The Subtext is Uncertain (Part 15)

Posted on Sat Nov 29th, 2025 @ 9:16pm by Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil & Crewman Emiliano Echevarria & Lieutenant JG Sakkar & Commander Irene Seya
Edited on on Sat Dec 13th, 2025 @ 4:51pm

1,797 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: How to See in the Dark
Location: Starbase 773 / Barisa Prime
Timeline: MD 02, 1820 Hours

Lorna City's northern quarter lay crouched in the mist--rows of corrugated roofs, dark glass windows, and a shimmer of phosphorescent reflecting from the nearby shipping district seen faintly through the early evening fog. JB materialized beside a half-collapsed cargo hauler.

The Starfleet Security team was already assembled--twelve figures in matte black armour, their visors gleaming in the security lights of the alley. Each team member cradled phaser rifles in their arms and stood ready for anything. A few meters away, a helmetless, broad-shoulders figure stood barking last-minute instructions into her wrist comm, her square-jaw set in a defiant expression.

She looked like she could have been carved out of neutronium--every gesture she made was decisive, her words sharp and biting. When she noticed JB, she turned with visible impatience.

"Dorsainvil?" she said, her voice deep. "You're late."

"Still early enough to make sure we don't do something stupid," he said, stepping up beside her. He tapped the holo-map projected from his data PADD between them. The outline of the storage facility flickered for a moment. The schematic showed grey walls, multiple compartments, and several symmetrical corridors cutting through. "Sensors are being bounced, so we don't know what's inside. Could be people, equipment--or both. We need to move in surgically. No wild fire or theatrics."

Holmes gave a short humourless laugh. "Surgical? You think these people care about procedure? That building could be the nerve center for the whole ring. Do you really want to stroll in there like it's a welfare check?"

JB bristled. "There could be kids in there." His tone was low, but it carried enough of an edge that it cut through her bluster. "If we go in loudly, we could very well be putting innocents in harm's way."

Her jaw tightened. "You assume there are children in there. I assume they've got distruptors and trip mines. I'm not losing a member of my team because your intel leans into the sentimental."

He stepped closer, leveling his gaze at her. "This isn't sentiment. I've been on-point in this investigation since the start. I've watched what they do. I've seen exactly how far they're willing to go to protect their operation. You need to listen to me."

For a brief moment, Holmes' expression turned dark but it vanished as quickly as it came. She squared her shoulders, her height matching his.

"Listen to you?" she said. "You're forgetting something, Lieutenant Junior Grade. You're a guest in my op. You don't give me orders." Her smirk was thin, bordering on pleasant. "Now either you back off, or I'll have you sidelined before we breach the gate."

Holmes's words landed hard and for a good few seconds JB thought he might say something he'd regret. Instead, JB stared past her to the outline of the warehouse.

Jean-Baptiste forced a breath through his nose. "Then lead the way, Lieutenant."

Holmes turned back to her team, already shouting commands. The armour-clad figures began to move in three thin lines--shadows against the industrial backdrop.

JB stood apart, anger coiling inside his chest. He watched them fan out toward front, side, and rear of the property which was surrounded by a twelve-foot high chain link fence. He thought about the lives on the other side of that fence--beyond the facility's wall--the fragile, terrified ones who always seemed to end up caught between the righteous and the reckless.

He reached up, adjusted his armoured vest and muttered, "Let's hope your way doesn't get somebody killed."

Inside the warehouse, it wasn't much of a warehouse at all, but it would take a while for Starfleet to figure out how to crack the computers so that their sensors could get an accurate view inside.

A second floor had been converted into a shuttle hangar and landing plan. And unbeknownst to the SWAT team preparing to enter, there was a false roof that could open permitting small craft to exit and enter.

A makeshift mezzanine level held a three bedrooms, each with three bunks each - the rooms more accurately described as prison cells, temporary holding rooms for the girls about to be transported. To make buyers and sellers both feel better about the lot of those staying their, there were comfortable sheets, pastel colors painted on the walls, electronic games to pass the time - no solid pieces that could be used as weapons. But the rooms held no access to the outside world, the girls hidden from view. The only access to and from the level, biometric and assigned to just a select few.

One girl in particular had been brought there, her features surgically altered so that she no longer looked like her people, made to blend in with the people who had been posing as her family for the last few years - made to look more desirable for the trade that she'd found herself lost in. Scared and alone, but for the other girls stuck her with the same fate, she huddle in the corner of her assigned room, sitting on the floor rubbing the spot on her neck where a pendant used to hang. She'd seen the way they'd beaten him, cruelly, rather than opting for a quick death, which perhaps left a chance that he'd survived, that he was looking for her.

