Too Close for Comfort Part Two
Posted on Sat 19th Aug, 2023 @ 7:44am by Commander Zed & Commander T'Venderath & Elizabeth Anderson M.D. & Renato Solis & Criswell Sandbags
Edited on on Mon 4th Sep, 2023 @ 7:22pm
1,375 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Neither Yours Nor Mine
Location: USS Thunderchild/ USS Comfort somewhere near the Abrades System
Timeline: MD15 1144 hours
{USS Comfort, Medical Admin Spaces}
J'Noor aimed his polaron disruptor at the oldest of his five captives, who all had their hands up. She wore a medical officer's uniform, had silver hair, distinctive Trill patterns and an understandably stricken look on her face. He assumed her to be the one in charge. "Stenophyl, where do you have it?"
That earned a look of mild incredulity. "Stenophyl? All this for… Why do you want that?"
"None of your business why I want it!" J'Noor said. "I know you have a hundred liters aboard. Show me!"
Another doctor chimed in, she carried the air of rank as well, "Stenophyl is used to treat anaphylactic shock in many non-humanoids. You can't use it as a narcotic-"
“Jenna, do not engage!” The Trill with silver hair was in charge, the lesser stopped talking immediately.
"Orions are scum, thieves, you are all rotten to the core!" Pallatso shouted, intent to draw the attention away from the civilians.
J'Noor, already feeling on edge for how long this boarding was taking, reached over and grabbed the man in yellow by his collar. He put his disruptor under the man's chin, which didn’t waver. Defiance was writ in the man's eyes, staring at his would-be killer as if challenging him to take action.
"Wait!" The silver-haired woman said.
A voice erupted from J'Noor's communicator. It was one of the men he had left on the bridge. "Brother, trouble. New ship on the sensors."
J'Noor released his captive with a disdainful shove and pulled his communicator off his belt. "Tell me, brother."
"Moving to intercept us...increasing speed...definitely Federation."
"Increase our speed," J'Noor replied. "Blow the engines if you have to. Signal the Demon to keep up, and stand by on her weapons."
"Understood. Do you have the stuff?"
"Working on it." He put the communicator down and raised his pistol again. "Now, who am I shooting until I get what I want?"
Then, another interruption. It was another one of his men coming through the door. He had a phaser rifle in one hand, and a terrified Ktarian lab technician being pulled by her hair in the other. "Brother, this one knows."
Commander Abalasz spoke up in her most stern voice, "Do not hurt her." Then she spoke again to her crew, "K'rrit, cooperate with his demands."
J'Noor turned to the tearful young woman with a smile. "Show me."
{TurboLift One, Bridge, USS Comfort}
Lieutenant Michaels and his team would have simply used a site-to-site transport to get to the Bridge, but the intruders used some type of transport inhibitor that prevented anyone from beaming off the Bridge or onto it. When the turbolift stopped the team had their weapons ready, he gave one last command to his team, "Stun only, we need them alive." Unfortunately, the door did not open. Michaels dropped to one knee and pulled off his pack. reaching in, he pulled out a set of magnetic door clasps. He stood and attached the devices to the door and tried to side the door open, but nothing happened. "it's sealed." he said as he turned to one of the team members, "Bypass the lock."
The team member pulled a small tool kit from a belt pouch and began pulling tools out that would help him in his task. He used one to force a small access panel open so he could 'Hotwire' the door.
"How long?" the leader asked.
"Five minutes max." the other said without looking back.
"Okay, keep at it," Michaels replied.
All over the Comfort Security teams chased sensor ghosts that were believed to be boarding parties. One might suspect that this was an inside job.
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Swift Demon
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Stuelpe sat at the center chair of the Swift Demon, leaning forward and rubbing his horned knuckles as if he were child Broot again and the small white spikes were just beginning to form. Taking the chair was only temporary for Stuelpe until the boarding party returned with their loot, but he was dreading a battle with another Federation starship. Broots loved to fight, but they preferred to do so face-to-face, fist-to-fist. These Starfleet types, though... they'll just incapacitate your ship and take you into custody. What cowards!
Still, they were on their way and no doubt it would be one of their armed cruisers fully prepared to incapacitate their ship and take everyone into custody.
Stuelpe spat at the thought, then turned round to the tactical station. "Where is that starship now?" he demanded with the volume and projection that could shatter a kidney stone.
"Four minutes to intercept," the Farian woman sitting there said. She sounded much calmer than she felt. "It'll be tight." She looked up at Stuelpe. "Do we fight?"
Stuelpe gritted his sharp teeth in frustration. It hadn't been easy stealing a ship whose class and type would be unknown by most in this sector. It had been much more difficult tracking the Federation supply routes to find a medical ship small enough to infiltrate with an abundance of the medicine and supplies of which their people were in terrible need.
Stuelpe looked around the bridge. The young faces, hardly warriors themselves, were likely to meet their doom against any large Starfleet cruiser. Stuelpe didn't want to have to make that decision, but as long as he sat in that chair, he remained in command. He swallowed and refocused his gaze onto the viewscreen.
"We'll do what we must, Sister," he replied with resolve. They'd been over this plan and had considered just about every contingency. "Older Brother knows what he's doing," he added, not only trying to reassure himself but the rest of the crew as well.
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USS COMFORT
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Ten shiny, metallic, safety-locked canisters. Each one emblazoned with the insignia of Starfleet Medical. J'Noor nodded with satisfaction. "And they're even strapped down to the pallet for easy transport," he said to himself. He whipped out his communicator. "Retrieval team to bridge. What's your status?" The way the ship was shuddering he knew they were already pushing it beyond the limits.
"Brother, there's a security team outside. They're working their way in," came the nervous reply.
"Get out of there," J'Noor said. "We're all set down here. Rig the helm if you can." He switched off and looked around. "Ahn! Let's go!"
Ahn appeared in short order. He had been perusing the refrigerated storage. Now he was carrying a heavy-looking box by the handles and had a grin on his face. "Bio-mimetic gel! There's lots of it!"
J'Noor shook his head. "No, brother. That's not the plan!"
"But we can make a fortune selling it!"
J'Noor clenched his jaw and his fists. Here he was sweating the ticking clock and this idiot was shopping. There was no more time to argue, however. "Fine, but just the one box. Let's go!" He slapped the transport marker on the stenophyl. The blinking light indicated it was transmitting.
Unbeknownst to them, another marker was inside the clasp of the strap, standard protocol for controlled substances and built into every single one.
{USS Thunderchild}
"Captain, the Comfort is running, but she is no match for us. Weapons range in 60 seconds!" The Operations Officer said.
As they'd approached their target ... goal, Elizabeth substituted the word ... the doctor on the bridge had relaxed slightly, but she tensed up again as they approached the Starfleet vessel which had been breached. She was tempted to pray for all of them ... but did any of the Gods she thought existed listen to her?
"Target the engines only, those are our people over there and I do not want any casualties because of us. Hail them, and let's see if anyone responds." She tapped a button on her arm console, =A=Sabre Teams One through Five. prepare for assault.=A= Zed closed the channel without acknowledgment. She knew the teams were already on standby and would transport over to the Comfort to secure key locations and Security teams would transport over to search the rest of the ship for Pirates.
"No response from the Comfort."
"Keep trying, maybe we'll get lucky." Being Vulcan, Zed didn't believe in luck, but she said it for the other's benefit.
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