Business Tricks Part 5
Posted on Sat 17th Apr, 2021 @ 10:58pm by Lieutenant Commander Kiara Lena & Sorra Yarime (Yari) & Nicha th'Elex
Edited on on Thu 22nd Apr, 2021 @ 3:52am
1,597 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Business Not At All As Usual
Location: The Conundrum and the un-named cargo trader
Timeline: MD 1 1230
Previously ...
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.
And now this story continues....
Aezash held the Conundrum back at extreme sensor range. He was optimistic that the trader's vessel lacked the sophisticated sensors that the Conundrum used for Bounty Hunting. He needed a plan to get the team back safely. He didn't care for the Andorian, nor did he wish to work with him, but Yari had hired him and kept him.
Aezash might have been able to pull off the rescue alone since he had Lucy, the Cunundrum's AI, to help him out, but he couldn't take the chance. He needed Nicha's help to be sure of a positive outcome.
Aezash wasn't sure why Nicha was scared to death of the Bridge. The control panels there were much more sophisticated than the ones down in auxillary weapons control where Nicha had been hiding, but since he needed Nicha he would go down and talk to him in person, they needed a plan. "Lucy, take over for me. I'm going to go down and talk to Nicha. We need to come up with a plan to get Yari back. Maintain maximum distance on the cargo vessel and inform me if anything changes."
Aezash got up out of his seat and headed below decks to Auxillary Weapons Control.
"Understood," came the female voice.
A few minutes later, the Breen entered the much smaller area known as Auxiliary Weapons Control, "Nicha, we need a plan to rescue the team, for Yari's sake we need to work together."
"Yeah, we do," th'Elex said. "It's hard when you keep trying to force me to do things the way you would do them. I don't work well on the bridge. Why doesn't matter. I work much more efficiently down here, but you seem determined to keep me from doing my best. So what is it you want me to do, Aezash? Just tell me, and I'll get it done from right here."
"I shouldn't have to leave my post to come talk to you about a plan to get Yari back, but we need a plan. We're cloaked right now, so they won't see us coming until it's too late. I'll drop the cloak when we are close, and we need to hit them hard and knock out their warp drive and shields. We'll both beam over and strike quickly. Are you okay with that?" he asked.
"Yep, I can do that," Nicha replied.
"There's the pod!" Yari said as they came around a corner. "Will it hold both of us?" he asked her. Yari was ready to get off this ride. He had no idea who was flying the ship or where they were taking him, but it wasn't good. Hopefully, they could escape in the pod without anyone noticing. If they found out, it would be a short escape.
She looked at a diagram by the button. "It will be a bit tight, but adequate." The door stuck from lack of use, but S'lani got it open and looked inside briefly. She turned to Yari and nodded. "After you."
Yari climbed in the tight capsule-looking escape vehicle and moved over as far as he could to make room for S'lani. He tapped the seat right beside him, "Come on in, or would you rather sit in my lap?" He smiled at her. Truth was, it would be a very tight fit. Obviously, the escape pod was made for one person only, but they would make do.
She chuckled as she carefully stepped in. "That would be one way to guard your body."
She pushed the launch button and sat next to him. "I do not wish to put anything of yours to sleep." She had to press against him so they would both fit.
The pod shot out of the small ship near the aft section, jerking the occupants from the quick acceleration. "Scan for a habitable planet nearby. This escape will be for nothing if we can't hide somewhere," Yari said.
The drop out of warp was not pleasant. S'lani pulled up the pod's control panel and set it to find the nearest habitable planet. After several seconds, it locked on to a course. "Found one about five minutes away at present speed." Then it would be a matter of the Conundrum finding where they dropped out of warp.
"I hope it takes the cargo ship pilot a few minutes to realize that we escaped and a few more minutes to find out where we dropped out of warp. If he's too fast, then we won't make it down to the surface. Just in case we do, start scanning for mineral deposits that can hide us from sensors," Yari said as he thought of things that would give them an advantage. They needed all they could get.
"Good idea." She searched the area and found a small planetoid on the edge of the system. "We will pass the planetoid on our way to the M-class planet. If the ship spots us, we can hide there."
"Get us there, quickly. I think we'll have company soon." Yari said.
Aboard the Tetrac the console sounded an alarm. Mendar jumped at the sudden sound, when it startled him. Ever since the Orion Syndicate man had been killed aboard his ship, he had been on edge. He had shut down the video from the cargo bay and nearly freaked out when that female Vulcan killed the Orion.
Mendar decided to run. His brother, Tord, would know what to do, so he headed for home. Unfortunately, an escape pod had jettisoned mid-warp and Mendar figured the prisoners had escaped. Without them, he had nothing. He would be a dead man, especially with the Orion dead on his ship.
He dropped out of warp and spun the Tetrac around to scan for the pod. Finding it on sensors, he went to full impulse. It would take him twenty-five minutes to retrieve the pod and he dare not try a warp micro jump to get there sooner.
S'lani increased speed to maximum. If they didn't get to safety, it wouldn't matter if they had extra fuel.
Ten minutes later, the sensors pinged another ship. The Vulcan hoped it was the Conundrum. "I am picking up the Tetrac," she said. "We will reach the planet ten minutes before we are in transporter range."
"Good, that should give us enough time to find a safe place to hide from sensors. It will bring the pilot down to us and I think that we have the better odds." Yari said as he thought about their next move. If there were only a couple of pirates left on that ship, they could hold out for the Conundrum.
The Conundrum had dropped out of warp right behind the other ship and moved in close for the extraction. Aezash scan;ned the vessel then scanned it again and again and came up with the same conclusion each time. Yari and S'lani were not aboard any longer. They had left in an Escape Pod. Aezash was a bit ruthless, he was Breen and he felt double-crossed. You never double-cross a Breen. He tapped his com-badge, =^=Aezash to Nicha, do what you want with that ship, Yari is no longer aboard, he has escaped. Decloaking now, diverting power to weapons...=^=
Although Nicha mentally rubbed his hands together, he kept the actual hands on the firing screen and sent torpedoes toward the enemy vessel. When five were away, aimed at different sections of the ship, he stopped to evaluate the damage.
"Ship is dead in space," he reported to Aezash. "Want it blown to particle dust?"
=A=Feel free to get rid of it.=A= Aezash said before he thought of something, =A=Wait, Yari wouldn't want that, it's not necessary. Feel free to give him more to repair though.=A=
Was Aezash growing weak because of Yari's ideals? He hoped not. If he had been alone and not on a mission with Yari, he would have destroyed that ship without losing any sleep. He had already begun to run his fingers over his control panel to begin scanning for the escape pod.
Another bell chimed on the pod's screen. "Another ship dropped out of warp," S'lani announced. "We will reach the planet in five minutes." It should be the Conundrum, but if not, they were almost at the planet where they could hide and prepare to attack the Orions. She made preparations for the landing.
An alarm sounded on Aezash's console, =^=Acrivating cloak, the Orions found us...somehow. They're between us and the planet!=^= Aezash quickly activated the Cunundrum's cloak. More than likely the Orions didn’t have time to detect the Conundrum before she cloaked. Aezash plotted an intercept course with the two Orion Interceptors. Hopefully with a little luck and that they should be able to hit the Orions with a surprise attack gave the Conundrum the advantage. They needed to get to the Orions before they located the escape pod, however.
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