Twist and Turn at the Crossroads

Posted on Sat Nov 9th, 2024 @ 2:06am by Captain Mrazak & Lieutenant JG Ryland Dedeker & Lieutenant Commander BaoJun Qiao & Lieutenant Commander Finley Chu & Lieutenant Sophie Xiong & Ensign Rozreell Purr & Gunnery Sergeant Roderik Kos & Ferrofax & Lieutenant Commander T'Bela & Lieutenant Commander Leonora Wolf MD & Lieutenant Teejay
Edited on on Thu Nov 14th, 2024 @ 11:49pm

2,098 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: S1E6: Where Skies End
Location: Tuatha De Danann | Limbo System
Timeline: MD 8

Mrazak stepped out from the council chamber, his gait heavy from the long hours of negotiation. The Rish enclave’s dim lighting felt even more oppressive after the harsh glare of debate and counteroffer. They had wrung him through the night, testing every shred of patience he had left. Yet, at last, a deal had been struck. Favors had been exchanged, promises made—fragile and tenuous, like most agreements in this forsaken stretch of space.

Back in the drydock the air was thick with the scent of burning plasma and old machinery. The Phantom’s crew, scattered in their various efforts across the enclave, were slowly returning to the dock, faces showing signs of exhaustion mixed with the quiet determination that had carried them this far. Fusion only knew what they had been up to all night long while Mrazak had secured them berth and passage. They had better not have made the mission more difficult.

Bao shuffled in, slightly worse for wear at having been involved all night in, he would say redesigning, but more like creating a curriculum for the enclave's children. Truthfully, the company that had made Sunny would probably object to him creating a gamma fork of her from the, now unused, educator package his parents had paid for when he was a kid to supplement his instruction. Loaded up with a few modules and rig a holo-emitter and now there was a classroom of a sort and something of a teacher for them to cover the basics of maintaining and using the other things the various team members had been doing.

Sophie had tried to tell the engineers- could they really be called that without degrees?- what they were doing wrong, but they had been hostile and hadn’t been interested in improving any of their systems. So after about an hour, she had given up and found an out of the way place and fallen asleep. Then, about an hour ago, an ornery man with a foul odor had rudely awaken her and told her to get the hell out of there, so after a brief shouting match, she had stalked off, then told off a teenager for looking at her the wrong way. Now she was stalking back to the stupid drydock where she was supposed to meet her stupid crewmates. They would probably be late and annoy her.

T’Bela hadn’t been at all surprised that nobody was interested in listening to a Cardassian doctor. But she had still managed to look after a couple of injuries and one runny nose- allergies- so it hadn’t been a total waste. She gave Sophie a slight smile and was rewarded with a scowl, which only amused her. Such a disagreeable woman.

Leah and Teejay had spent most of the time working side by side, as the Vulcan seemed to need some supervision as much as he needed assistance. He seemed on the down low ever since they'd left Overwatch and it was starting to show.

Rozreell’s flashy display of terraforming made an excellent impression on the Rish but the quid pro quo that followed in order to be granted such an extravagant gift soon soured them to the idea. This meant Roz had been free for the evening, leaving her to wander Tuatha De Danann on her own. Despite the evening’s debauchery she woke up feeling pretty good. Taking her place next to Leah, she waited for the morning’s instructions to begin.

Mrazak approached them, clearing his throat. "The Rish have agreed to assist with repairs," he said, his voice still scratchy from lack of sleep. "In return, they require... assistance with a few matters of their own. Favors to be cashed in later. We'll fulfill them once the ship is operational."

"We're fucked for sure," Ryland grumbled under his breath. He knew the Rish and how their deals were always loaded more than their dice.

"Just some local maintenance and then assistance with salvage," Mrazak went on to say. "I honestly expected them to pad their demands more."

"They will be," Leah said, "wouldn't be surprised if they're biding time to see if we follow through first, before they go, 'eh, actually?' Roz and I have what we need to go get us a ride."

"You did what?" Mrazak's eyes bulged out of his head. "They said they didn't have transit between here and the other satellites. Pray tell where this 'ride' is and how you acquired it!"

Leah shook her head, "we haven't, yet. Intel reports indicate that there are still some former crew from the Chimaera skulking around. One such man has been seen here at the Enclave. So I figured, let's go have a chat, see if we can offer him something in return for a ride," she said with a cant of her head and a smirk.

"Resplendent." Mrazak's smirk coiled around his cheeks as if Leah had been merely following his orders. "Everyone else can make ready the repairs for the Phantom or alternatively maintaining the good will of these fools so they don't salvage it for parts." That last part gave him pause. He shot a side eye at Ryland but addressed his following question to everyone. "Anything else to report?"

Ryland effected his most innocent expression. "Why's everybody gotta' look at me like that? I just fly the damned ship."

“You break the damned ship,” Sophie corrected sardonically.

While Ryland wrinkled his nose at Sophie in a playfully spiteful gesture, Rodi raised his hand. "Captain, I can report half a dozen attempts of unauthorized access to the ship overnight. They weren't equipped to do much more than pilfer but it was still of note."

