ST: Battlefront "Hackers (Pt 2)"

((AND IT'S BACK! After painful talks with the station execs, contract disputes, and a number of other whimsical excuses that delay and cancel television shows, Battlefront has returned with an all new season premiere. A segment will be posted each day until complete. Enjoy!))

[[Episode 2.1]

Deep inside the corridors of the Daystrom Institute, Annika Hansen continued to lead a small team of security officers in guerrilla warfare against Orion invaders. Without communications, she had no way of knowing how many or where the Orions were in the base. It was during one firefight the first words of communication broke through.

Annika, please respond!

Identify yourself.

Director Hansen! This is Ensign Frost onboard the Exobyte.
Standard communications are being jammed, so I attempted alternative means I’ve been trying different modulations for a few hours now.

Interesting work Ensign. Do you have sensors? Annika inquired.

Our external sensors are still offline, however almost everything else has recovered. Do you know the status of the senior staff? Ms. Frost relayed.

I do not.

It may be possible to time an accidental jettison of a class II probe to give you some detail on the outside environment. I advise also jettisoning a few cases and scrap debris to mask it from any enemy scans.

Understood. I’ll contact you on this frequency when I have telemetry from the probe giving us a broader picture. Jacqueline Frost finished, leaving the cortical node active but silent.

——

Turek stood as near his fellow senior staff as possible, trying to subtly slip a stimulant to Solek or Desmond. A group of Orion guards milled about looking for something to pass the time. They found it in the shape of the young Cardassian medic.

“So how did the Cardie get lost going home?” One Orion asked, setting up for a joke. After a pause, “Because he didn’t follow the true way!”
There was a haughty fake laughter at the joke, not as much to the bad pun as the jab at Turek.

“What’s wrong, spoon-head? Run away from home?”

Turek tried not to flinch or react.

“Do you miss your mother’s milk, Cardie?”

“I bet she’s fine breeding stock. Lays plenty of eggs.” Another Orion commented.

Ensign Guyton couldn’t tolerate to hear more of it. She admitted in her logs her resistance to Turek’s position on the ship, but this was cruel. Faking a stir, she let out a soft moan to grab their attention.

This was the moment Turek needed. The hypo angled properly and Turek quickly jabbed the device into Ensign Troi’s arm. While the Orions still focused on Guyton, he switched hands and jabbed the hypo into Solek.

Desmond Troi was the first to start waking up, but realized quickly to lie still with Turek’s hand on his shoulder. Solek complied equally, understanding enough to stay calm and gather his thoughts.

The Orions had become completely engrossed with the stirring female. They didn’t notice that Turek had stepped away from the two medical beds, or that Ensigns Solek and Troi were now stepping off to encircle them. The last vocal sentence made was an Orion asking, “I wonder how supple the rest of her is, if her legs feel like this.”

There was a loud scream accompanied by the first Orion tumbling backwards, nose bloodied and not moving. The other two attempted to grab Ensign Guyton but instead the ensign kicked her feet above them to perform a hand stand. As her feet fell from their perch, she executed a perfect split, connecting her heels with the remaining two Orions’ face. Her torso spun, and she bounced a bit, and finally looked up to see the three ensigns gawking at her; Desmond agape with eyes glazed.

“You can stop drooling now, Des.” Summer commented, swinging her legs together and hopping down from the bed.

“I- d- bu- uh-” Des sputtered.

“Ensign, it’s advisable you stop trying to speak until you can find words.” Solek commented, brushing off the acrobatics and moving to the medical office.
“Summer, how exactly…”

“Martial arts combat training. Top of my class.”

Des mumbled something incoherently. Turek moved in a flurry and jabbed Desmond’s neck with a hypo. Within moments the effects took hold. “Ow, Turek what the hell was that for?”

“...You’re oggling, and we’re still in a crisis. Seriously kid haven’t you seen a woman hold her own before?”

