Strip-Down of the Zeus
Posted on Sun Nov 20, 2016 @ 9:13pm by Lieutenant Martha Cusack & Lieutenant Commander Arrda
Mission:
An Orion to Die For
Location: Docking Bay
Timeline: MD 2 || 1400 Hours
Having received the report from his teams regarding the small ship they had taken aboard, Douglas took the PADD that contained said report and went to speak to Martha, as his counterpart in Tactical, about next steps. Personally, he wanted to take no chances, and he suspected she would feel the same, but it was always best to coordinate and avoid inter-departmental conflict. Tapping the chime to her office, he waited to be admitted.
Martha looked up and called her visitor in. She was working on next week's duty roster when the chime echoed around her office. Despite not expecting a guest she was now interested to see what whoever was on the other side of the door wanted.
"Enter" Martha called.
Douglas keyed the doors and entered, taking in the room and the woman in a glance as he did. It was not that he had not seen her before -- he had when they had met in his office -- it was just his way; assess any new place or situation and the people involved before proceeding.
The doors closed behind him, and he stopped before her desk. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything important?" he offered before launching into why he had come.
Martha turned her console off and turned it away so her focus was away from the console and on Douglas. The duty rosters were about half done but she knew she could finish them off later if it was necessary to delay their completion.
"Not as such. What can I do for you Lieutenant?" Martha replied.
Douglas nodded, more to himself than to her, as he advanced further into the room and took one of the chairs on his side of her desk. "I was thinking about that ship that we just brought on board." he began. "This whole thing just feels... wrong." That was not the most accurate description, but it was the best word in this language. Sadly, Federation Standard was not entirely as conceptual as Marai was. "I think it might be prudent to strip it down, make sure there aren't any hidden tracking devices or spying devices of any kind anywhere in it. We can then use the spare parts and materials for our own ship's needs. What do you think?"
Martha listened and it sounded like a reasonable plan from a tactical and security viewpoint. She wasn't doing very much so she thought perhaps helping strip the craft down would be an interesting project - after all the two of them would take a bit longer than a few hours to strip it down to its bare shell. Martha hadn't taken a craft apart for tactical analysis for a while but when she did she always enjoyed it.
"I think that sounds like a good idea Lieutenant - could prove to be quite a fruitful project. Let's go" Martha said.
Martha locked the console before standing up and heading towards the door.
Douglas smiled at her and followed her out. He had intended to have one of their teams take it apart, but it appeared that she was one of those who wanted to do it herself. Who was he to argue. It would take a little longer, yes, but they could see first-hand what was in the ship. He did call one of his teams down to help them, however. No sense in wasting more time than was necessary.
"Tell you what," he said as they walked, "I'll take out the computer core and go over it while you and my team take the ship apart and recycle what we can into replicator stock. Once we have what we can use from it, and we're sure there were no bugs, we can incinerate the remains of it. Sound like a plan?" Of course, if his analysis was finished before the team and she were, he would return and help them take the ship apart. As for his term 'incinerate', what he really meant was push it out of the bay and blow it up; leave nothing usable behind.
Martha walked along and listened to Douglas as he suggested a plan of action to strip down the Zeus. She loved taking things apart and blowing things up so this was an opportunity to do something she enjoyed that Martha was very eager to get started on.
"Yeah I think that'll work. I'd like to carry out a tactical analysis before we strip it down though - you can never know too much about alien technology. I don't think I'll take too long - maybe half an hour? Once I've done the analysis then we'll take it apart as quickly as we can." Martha replied.
Douglas nodded, finding that the longer he worked with her the more he liked her. She was personable but efficient, a rare combination. He nodded. "Agreed. Do you need any help with that?" he asked. "Or would you prefer to do that alone?" The idea there was that the fewer people who were involved in a project, the lower the possibility of error.
"I'll see what I'm working with first. If it's going to take too long then I'll need your help - if I can do it within half an hour then feel free to get on with what you need to. I presume the team we're working with is already there waiting for us?" Martha replied.
Douglas nodded. "Sounds good to me. And yes, they were instructed to meet us there."
"Excellent. Let's get to it." Martha replied.
Entering the bay where the craft was being stored Martha saw that the Zeus was sat there ready to be dismantled. Before they started however Martha told them that she would be doing an analysis first and they weren't to remove any of the tactical systems until she had finished.
"Alright. Just to let you know I've decided to perform a tactical analysis of this craft so we can study its weaponry - so no tactical systems are to be removed until I've finished. Before anything gets recycled from the tactical systems I'd like to have a look through it to see if there's anything I want a more detailed study of - anything that's damaged is to go into a different pile. Are we ready?" Martha said.
