The Laffite (continued)

Posted on Fri Aug 19th, 2016 @ 11:27am by Second Mate Quinton Beck & MERCHANT RANKS Fala Gaz (NPC)
Edited on on Fri Aug 19th, 2016 @ 11:44am

3,031 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Tenuous Grasp on Destiny
Location: Yr'zz Temple of Light/ Second Star
Timeline: May 10th 0805 2393

-Start-

{Second Star- Bridge}

“Impossible!” Fala shrieked when she heard the news. The sheer size of the asteroid was large enough, but only if it were hollowed out. As their scans had shown, it was a standard asteroid, pitted and cratered, filled with porous tubes. Like an obsidian sponge, there was no cavernous area large enough for what the landing team had described. Nonetheless, the quick message they had dared to snap off had unmistakeable telemetry.

An Excelsior class Starship, refit circa 2375 given the wartime welds and patches evident. There was fire damage, weapons damage, clear evidence of engine blowout and no power signatures, but overall it was exactly what it appeared to be. They had to know more, but every time they sent a message it was a chance to be detected. They were lucky to have dodged him so far, but once Tasco found the radiation trail from their engines it would lead him directly to the Second Star.

=0= They had to get the ship in there, where is a port we can go in?
Fala sent a message without thinking, but it fizzled out into nothing. A harrumph behind her brought her attention to bear.

Fala was no tactician but she knew hiding in the asteroid was something they needed to do. Kas was back on the bridge now, Lui and Vicente out of her hands. When she looked to Fala with derision she held her finger on a button. Fala’s message earlier had broken their silence, and she had heard of the repossession talks as well, Kas had little regard left for the Ferengi ShipMaster.
“I squelched your message, we aren't trying to make this easy for him remember?”

Ignoring her, Fala analyzed the data a fifth time, each time revealing something new and exciting about the prize inside this rocky egg. She reached for the display and activated Judahs interface, “Judah, compare the results of my last search with the data on display, are there correlations along the hyperdimensional axis?”

Two waveforms compared on screen, the DNA of energy laid out in simple display. Fala was no warp theorist but she had worked on enough ships to know a warp field in action when she saw it. Starfleet had once invented a device which had sucked the vessel testing it into a universe of its own. It grew unstable as the energy to sustain this universe was insufficient but the result was for a time, like a small universe with a starship inside of it which fit neatly into a science lab on board a larger starship.

Judah highlighted data showing they matched, Fala nearly squealed in delight, she had her answer. He explained they simply had to find the vertex of the warp fields architecture and slide in sideways, "metaphysically speaking". The hard part would be moving without being seen, especially if they had to use their systems to pierce the bubble. Not hard really, impossible. They were only invisible if they were powered down and still.

“If we can afford to, we need to send another message, they need to send us the Z-plots for the Warp Geometry of the interior universe.”
This earned her a different look, one mixed with surprise and respect. Kas looked at the data and came to the same conclusions based on what she saw, Fala was right. There was for all the mystery in why it was there, technically a whole universe inside that asteroid. Setting her animosity aside for her employer, she took on the mantle of command once more and prepared a burst transmission.

{Yr’zz Temple of Light}

They all stood in a room, clearly a holodeck, and the closed door was airlock rated. Testing the room now, he saw heat, atmosphere, life support as need. They had been wandering a simulation for hours. There was only this large Chamber with off center console favoring the airlock side facing the entrance, and another series of rooms and corridors adjacent to them. For now, the hologram had their attention,

“Yr’zz was my creator, a smuggler of note. Surely, you must have heard of him,” implied the modified EMH.

“I never heard of him,” replied Beck, the others shrugged and agreed.fame and infamy worked differently, Yr’zz may have been a badass for all they knew, space was big.

Oh,” grimaced the EMH, “He must be keeping a low profile these days. I am J. Do you have any artifacts or trinkets to catalog.”
Beck didn't trust anything he saw, simply ignoring J , he turned to his people.

“Dure I want you scanning for more anomalies,” ordered Beck. “Terence check that umbilical device make sure it’s safe to walk over. Vollad keep an eye on things.”

Vollad pulled the phase pistol from his holster to the ready position. He eyeballed the holo emitters in the room with menace. If J noticed he didnt care.
“You’ll be glad to know that life support is fully functional on board the Laffite,” he chimed in, trying to be helpful.
“Be sure to double check anyway,” added Beck.

Beck went to the console, but there was no data on display, just the toggle to reactivate the holodeck. He looked to the bald hologram, dressed in Garish Yridian attire, sequined and offensive to the eye. Deciding he needed information, no matter how trustworthy he asked it question.

“Yr’zz… he built this, re-programmed you as its… caretaker?”

J beamed in pride, “Oh yes, all he did before paled to what came after as you see. The relocation to this asteroid was the beginning of his career.”
“So that starship, was something due to be scuttled, he tucked it in here somehow and they never knew.” Beck pressed on urgently, “Where are we exactly?”

