To Scratch or Rend Pt3

Posted on Tue 13th May, 2025 @ 4:02pm by Commander Heriah Rex & Rautha & Captain Gordon Francis & Commander Entaaro Nasz & Commander Anslo Tol

1,833 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Phoenix Gamble
Location: SB109 Airspace
Timeline: Current

{Pallon, Trill Seeker Ship}

With SB109 and the airspace around it in view, Rautha took no time to look upon the traffic encircling the starbase. He immediately worked the controls to bring up a repeating hail.

"Starbase 109, this is the Trill Seeker Ship Pallon. We are a crew of 3. Damaged. Injured. Injuries are not life threatening. Damage to ship is life threatening. Life Support failing. Only 2 remaining hours of breathable air left. Lowering polarization of my hull for your scan. Requesting permission to dock for repairs. Respond. Over."

Rautha hit send then sat back and waited.

Anslo had a secret, one that had paid off in spades over the years. A trick that Tol had given him with a memory from a former life. He had positioned himself for a time in orbit of some rich people, made sure to be the one to save their lives as a disaster struck. sometimes he was even the harbringer. There had been close calls before, and he made sure that his name would ring bells in several halls, drawing support from the Universe itself.

He needed to be arrested, he needed to escape this ship and find a path to being submitted to processing. The Federation wouldn't hand him over right away as Starfleet would press their claim as well. His status within the fleet was mixed, some found his plight sympathetic, others looked only at the bodies in his wake. So he played it low, and feigned much greater injury than he felt. Biding time..."

Rizhkyn awoke in a fair amount of pain, the containment fields had kept him from the majority of harmful energies but the pressure wave and confinement had effectively given him pressure sickness. It was like a hammer had been dropped on his toe, but the whole body responded. He would never let anyone outside of his family even know if he was in pain, and the formidable Rautha had not lost consiousness.

So he delicately sat up, taking stock of the situation, and spotted Anslo asleep in a bunk across from his own. Derision almost sprung up within him but monastic discipline banished personal thoughts. A portion of him wanted to flay Anslo alive, for the sins he carried. However the goal was to peacefully recover Tol, Anslo was a safe place to carry Tol, an emergency extraction was dangerous, so Rizhkyn found contentment in the victory of securing Anslo with minor injuries. Three other teams had failed, left dead or missing, Rizhkyn was determined to be ready.

He nonetheless found himself bowing to a whisper, hoping his hunch was correct and that Anslo was awake.

"Make no mistake, I will transport Tol back to Trill in a limbless torso if you try anything like that again. Surgical. Amputation." Rizhkyn stood up in a grimace to move to the forward segment of their single room suite.

Anslo believed every word, wondering if the whisper was for menace, or to hide the threat from Rautha. Nevertheless he remained still.

{SB109 Central Ops}

"This is Captain Gordon Francis, Starbase 109. We've received your message, please stand by." The Captain furrowed his brow and turned to his Tactical officer. "Commander Nasz, what do you have on the Pallon?" he said with urgency in his voice. Francis stood in Main Ops near where that nuisance of a chair had once been. He was glad he ordered maintenance to remove it. The room felt more open and less congested now that people didn't have to walk around a pointless chair.

"Inconclusive sir, I am gathering information as we speak. Scans show three Trill on board, one of them might be in critical condition. Alpha decay particles suggest a weapons discharge on board possibly, damages to their coolant system have compromised both propulsion and atmospheric regulators. Life Support failing... there are weapons and other equipment I cannot make out on board but the ship itself has only a forward Tetryon disruptor cannon, disabled.... Pallon registry confirmed by Starfleet intelligence as Trill government official courier."

The response from Starfleet came with a request for contacting the Trill Symbiosis Commission immediately if this ship was in any kind of trouble. It was flagged for the CO only, but Entaaro had long ago unlocked the cyphers on incoming messages, as was tradition amongst his ilk.

'Trill government official courier.'

"Trill government official courier," Heriah said with sarcasm. "Sir, that is a Trill Military Special Elite seeker ship," she said while pointing at its indicator on the viewscreen. 'Trill government official courier' is just a way of saying they don't want you to know the situation exactly." She went to the sandtable in the middle of the room and brought up that region of space, demarked the ship's journey. "Those ships are generally used in surgical strikes, search and rescue, espionage and usually have a crew of no more than 3 Elite Forces and are highly trained. Considering where they are coming from, where we have been getting many reports of pirate activity, it is likely they encountered pirates; H'Tek, Kr'Torg, take your pick. But that ship is showing minimal outward damage. Commander Nasz," she said as she looked his way briefly, "indicated internal damage. That means there was a struggle on board that ship. My gut tells me..."

