STAR TREK: A Long Road (Voyager Fix It Quest)

Janeway smirked. "Beam them up," she said, nodding.

"Earheart and friend?" Tom asked.

"No," Janeway said.

C'nola smirked - and her fingers tapped on the console as targeting arrays appeared around the Imperial Security goons jogging towards their ambush site.

Lindy stood guard as Neelix worked on the elevator controls. "Okay," he said, his stubby fingers twiddling wires. "That should just about do it." He nodded as a faint whirr crack sound came from outside. Lindy jerked her chin up, her eyes narrowing as she bit her lip.

"What was that?" she asked.

"No idea," Neelix said, standing as much as he could. He tugged his ill fitting Imperial uniform as straight as it could manage. "But I think we must use it to our advantage - see?" he gestured to the exit of the garage. "Not a sign of ImpSec, we must be clear for this. And if not, then, well, I suppose I'll just have to start talking faster than usual, eh?" He patted her hip, then stepped into the elevator. "Come on, come on!"

They stepped into the elevator, which began to whirr as it took them down - then shifted, going to the right. As they stood, Lindy remained very still, while Neelix bounced back and forth on his heels.

"Do you always fidget?" she asked.

"It usually drives my roommates to distraction - did so in the academy, on any ship I was assigned too. Mother used to handle it with a low grade phaser beam," Neelix said, chuckling softly.

"Really?" Lindy asked.

"No, no, she actually just had the footmen tire me out. One of the advantages, she said, of marrying into a family with henchmen," he clicked his teeth. "Always did love henchmen. That's the biggest problem with this planet, your woeful lack of henchmen."

"Earth's crawling in goons these days. Nazi goons, Imperial goons, Stalin's goons. I bet even old FDR has his own goons," Lindy muttered darkly.

"Yes, but none of them are mine," Neelix said, sounding almost piteous. "How long is this damn elevator ride for?" He pushed the button several more times. The elevator door opened just as Lindy was about to say 'that won't help make it faster.' Neelix smiled at her, then peeked out right while she peeked out left. No one was waiting for them by the elevator. They hurried forward, and Neelix took a left, a right, and ended up in the doorway leading into the highly secure, highly advanced subspace communication station. The door was flanked by a pair of guards in the thickly padded armor and nacrotic dispensers, the tubes hanging right below their noses. They had their arm mounted plasma emitters hanging at their sides, and both had the faintly blissed out, wide eyed expression of Imperial soldiers in guard mode.

Imperial soldiers, like most narcotroops of the 21st century, had several kinds of narcotic that they could be pumped on. The most common was the battlefield ready Juice (hence their nickname of 'Juicers'), which accelerated their reaction time, made them ignore injuries that would kill or incapacitate an average human, and make them utterly fearless. But the second most common was Ware, which amplified perceptions and expanded boredom thresholds. They looked completely zoned out, but in actuality, both of them were taking in every visual and auditory detail they could while their brains were chemically incapable of feeling boredom, meaning that their focus remained high and toned, even hours into the guard shift.

One of the two guards drew a short, sharp snuff from his nose tubes, and shifted Ware to Leven, which was the drug used to make it so narcotroops could interact with people who weren't high on some kind of nootropic. "P-" he stopped, seeing Neelix clearly and actually processing why it was so damn odd to be approached by a one and change meter hunchback with a decided limp. "P...Passes?"

"Ah, I see you've noticed my battlefield injuries," Neelix said, casually. "The doctors really did their best - you should have seen me after they pulled me out of the hovertank."

Lindy, stepping in, smirked. "We called him Brain-In-A-Jar-Brandon," she said.

"Now, I'm here to do a quick security check on the subspace station," Neelix said.

"Pass," the narcotroop said, nodding, slowly, his pronounciation slow and careful. His fellow, who was still spliffed on Ware, shook his head with a little twitch.

"Lies...lies lies lies," he said, monotone and insistent. "Lieslieslies."

"I think your friend needs his balance checked," Neelix said, firmly. "Why don't you take him to the medical facility, I think Lieutenant Sangupta can handle the door guarding, eh?" He asked, gesturing to Lindy, who nodded her head firmly.

The nacrotroop on Leven blinked. He regarded his companion, frowning. His hand drifted to his own dispenser - but Neelix sighed. "Are we really going to get sucked into a nacroloop here? You're already primed, any hit on Ware is going to be hopelessly distorted. Hopelessly. I passed basic trianing too, you know. And...besides, how long have you two been assigned here without a reshift?" He shook his head. "I can see why your compatriot here is beginning to tweak out, as it were. I insist you two must head to the medical facilities at once. Go on, shoo, shoo, shoo." He made gesturing motions and the two nacrotroopers actually started to move, considering it.

