The One With the Orion Hiding

Posted on 11 Oct 2018 @ 9:17am by Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kala Gorvel & Nesh Saalm
Edited on on 11 Oct 2018 @ 9:17am

3,099 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Jefferies Tubes
Timeline: MD -180, 2308 hrs

[ON]

Nesh Saalm didn't often question her decisions. Okay. Perhaps she did a lot. She had been stuck here, hiding for days. Days. And she had managed. She had taken what she could with her but even for the budding artist there was only that many sketches she could do before her hand cramped. Charcoal had smudged on her fingers and cheek when she had scratched an itch and the wrappers for her emergency rations were littered around her, made into little origami birds. She exhaled slowly, closing her eyes as she eased back, her head resting against her bag. So here she was. Waiting. And time moved slowly here. She had managed to move around every time a new shift started, just in case someone would be poking around. She had also gone to the bathroom, having been able to sneak her way in.

But she was bored. And alone with her thoughts she kept questioning if this was the right way. I should have told Lirha. Or been more firm with Mother. I should have left a message. I should have thought this more through... And she hated herself for thinking that. Because while she had been angry and hurt, plotted and planned, it had seemed like an adventure. And now it was so real. And real in the sense that she realised she would not be able to hide forever. Not that she had thought to, originally. She had seen it in her head...

Coming out of her hiding place and strolling to Lirha, her sister's eyes widened in shock but she had been so worried when her mother had contacted her that she had just been happy to see her. A hug, a grand meal, a sonic shower and she would have been told how amazing he was for fooling the system, the ship, the crew...

But in the harsh light of reflection she saw her act suddenly as childish and immature. She was a grown up. And she had run away like a child in a strop. Instead when Nesh closed her eyes she saw her sister's disappointment. And she hated that sensation.

Kala had been having a pretty unproductive day and therefore in a bad mood. Every time she seemed to fix a fluctuating power relay another would pop up somewhere like the ship was playing some sick joke on her. Deciding that just repairing the relays wasn't enough and had begun searching for the root cause which for some odd reason was in an almost unused part of the ship. She hadn't seen anyone since she left the main corridor system and from her own inertial compass guessed she was heading portside as she crawled into a Jeffries tube. She wasn't exactly the quietest of people as she crawled along banging her toolkit against the tub's floor and laughed at the idea of someone on the bridge being able to her crawling around.

Nesh heard the sound, her eyes widened. She bit her lip to stop herself from swearing, gathering any trace of her quickly and moving away from the sound. She was on bare feet to reduce the noise, her eyes focused as she crawled away. Not realising, of course, that she had left some of her origami birds behind as she turned the corner.

Kala unaware of her company continued to lumber through the Jefferies tube. As she rounded the corner she failed to notice the flash of green dart around the corner at the end of the Jefferies tube and out of sight. "You'd think they'd make more accessible systems in this newfangled ship, not make them smaller" She complained as she looked up and was caught off guard when she saw several packets of emergency rations shaped like a bird "What in carnation?" The engineer asked aloud as she picked one up when they were within arms reach.

Nesh was realising two things. One: She could forget the layout of a ship's Jefferies tubes very quickly. Two: Someone had changed the layout just enough to throw her off and made a big freakin' hole in the floor! She couldn't stop the sound as she fell, her hands grabbing the top to keep herself falling into the hole. She looked up, trying to will her arms to get more strength to pull up. Of course, if Nesh had looked down she would have seen that her feet were only a few feet above solid panels, so she could have let go. But it was funny how being in the tubes for so long had made her a bit stir crazy.

Kala jumped at the sudden noise bumping her head, "Damn it!" She shouted looking towards the origin of the noise. "Ur, Hello? Who's there?" Not waiting for a response the Trill opened her toolkit and pulled out the heaviest, deadliest thing inside, which wasn't exactly heavy or deadly. Crawling forward she continued to find little bird shaped wrappers "Kai I swear if it's you I'm going to kill you and hide you somewhere no one will find you." She really hoped it was Kai.

"Oh..." Nesh grimaced and bit her lip hard, her feet kicking as she tried to get purchase. Her bag was danging too, adding weight to her frame and her hands slipped. She gasped as she fell and the short impact sounded loud as her bare feet hit the bottom. She looked around, trying to find a route, her breath coming quicker. Dead end. Who put a dead end at the end of a freakin' hole? Asshats. That's who. Asshat Starfleet shipbuilders who want to annoy everyone, she thought bitterly and tried to jump up to get the grip again. And in her panic, not realising that if she knelt she would have seen it wasn't a dead end, just narrower Jefferies tubes.