Desmond was too embarrassed in present company to disclose his adrenaline addiction. His face turned a deeper red than his tunic, but not before feeling he had grossly fouled up and properly checked.

“Ensigns, come here.” Solek called. The three gathered behind Solek at the console. “Looks like power is out across the station, fortunately medical is kept on a separate generator for treatment reasons…It’s possible I can reroute communications through here and contact Starfleet or the Exobyte.”

“Sir, any word on where Lt. Calvin is located?” Summer inquired.

“I assume he’s still in the holomatrix laboartory.” Turek explained.

“Internal sensors are down however, so our logical step would be to get a map of the station before any rescue attempt is made. Turek, how many of those crewmen are simply unconscious?”

“Less than you’d hope. There may be one or two but most have injuries.”

——

Reginald Barclay stood back at the control console in the holomatrix lab, trying to uncover what Lt. Calvin had done. He had to admit, there was a level of sophistication and almost an art to how the subroutines were encrypted and referenced. So far, Reg had identified twenty-three different unrelated subroutines, both from the original EMH program to the Doctor’s extended interfacing, that held dependencies and references to the ECH program. In a few places, Reg found where the ECH held dependencies and references to a few of those twenty-three subroutines, but more amazingly, there were whole subroutines that held circular dependencies at their simplest with other subroutines.

“What’s taking so long?” The Orion demanded.

“It appears the lieutenant was making a lot of progress in obfuscating the subroutines. I’ve identified them, but without the main computer I don’t have a baseline comparison to know what he changed. It’s possible there are entire sections missing or relocated.” Reg explained.

The Orion picked up a small communicator and pressed it. “Mistress, the Starfleet goons are unable to extract the command subroutines, their motivation in this matter is questionable. I’ve already killed the one that attempted to thwart us. We’ve reached the exit window. Any longer and we risk capture. What are your orders? Mistress?”

“No, Sir, I’ve been unsuccessful in communicating with the station.” Crewman Frost relayed to Admiral Quinn.

“Calvin sure does have a knack for finding himself neck deep and in the middle of every bad situation that seems to come across my desk. There’s a ship a few hours away, I’ll redirect it to you for support.”

“Thank you, Sir. We will continue to press forward on repairs and communicate with the station.”

“Ms. Frost, before you go, how are you feeling?”

“I am well, sir. There are a few minor irritations, but working on a ship feels comforting and the right place for me right now.” She replied. “I am well aware I would still be in Starfleet Medical had my father not been who he is.”

“Admittedly, that was a major factor in allowing you this post. As long as you’re recovering properly, and Calvin and the new captain have no issue with your conduct, I see no reason to revoke the privilege. Quinn out.”

Ms. Frost nodded and deactivated the console, and began activating another. This time, the cortical relay was reactivated attempting to connect to Annika Hansen, the former Borg drone Seven of Nine.

Annika Hansen, this is Jacqueline Frost. Do you read?
I hear you Jacqueline Frost, report.
Admiral Quinn has been alerted to the situation and is sending nearby ships to assist.
Understood. Any update on your senior staff?
None, ma’am.
Report back if you hear something.

——

“You OK?” Turek turned to see the source of the question. It was Ensign Guyton.

“Fine, why do you ask.” He responded while tapping a few keys on the medical tricorder.

“Those things they said. The names they called you.”

“I’m used to it.”

“Are Cardassians really treated this way?”

“Mostly. Sometimes we get dirt in the face.”

Summer let out a breathy gasp at the comment and how casual Turek was being about the incident.

“I honestly don’t get it. I wasn’t even born during the Dominion war. It’s not my fault I was born in a race of xenophobes.”

“You grew up on Bajor?”

“I was orphaned there as an infant.” He explained. A quick hypo to the neck of a young Bolian and Turek moved to the next bed.

“Oh I see.”

“We can discuss this another time if you’d like. I need to get back to my patients.” Turek nodded, smiling through courtesy.


