Business Tricks Part 4
Posted on Sun 14th Mar, 2021 @ 3:58am by Sorra Yarime (Yari) & Lieutenant Commander Kiara Lena
1,326 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Business Not At All As Usual
Location: The Conundrum and the un-named cargo trader
Timeline: MD 1 1230
Previously ...
Yari tapped his communications device, =A=Get us out of here, Aezash.=A= but there was no Yari tapped his communications device, =A=Get us out of here, Aezash.=A= but there was no response. =A=Lucy, report.=A= he said to the AI over a new channel but there was still no reply. In the blink of an eye, his pistol was out and trained on the Orion. "What did you do!" Yari demanded.
"The Syndicate has offered a high bounty for you, alive. I only have to keep you here for a few more minutes so they can collect you. I have a dampening field so you can't contact your ship and by the time they figure it out it will be too late." The Orion tapped a button on his wrist computer and raised the shields on his ship. "Now your crew knows something's going on, but there is nothing they can do."
And now it continues....
S'lani had her staff out and the blade extended in a moment. Just as he finished speaking, she stabbed him in the chest with the six-inch blade. Not giving him time to respond, she dropped the staff and gave him a double kick to his neck and face, knocking him backward.
The Orion hit the floor hard, but he felt nothing, he was dead.
Yari walked over to the body and knelt down before he pulled of the wrist computer from the Orion's arm. "We could have used him alive to shut down the shields and dampening field." He tried to gain access to the portable computer and sighed, "It's encrypted. Let's get to the Bridge area and try to access the computer there. If he was speaking the truth, then we are up against the clock."
She hadn't meant to kill him, just keep him from shooting them. "See if it's keyed to his fingerprint," S'lani suggested. "It's possible, as it would give him quicker access than having to enter a code."
"That would be too easy." Yari took a close look at the bracelet-type device, it was small but complex. A ten-digit pad instead of a less secure fingerprint pad. "No such luck, it's got a 10 digit numeric pad."
The Vulcan nodded. "Then we go to the bridge or engineering, whichever is closer."
Yari went up to the door but it didn't open. He reached for the control pad and with a few tugs and some effort he managed to yank it from the wall. When he was younger he had learned how to hotwire certain control devices. In a matter of seconds, he had done it and the door opened.
Aboard the Conundrum, two things happened at the same time to get the sensors of the ship to sound the alarm on Aezash's control panel.
First, the sensors picked up two Orion Interceptors coming directly for them. They would be there in under three minutes. It was no wonder the trader picked this part of space to meet. The nearby nebula was interfering with long-range sensors. Secondly, the trader had raised his shields.
Aezash tried several times to contact Yari, but there was no response. The Orion had underestimated Yari and his team. He also underestimated the Conundrum. He thought she was merely a small cargo vessel with little to no defensive capability. He was wrong on all accounts. Aezash would never let his employer and savior to be captured by the Orion Syndicate. Clearly, this was a trap and that was the intent. He decloaked the vessel and began powering up the shields and weapons.
Aezash hailed Yari again, =^=Yari, if you can hear me, you have about a minute before the Orion get here.=^= He closed the channel then contacted the other onboard,
=^=Nicha, we have a couple of problems. I lost contact with the team and the ship raised its shields. To make things worse, two Orion interceptors will be on us in about a minute and a half.=^=
=^=As long as their shields are up, we can't do any damage, but can the sensors give us a constant reading? The minute they come down, I can shoot a torpedo their way. If the shields are down 15 seconds, we'll have a hit somewhere on the ship. As for the interceptors, they're pretty fast, but I think I can keep them busy for a few minutes ... maybe even cause some damage. Just tell me what you want prioritized.=^= th'Elex answered. =^=Our shields are up also, I presume?=^=
=A=If you were up here, you could help by monitoring their shields as I try to break through and beam out our team. I don't want to kill them by destroying that ship! In about a minute those interceptors are going to give us a hard time. We have decloaked, raised shields, and locked weapons on the other ship.=A=
"And if I were up there," muttered Nicha, "my shots would be a lot less accurate from the console, with more chance of killing the boss." He checked the weapons lock, made a few adjustments for precision and pin-point hits where he wanted them. He knew that with shields raised there would be less accuracy in the weapons, so he hedged his bets. Then the Andorian waited for a chance to fire, watching his own sensors.
To make things worse, the ship with Yari and S'lani onboard, went to warp right before Aezash's eyes. His jaw dropped. =A=They're gone!=A= He said into his comms.
"So, what do you think we have for options?" Yari asked.
S'lani came to his side. "We might be able to overload the power relays and cause enough of a power drain to drop shields. We could damage the shields from engineering. We could go to the bridge and take them down from there, but we may not have enough time for that. We could hide and wait for that ship. They won't be able to beam over or beam up without the shields being lowered." She raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"
Yari listened for a moment, "I think we just went to warp."
The Vulcan paused, listening. The engines had indeed changed pitch. Why were they going to warp if the syndicate was coming here? "We need to get you somewhere safe--if there is such a thing." She pulled out her small tricorder. "Perhaps we can get to a shuttle?"
Yari nodded, "I have a feeling that this ship is mainly for cargo and may not be equipped for a shuttle pod, but maybe escape pods. See if you can access the ship's computer and pull up its schematics." Yairi was hoping to find an escape pod, but where would they run to? Whoever was piloting this ship would surely just run the pod down and tractor it right back in. They would need a planet close by in which they could hide and make traps for the Pilot. Escape and evade, evade long enough for Conundrum to find them.
She nodded and quickly found a computer. It wasn't encrypted, so she found the nearest escape pod in short order. "There is one thirty meters from our current location." She indicated the direction and went ahead to make sure no one would try to stop them.
The cargo area was, fortunately, empty. They found the pod with no trouble.
Aezash cloaked the Conundrum and then plotted a pursuit course to chase down the ship that took his employer. Once the ship was at warp, he wondered why Yari brought the Andorian along. Surely he could find better help somewhere.
Aezash was thankful that the Andorian wasn't with him on his bounty hunting. Nevertheless, he grumbled under his face mask anyway. He had to find his boss and come up with a plan quickly. Unfortunately, it would involve the Andorian and the Andorian would have to accept the plan.
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