Continuing along the corridor the Trill started to realise that whom ever was down here with her was not Kai, he would have jumped out by now scaring her half to death and hugged her. Tapping her comms badge. "Kala to engineering, I'm down Jefferies tubes Yankee-Delta five off junction 68 there's someone or something down here with me." A crewman acknowledge informing her that security would be notified if she failed to respond to their check-in in five minutes. Making her way carefully to where the noise had come from and continued to come from she paused at where the Jefferies tube turned vertical straight to where the ships reclamation systems were housed. Taking the second most heaviest thing out of her tool kit she dropped it over the side to gauge a reaction.

"Ouch!" Nesh couldn't stop the sound of pain as she was hit, on her bare foot. She looked up, her breath catching before she swallowed. "Be careful with those things! And also...can...you help me up? I'm not armed." Because hey, Nesh knew how paranoid some people were. And she did not want to be stunned. Not today. Not ever.

Hesitant Kala frowned at the hole in the floor "Who are you?" She asked not revealing herself just yet and not really willing to help the person who was crawling around her ship unannounced. The trill also deduced that that person was a she by the sound of her voice. "What are you doing down here!" She then added.

"I'm...err..." Nesh hesitated for a moment. Oh boy... "I am the Spirit of the Ship! I am the Mistress of the Stars and the Guardian of the Tunnels! I come in peace!" she added the last with a grimace. Great, Nesh. That was just...epic...greatness right there. Stop and think next time. Stop. And. Think.

Kala rolled her eyes and peered over the edge to find herself looking at a shoeless female Orion. "Well if you're the spirit of the ship you should have no problem climbing out of that tunnel and walking your pretty little arse down to the brig."

Nesh's eyes narrowed at the moment she said the word brig and she put her hands on her hips. "My 'pretty little arse' will be walking nowhere," she said firmly. "And certainly not to the brig!"

"Well, then let's see what our security teams say about that." Kala tapped her communications badge "Kala to security I have a female Orion at my location she's uncooperative and is clearly a stowaway. I suggest a site to site transport straight to the brig." The Trill sat back on her buttocks and hummed as she waited for the transporter to take them.

=^=This is Rice. I wish I could, but apparently there's some sort of fluxuation. We can't get a lock on a second lifesign at your location=^= Aria said, sounding slightly confused. Orion female?

Nesh smiled with satisfaction and lifted her wrist to show the little smuggler device to Kala. "Oh. Oh this may be why. This thing. This thing here...wow. So small and it just...wow...it is messing with things. I am oh so sorry, I just thought it was a pretty bracelet..." she lowered her wrist and watched Kala. "Ask nicely, and I will turn it off. Nicely. No sarcasm."

Kala bit her lip and through gritted teeth, "Please turn that infernal device off, its causing way too many problems aboard the ship and you're currently inside the ships reclamation maintenance tube. So for both our sakes please turn your little device off" and under her breath "So I can slap the chains on you myself."

"That sounded rude. I almost feel like we should have Rice ask instead, she is a better liar and better with sarcasm than you are," Nesh said and gave a small shrug. "The last bit of the sentence for instance. Ouch. Good thing you're not a diplomat or security officer..." she looked around, taking a moment before she shrugged again. Well, I can stand here all day and drag this out or move on... she thought before she reached to tap the device.

=^=I got a lock. Beaming over to the brig=^= Aria's voice came through and they were beamed over.

Aria wasn't armed though as she stood there, watching the engineer and the Orion female materialise. And then she gaped. "Nesh?" she said with clear shock. "Nesh, what in the hell are you doing here?"

Nesh grimaced and looked at Rice. Yeah, don't think I don't know what you and my sister got into... she thought as she watched the Security officer. Still a shortass. "I...request...asylum?" she tried, with a look that clearly said it wasn't quite right. Grasping at straws.

"Huh," Aria looked over at Kala before back at Nesh and then tapped her commbadge. "Wyatt, please report to the brig. I need...yeah. I just think you should come here. Now."

Kala looked to the young security officer "wow wait we know this girl?" She looked back to the Orion and then gasped "No wait, I think I saw her with the Captain. She's not the captain's daughter is she?" Well done idiot, next starbase and you're out of here she thought to herself.

Luke groaned as the lights to his room turned on, "I hope someone is missing a limb Ensign because if not you will be, this is disturbing my beautify sleep." It was clear through the grogginess of his voice that he had been woken up but his joke indicated he wasn't that annoyed. "I'll be there in ten." He added slipping out of bed to get dressed.

"Thanks Sir. Sorry Sir," Aria said and looked at Nesh, shaking her head before she rubbed her forehead. "Nesh, what the actual hell?"

"What?" Nesh held her hands up before she looked over at Kala. "Sister. I am Lirha Saalm's sister. Not daughter because...ew, gross and also, she is way too young to have a grown up daughter."