J motioned and a holo display arose showing the asteroid as Beck knew it. The tunnel they came in was highlighted, and a small room had four dots in it which he presumed was their location in the holodeck. The same room also showed again, in an overlap, where there were no dots or features, just formless rock.

“Yr’zz was able to bring the Laffite inside of a dimensional fold device, which came through that access tunnel he dug.We are presently in the Dimensional Oscillation Chamber, for transition to the universe interior.”

As Beck began to form a hundred other questions he received a burst transmission, despite his earlier orders to maintain silence. Fala and Kas were together on the bridge and risked a data set showing their scans and data collected. It was confirmation on much of what they saw, and this was starting to become too good to be true.

This was the moment he had hoped for, this was their escape and recovery all rolled together. “ J, prepare an inventory, ships diagnostics, transmit it to this device Vollad, take stock for your report to Master Othor and remember don’t go on that ship until I get back.” He held up a data storage device, and it immediately began receiving data.

“Vollad, Terrence, prepare the tools, get us ready to go on board that ship asap. Dure and I are going to run this back to Second Star, we can’t risk another transmission. It looks like we can’t land her in here which is what Fala is asking for, but I think…” Beck stopped speaking for a moment, deciding to hold the cards close to his chest.

“Just be ready to set up shop over there. We will be back soon.”

The two men left their tools behind and ran up the tunnel exit leading to the workbee. Terrence glared at Vollad when he pulled another Jum Jum Bar from his pocket and began to chew noisily.

{Second Star)

“Did you get checked for radiation,” pleaded Dure the very moment he saw his wife in the corridor. She was pale blue even in the dimness of the emergency lighting. He’d spent the entirety of his mission in a state of anxiety. She’d been in the sick bay for hours that lasted eternities in Dure mind. Each of Beck’s orders had been a tiny torture and each moment she’d kept him waiting was an agony.

“I wasn’t exposed for that long, love” sighed Kas as she embraced him.

“You’re right we have good news though. You were always right. You said one more mission and here we are.”

She was beginning to see a spark in him she hadn’t seen since their youth. When his jaw was a bit more square than round about the bottom when at least the three of them wanted the stars and were free. Ina was always the nurturer and a sort of princess in their midst as she and her husbands filled the purse. “Oh,” she replied. “Um, thank you.”

“I never thought I’d hear you say that, old boy,” Avor replied as he embraced his husband and patted him firmly on the back.

“There’s an Excelsior class in that asteroid,” Dure beamed at them and smiled broadly.

“He’s sick,” chided Avor, “sick in the head. You’ve come down with some kind of stellar madness.”

“”No I checked the readings and had a bit of rudimentary exercise to uncover the holographs. It’s thee though I promise. Beck has the data they’re confirming as we speak.”

{The Bridge}

The Andorran trio burst onto the bridge where Fala and Beck lean over a console. Judah and Akio watch in the sick bay as their likenesses were projected onto the view screen. “Is it true,” cried Kas.

“I can’t see any reason why not,” replied Fala, “but I’ll still have to see it for myself.”

She looked happy, Avor and Dure both loved to see her smile, it was rare these days, but she wore it well. With spirits soaring she asked more, “Is there anything we can use to help Lui and Vicente, make` repairs?”

Akio answered from sickbay, “No, there was nothing I could do for Lui. Othor has helped her ease into a restful state, but she doesn't have much longer.”
Quinton also loved to see Kas smile, but it was lost on her the moment she heard that. He never knew how to comfort her, she internalized everything, refused to be comforted. He tried though, “Vicente will make a full recovery, you saved him. He almost saved her-”

Kas silenced him gracefully with her eyes, and as he trailed, she spoke up, “Repairs then, or is the plan to use the… Lafitte somehow?”

Quinton and Fala shared a triumphant moment when they showed her the schematics of their find. The ship was heavily damaged, and missing vital parts. Hull breaches and torn sections marred the surface all over, though they saw repairs had been made recently. It was powered by the dock, and what systems remained were functional.

“No core, no Computer, no Impulse, life support on maybe half the decks that arent totally exposed to space, oh... and no power plant.
Dure’s face fell, “Otherwise known as a brick.”

Fala raised a finger, her plan with Beck had not yet been told.

“The Captain and I believe we can make use of what remains of the Second Star to get the Lafitte Functional. My recovery teams will be here soon, that ship is our safe haven, and…” She wanted Beck to have this moment, it was his hard work that got them here.

Beck nodded in gratitude, “There is no reason we can’t make that ship ours. I do not intend to sell it, I intend we live in it.”
There was that smile again, the three men who loved her all saw it, Kas had hope.

{Yr’zz Temple of Light- Chamber}

“I’m still trying to get a bead on the biologicals I’m seeing. It's just inert dust materials but they gotta be from somewhere?” Terrence scanned the adjacent tunnels near the Chamber.

