USS Malinche NCC-38997-A

<<<Unnamed freighter, 1700, Four years years ago>>

Specialist Mark Grayson II sighed. The whole affair of the Dominion had been very mishandled by Starfleet, in Mark's opinion. They should have anticipated the founders infiltration within the Klingon ranks. They should suspected about several key officers, who had been replaced by founders. Now, the whole Dominion armada had gone through the Wormhole and took over DS9.

Unless some miracle happened, the war would take years and The Federation could be destroyed at the end. Mark couldn't accept that possibility. Since he had graduated two years before and worked at Starfleet HQ, he had learned a lot about infiltration. He became a top undercover agent, which brought him back to the mission.

He and a surly angosian called Brul Unger (NPC) had been chosen to contact some cardassian dissidents to start a resistence group. It was something risky and probably a suicide. That's why they were going to Cardassia Prime.

Mark sighed again. The whole transformation to a cardassian had been painful and boring. Although the change was only cosmetic and could reverted later, Mark kept scratching his forehead. That ridges were quite annoying.

Unger looked at Mark with a cold demeanor. Mark didn't know what to make of the angosian. The guy was obviously a Veteran from the Tersian War and probably knew more ways to kill a person that Mark ever would know. But, stil... He didn't look like an assassin. His eyes were devoid of any emotion.

Unger: You should stop scratching your head. It's silly and could make you a suspect. You must look comfortable in your own skin, Grayson.

Grayson: I know... How Cardassian endure all this ridges? It's annoying.

Unger: You should ask a Cardassian how do you endure having no ridges. They probably find the lack of ridges annoying.

Grayson: Har-Har, Unger. Stop bothering me and let's check what we got for the mission.

Unger nodded, looking almost amused. He opened his pack and took some things. The equipment was supposed to be for mining. But in truth, were communication and some weapons, disguised. The Cardassian customs scan would revel nothing. Unless, of course, they knew what to look for.

Mark checked his own pack. Same things were there. Mark wondered if all his training to talk and behave like a cardassian would work. He had trained hard, for long hours. Unger had a knack for find ways to survive, so, to look like and act like another alien species hadn't been so hard for him.

Mark checked the freighter sensors. They were about enter Cardassia Prime military control. After that, they would be without a net. Luckly, they would pass easily by customs.

The hard work would begin after the landing.

Unger: I'm transmitting our clearance codes. I hope it works, because there's at least 53 disruputor near us.

Mark nodded, silently. Unger typed the code. Mark swallowed hard and tried not to sweat. Several minutes passed. Then a voice came from Cardassia Prime control: "You're cleared to land"

Mark left out the air he had been holding. Even Unger appered to be relax a bit. Mark got up from the co-pilot chair and went to the back of the freighter. He had to start checking all the hidden panels, where most of the equipment necessary to start a resistance group was stashed. With luck, the plasma conduits emissions would mask the equipament from any scan.

The freighter began to descend and after twelve minutes, Mark Grayson II and Brul Unger got out the ship. Bribing the dockmaster was easy, since anyone in that position could become blind after receiving a small fortune in latinum bars. Of course, both intel officer were playing the parts of smugglers.

A strange wind blowed at Cardassia's Prime surface. Some dust kept flowing from somewhere. Unger checked his pack and nodded to Mark.

Grayson: Alright, let's move out. The contact is in a small store, south of this position.

Both men walked slowly towards the shadows, among real Cardassian. They were now, deep undercover.

OFF: To be continued...

<<<Cardassia Prime, 1800, Four years years ago>>

Mark Grayson II and Brul Unger (NPC), with their appearences modified to look like cardassians, didn't have problems to blend in. As they walked among the people, Mark could see most of them were not happy with their goverment. But, there was, also, fear. The way the cardassian goverment worked made people fearful to let any opinion out.

Unger looked back a couple of times to make sure they weren't being followed. Mark kept his, small and very illegal disruptor near his hand. If something went wrong he would have the weapon out in one second. They walked through a long street, with several stores and at least fifty soldiers standing along the way.

Soon, Mark and Brul arrived at the contact's store. It was a small store, furniture, he surmised. Brul looked at Mark and gave a slight nod. That meant Mark would enter and talk with the contact and Brul would stay outside, observing. If he saw anything unusual he would signal Mark. Both men had a small device under the skin, near their left hand. It gave a location and could vibrate.

Mark nodded back to Brul and walking slowly, faking being distracted, he entered the store. Inside, he saw two cardassians. One was the owner and the other, Mark could see right away, was an official of some kind. Meaning: Problem.