Then their com crackled and a voice said: "Nacro-98, we have possible intruder-"

Neelix pulled his stunner at the same time Lindy pulled hers. The two fired full strength stunbeams into the chest armor of the two Nacros. At this range, the nimbus of white light was enough to be blinding - but the two beams took the men down.

"Nacro-98?" a voice asked, but Neelix took hold of the wrist, lifting it to his mouth and shifting his voice to the slow, drawling, zoned out tone of a nacrotroop.

"Understood command," he drawled.

"What's wrong with your biocomp? We're getting funny readings up here, Narco-98," the voice said, growing sharp.

"All fine down here," Neelix said.

"Narco-98, report to medical immediately for-"

Neelix shot the communicator with his stunner. The machine buzzed and crackled, overloading with electrical energies for a moment before sparking out. He holstered his weapon, shaking his head. "We'll have to be faster than normal," he said, smirking.

"Great," Lindy muttered. "This plan of yours better fucking work, Jetrel."

"My plans always work," he said, cheerfully. "Eventually. Now." He opened the door.

The four subspace techs glanced over, confused. They all had some of the most sophisticated, advanced technical understanding in the entire planet. Five seconds later, all of that training and education was unconscious and twitching on the floor.

Neelix swung himself into his seat, cracked his knuckles, then began to punch in the commands.

Imperial Security Lieutenant Investigator Tayvon Soong took one step. The next step, though, was stumbling against a crackling, buzzing force field. He jolted backwards, landed on his ass, and yelped. "What the hell!?" he exclaimed. He was a sub-Augment, one of the lucky ones who had been able to recieve the first few injections of retroviral engineering systems that brought him to within a fifty percent capacity of a Truebirth. It put him in an awkward position, to be honest, in greater Imperial society. He was high above Freebirths and conquered populations, but he was still little better than a Freebirth to most people around him. This had informed the majority of LTI Soong's career - hell, his life.

This driving passion for recognition and success was why he had followed down the wild goosechase that was the possibilities of an American infiltrator in the palace.

And it was now why he was gaping up through a force field at Amy Strong, who had led a detachment of armed Starfleet security officers, to the brig. Just in case.

"They're secure, captain," Amy said into her combadge, then smiled. "I don't suppose you're ready to tell us everything? Make this easier?"

LTI Soong pulled out his stunner and fired it at Amy. the beam hit the force screen, reflected off, and slammed into his chest, and sent LTI Soong into the land of immediate unconsciousness.

Amy sigh. "Guess not," she said.


"Captain," T'are said. "We're picking up a coded subspace signal coming from the planet's surface. It's from Sri Lanka, the Imperial Palace. And it's aimed...into deep space and angled to avoid any of their sensor scans."

"Put it on the screen," Janeway said, her arms crossed over her chest. The screen flickered and then up popped a human face, serious and focused. The head looked slightly too large from the shoulders and neck, but the eyes were driving - and faintly familiar in their brown hues. The facial structure, too, was also passingly familiar, in a way that made everyone on the bridge look faintly curious.

"Well, Father, I suppose you told me so," the man said, cheerfully. "This planet isn't just a treasure trove - it's a damn ticking time bomb. The Viidians, the Talaxians, maybe even the Kazon and the Borg too are all going to be crawling over this. Population is right at the range where it can possibly be subjugated, if the Emperor's feeling particularly delusional today, with just enough technology to mean anyone who grabs this place will become the new sector superpower. I've run the figures, we can quadruple our industrial base with half the planet, let alone the whole prize. My suggestion?" The door behind him began to hiss and spark. "Oh hell-"

The image clicked off.

"That must be the Haakonian," Janeway said, slowly. "Modified to look human. They did a decent job too, considering their technology."

"Why did he look so familiar?" Tom muttered.

"He's clearly related to Mr. Neelix," Tuvok said, frowning.

Everyone looked at Neelix. Neelix huffed. "Well!" he said, sounding offended. "I'm not...that...I've never been with a Haakonian. And none of my relations would. Not my sister, nor my brothers, none of them."

Janeway arched an eyebrow.

"It seems that he is still in danger," Tuvok said. "An infiltration agent, utilizing the enemy's own communication gear to signal for home - either desperate or foolish."

"It's the only subspace signal station on the planet," Tom said, frowning.

"What do we do?" T'are asked.


---
CURRENT MOMENTUM: 3 (you got 5s on a diff 2 check, you maniacs)
CURRENT TRUTH: "Time Amok!"

What do you do about Neelix-II and Amelia Earhart
[ ] Beam the Haakonian and Amelia Earhart out and hope this doesn't get you detected
[ ] Let them get captured and keep an eye on them - Khan is an egomaniac, not a 'execute immediately', so he'll trot them out for public trial and mockery.
[ ] Write In

What do you do with the ImpSec Goons
[ ] Interrogate them (roll interrogation, then ask questions - you start off with 3 momentum, which does make things easier.)
[ ] Leave them to cool their heels for now
[ ] Write in