Meanwhile Vollad had taken up position near the airlock door trying to see through to the other side. All he could see was the ship was dark, and there were other compartments simply floating in the null gravity. He let Terrence wander around while they waited for further orders, the small man was being bothersome.

As mere minutes crawled by with no response, Vollad impatiently asked J, “It is safe to go over to that ship right? I lift the airlock, and nothing bad happens right?”

J stopped the housekeeping routine he had used to occupy the time so far.

“It is certainly safe to open the airlock.” He replied in a certain atonal manner, it piqued Vollads ear.

Vollad insisted “So, can you open the door, its safe to go through?

J hesitated, the reply, “It is safe to go in the air lock.” repeated J.

He could detect no insincerity in the holograms voice and gazed over at Terence as he slipped over the curves of the asteroid hard at work exploring the source of the methane traces. He licked his emerald lips with his ruby red tongue and inched his way towards the airlock. It opened with a hiss as he approached and he passed through unhindered.

“Captain said not to go to the ship… fair enough.”

Vollad faced a three way split in the path, one lead to the stations power supply, the other to that docked ship. This last one had to lead to the Cargo bay, which could retrieve the floating troves.

“Not going to the ship, yes sir yes sir.”

{Yr’zz Temple of Light- Chamber}

Terence arrived at the source of the methane trail. He was standing in the dust and the silence of the asteroid's surface. He could see the debris adrift in the void all around him. It was staring up at him; pale in the night hollow where two eyes should have been. The dessicate around him concealed it well but he was finding traces of other organic materials. A fragment large enough to analyze properly fell into his hand as he sifted the dust where his readings indicated the matter.

The smooth Ivory piece had a triple helical molecular structure, a composition of hydroxyapatite, various minerals and crystals, calcium. It was only the size of a pea, sanded by erosion and heat but the scanner made a few intuitive leaps showing specific points along the collagen fibres serving as nucleation sites for mineral crystals.

“The hell?!”

It was a bone, an organic fossil on a rolling rock in space.

Terrence felt panic flood his senses, He hit his comm but only static remained, Second Star was not routing comms. Fearing the surface for its real dangers more than anything inside the cave, he ran back inside, towards the Chamber once more.

{Yr’zz Temple of Light- Cargo Bay Access}

Volllad made his way down the umbilical tube that ran from the asteroid to the cargo bay. His boots clopped along the monotanium ground beneath him. He had a sack with him, empty, but not for long, the simple path laid out for him. He never stopped to consider that it was far too easy, his mind was already years ahead to when he his own estate and a true wife. The seals hissed the first door opened to receive him, he didnt hear it when it failed to close shut but rather vanish entirely.

Vollad continued down the corridor where he came to see a vessel. Primed and ready, this strange craft was sitting,waiting. The vessel was sleek, his style exactly, and it's open hatch revealed a shining prize. Within the vessel were clearly on display a variety of Latinum coins pressed into Gold alloys, the face of each of them a sharp figured female Orion. The gold was really just a simple gold coin, worthless, and the shuttle just a standard pond skipper. His eye was what painted the scene, the dangers not apparent.

“Torisa?!” He whispered the name of his beloved, the impossibility of all of the information confusing him. The gas billowing into the room shimmered through the holo projection slightly, the light flickered one bit. His addled mind saw this too late, Vollad collapsed, gasping, seeing dreams and visions only he would know.

{Second Star- Othors Quarters}

During Ritual Silence, a solemn intoned chant, the words only formed by thought. Deep in meditation, his sense raw and exposed in the tumult, a feeling came to him from somewhere else. With a startle, his awareness was pulled from Bajor, from the life of Lui Kania.
He swooned, the implications vitally important despite his work.

=0= Captain, it is Vollad.”

{Yr’zz Temple of Light- Ante-Chamber}

Terence’s breath quivered as looked down at the face that had once been. The Bone matter matched DNA in his database. This bone belonged to a Ferengi, Krik Sal-Fosst of the Tzenkethi Coalition, he was a feared raider and had once preyed on the unwary in these far border regions. If Krik was dead, here, then where was Yr’zz, and was Krik murdered?

“Oh, you’ve met Lyle,” whispered J behind him.
“AHFUKSH WHA TTHE “ Terence leaped out of his skin, then turned to the hologram in alarm. He stood there, the opposite of menace bedecked in servant's garb and covered in grotesque sequins.

“Are you losing weight Lyle you look good,” chimed J.

Terrence felt his heart hammering his throat, he was near panic.

He stammered out finally, “Where’s Vollad?”

“He’s in the interior,” answered J.

Terence bolted in search of his colleague and unthinkingly made for the Lafitte via the airlock. He screamed into his comms, but there was no answer. The airlock door slides to a closed as J stands, a prisoner to the room.

“I hope you come back!” J yells as it closes, but he didn't think Terrence heard.

There was silence for just a moment as J watched Terrence fade into the darkened interior.

“Why do they never come back?”

-End-

Quinton Beck

Othor Jaxz

Fala Gaz

 

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