'your gut. Pfftt.'

"...tells me that they managed to avoid a shooting battle but, whatever or whomever they are carrying has caused a struggle aboard and between them."

"Suggestions, Commander Rex?" Francis inquired, carefully considering the situation. He was grateful for Rex's knowledge and insight. Her information was a major game changer, for a lot of reasons the aged Captain was now considering.

Heriah thought shortly. Rex thought quickly.

"They are still about 10 minutes outside of transporter range," she said, matter of factly. All could see it, even the captain. She said that, not expecting a response from anyone. "When they do come into range, sir, we should transport them directly to Sick Bay; see to their injuries. Any weapons they may be in possession of, the transporter will send directly to Security Impound with their transport session ID tag attached. Allow me to meet them in Sick Bay with a couple of Security personnel tagging along; 2 or 3 enlisted crewmen at least. If these Trill are on official Trill government business, they will be expecting this. They should also recognize my authority both as a Joined Trill and as Executive Officer aboard 109, when I question them on their task. If anyone else shows up; you for instance, sir, they can spout Federation Law, declare their task one of Trill Internal affairs, tying your hands in whatever this is."

"Do I have to tell you this stinks to high heaven?" Francis asked, almost rhetorically.

'Stinks to high heaven is an aroma I am used to.'

"No, sir. You don't." Through symbiontic memory, the symbionts, after Garan, that Frank had not met, "I am quite used to scenarios such as this."

"Alright, Commander. Hop to it."

With that, Heriah was off. She ventured toward the turbolift just outside of Central Ops.

Prior to this, Heriah stepped aside so the base's new Chief of Operations officer, Lieutenant Sufai Kell, could make her entrance.

She had a sensitivity to the emotional tension in the air, as she left the turbolift the proximity to Commander Rex prompted her to look in her eyes.

"Commander, thank you." She said in forced politeness and brushed past Heriah. There was just something about the commander which made Sufai feel like a predator was stalking.

"LT Kell," Heriah recognized her from the roster of new personnel, "I..." Heriah felt formal introductions were in order as she had not yet actually met Sufai yet.

'Why should you? This one is a Cardie Spoonhead. Almost as worthless as a Pakled. Almost.'

But time was short. Besides, Rex was squirming in her gut likewise wanting her to get to the point. "...I require your assistance."

Sufai almost answered, but the Commander pressed on. She did not wait for confirmation from Kell. "We have a Trill Elite Seeker ship enroute as we speak. It will be in transporter range in 8 minutes. A seeker ship is really an oversized runabout, not very big at all. It can house a complement of 3 personnel. This one has just that. Based on the damage to the ship, hence why they are coming here, and the direction they are coming from, I believe there may be some drama afoot. Our scans show internal damage to the ship. Life Support is only an hour from failing entirely. And there are some cascading brownouts in the ship's systems. Being our Chief of Operations, I need you to look at this ship's systems and see what repairs you can do. Take some engineering crewmen along with you for mechanical repairs. Based on this information, what timeframe can you estimate the repairs will take? I do not need exact numbers, just a roundabout timeframe."

There was more to the request. The obscurity and lack of details made it impossible to gauge for sure but the Commander was suggesting something in an implied undertone. Oftentimes they wanted precise timelines, but Sufai had worked along side Engineering long enough to understand how to embellish.

"Well Commander without seeing the damage or understanding the scope involved the first step would be a thorough research on the vessel and comparison to its present state. It could take anywhere from a day to a week?" She had already pulled it up on her display on her PADD, "Oh... small... Well, we could rebuild the whole thing in three days, so that's as long as it would ever take. I can also suggest we remove them from the ship since life support is failing, that might take a day to restore at least?"

"The crew will be transported directly to Sick Bay in about 8 minutes. The ship will be tractored in. Take all the precautions you need or want and please take a few Engineering enlisted with you. I am not looking for efficiency here. In fact, I am looking for inefficiency. If you can make repairs somehow take four times as long," she held up both hands and made quotation marks in the air as she said, "DISCOVER new damage to fix, even make some damage yourself...do not let it be obvious...then please do so. I need time to make an investigation before they can depart."

She pretended to look indignant, "Why sir, such a request impedes on my integrity. I'm of a mind to see to several other tasks before I even think of looking at their ship it might take a day to get a team actually ready and serves you right."

A day to get a team ready before they could even start repairs. That sounded good enough. "Very good lieutenant. Carry on." And with that, Heriah was off toward Sick Bay.

 

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