“You two seemed awfully chummy.”

“I just wanted to make sure he was OK.” Summer fielded Desmond.

“That was all? Seemed like a lot more than just checking in.” He toyed.

“Des, it’s really not anything like that.” Summer said, continuing on her path.


In the medical office, Solek sat studying the computer terminal while the recently awakened Ensign Ishii rearranged isolinear chips and hotwired connection pathways on a panel nearby. “How’s that, Sir?”

“Good. I might be able to access the main computer from here now.” Ensign Ishii watched over Solek’s shoulder as a few presses hit the screen of the LCARS display. Success.“Crewmen, with help from Ensign Ishii, we have gained control of the main computer.”

There was a quiet cheering from the medical bay while Summer and Desmond hurried in to see. Solek returned to accessing various systems, starting with internal sensors and communications. “Fascinating.”

“What is?”

“It appears there is a rogue group of security officers waging guerrilla warfare on the Orions.”

“I have an idea, give me a moment.” Ensign Ishii announced diving back into the console of isolinear chips.

“What’s your plan, Ensign?”

“If we can gain access to the forcefield network, we can isolate the Orions and retake the station.”

“Good plan, keep at it.” Solek ordered.

“Can we contact the Exobyte?” Desmond asked.

“I’m trying, it seems internal communications work fine, but externals are damaged.” Solek responded with a grimace. Even with the bit of emotion he let show, Solek fought back fathoms of intensity under the stress. There was a growing concern deep down that Edgar was in danger, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

With help from the Exobyte’s partially repaired external sensors, Annika Hansen found her crew had reached the doors to the primary holomatrix lab. Inside, she assumed she would find a few scientists hiding behind consoles. When the lab doors revealed a lone Orion pointing a disruptor rifle at Reginald Barclay, her first reaction came quickly and put the Orion dead on the floor. “Mr. Baclay are you injured?”

“Seven, no, I’m fine. Please, check Lt. Calvin. He took a few direct hits from the disruptor.” Reg advised, moving to take a seat in a nearby chair.

“Lt. Calvin appears to be barely alive, by Borg standards.”

“Oh that can’t be good.”

“Agreed. Can you walk, Reg?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You two, carry him to medical quickly!” Annika paused before moving on. Annika Hansen to Jacqueline Frost.
I’m here. Do you have an update? Ms. Frost inquired through the cortical node.
Lt. Calvin is in critical condition. No other officers found yet.
Understood, ma’am. Frost out.

The jaunt through the corridors was mostly empty. Reg and the officers carrying Edgar trailed behind the three officers on point. Junction after junction was the same cycle of pause, look, cover, continue. Just before the group reached the medical doors, the interior lights went to full power and the flashing red emergency lights faded off. Annika yelled from her spot in the group, “Don’t stop keep going.”

A voice chimed in overhead. “This is XO Solek of the starship Exobyte to all remaining Orion forces: You are all contained in forcefield blockades, or confined to rooms. You may notice that control is no longer routed through the command center. You will surrender your weapons quietly and without incident. It is only logical.”

“Ma’am, it appears other efforts in retaking the station have been equally met with success.”

“Agreed, Lieutenant. Hansen to Solek, what is the status of Medical?”

“Director Hansen, Medical is secured. Why do you inquire?”

“I have one critically injured male, Vulcan/Human hybrid, numerous disruptor burns to body.”

“Director, get here quickly. A station will be prepped.”

—

“But she said Vulcan/Human hybrid. It’s possible it’s not Lt. Calvin.” Summer denied as Turek and Solek scrambled to prepare a crash bed. “Oh who am I kidding.”

In a flash she had joined efforts in prepping the table for operation, obeying Turek’s directions to replicate materials and prepare medicines in hyposprays.

“Turek what’s wrong with Desmond?” Solek asked as he put the final touches on the crash cart.

