Prices Paid

Posted on Tue Aug 23rd, 2016 @ 3:32pm by Second Mate Quinton Beck & MERCHANT RANKS Fala Gaz (NPC) & Master Steward Othor Jaxz Ghost of the Second Star
Edited on on Mon Oct 31st, 2016 @ 4:17am

3,215 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Tenuous Grasp on Destiny
Location: Second Star/ Yr'zz Temple of Light
Timeline: May 10th 0917 2393

-Start-

{Sickbay}

Her hand was limp in his. She was in her better place according to Othor, and her breaths grew shallow.

“Lui… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Quinton wept in the fraction of a moment he had carved for himself to feel again. Young Vicente would live, thanks to her nobility, and he would miss her bluster in his face from this day on.

=0= Windows approaching for drop.
Kas eager to get to the surface, convinced their salvation lay in the mysterious place inside the asteroid.

"You will lay in your home, with your family. I promise. Watch over us, may the prophets guide you.

{Workbee- en route to asteroid surface.}

Beck clenched his fist, anger over their present circumstances mounting. Once again, this personal feeling of doubt clouded his sensibilities. Depriving him of even a moment's peace, the silence in the cramped pod was palpable. Fala didn't take up much room, but the extra materials and tools did, Kas was very long legged, however. Trying to control his breathing so as to maintain calm he realized Kas was looking at him in bemusement.

“Oxygen levels are sufficient I believe, are you okay?”

Beck had barely had time to squeeze Lui’s hand before scrambling to get back down for the next window. Othor had told them she was on a journey and in a good place, she felt no more pain. It was a cold comfort, to realize he left his friend dying.

“Better days, Kas.” He answered in solemnity.
She let silence settle for a moment and perked up in her seat twisting to face him. He was still in the process of flagellating himself when she spoke over his pitied affect, “Let me take your mind off of it?”
Spoken in such a way as to both ask and announce, Quint couldn't help but grin slightly and nod.
Kas struck him in the shoulder hard, and fast. Calling it a punch was underservice to the talent and speed, it hit him hard and without warning.
“Kas! How in- why did y-”
“Stop fretting, it makes us nervous.”

He winced as Fala chuckled, he looked over to her but she was busy working on several documents at once. They bore legal scripts and headings, he could only imagine what machinations she was in the works on. She paid them no mind and continued to work, one document also looking like a salary description.

“Hurts.” Beck found this to be his only reply.

“Not thinking about whatever it was; are you?” Her special smile came out, and it always seemed to work.

{Yr'zz Temple of Light}

Terrence panted as he ran towards the Lafitte slowing to a stop and analyzing the console beside the air lock. He took stock of his surroundings as he approached the airlock. It opened just the same as the one before it, which struck him as curious given the security so far.

Asking himself, “Why the control console if the door opened freely... why is there a console.”

He pinched the fabric of his shirt and let the dust fly, fanning himself as he inched his way forward. Eventually as he reached the precipice of the tube and the Lafitte he could see the crude lasers and ionized air with the dust he stirred passing through them. It was a dirty trick. Lead someone into a false sense of security and have them dismember themselves as they try and pass through the brink. He directed his attention to the console that mystified him.

He took a few scans and found that there were plasma emitters hidden somewhere amongst the mechanisms. It was a trap but it had a solution. He ran a level two particle density scan and changed the parameters. This time looking for biological material, specifically skin cells. He found beyond all hope the oils on the skin of who ever had recently been there and the fact that there were no remains lead him to believe that whoever it was had made it through unhindered.

It must not have been Vollad. He hesitated and turned back the way he came. Vollad must have gone down a fork in the path he surmised pondering his next move. These were great risks and Terrence decided he had risked enough coming this far. He would wait for his colleagues in the man chamber.

Terrence returned to the main chamber, the airlock door cycling back revealing J in the course of his duties. The hologram had a pleasant expression, and greeted him, “You came back!”

With a chill running down his spine, Terrence ignored the creature and decided the cave entrance was just as good. He donned the simple evacuation suit and stalked to the corridor, waiting for the others to return. The hologram was bewildered as Terrence ran off, "Well there you go."

Ten minutes after arriving back at the landing site, he saw Quinton walking side by side with Kas, the two of them carefully approaching the chamber. They had a sled full of parts and materials presumably for transfer and usage on the prize they were all so keen on.

Upon seeing Terrence, Fala ran to him anxious for a report. He stammered “Fala, We haven’t done much more than bring the first load down, Vollad is missing somewhere-”

“Show the ship to me, is it ready to boarded?” her eyes darted frantically, but the chamber was down a winding path. She didst show one iota of interest in Vollad.

Kas looked at Terrence sharply however, “Why were you two ever out of sight?”

Quinton stopped the conversation, every second they were on the surface, they were detectable. “Unpack the bee, get us inside and explain.”

Fala lifted a hefty sack on her shoulder, looking to everyone else to be ready to go. Moments later they took the pallet of tools and equipment into the cave mouth.