One man cleared his throat. "So... do you want us to wait to do anything until you've finished with the ship then, ma'am?" he asked, a bit uncertainly.
"Ideally I'd like that because if anything gets removed it could throw the whole thing off. Ensign Alexander - you're with me - if you can download the database I'll start studying the tactical systems. That way we can cut it down to 20 minutes" Martha said.
Elizabeth nodded and she joined Martha in the craft and they immediately got to work - not wanting to hold up the dismantling of the craft for too long.
Twenty or so minutes later the two tactical officers emerged from the craft and they rejoined the group who were waiting to get started with their task. Now the fun was about to start as Martha reached down and picked up a toolbox containing the tools they would be using to strip the craft of its usable parts.
"Alright that's us done. Let's get to it...hopefully if there's anything left I might get to blow it up for target practice." Martha said.
Douglas chuckled. She was far too eager to blow things up, but she was young. Well, compared to his age, she was anyway. "Very well. Let's get to it then." he clapped his hands together as he headed for the craft. Entering, he sat before the security console and set about downloading the contents of the small ship's computer core. This was to create a record of its contents prior to his removing the core in case anything unforeseen happened. That process was the easier part of his work as it only took minutes.
Taking the secure data storage device he had brought with him from the Zeus's console, he moved to the section of the ship where the computer core was actually stored. Very carefully removing it, he then exited the craft and nodded to Martha and his team. "She's all yours now, ladies and gentlemen. Turn what you can into replicator stock, and then we'll incinerate the rest. If I finish my analysis before you finish breaking the ship down, I'll come back and help. Otherwise, just let me know when you're ready to destroy the remains." He gave one more nod to Martha and then went to his office to study the information from the Zeus.
Martha nodded and continued with disassembling the craft. At the moment they were working on removing the engines - a difficult and delicate task - but one that was progressing steadily enough.
"Alright Lieutenant. See you shortly" Martha replied.
An hour later, and he had very little. The only thing of use in the core data from the small ship was its course, and that made him frown. Not that it was the only usable data, but that it existed. It was a programmed course, not a manually-entered one. That implied plan. That told him that they had intended to be intercepted. The Captain and Executive Officer needed to know this, though they likely already suspected it given the scuffle in the bay. For the moment, though, he called down to the bay to find out where they were in tearing the ship apart.
=/\= Mallory to Cusack. =/\= he said after tapping his comm. badge.
Martha replied. =/\="Cusack here"=/\=
=/\= How is the dismantling coming? =/\= he asked as he finished storing the information he planned to show the command team on a PADD.
=/\="Not too bad. We're doing the engines at the moment than that's all of the major components stripped ready for recycling. I think we'll be done in about a couple of hours - three at the most"=/\= Martha replied.
He was pleased; it sounded like they were moving along nicely. =/\= Good. Do you need my help? =/\=
=/\="It would go faster if you came down here - if you've got the spare time feel free to come and join us"=/\= Martha said.
=/\= I'll be right there. Mallory out. =/\= He put the PADD in his desk drawer and returned to the bay to help the team finish tearing apart the small ship.
Back in the bay, Douglas took off his uniform jacket and rolled up his sleeves, diving right in with the rest of the team and the Tactical Chief. Maybe it was old-school, but he was the 'lead from within' sort, not the 'lead from behind' sort. While they worked, he asked, "Did you find anything untoward in your Tactical Analysis?" He suspected not given that she had not shown any reaction to her findings, but he never assumed anything, especially where the security of his Mission -- ship and crew he corrected himself mentally -- was concerned.
"I've not had a proper look at it yet, Lieutenant. I've also kept one of the energy weapons to one side for a more detailed analysis tomorrow morning. For now however if you can help us out here we're just about to take the impulse engines out." Martha replied.
Martha was thoroughly enjoying taking the Zeus apart. She'd gotten to know some new people and put some more faces to names and vice versa. With Douglas now back in the docking bay to assist with the dismantling of the craft the team got on with the task at hand.
"Not a problem." he answered, diving right in.
It didn't take them too long, only a couple of hours with a whole team working on it, to have the ship dismantled for what they could use of it. After that, they left the bay, retreating to the bay control room. Douglas called the bridge Security station and told the officer currently manning the station to give him weapons control at the docking bay control room.
The man acknowledged, and he saw a light come to life on the panel. He then used the bay's tractor beams, which were typically used to help land a vessel if it was necessary, to push the remains of the Zeus out of and away from the Triumphant. When it had reached a safe distance, he glanced to Martha. "Would you like to do the honors?" he offered with a smile, having noted her expression in his office when he'd mentioned stripping and blowing up the ship.
"Absolutely" Martha replied.