“He’s a Betazoid, and you’re not suppressing your emotions. I’d wager he’s getting a hefty dose of panic and fear right now.” The three glanced over at Desmond, curled in a ball wimpering in a corner.

“Are there any chemicals known to dampen a Betazoid’s empathy and telepathy?”

“No, sir, none that I have on-hand.” Turek confessed.

“Oh we don’t have time for this.” Summer scowled as she ran to Desmond. “Des, hon, you’re going to be OK. I promise.”

The assurance was anticipated, but her full-tongue kiss was not. Turek and Solek stared at the two tac officers for a moment in a state of shock. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that work.”

“…Agreed.” Solek commented, looking away. Desmond and Summer rejoined with renewed confidence and started assisting with preparations.

“Sir, if I may say, you need to get your emotions in check, and quickly.” Turek advised, growing concerned for the potential breakdown of command.

“Yes, yes I do.” Solek set the last two items on the tray and sat down in the medical office. Within moments, he began focusing his breathing and meditating the intensity down to subdued levels.


There was a small breath of quiet before Annika Hansen’s security team charged through the medical doors practically throwing Lt. Edgar Calvin onto the crash cart. His body hadn’t even left the officers’ arms before Turek was scanning him with the medical tricorder. “Multiple disruptor burns to his legs and torso, low BP and minimal neural activity, possible broken ribs, definitely cracked — Get me a cortical stimulator.”
As one of the acting nurses applied the cortical stimulant, Turek administered a dose of epinephrine to encourage blood-flow. There was a labored cough, some wheezing, and finally subsiding to shallowed pained breaths. “OK we’re not out of the woods yet, get me access to the burns and his torso and get me the osteo-regenerator.”

Edgar’s tunic and shirt had been cut apart to gain access, and quickly Turek began moving the regenerator across Edgar’s torso. Turek glanced up to see Annika giving orders to her officers, and a few of them exiting Medical. She turned held her hand to her temples. After watching her come back out of the trance Turek returned to the patient and moving across the next pair of cracked ribs. “That should be the last of it.”

Indeed, Edgar’s breathing had softened and sounded much less labored. “Make sure he stays resting.”

“It appears that with some unintentional coordination, I have control over my station again. Good work securing medical and placing the station in lockdown.”

“Ma’am you should be discussing this with Ensign Solek. He’s our commanding officer at the moment.” Turek advised, returning focus to Edgar’s dirsuptor-damaged chest.

Annika Hansen stood in the lobby of the brig locked in a staring contest with the Orion Danar. The two had been like this for the better half of the time she had spent here. Danar, the lead male Orion, had proven so far uncooperative.

“Ms. Hansen? A moment?” One of her security officers interrupted.

“What is it?”

“The Columbine is in orbit requesting a status update from you.”

“Inform them I’m on my way.”

“Yes, mum.” The officer replied, chirping on his comm badge before exiting the brig.

“Well, Danar, it appears you yet again get to escape interrogation.” Annika commented before leaving. The Orion’s response was snide at best, yet incoherent.


Inside the command center, Annika took the primary communication console and activated the channel set to the Columbine. “Greetings, Captain.”

“Director, Thank you for seeing us. Admiral Quinn informed us there had been an incident with some Orions, but I see no Orion ships in orbit. Is everything secure here?”

“It is now, Captain. There are a few remaining Orions in my brig but I have been detained from interrogating them further on numerous incidents.”

“Ma’am if you don’t mind Starfleet will be kind enough to transport them to a more suited starbase for questioning.”

“I look forward to being rid of the vermin. I’ll inform the transporter room to expect your arrival.”

“Thank you, ma’am. Do you need any support repairing the facility?”

“At the moment the Exobyte has provided enough capable engineers to correct the damage the Orions caused.” Annika deflected.

The captain nodded his response. “Then I’ll leave you be to them. A security detail shall be down shortly.”

“Hansen out.” Annika replied before closing the channel. With a sigh, she turned to an operations coordinator, “Make sure that transporters are aware the Columbine will be sending down a security team for the prisoners.”