Both cardassians were talking quietly. Mark decided to scrub the meeting and get out, but, suddenly the official left out a laugh and left the store, leaving Mark, hidden between the furniture, and the owner alone.

The owner slowly went to the door and closed. He turned around and addressed the shadows where Mark was hid himself.

Cardassian: You can get out now. It's safe for now.

Mark, holding his disruptor, appeared and gave a good looked at the cardassian. It was a middleaged man, with a long face and a kind look.

Grayson: Who was that official? What did he want?

Cardassian: He's just a costumer. I pay him a bribe to leave me alone. It's something quite normal around here. *Walks towards the back of the store*. I thought there would be two of you.

Grayson:*Looking at the cardassian closely* There is two of us. He's outside.

Cardassian: Very clever. My name is Enal.

Grayson: "How much for the ugly chairs"?

Enal (NPC): "That depends. How much do you think the sunrise costs?"

Mark sighed, relieved. That was the code. He was really the contact.

Grayson: Status?

Enal: Right to the point. Good. We have now 45 members. But, it's growing steadily.

Grayson: Problems?

Enal: The usual. Spies, lack of resources and weapons.

Grayson: Don't worry about resources. We brought you enough equipment to set up a Headquarters. But, needs to be a safe place. We need several places to be safe houses.

As he spoke, Mark had pressed his comnlink twice, giving Brul Unger the signal of all clear.

Enal: I believe we need to scout some locations for that.

Unger: *coming from nowhere* Pick two of your most trustworthy people and start looking for a remote location.

Enal jumped and brought his hand to his hip. Mark raise his hand.

Grayson: Stop. This is my partner. Enal, we need to meet everyone. Training needs to be done.

Enal appeared to relax.

Enal: We can't make groups bigger than five people. It's against law.

Unger: Five people each. Sounds good. It's easier to train them.

Grayson: *nods* I agree. When you arrange everything, mark an X in the rock near the main plaza. We will contact you then.

Enal: Alright. How should I call you two?

Brul's face closed. Mark tried not smile. Their codenames were silly, but, necessary.

Grayson: Call me Second. *points at Unger* He's Scar. No real names, no identities and no pleaseantries. We are not here for that.

Unger: Make sure you're not followed. Make sure you're not betray us, I would hate to hurt you.

Enal swallowed hard and nodded. Mark nodded to Brul and he left through the back door.

Grayson: You have a week, Enal. If you want this resistance to work, you'll do as we ask. Goodbye.

Two seconds later, Brul and Mark were walking briskly among the people, blending in and already thinking how they would take all the equipment off the ship without being caught by the army.

OFF: To be continued...

<<<Cardassia Prime, four years ago>>
<<Safe house, 0500>>

Grayson woke up violently when he felt someone pulling him out of his cot. He hit the ground and rolled away. He saw a disruptor being fired near him and he knew it was Unger (NPC). The other man had an amazing survival instinct.

The disruptor hit someone, because Mark heard the sound of a body hiting the floor. Mark dragged himself near to his bed and took his disruptor from under the pilow.

Grayson: *whispered* Scar, status?

Unger: Not harmed, I estimate a full squad around us?

Mark sweared to himself. They were sold out by Enal or someone else in his resistance. That safe house had been offered by Enal, after three other members from his group had indicated it. Enal had assured the men were trustworthy.

Grayson: Anyone else inside?

Unger: Alive? Just the two of us. I expect them to throw some gas inside.

Mark nodded. He would do the same.

Unger: Sewer. Let's go to the sewer.

Grayson: Fine idea, how will we get there?

Unger raised for a second, enough for several disruptor beam to enter from the window and almost hit him. He rolled safely away. He pointed to Mark a bag. Explosives.

Unger: Let's make a hole.

Grayson: You're crazy, but let's do it.

Mark took the bag and put a explosive on one side of the room,. Unger started to build a barricade to protect them from the explosion. Outside, a voice broke the silence.

Cardassian (NPC): You two inside, surrender now and you'll not be harmed.

Both Mark and Brul grinned at that. The usual line from someone to afraid to enter and confront the enemy. Mark finished setting up the explosive and signaled to Unger. The other man nodded and both hide behind the barricade.

Grayson: *yelling to the Cardassian* We're coming out. *To Unger* Fire in the hole.

The explosion blew all the windows and trembled the whole house. Brul throwed several smoke granades and moved out of the barricade. There was an huge hole on the ground, leading to an underground tunnel. He jumped inside.