"I need a drink. A last drink before I get lynched..." Aria muttered and moved to lean against the wall. She dreaded having woken Wyatt up but she could not make this call. Hell to the no. Way above her paygrade. This was why she would never ever be Chief or Assistant Chief. This was not her call. Totally not her call.

The chief had taken a little bit longer than expected and eventually found his way to the security office and subsequently the brig. Looking around the room he could see three room Kala Gorvel, Nesh Saalm and Aria... "What's the emergency, I don't see any dismemberments and Miss Saalm where are your shoes? And lord what is that smell." He asked rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

Aria looked at Luke before back at Nesh and then back at Luke. "Sir, Nesh Saalm is a stowaway. And we are past the point of no return," she said, keeping it to the facts because she did not want to get killed by a sleep-deprived Chief.

Nesh looked at Luke and then down at her feet before back at Luke. "I am seeking...asylum?" she tried again before she sighed. "Okay, okay! Fine. Yes, I am a stowaway but I have a great reason. Like, epic reason, Luke. Majorly epic...gigantic..." she stopped herself before rolling her eyes. "Okay, can I wash my feet at least before I get dragged in front of my very angry, very powerful and did I mention angry?"

"I wanted to check with you, Sir, if this was worth bringing to the attention of the Captain and First Officer," Aria said and moved to get the cloth and water, handing it to Nesh.

Nesh sat down without any issue and started to wash her feet, looking between Luke and Aria with interest.

Luke was starting to wake up and realise the situation. "I don't have those kinds of powers Miss Saalm and I don't care whom is angry or powerful you don't go stowing away on federation ships." He said as a matter of fact before tapping comments badge. "Wyatt to Commander Blake please report to the security office we have found a stowaway," Luke looked towards Kala "and the reason reason behind some of the ships power issues" the Trills nods only confirming his thoughts.

Nesh rolled her eyes, her hand going to fiddle with the smuggler device. "Your ship must be flawed then," she muttered to herself, shaking her head. "This isn't even tapped into the system, so the power issues aren't my fault..."

It didn't take long for Blake to arrive. Not at the pace she'd set to get to the office at the mention of a stowaway. She came to a sharp halt in the office, her eyes fixed on Nesh for a long moment. Whoever she had expected, Nesh Saalm hadn't been it. "What on earth is going on here?" she demanded, looking between all four of them.

Kala was well out of her depth here but when the security chief looked at her she took it as a cue to explain her side of the story. "We've been monitoring several minor system interruptions which have caused a few sonic showers to overload, replicators to malfunction and a variety of other issues. I was investigating them when I stumbled upon our young stowaway. I believe her smuggling device if that's what we're calling it emits a low-level electromagnetic field which masks her biosignatures but disrupts the power flow microchips embedded into the ships power grids. So yes she's the cause and no there's nothing wrong with our ship apart from apparent stowaways using illegal black market tech"

Luke nodded appreciatively "Thank you chief, I don't think there is any need for you too be here any longer I ask that you do not discuss this with anyone else on board I will debrief you at a later date." The chief of security watched the woman leave then "Computer lock security doors, commander.." Luke started, "Miss Saalm has requested asylum as such I'm unable to carry out any further action to this either accepted or denied. However she hasn't explained why she wants it. I asked for you because as a relation to the girl I don't believe the captain would remain objective to one the crimes being committed here and two her request."

"Asylum? From what, exactly?" Blake turned her gaze solely onto Nesh at the question, folding her arms tightly as she watched with an expression that made it clear she expected an answer. And that it had better be a good one.

Nesh looked at her for a long moment before she looked away. Now, she suddenly felt awkward for having said it. "My mother has arranged a marriage," she said as she met Scarlet's eyes. "It's in a few weeks now. It is...not uncommon for Orions. She has the right. But I don't want to. I really don't want to and I didn't know how to get out of it and...and..." she exhaled before she looked over at the other around her. People she didn't want to admit it to. So she shut her mouth and met Scarlet's eyes defiantly.

Scarlet remained silent for several long moments as she just watched her in return, jaw tight and eyes cool. She watched until she could see under that defiant display...and she found that she believed her. It tempered her anger from the fact someone had dared intrude on their ship, but she by no means thawed completely. "Get her to Sickbay," she addressed the security officers. "I want her checked over before being confined to a free set of quarters."

"Yes Commander," Aria nodded at the words, taking a deeper breath. She considered walking. And then changed her mind, instead getting a site to site transport. The less gossip at this point the better.

Nesh looked over at Luke before she looked back at Scarlet. She gave a small nod of thanks to Blake before the world changed as she was beamed over to Sickbay with Aria.

[OFF]

--

Nesh Saalm
Civilian artiste
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

Lieutenant JG Aria Rice
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

CDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief of Security
USS Galileo-A

Chief Petty Officer Kala Gorvel
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Wyatt]

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