With a casual stroll, Annika exited the command center and made her way through the corridors to Medical. Inside, she found En. Solek discussing things with a very weary looking Lt. Calvin. Before she could approach on her own, Lt. Calvin limply motioned her to join them. Calvin’s voice was strained, tired and abundantly hoarse. “Ms. Hansen, the Doctor…”

“Lt. Calvin, Mr. Barclay has informed me what exactly happened to the Doctor, however it remains a question of how to reverse it. I have notified Admiral Quinn of your actions, including the circumstances. Now if you—”

Edgar made a sweeping motion with his hand, agreeing and dismissing her statements as trivial items. “Yes, yes, I assumed you would…The Doctor, Ms. Hansen.”

“What about him?”

“Bring up his program in the holomatrix editor and enter code Edgar-seven-two-gamma-phi-three-sigma. It should undo all of the changes I made and load a backup I saved in a garbage file.”

“Then it appears we have been examining the wrong file. I’ll inform Mr. Barclay of the code.” Annika replied before turning to leave.

“Director?”

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

“My sincerest apologies for putting the Doctor at such a risk. I tried to take every precaution possible to keep him safe from their attempts to get the ECH.”

Annika didn’t respond, unsure if she wanted to accept the apology at the time.


The holomatrix lab held an atmosphere of a patient about to die. Annika’s entrance seemed only to heighten that effect. “What’s your status, Mr. Barclay?”

“Sev…Annika, it’s really difficult to say. The matrix has become such a spider’s web it could take days just to find the starting point.”

“Lt. Calvin was kind enough to be conscious when I stopped by and gave me a code to enter. He claims it will reverse all of his changes and restore the Doctor to his state prior to the attack.”

“Let’s hope it works.”

“Computer activate code sequence Edgar-seven-two-gamma-phi-three-sigma.”

“Code sequence activated. Running script.” The visual output of the Doctor seemed to flicker and suffer various white-noise effects distorted the image. The code sequence completed unnervingly quickly and, the Doctor stood on the platform.
After a few automated unit tests to verify the program was stable, the Doctor activated once again, “Please state the nature of the medical emergency. I have really got to change that greeting.”

“Doctor! It’s wonderful to see you working properly again.”

“Reg! Good to see you too, old friend.”

“How do you feel?”

“Hmm, if I had to describe it, I’d equate the feeling of having cobwebs in my ears.” The Doctor replied, still debating the answer.

The Doctor turned to see Annika standing quietly, smirking. “Annika, is everything all right?”

“It is now, Doctor. Are you up to the task of extracting the ECH subroutines?”

“I think I’m as ready as I’m going to be. Reg, fire up that script again. Let’s see if we can finish this project, shall we?”

“Right away Doctor. I just need to recompile the extraction sequence.” Mr. Barclay chirped before activating the sequence, now recompiled and ready to execute.
Ensign Aron-Mu Ishii entered the holomatrix lab during the process, watching silently from behind Annika Hansen. Gradually a new holomatrix formed next to the Doctor’s. It had the same Starfleet uniform, the same height, same face, and—

“Please state the nature of the medical emergency.”

—the same voice and startup sequence.

“Hmm that wasn’t supposed to compile over.”

“Did you remove the emergency response references from the initial startup process?” Aron asked.

“Emergency response references?”

“Yes, it’s something I found while studying the original design matrix. Not yours, of course, Doctor, Dr. Zimmerman's. I would need a year to understand the complexities of a program expanding its own parameters and decoding that language and style.”

Reginald Barclay looked confused as ever. “Please show me where these references are.”

“Yes, Sir. Theres about seven right here, another five one hundred lines down, and one line references scattered through this file that gets called here. Quite easy to spot once I learned Zimmerman’s style.”

