How It Began

Posted on Sat Aug 3rd, 2019 @ 11:20pm by Lieutenant Commander Jacob "Jack" Devine

Mission: Preludes
Location: USS Achilles
Timeline: 2376
Tags: Hijack

Jacob Jordan Devine paced the small room he shared with three other boys a few years younger than him. As he paced, he muttered under his breath. The plan was perfect, but if he didn't act soon he'd run out of time.

"Jake, you're gonna wear a hole in the floor."

Jacob ignored the complaint as he continued to pace. He would pretend to sleep like the others tonight and sneak out in the early hours of gamma shift. It was a known fact that the early hours of the morning were accompanied by a lack of attention. Besides, that Glo lady slept like a rock and the three other women with her weren't much better -- except the one with the baby. He'd have to watch for her to be awake with him. And then there was the computer programming. He had to do something about those alerts.

"Yo, JJ, couch it."

With a soft growl, Jacob ignored the second complaint as well. He knew he could do it -- could hack into the computer mainframe. Hadn't he done it at least a couple times on 211? Sticking his hand in his pocket, Jacob squeezed the stolen access codes. If he screwed up this time, there'd be no next time. They'd watch him like a hawk.

"Jacob, can you help me with this?"

With a sigh, Jacob turned to nine year old Evan Rand. "Why do you insist on wearing that thing if you can't get it unzipped?"

"It...it was my dad's. Syto gave it to me." Evan choked on a sob, but refused to cry.

Jacob reached over and took hold of the zipper. With his lower lip caught thoughtfully between his teeth, Jacob carefully struggled with the zipper, noting that the jacket was several times too big for Evan and that the sleeves were rolled up.

"Just yank the fool thing and be done with it."

Ignoring the vicious piece of advice, Jacob kept at it until the zipper slid down to the bottom, releasing Evan from the coat's hold. "There ya go, Evan. Mind be careful next time."

"I will Jacob...I promise." Evan whispered as he shrugged off the jacket and started getting ready for bed.

It seemed like a lifetime between that moment and lights out, but finally all four boys in the room were in bed and waiting for Gloria Vialt to tell them 'good night'.

Under the covers, Jacob was still dressed. The others had given him an odd stare when he climbed into bed fully clothed, but since he'd done the same thing the previous night no one thought too much about it. Clenching his fists, Jacob waited.

Before long, Gloria Vialt made her appearance. She moved about the room and spoke to one boy after the other. She didn't say much, but Jacob could tell that she cared deeply. Finally the lights were out and the door closed...and the even longer wait began.

While time ticked by, Jacob considered his plan. He'd use Mrs Price's codes to let him out of the holodeck without triggering the alarm. Then he'd find the nearest accessible console and do a bit of scouting and a bit of hacking with the Ensign’s log in. After that it should be a walk in the park to get into the hangar bay. And finally into a fighter.

What kept Jacob going day by day was the never-ending thought of revenge. He didn't know who those monsters were that annihilated over three quarters of the starbase's personnel taking his father from him. Life sucked. It hadn't been hardly a year since his mother had died of some fatal disease he couldn't even pronounce much less understand. And now his father ... It shouldn't have happened. His dad should've been able to scramble his fighters. He shouldn't have been inside the hangar when-- It just wasn't fair.

Jacob's nails bit into the palms of his hands as he forced himself to relax. Life had dealt him a bad hand and he wasn't taking it anymore. They'd tell him he was harboring anger. No duh! But it was too much to suffer this outrage. What was that saying? 'Don't get mad, get even,’ and that's exactly what he wanted.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was going off half cocked and hadn't thought much past the hangar bay doors, but that thought was drowned in pain and seething hate. After ten months flying simulators with his dad, Jacob knew how to fly the fighter... he knew how to work the big guns...he knew what he was doing.

In the stillness of the night, Jacob slipped out of bed and padded to the door. He could hear Evan breathing deep and one of the others snoring behind him as he stepped out into the hall beyond. He walked quietly past several doors, down the long hallway to the holodeck exit. Glancing behind him, he made sure he was still alone. Then he took the corner of paper torn off of one of Kynan's drawings out of his pocket. He read the access code once, then input it into the computer console by the door. After about a minute, the doors slid apart and Jacob stepped out into the main corridor of deck eight.

Keeping to the wall, Jacob traveled the hall looking for open rooms. He entered a vacant transporter room and approached the computer terminal access. Using Mrs Price's access code he got into a non classified layout of the ship. The armory was one deck down and the hangar bay a few decks below that. Jacob thought about getting a phaser, but decided that the risk was too great.

Hoping that knowing some of the security protocol for 211's fighter bays would help, Jacob traced the route of the nearest replicator. He'd need a uniform, but once he had it his time would be limited. Chances were the quartermaster would not realize he had done it until alpha shift...if Jacob was lucky. The last thing he did was to log a maintenance check in all the jeffries tubes he planned on traveling in. It wouldn't stop the computer from sensing his presence in those places, but he did hope it would delay investigation long enough.

Peeking outside the transporter room, Jacob checked to see if the coast was clear. Then he made his way to the jeffries tube access and started his hidden descent through the ship. Jacob kept low, underneath the watchful eye of the camera as much as possible, but he was counting on the maintenance log to keep him from drawing too much attention.

A couple decks down, Jacob replicated a pilot's uniform and put it on. Then he continued on down to the hangar deck. It was amazing how the uniform kept him from getting a second look as he meandered through the engineers and approached a console with the authority of a squadron leader.

Now the difficult part....hacking into the flight computer. Jacob hoped he remembered everything correctly. It had been a long time since he played this game of "what if" with his dad. He could remember saying, "Dad, what if the base was taken over..."

Jacob's fingers moved across the keys with the memory of that long ago conversation. He smiled as the access came up. "Ghost". That would be his call sign...a borrowed one, for now. Closing down evidence of his hacking, Jacob turned away from the console, crossed the terminal and calmly entered an F180.

It was a bit more advanced than the fighters he flew in simulator, but with a bit of study he soon figured out the new configuration. With a look of pure satisfaction, Jacob started the launch sequence and tripped the hangar bay doors. He could hear the alarm sounding, but before anyone realized why, he was out in space.......

Free!

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LtCmdr Jacob "Hijack" Devine
Squadron Leader
USS Andromeda