Grayson: *muttering* Crazy Angosian.

Mark started moving to jump when he felt a sharp pain in his back. He turned around in time to see a Cardassian Soldier preparing to give another stab. Mark fired his disruptor at close range and blew the cardassian head. But, all strength left his body and he hit the ground.

He could see that his life was over. He would be tortured for information then executed. Still awake, he saw five cardassian enter the room and look at him. Mark reached for his disruptor, ready to commit suicide. No way he would be capture alive.

Suddenly from the hole, Brul Unger appeared, firing his disruptor and holding a granade in other hand. Somehow, Unger hit one cardassian and throwed the granade at the same time. The remaining cardassians duck.

Mark felt himself being carried to a very dark place. He realized that Unger was carrying him throught the sewers. There was an explosion behind them.

Unger: Don't you dare die on me, Soldier!

Mark tried to speak but he couldn't. He closed his eyes and thought that would the last time he would do that in his life. Lucky him, he was wrong...

OFF: Continued.

<<Cardassia Prime, four years ago>>
<<Unknown location, unknown time>>

Mark conscience came and went several times before he actually opened his eyes. He was put on some kind of sofa and he felt some pain in his back.

He put his head up and looked around. He was in some kind of cave. Dirty, damp and dark. Except for the little bonfire burning near him. Despite the pain, he sat down.

Mark could remember Brul Unger (NPC) carrying him way, through the sewers, but nothing after that. After careful examination of his surroundings, he found marks on the floor that indicated that at least two persons had been in and off the cave.

Meaning Brul had contacted someone that was able to help them. Good news.

Suddenly, Mark heard some noise coming from the cave entrance. He tried to get up, but the made him colapse on the floor again. He stayed there, trying to control his pain, breathing hard.

Unger crouched beside him. The man looked dirty, but unhurt. His eyes showed some relief.

Unger: Good morning, Second. Glad to see you're alive.

He helped put Mark back on sitting position and sat beside him. Mark accepted the bottle of water Unger's offered.

Grayson: How long was I out?

Unger: Two days.

Grayson: Alright, tell me what happened after that damned Cardie stab me.

Unger: I carried you for about ten kilometers through the sewers. As I was ready to leave the Sewers, Enal appeared. I told him to give me a good reason not blow his head off.

Grayson: Very colorful.

Unger:*dryly* Thank you. Anyway, he told me that one of his man had been arrested and tortured for hours. The Military hit every safe house the man knew. Several personnel from the resistence was arrested or killed. Enal escaped using the same route than us.

Grayson: Quite a coincidence, huh?

Unger: My thoughts exactly, but, at that point I have no choice. You're dying. So I had trust him. He brought us this cave, some kilometers outside the city. He left, saying he would try to regroup the resistence. I've been outside on the lookout for an another ambush.

Mark nodded.

Grayson: So it's fair to assume that you didn't sleep for two days.

Unger: Affirmative. I'm not sleepy at all. One time I stayed awake for 4 days, during the war.

Grayson: Fine. Give me your Phaser. I can watch the place for two hours. Sleep. If Enal doesn't come back, we'll have to assume that the resistence have been wiped out.

Unger: No. I'm not sleeping. You barely can stand, what do you think you can do wounded?

Grayson:*seething* A lot more than you if you don't rest for a couple hours. I own you my life, but that doesn't mean I have to accept every single dumb thing you say.

Unger glared Mark for several moments, than nodded.

Unger: Two hours. Don't try to fool me.

Grayson: Of course not, Scar.

Mark, using every fiber of his strenght, got up and walked to the Cave entrance. His back was killing him, but he had to do it. He had to prove to himself and Unger that he could do the job.

Unger watched him go and then lay down on the floor. He slept holding a phaser. One eye was open, but Mark was sure the man was fast as sleep. Odd.

Mark saw the sun raising. The pain in his back was starting to stop, and, thanks to some painkillers Mark had in his emergency bag, he was confident he would survive.

Both men hadn't been identified. Unger had make sure of that when he killed all Cardassians that had saw both then at the Safe House. The problem was the resistance group. If they had been wiped out, the mission had to be cancelled and Mark didn't want that to happen.

Suddenly a thought came across his mind. A smile appeared in his face. A plan was formed. Would it work? The tough job probably would convince Unger to accept.

"Maybe there's a chance to salvage this mission", thought Mark, feeling better.

OFF: To be continued.