---

After pacing the length of the command center room impatiently a few short times, Seya took a seat back at her terminal, still wearing the armor she had put on in case she chose to deploy herself to one of the scenes.

"Do I have JB? Air support? Anyone?" She asked irritably, the minute feeling more like thirty as she thought about the lives as stake?

Ng tapped a command into the console, bringing up a list of active comms and locations on separate screen. "We've got Lieutenant Dorsainvil with Gamma Team outside the warehouse in the north end of the city. Air support is six minutes out, ma'am." He turned to Irene before continuing. "Alpha and Beta teams are requesting a status update. They want to know if they should stage."

"They want to know if they - what have they been... Yes, have them stage," Irene stated, regaining her composure. The urgency of the situation - the feeling of responsibility she had for the girls after sending them back into the lion's den was affecting her perception of time. She started a small timer in the corner of her screen to ground herself, and remind her to be patient with the crews.

They still needed to act swiftly.

Ng's eyes stayed fixed on the tactical map glowing across the larger screen--a web of blue and amber icons marking every team, drone, and surveillance feed within the grid. "Copy that," he said, fingers already moving. "Alpha and Beta, you are cleared to stage. Maintain soft perimeter--no active entry until the all-clear is given."

The Klingon security officer, Krin, turned to Irene. "Commander, if you'll insert your earpiece, I can have you on comms with all three teams, including Dorsainvil and air support."

Irene nodded, picking up the earpiece, reaching out to JB first.

"All teams, this is Commander Seya, Dorsainvil, do you copy? What's your situation?" Irene inquired.

[I'm here, Commander--Gamma team is waiting for your signal to breach. There is a chain-link fence surrounding the warehouse on all sides. Lieutenant Holmes has plans to breach in two sectors--weapons hot.]

Emiliano received a notification from shuttlecraft Windward, encrypted data and a message that telemetry from the coordinates on the warehouse was being scrambled.

"Windward, did you copy? Can you get a bird's eye view for Gamma?" She asked. She had seen the notification go through from one of their support craft, but was unaware there was currently any issue with encryption.

[Windward to ground team. We're experiencing sensor interference across the spectrum. Your suspects must be employing some kind of nullifier. We are attempting to break through and locate its position. Stand by.]

Crewman Echevarria turned to Irene, a deferential look in his eyes. "Commander, if Windward is successful in deactivating that device, there's a good chance it will create an alert."

"Can you patch in and offer an assist?" Seya asked. "If there are victims - innocent people in there, we can't risk SWAT going in blind."

Emiliano gave one sharp nod to the Vulcan commander and returned his attention to his station, tapping in a series of commands to bring up a three-dimensional schematic of the warehouse. Through Windward's sensor readings piped into Echevarria's console, it was now clear that the nullifying device being deployed was located in the roof of the facility.

"Windward," Emiliano began, "the device in question uses static particle discrimination--if you alter your sensors to the F-band and increase sensitivity, you should see biosign ghosting. It won't give us an idea of how many people are inside, but it should tell you where they are located."

[Lieutenant Holmes here,] a gruff female voice broke through the comm line. [My team is in position. You'd better get a jump on your final scans because we're breaching in less than a minute.]

Sakkar nodded to the man sitting next to him in the small cockpit. They tapped in the new sensor commands as quickly as their hands could. Dead air hovered over the open channel for a few precious seconds as Sakkar resisted the urge to ask questions. Finally, the bio sign data came into focus, and was relayed to the team below.

[Received.]

[Dorsainvil here--Commander, I'm seeing a concentration of people near the main entrance of the building and a larger cluster in the rear, or, north. I would strongly recommend we breach only at the main entrance with a secondary team holding at the rear.]

Lieutenant Holmes' dissatisfaction came through a sharp sigh over the comm. [With all due respect, Lieutenant Dorsainvil is not leading Gamma Team. We don't know who is inside. I will not risk my team's safety.]

JB considered the situation. [Windward can provide cover should anything happen. I simply believe if we rush in phasers hot, we're putting everyone at risk. Breach through the main entrance, secure the building room-by-room. That's all I'm suggesting.]

"Lieutenant Holmes, are you able to see the bio sign data that we're looking at?" Irene asked. "This is your team, your call. We believe there may be innocent people inside. Our goal is to get them to safety, and then secure any suspects as we are able."

"Do you copy, Lieutenant?" Irene waited for confirmation.

There was a short pause before the reply came.

[Copy.]

Emiliano turned from his console to Irene. "Commander," he said, almost holding back a breath. "Gamma Team is breaching."


~To Be Continued~

 

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