"Of course," Mrazak spat. "We can't take our eyes off these Rish riffraff for a moment. That means additional hands will have to remain with the ship once we secure transit to Fiddler's Green." He bit into his cheek and spoke with a droll and aggravated tone. "Evidently we cannot trust our hosts not to strip us blind, and we need the Phantom up and running if our exit needs to be... expeditious." When Mrazak acted expeditiously, it often came with explosions or another cause of mass casualties. "To that end, I will be leaving Commander Chu in charge of repairs and in meeting our obligated assistance when the favors are requested. All Marines are to remain with the Phantom and ensure nobody ends up where they don't belong. I want everybody in a Science division to join me. Everyone else works double time to get my ship out of this lek hole."

Bao stopped for a moment and gave Rodi an apologetic look. "Sir," he said, "might I suggest we take at least one marine with us. Maybe Haaskivi. Social indicators are such that having visible, noticeable persons that visibly suggest the possibility of extreme violence is both acceptable, normal, and desirable."

"We are not helpless," Mrazak retorted, "but I suppose if you require a protector, I will allow it."

"I'd advise against drawing any more attention than we already are." Leah said, "if there's going to be hostile action it will be ship-side. If need be, the rest of us can dole out enough violence. In the meanwhile, let them underestimate us. That's our advantage."

"I'd rather not waste a science officer in the role of a meat shield," Mrazak said, "but you do raise a solid point, Commander. Getting caught is not acceptable. Marines tend to complicate things." He looked at Bao and the others. "Can you all do without a bodyguard as Commander Cassandra suggested?"

As chance would have it T’Bela agreed with Mrazak; being underestimated was always to one’s advantage.
However, so was looking at every angle. “If security is normal, wouldn’t not having any cause is to stand out?” she pointed out fairly. “And, of course, attract unwanted attention.”

"For Fusion's sake!" Mrazak groused. "There's only so much room in the shuttle. I'll allow a doorkicker if there's room but I will not leave a science officer behind when we don't even know what we're looking for. Project Mazikeen is a mystery and we will require every scientific edge." With that decided, Mrazak allowed himself to calm back down some. "Now we will require a subspace beacon in order to allow for Ferrofax to ping off and access unprotected networks. That will prove far more useful and protective than any phaser. Who is competent enough to secure that?"

"Boss, we don't need a door kicker. Besides, we have you here if shit hits the fan." Leah gave Mrazak a coy look. The best way to manipulate a narcissist was to play to his ego.

"I have already made that clear!" Mrazak spouted despite the fact he had most surely not. "Subspace beacon. Who's going to prep one?"

"I took the liberty of prepping one in Axilliary Engineering Bay 2. Small, compact, fitted into a backpack. Very robust," Ferrofax piped up from a combadge. "I even ensured both the transmitter and power source are well shielded so only one of you has to carry it, rather than handing it around like the Demon Core version of a Jack In The Box. Though, if I am to be honest I'm not sure how much help I'll be. It's not that there are not systems here to be infiltrated, only that a lot of them are using obscure native programming languages. Some of them are even human-readable!"

He scoffed, or at least imitated the affectation.

"Might as well be a Borg trying to assimilate a rock, I think a load lifter within 300 meters of you is running something called 'Java', whatever that is."

"Human readable." Mrazak joined Ferrofax in his scoffing. "Very good, Ferrofax, once again proving yourself to be the finest product of the Sol system." Looking around at the rest of the crew, he said, "Deaddicker and Song will be staying with the ship, so someone else will be responsible for carrying it." He looked at Roz. "Your Bajoran colleague looks to have a strong back. See that he does not leave the Phantom without it."

“Yes, Captain.” Roz dipped her head in acknowledgement of his request. Based on their first meeting Purr had learned it was better to placate Mrazak rather than irritate him, at least to his face. “Bolk is as strong as a tuballoy and will behave accordingly.”

Mrazak gave a weary sigh. "At least. Some competence!"

"So, uh, about those favors you mentioned..." Ryland hated being the voice of reason but so far nobody had mentioned it. "How much latitude are you giving for all that? The Rish get up to some wild shit sometimes."

"Do whatever it takes," Mrazak said. "Just don't let the Phantom or any other asset leave our possession. Like I said, and I do hate repeating myself, we will likely need it for a swift exit from this fal-tor-pan of a star system." Glowering at the ship crew, he said, "Do not disappoint me."

Bao shrugged. Considering the way Mrazak acted, it probably would not matter much one way or another whether they attempted to fit in or not. He would draw attention to himself, and then the actual professionals might be able to get something done while everyone was paying attention to the rampaging...unfortunately the Lagashi was drawing a blank on the vocabulary referring to an old Earth politician who had been known for the unhealthy orange pallor of his skin. Oh well, it did not really matter. He did resist the urge to laugh at Ferrofax's annoyance.

"As swift an exit as can be achieved from an area of space surrounded by things and beings for which there are no names save God," Ferrofax said offhandedly. "I'd suggest we look for beach side property, become the new robber barons to out the old ones."

"Yes, king of the khaf-tor [Vulcan lavatory] would be a vast improvement over being guardians of the mysteries of the universe." Mrazak rolled his eyes as if Ferrofax had cracked a terrible joke that failed to land. "I believe we are done here. Everybody move out to your assignments and make ready for departure. I want to be off this rock immediately."

With that charming final word, the team dispersed again to be about their assignments.

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