To Market, To Market to Buy a Fat Slave

Posted on Tue 11th Feb, 2020 @ 2:04am by Krell House of Mer'uk & T'Vala
Edited on on Sun 9th Aug, 2020 @ 10:58pm

1,716 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Nameless 4th Planet in the Pirate System
Timeline: MD 4, 1530

In another post ... Krell grasped the door handle, opened the door and went in before Durn could say anything. Durn and the other warriors followed Krell inside....

Back in the village market, several vendors were closing their booths. As T'Vala and Regos watched, more and more began to shut down, as if at a private signal the two women hadn't heard. Lissi looked at the Vulcan. "Was it something I said? Or did we miss a signal? We really do need to leave, right now." She turned back toward the direction from which they'd come, noting more men leaning on buildings, and one or two staring openly at her and the ambassador.

Wrapping the scarf around her head and flinging the ends behind her shoulders, Regos hissed, "In fact, we might be a little late. Ambassador, drag out your diplomacy. I think we might need it. I plan to smile and nod demurely as we walk back where we came from."

And now the rest of the story ....

T'Vala gave no outward sign that she heard an understood, but she no longer appeared to be a nondescript shopper. She was more authoritative, more confident. She picked up two decorative ropes with weighted balls on either end and handed enough coins to the merchant who was on his way out to make it worth his while. She wrapped one around her waist, and held the other in her hand, careful to leave enough rope to use it as a weapon, if needed.

Then she strode confidently down the aisle toward their destination, hoping there would be no trouble. It wasn't that she couldn't handle herself--especially with Lissi by her side. She'd been in tight situations before. It was that she didn't want a fight, as it would make it harder for Krell to get his prisoners away.

Regos kept up with the Vulcan ambassador, remaining to her left and half a step behind her, as if they were still interested in looking around. All her looking, however, was trying to spot anyone who could be considered a threat. Most of what she observed was fear, and she thought she could guess what caused the fear, but she didn't see anyone she'd consider an enforcer or a threat. The people here, if this was a regular base for the pirates, probably knew enough to be afraid without someone standing over them, cracking a whip.

---

Krell and his warriors had entered the building, the stench of unsanitary beings flooded their nostrils. Metal cages filled this dimly lit, single room building. As Krell looked around, not only did he find the Klingons that he was looking for, but there were humans, Vulcans, Bajorans, Bolians and a few other species that made up about 63 slaves in all.

“Get those cages open so we can get them out of here, all of them,” Krell ordered. Durn found the keys hanging on the wall near the door and began unlocking the cages. “Everyone out, let's go!” Durn said to them. One by one the slaves exited their cage and neared the door, where Krell waited for them to gather, so they could exit the building and escape.

Krell opened the door to make sure it was clear. “Alright, let’s move out quietly.” He pulled out his disruptor and began leading the slaves through the alleyway.

As T'Vala and Regos rounded the last corner away from the market place, the lieutenant glanced to her left, and then put out a hand to stop the ambassador, lifting her chin to point toward the men in the alley next to them.

T'Vala stopped to slip her purchases into an inside pocket, nodding once at the lieutenant to let her know she saw and understood. She glanced around to make sure there was no one that looked like a threat. It was clear for the moment.

Back in the alley behind the building, the slaves began to move out down the alley heading south. Krell activated his communications device, =A=Krell to the d'k tahg.=A= All Krell received was static.

"Perhaps we are too close to the power source in the building and it is interfering with communications with the ship. It does seem to be old technology," Durn suggested.

Krell nodded, "Okay, let's get these people out of this town and then get them transported up to the ship." Krell looked around as the last of the slaves came out of the building, "Okay, everyone, keep going south and keep it quiet. They can't know we're moving." Krell began to advance quickly to get to the front as the large group moved slowly.

"I propose we walk parallel to the ambassador and his rescues," Lissi said, moving to follow her own suggestion. "If something goes wrong, maybe we can be the surprise in the cake."

"I concur," T'Vala said. Her stride lengthened while she appeared to slow down so she kept pace and appeared to be strolling. For a Vulcan, acting casual wasn't that difficult.