“G-good work, Ensign.” After the references removed, Reg recompiled the code. The uniform was finally Red, and there was no request for parameters upon activation. “Well, Doctor, it seems your programming has become its own version now. Would you like to create his appearance and give it a name?”

“Yes Reg, among other things, I would.”

——

Solek stepped into the mess hall to see Lt. Calvin sitting alone among his officers. Aside from a tray of half-eaten food, three PADDs filled the table with Edgar looking intently between them. “Do you mind if I join you, Sir?”

“We’re alone, Sol.”

“Actually, Sir, we are not. You’re sitting in the mess hall with a number of crewmen around you. It is intriguing that you would be sitting alone at this time.” Solek commented.

Solek locked eyes with Edgar when he finally looked up, but his superior sighed and looked away quickly. “You contradicted yourself. Take a seat.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“I’m beginning to think you just like saying that.” Solek barely heard Edgar mumble. “Not like it’ll matter after today.”

“I’m not sure what you mean?” Solek asked, glancing over the last traces of the abuse Edgar had endured.

Again, locked eyes. Solek could see fear and defeat behind them. “Because after Hansen’s report it’s doubtful I’ll see the inside of a starship after I’m taken back to Earth in the brig of the Columbine or the Exobyte. Quinn gave me specific orders not to touch any code and not even out of the first assignment I cocked it up and nearly corrupted a highly valued Starfleet veteran in the process.”

“Will this be the approach every time you face problems while in command?”

“What?”

“This defeatist attitude. You did this same pouting routine on the Pandora. I’m trying to determine if it’s habitual.”

“You’re out of line, Ensign.” Solek expected the resistance, but this implied Edgar had completely cloistered himself.

“As a friend, as a…mate, I’m telling you this, not as your subordinate. Captains and commanders make mistakes. If you want to earn that chair you have to start acting like it.”

“We’re done here.”

“Yes, Sir.” Solek jabbed as he stood and walked out, showing his frustration willfully.

Edgar was furious. He couldn’t believe that his closest and most valued friend would attack him like this. He gathered his PADDs and threw the tray in the replicator. A few meters down the hall, Edgar turned and stopped into an unoccupied room with a console. “Computer activate subspace network connection, authorization Calvin seven-two-Theta-Foxtrot.”

“Command authorization accepted.”

“Contact Admiral Quinn, Earth spacedock.” The computer chirped again a compliance. Within moments, the admiral’s face was on the viewscreen.

“You must be in some pretty deep shit if you’re calling me first.” Quinn’s tone suggested he already read Hansen’s report, and that the conversation had few options to go outside of downhill.

“No, Sir, I simply decided it’d be faster if I just confessed and you threw me in the brig early.”

“I don’t know if it’s a Romulan tradition or some other reason your mother decided to give you a pair of brass ones but that stunt in the holomatrix lab is your official strike two.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“How are you recovering?”

“Ribs are still sore, can’t focus on one object for very long without getting a headache, but Dr. Turek told me I had to rest from treatments before he could continue.”

“I’d wager part of that is his own brand of torture you’ve earned.”

“Yes, sir.” Edgar said, slowly letting the attacks get under his skin.

“How’s the rest of your crew?”

“Reports from the senior officers indicate on a whole they’re fine. We did lose a few that were on the station during the attack, however. Most of them are a bit confused about what exactly happened, but I have a team piecing together the events to get a proper timeline.”

“I expect to see that report in my inbox no later than week’s end.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Edgar, I tell you this from mentor to protege: get your act together. I remember a young cadet full of vigor and ideas and a cool brow under pressure but, all I have seen out of you is a liability. Find out what happened to him and get him back here.”
Quinn disconnected the feed abruptly leaving Edgar in the small room alone. With only his thoughts and comments from both Solek and Quinn, the once irritating testimony of Lt. Matoya now held weight behind the words.