“A Female? How progressive.” Acerbic tones fell from its lips, Fala figured the hologram was clearly biased from dealing with traditionalist Male Ferengi.

Fala was looking for the hangar, her eyes only resting on the Bald hologram for a moment before moving on, unimpressed. She found the ship herself after a moment's scrutiny and the look on her face now pure unbridled joy. She ran to the window, its floor to ceiling vista unable to capture the whole ship at once.

Beck was more concerned with who wasn’t there.

Terrence was already trying to get the story out, but Quinton understood quickly enough. He was scanning, just stepped around the corner for a few minutes... He and Kas were on the same page, as per her usual.

She snapped up Terence by the collar, “ Calm yourself. Take me to the airlock, we will find him together.”

Quinton grabbed Fala and they too headed towards the interior, scanners at the ready. He activated their close range comms, “Suit up, helmets and seals active, I don't trust anything right now. Kas, you and Terrence follow the trail he found. Fala and I will check out the Cargo holds, Vollad may have had some clever ideas about hitting the treasure before anyone else. Use tight band comms if you need to contact us but otherwise meet back here in thirty if we find nothing.”

{Second Star- Engineering}

Akio delicately extracted the strands of data fiber from the dust cover, placing it in the stasis unit for temporary transfer. This was Judahs data trunk, how he spoke to and got information from the ship.It looked like golden blonde hair running from Judahs scalp, but his hair was dark black. He was now effectively isolated from the ship, only able to vocalize and make basic signal requests via the bio-chairs interface.

Akio spoke gently to him, reassuring Judah in his present state.
“Judah, this will be but a matter of hours. I’ll be right here until we can give you back your domain. You have much work to do, a whole starship awaits.”

Judah couldn’t reply, his whole body had not responded to the reanimation devices that were responsible for bringing Judah back to life. A dead nervous system simply couldn’t be fully restored once inert, the whole aspect of “it’s not dead til it's dead and warm” proving mostly correct. However if one had the inclination, they could get the brain firing, and use the body simply as a bio unit to keep the brain alive.

Akio had that inclination, and had brought Judah back to life after so many others had said he was gone. The stasis tube he was in had traveled thousands of light years as his family fought the inevitable. Judah had been injured mortally, and was not going to wake up, or ever walk and live with them. His family had left him to this fate to face it alone. Akio felt his heart break when Judah’s sister was pulled from the medbay as the stasis field lifted, and Judah died on the table.

“Okay now, your motor is hooked up, but we don't have endless charge packs.” Akio installed a large grey cylinder, one of the precious batteries left to the Second Star buying extra time for them to wiggle out of this mess.
=0= Akio to Bridge…
=0= Bridge here, Dure reporting.
Akio hesitated, he had already pulled the power unit, at this point it was simply informing the bridge he had taken one of the capacitors for Judah. It felt like old times, lying and stealing what he needed to make the impossible happen.
=0= I had to use one of the Capacitors to power Judah’s bio-unit-

Dure was no pushover or dummy, they had limited supplies and power, literally running on batteries and he pulled one without asking. Kas often had to restrain him from acting out when he felt such powerful emotions.
=0=Are you serious Akio? We have three dozen or so of them left now?" He worked it out in his head, " We dont have much more than six weeks of reserve power and you’ve allocated two days of that to-

=0= We will conserve as best we can. Judah will die if he loses power to the unit even for just a moment. With main power permanently offline here there is no choice. It will take time to get that vessel powered-
=0= Akio, They will pull that power pack right out of that chair come time that the hard choices be made. You need to find another solution.”

To himself and Judah he replied simply, “She can try.”

{Laffitte- Deck 14 Airlock}

Kas stood next to Terrence inside the airlock, the small chamber just beyond was filthy, but mechanically sound. They stopped short of the entrance due to the trap Terrence had just identified. They stared in confusion, unsure of how to bypass it.

Musing out loud as he analyzed the sub strata of the umbilical he mumbled, “So the plasma emitters would kill you outright, but where is Vollad if that were the case... The bio-matter I’m picking up isn’t Orion either.”

Kas was also taking careful scans, trying to locate the guts of this hurdle. Terrence hated mysteries, he wished Vollad would turn up, one way or the other.

“If the bio-matter isn't Orion, then possibly Yridian?” Terrence was thinking of the infamous Yr’zz who created this place.

Kas scanned as best she could, but there was little to go on. “We’d be able to determine species if we had a larger sample, we have to find the source.”

Terrence shuddered, “So we are looking for a body then.” He didnt ask, he knew, but the petulant aspects of his personality were hard to ignore.

Kas shrugged, “Well if it's past the trap we can't really find it at this time. Let’s go back see if we can get some help powering those emitters off, also try the third path, looked like systems access and the power core of the facility.”

Terrence shook his head, “No, Vollad has no interest in the mechanics of this place, he would have had to have come here, or the cargo bay.”