All seemed to go well until the large band of escapees were seen. An alarm sounded in the small town, and Krell was hit in the shoulder by an energy blast. He growled out loud as he grabbed his shoulder. Blood oozed through his fingers as he held pressure on the wound. “It’s time to run now!” Krell yelled out as Durn ran over to him and fired at the one who had shot Krell.

Glancing at the Vulcan ambassador, Regos asked, "Do you think that was an order?" A quick look around showed they were not yet a target for attack. "Or should we continue as we are? Or perhaps ... a rear action against the opposition?" She already felt bad that she had not kept Krell out of the line of fire, no matter how hard he might be to corral. It was still her job to protect him.

A brief smile touched T'Vala's mouth. "I believe we should respond with a surprise action to their rear." She glanced at a row of garbage cans near a wall. "I can throw those."

Lissi nodded, "Garbage is always a good distraction." They headed toward the bins, with the lieutenant hoping they were empty or mostly so. It should take the place of her morning workout to toss them around.

T'Vala, to the contrary, hoped the bins were full. The mess they would cause would add to the distraction. She picked up the largest and heaviest one and threw it with all her Vulcan strength, knocking down one of the opponents. Nodding with satisfaction, she went for another.

The first bin Regos threw would have been a direct hit, but the target moved and it glanced off his shoulder, still making him stagger and put a hand against the wall, effectively removing his weapon from the fight. He shook his head to clear it and turned in her direction just as another missile arrived. That knocked him down, and he stayed down.

Realizing they were being attacked from two directions, the pirates still standing glanced at each other for direction. Apparently, one of those taken down by garbage was the leader of the group.

Durn fired another shot at the once that had Krell and him pinned down. "You are a Klingon warrior, Krell. How could he get the drop on you?" Durn opened his first aid kit and applied a powder that would slow the bleeding.

"He didn't." Krell said. "I saw the reflection of light off of his weapon and sidestepped when he fired. If I hadn't, I would be dead."

"Well, if you saw the reflection as he fired then why didn't you just get out of the way?" Durn asked as he fired again, hitting one of the shooters.

"There was one of the slaves to my side. If I had moved out of the way then they might have been killed so I decided to take it in the shoulder, I knew I would survive." Krell replied.

"You are the Klingon Ambassador to Star Fleet, you have no right to endanger your life like that, many people are depending on you to help them," Durn said.

"These people are depending on me as well and I must do what I think is honorable," Krell replied.

Durn fired another shot, taking out the last one firing at them from this side. "Let's get you to your feet so we can get out of here, the bleeding has stopped for now." Durn gave Krell a hand getting to his feet and the two warriors moved with the crowd.

T'Vala held her position, looking around to make sure no other pirates showed up to attack the Klingons or the slaves. "If we keep a safe disance, we can forestall any other attacks," she suggested.

Krell's communications device crackled, =^=Ambassador Krell, are you okay, we're detecting weapons fire.=^=

=^=I'm fine, get a lock on the people that are moving along with me and begin beaming them all up as quickly as you can and have Security take them to the cargo bay. Feed them what you can and make them as comfortable as possible. They have been mistreated. =^= Krell ordered.

=^=Understood.=^= Was the only reply back and Krell saw the slaves being beamed up by his ship. It would take a minute or two to get everyone on board.

Regos smiled at the Vulcan ambassador. "It looks like that's our cue to get in line to get back on board. I'm sure Ambassador Krell would prefer to get you on as soon as possible, and not cause an intergalactic event by your getting injured somehow. Nice throwing, by the way. You can be on my discus team anytime."

"Discus?" T'Vala asked. She thought for a moment. "Was that not an ancient Greek sport?"

"Yes ... but I'm not old enough to attended then," Lissi quipped.

After a couple of minutes the majority of the slaves had been beamed up to the Klingon ship, now all that remained were a few slaves, T'vala, Lieutenant Regos, Krell and his warriors. The two women and slaves were transported next leaving Krell and his warriors. The warriors encircled Krell, protecting him until they too were beamed up to the ship.

 

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