“Computer, compile PADDs two and three into a compression file and encrypt for Starfleet Intelligence, use level seven passkey algorithms.” The classic chirp of compliance barely reverberated in the walls. “Send PADD one to Lieutenant Matoya with the encrypted file attached. Encrypt message: priority one: Eyes Only.”

Edgar took respite in finally being off-duty since Dr. Turek gave him cursory approval to return on an administrative level for the next forty-eight hours. The second round of treatments had gone well, and the Cardassian even encouraged him to get some exercise to work off some of the stress. Edgar had done just that, running along a random trail the computer generated for the running sphere. The floating heads-up-display indicated he had traveled just over eight miles when a few loud clangs forced the sphere to stop and open for the interruption. “Lt. Calvin?”

“Yes, what is it?” Edgar panted, grabbing for the towel that revealed itself behind a branch.

“The Doctor’s second form is about to finish generating its updated final holomatrix. Director Hansen requested your presence.” The crewman informed.

“No time to shower off I assume?”

“No, sir, not to my knowledge.”

“Hope they’re OK with hybrid stink then.” Edgar said, stepping out of the sphere. The replicator sat nearby to produce various gym equipment, but Ed wanted only one thing, “Water, 15 degrees Celsius, squeeze-bottle.”

After taking a long gulp of the water, Edgar realized the crewman was still standing there. “Was there something else?”

“N-no..sorry sir.” Edgar nodded to the crewman before leaving the fitness center. A quick jog down the corridor and soon he reached the holomatrix lab.

“Ah, Lt. Calvin, how nice of you to join us.” Annika commented. Edgar sensed a layer of sarcasm in her voice.

“My apologies for my smell and attire, I was informed I didn’t have time to clean up.” Edgar dismissed, stepping in-line with Ensigns Ishii and Solek. In front of the small group gathered stood a wired frame slowly taking a humanoid shape. The frame started filling in, making colors and textures as they completed. Finally the wave hit the neck and began constructing the face of the new and first holographic captain.

The face was young, yet jovial. There were no striking features, yet they all complimented each other opposed to having an argument as some features do on faces. This was until the eyes constructed. The eyes were normal, yet something in the programming gave them the sense of wisdom and maturity beyond the physical appearance age of the hologram. As the texturing finished a few soft wrinkles coincided along the eyes and muzzle, tempering the age of the eyes to have a face to match. As the last of the particles filtered to the tips of his scalp, it finished in a mess of some really great hair.

“Congratulations, Doctor, it’s a boy.” Edgar said holding a smile on his face.

“Um, yes, thank-you, Lieutenant.” The Doctor replied nervously. “The second Doctor…well, not a doctor, a Captain.”

Edgar chuckled lightly at the musings of the Doctor, clearly enthralled with what he had accomplished. “Shall we activate him?”

Reginald Barclay, surprisingly silent through the process, nodded at the controls and pressed a few buttons. Instantly, the hologram spoke a greeting, “Hello, I’m the Doctor.”

“That’s new.” Edgar commented.

“Ensign Ishii found the location of the startup speech and I updated it to be friendlier.” The Doctor commented.

“Is that something you'll be updating on yourself then?” Edgar asked. The Doctor simply shrugged uncertainty.

“Excuse me for speaking out of line but, won’t it get confusing with a veteran doctor called ‘the Doctor’ and a newly compiled captain called ‘the Doctor?’” Aron-Mu chimed in.

“He does have a point, even Will Riker’s transporter clone went by Tom to clear up confusion.” Reg commented, adding to the new topic.

“I haven’t even chosen a name for myself, how could I chose a name for a child?” the Doctor looked away for a moment, mumbling his thoughts.

Edgar couldn’t believe no one saw the solution but him, but it had to be suggested. “Why not call him ‘the Captain’ until he can choose his own name?”

The group of officers paused and stared back at Edgar for a moment, not sure how to take the idea. The new Doctor looked at him as well and, in his quirky manner, “That sounds like a great name! Let me try that again. Hello, I’m the Captain!”