{Second Star- Bridge}

Dure was ordering the exocomps from the bridge, their coordination packing all of their lifes belongings into crates for transport to the surface. Each load was set in their cargo bay for pickup, four waiting presently. He had no clue what they were going to do with Judah, or Lui. Vicente was able to ride in the workbee as any passenger, but Lui would die if she was moved like that. Judah didnt fit, the bio-unit he was in was large, and simply wouldnt go through the octagonal Workbee entry.

He also thought of home. Ina had remained, the youngest needed much support, still so young and her father so far away. Chimes sounded and his attention changed to a different monitor.

The Aerowing was doing another flyover. Tasco still couldn't find them, but he had them trapped nonetheless. Trapped and whispering, using next to no power. The murderous bastard was really looking for them, it made his lip curl in anger. More than anything he desired to take this Tasco by the throat and wring the life from him.

“Dure, how may I assist.?”Othor had somehow snuck up on him, it was a routine by this point Dure stopped caring about.

“Give me a rock to throw.” His frustration over their total lack of options presently was nearing its peak.

“Be sure to lead the target, I only have one.” The voice receded as Othor continued his rounds.

Dure chuckled when a moment later a small piece of granite worn smooth from years of handling fell into his lap.

{Cargo Bay- Temple of Light}

The corridor bent only twice, and had three doors at its end, one in each direction for them. One door, directly ahead of them was sealed shut, scans showed a collapsed tunnel, but how reliable the scans were was another question. He set up a deep scan, and waited idly for a moment.

“So you still intent on your fair share of the Second Star right? That’s what you said before we found all this, so I’m just wondering.”

Fala was ignoring him, the door to their left was not locked, but revealed only a small break room where sofas, monitors, eating places etc… all lay dormant and disused.

“Way I see it, you ended your contract back there, so all of this is really just me finding something and you being here-”

“Beck,” That she used his surname, and softly, spoke volumes to her sincerity, “I would win if we ever came to contest over this prize. But I would not like the consequences, and this is more than I can manage on my own.”

Quinton had nothing to say about that. The chime sounded on his scanner. Dead end behind that door too. It left them with only one other option.

The door to their right opened after Beck applied the spanner, its simple lock overcome by the powerful device. He had to hold the door open, it was trying to remain closed. The metals did not give one inch to the spanner, something Beck found curious. Ordinarily given the effort he was applying through the tool, the steel alloy metal would be softer and peeling up. These spanners were diamond enforced Neomodium alloys. They bent Duranium hulls, what was a door made of to resist damage so easily?

Fala could hear the holo grid snapping on as she crossed a door threshold. She stopped immediately and stepped back. There was no visible separation but she knew she had heard the vacuum seal of a force field letting her in. Her nose was as keen, and even though the holodeck could mask scent, provide cover scent, it had to be told to do so. Fala smelled cooked meat, and death, though her eyes revealed nothing.

“!Quint!” she tried to find evidence on her scanner, but it showed a simple room leading to a cargo control room. “This room is a trap, I heard the snap of a force field behind me no sooner than i crossed the threshold. Its a holodeck, and it is hiding something fresh and dead in there.”

Quinton could smell it too, it was sickening how it made his stomach rumble, the fact none of them had a real meal in the last two days coming to him suddenly. He knew his appetite would be quelled when they sussed out what it was. There was over a thousand crates floating in a grid awaiting retrieval, Vollad would have come here, would have found the priciest trinket he could smuggle and kept it for himself. He forced himself to consider this was Vollad, he had to be ready for it.

He saw the distinctive swirl of holo emitters dotting the imagery, the one place they couldn’t effectively disguise was the point all light emanated from their diodes. Best he could see there were fourteen of them, likely small. Definite overkill, as the room needed no more than six emitters to be fully effective. It also occurred to him it sometimes took extreme measures to cover up a trap. This room was the vault door for a man lifetimes treasure, it wouldn’t be so simple.

“I see the emitters, do not use your phaser, but we need to disrupt the field. Seems he built a set to match the program, these doors aren’t real, this room is designed to funnel people into it. Make them try, make them walk in whatever it takes.”
“You think the other doors are the true way?”
“None of them are, we have to find the real one, the one that's hiding the entrance with it.”

Still hiding, the phaser blast was potentially detectable and they couldnt afford to be found. He pulled a sonic chisel from his toolbag and worked the rock around the invisible device shining the deception out into the room. It was one of four around the entrance. He could assume the architecture of the room was similar, and used the swirls he saw as points of reference for the actual layout. The emitter closest to him was within reach while standing outside the door to the trap room.

It was short work, and the rock piece fell with the emitter clamped into place into Becks waiting hand. They saw the color patterns shift as the others compensated, but now freed from the simulation the device shut down. Beck looked at the metal machine, an ocular export device shining like an eyeball from one side and several tentacle appendages for versatile mounting on the wall. It was high tech, beyond Federation holo technology he would need to-

“Throw it!”

Fala’s voice always cut to his core and made his stomach clench. This was no exception, given the danger he could only idly assume about as he reacted without questioning her. He pitched the rock into the room and he jumped away as he saw Fala leaping from the doorway.

An explosion inside the room ended the simulation.

-End-

To be continued

 

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