I -was- once a resistance fighter ... many years ago. And sabotage happened to be one of my areas of expertise."

 

With the hissing and whiring of machinery, the cyborg stood up to his full height and unstrapped his rifle. It was his regular horrible luck that by following Parson's orders, he was being blamed for this whole mess. And people wonder why he had problems with authority. But from the looks of things, both Raj and Pher were about ready to toss him out the airlock. The greenskin would never trust him, but Raj had a good point as far as the other crew was concerned. Joe was likely to kick him off at the next planet if his fellow crew weren't willing to work with him. Not a great way to get paid.

 

Somewhat subdued from his anger, Shane spoke again. "As if my opinion matters to any of you at this point, but negotiatin' with Ford ain't goin' to get us back the control of the Capricorn. Aside from the fact that his men shot me and he's tryin' to kill everything on this deck, a guy this desperate ain't going to give back the ship easily. But if it'll keep him from tryin' to suffocate us for a bit, I'll humor you. Ford doesn't know that Will's ODRI has the same link as mine. That'd be some proof of my 'willingness'." Shane tossed his rifle to Byblos and took the ODRI from his bionic to hand it over to Troy. He then turned to glare at Ethan and indicated the huge bionic, "Good luck gettin' cuffs on this. Hold me a gunpoint if you have to, but if I get shot again I'll stuff your fake ears down your throat."

 

Not the least bit daunted, Ethan patently ignored Shane’s threat; he wore a dismissive expression as if to say, should Shane be shot again, Ethan’s fake ears would be the least of their problems. “You just have to make it look convincing,” he said, indicating Shane’s bionic. Ethan never intended to fully bind Shane; they'd need him if negotiations went south. "You'd wait in the passageway with an escort a few meters outside his location; Ford only needs to see you on internal sensors."

 

Ethan then addressed Troy again: “I think we should keep Will’s link to the core inactive until absolutely necessary. It’s existence could escalate Ford if he finds it. But we’ll also want to keep an eye on Ford’s access to the core during negotiations.”

 

Sal stood next to Pher attempting not to attract any unwanted attention. He looked at Ethan as he negotiated and watched the reactions of his fellow crewmates. Sal wasn't about to side with hostility and he favored Pher's current stand down. What he wanted most of all was to know just what the heck was going on. Since their return to orbit things had been extremely confusing. He had missed to many morning briefings and no one was volunteering to bring him up to date either. Sal looked at Troy, who Joe had placed in command, and wondered what the wild scientist was scheming. He still hadn't established a good repore with his immediate senior and didn't really know whether he could trust Troy's instincts as yet. Sal did, however, trust that Joe, who had the most at stake, was on top of things.

Edited September 24, 2011 by Ethan Neufeld

[Crash Calestorm 0]

Just had to pop in and say that y'all just gave me my non-Starfleeter/Independent crew fix. Cool jointer Qob log!