“So reports from the Columbine, Danar isn’t talking, but we know he served a mistress from Ensigns Guyton and Troi’s reports.” The briefing room in the Daystrom Institute held the senior staff from the Exobyte, Annika Hansen, and the chief of security and captain of the Columbine. Everyone had gathered to pool the notes and reports for the investigation into this new Orion incursion. First the Azura, now this.

“I can confirm it was the same woman from the Azura incident, Sir.” Ensign Guyton added to the report, making sure all parties were aware the two were connected.

“When the Columbine arrived in orbit, there was only a trace warp trail from an Orion ship. What was the goal on the station?” asked the Columbine’s captain.

“She and Danar were intent on extracting the ECH. Since the ECH had not been compiled, their control on the situation deteriorated quickly.” Lt. Calvin answered.

“There was little intent from the patrols to actually keep the place locked down. If there was, the Orions are extremely inefficient at the task.”

“It’s quite clear there is a missing puzzle piece in all of this. At some point between Danar attempting to use Lt. Calvin to extract the ECH, and our subsequent win for control of Medical, this Orion mistress made a judgement call to abandon the mission and escape, leaving the subordinates to be captured. Its logical to assume then that the Orions we have in custody are disposable to her and little information can be gained,” Solek surmised. “Is there any course of action, aside from notifying Starfleet and other ships in the sector to watch for this Orion ship, that we can do with this information?”

“No, Ensign, there isn’t. However, you do bring up a valid point that I’ll mention in my report. If the Orions we have are disposable, it is unlikely she will seek to rescue them, and will instead travel back to Orion territory to resupply on crew lost. I believe I have all the information I can gather from you all in this matter.”

The unspoken ‘dismissed’ was revealed when the officers from the Columbine stood to leave the briefing room. The Captain glanced around at his staff and realized he needed to react to this. “Oh, dismissed.”

As the Captain and the remaining Exobyte officers stood, Annika tapped Lt. Calvin on the shoulder. “Lieutenant, might I have a word?”

“Yes, Director, is something wrong?” Calvin asked, sounding a notch more professional.

“Ah, no, Lieutenant, I wanted to ask you about the Captain. He has taken quite a more jovial personality matrix than anticipated. Do you foresee any issues with this from a command and crisis perspective?”

Edgar thought and chewed on Annika’s words, making sure nothing was missed or implied. “Ma’am, I currently do not have enough psychology profile experience on commanders and captains to know if such a jovial disposition could be adverse in a crisis, however, I think with every new crew and new captain small adjustments are expected as the general operations become better tuned and work more efficiently.”

“Not all captains and crews. The Borg do not need such small adjustments, they are efficient upon assimilation.”

“But Ms. Hansen, the Borg do not have a captain aboard each ship, do they?” Edgar inquired, looking for clarity on the subject. Annika simply made a face that implied she knew better, but did not confirm or deny Edgar’s claim.

“Until next time, Lt. Calvin.”

“Until next time, Director.” Edgar responded as the two left the briefing room and went separate ways. In moments, Edgar arrived on board the Exobyte.

——

“Captain, transporter room one reports they have just beamed aboard Lt. Calvin.” Ensign Troi announced on the bridge.

“Fantastic. Helm set a course for the Paulson Nebula, warp seven.” The Captain ordered as Edgar stepped onto the bridge.

“Course laid in, Sir.”

As Ensign Troi engaged the warp drive, he glanced to see he wasn’t the only one who found it odd the Captain commanded, “Allons-y!”

[[end]

((And there it is, the finale of the 2 part episode "Hackers." I had a lot of fun writing it, I hope you had a lot of fun reading it. Comments are always welcome. I'm already plotting out the events for the next episode, so keep an eye out for it when it arrives. Thanks for reading!

Until next time fleeties,
Exobyte aka Josh aka Eddie@summerheat))

Finally got around to reading this! Awesome work, Josh! Especially like the Captain's cameo. :P