The Price of Latinum (Part 2 of 3)
Posted on 18 Aug 2022 @ 4:56pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Petty Officer Afthinam Naime & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Petty Officer 1st Class Ember Locksley & Petty Officer 2nd Class Leon Inaros & Petty Officer 3rd Class John Hollenday & Petty Officer 3rd Class Helliun 'Hel' Inant & Petty Officer 3rd Class Raine Ni-ya & Laeon Wylde & Verity Thorne & Nesh Saalm
Edited on on 18 Aug 2022 @ 5:01pm
3,026 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Alcyone Sector, USS Galileo-A
Timeline: MD 10, 1338 hrs
Previously, on The Price of Latinum (Part 1)...
Aria had to make a quick decision based on who she had on the bridge. "T'Lin, go to tactical. Zeror, you take the science position and keep an eye out on the scanners, in case we get other visitors," she ordered, figuring that the Klingon as a bridge officer would be able to handle the controls well. Zeror was reliable too, but as a yeoman Aria wasn't sure she would be as quick at the tactical station. Usually for tactical, her choice would be Mimi, but with the ship in the state it was she needed her Operations officer where she was. "T'Lin, establish the tactical data link at frequency 271.5, and prepare to engage." She paused before she opened the ship-wide communication. "This is Lieutenant Rice, we are engaging the Ferengi ship alongside the Praxis'. All hands, secure the Ferengi onboard and go to battle stations." She stopped the broadcast, taking a slow, deep breath. There was no time saying Tarin wasn't in command at the moment, she would cross that bridge later.
"Aye Lieutenant!" T'Lin moved to the different area. "Frequency established captain." T'Lin replied.
'The science station' Jeysa thought as she pocketed the phaser she'd taken and headed for the console. She wasn't really trained in any of the bridge stations but figured she could work it enough to notice if anything happened.
And Now, the Continuation...
[ON]
Deck 3 - Sickbay
"Bridge to sickbay! If anyone hears this we have wounded that need attending to!"
Leon had almost shot the Klingon that had materialised in the doorway by the three downed Ferengi, but luckily had stopped himself when he realised that the Ferengi were the target. At hearing T'Lin's voice, he looked over at the doctors, before straightening and putting the phaser away.
Alexion glanced up from the jagged laceration he was mending, sleeves rolled up and body coiled tight with tension. "We sort of have that down here too..." he muttered before checking around the room. "Locksley, go to the bridge."
"On my way..." Ember nodded, reaching to grab a medkit before moving quickly, hopping spryly over a laid out crew member. She headed off at a run down the corridor, ignoring the chaos around her.
"And you..." Alexion motioned to the Klingon that had appeared. "Unless you're injured, get out," he ordered loudly, already looking back to his patient and resuming work. "There's not enough room in here as it is..."
Leon looked at the Klingon and gave a nod. "If you keep the corridor clear, I can attend to the patients," he said, before moving to Verity, meeting his eyes. "Who is next?" he asked, because he had noticed how Verity had kept doing the triage.
"The Petty Officer over here," Verity led him over, holding the tricorder up to bring up the initial scan he'd made. He was by no means a medic. He had first aid skills, that was it, but he was able to oversee triage well enough with the help of the medical tricorder. "Broken ribs, disruptor damage, I healed the gash on his head and gave him 10 ccs of terakine, but that's all."
"Thank you," Leon said and gave him a small smile. "I'll get on that." He walked over to the Petty Officer, giving him an easy smile. "Let's get you patched up...you'll be uncomfortable, but it will be alright."
Over the comms, Lieutenant Aria's voice suddenly cut through. "This is Lieutenant Rice, we are engaging the Ferengi ship alongside the Praxis'. All hands, secure the Ferengi onboard and go to battle stations".
Alexion glanced upward at the declaration, his jaw tightening at the news. "Just what we need," he muttered, glancing around at the state of the bay. The casualties were already plentiful. "Lovegood, send a casualty update to the bridge," he ordered as he moved to clean his hands. "Wylde to bridge, we're sending you an updated casualty list, if you're going into battle you're going in with less hands. I need Locksley back down here as soon as possible, we're going to have to open up the Holodeck."
Rice's voice came over the combadge, sounding more determined than anything. "Understood, Doctor. We will send her down as soon as she is done. Do whatever is necessary for the crew. Rice out."
Alexion sighed, nodding as he moved to get the arm of his patient over his shoulder, helping him up onto his feet now that he was stable. "When Locksley comes back, she'll take the Holodeck with Lovegood. Until then, anyone stable enough can stay out in the corridor," he said firmly, helping his patient out to get him laid on the corridor deck to rest.
Inaros looked at Alexion, finishing up with the patient he was with and getting him up, to get him to the corridor. "Where do you want me, doctor?" he asked quietly.
"You'll stay here, so will Thorne," Alexion replied quietly, glancing down the corridor. "Unless we get anymore callouts, then you'll have to go," he half warned.
Leon nodded, a small smile coming to him. "Cross that bridge when we get to it. For now...we will stay busy."
Deck 4 - Science Labs
Raine's eyes widened as more Ferengi had materialised, and she grabbed onto the display microscope, a relic from a lost time, and threw it at the Ferengi with all her strength. She was rewarded by the whip, slashing her cheek, but also sending energy through her. She closed her eyes, breathing through it, her skin absorbing it. It hurt. It hurt so much, but she remained standing and conscious. When her eyes opened, the colour turned to white before settling back to the normal shades and she took a step closer. "That does not work as well on my species," she said, her voice deep with it. She took another step forward, bracing herself, but as the Ferengi raised the whip again, a Klingon suddenly materialised.
The bat'leth sliced the Ferengi with an ease that showed the skill of the Klingon, and the sharpness of the blade. Raine closed her eyes as she felt the blood hit her, before she tilted her head. "Interesting," she said, frowning as she touched her cheek, before she pushed the skin close, letting it start to knit together. "Now I have more to clean up."
Raine looked up, a bad habit, as the sound of a familiar voice who wasn't Tarin, came over the ship-wide comms. "This is Lieutenant Rice, we are engaging the Ferengi ship alongside the Praxis'. All hands, secure the Ferengi onboard and go to battle stations."
Raine frowned at hearing the Chief of Security's voice, letting out a breath. "Wonder what has happened there..." she said to herself, before she got a decontamination kit together to clear up the spilled acid. Because if they were going into battle, this was the last thing they needed.
Deck 2 - Mess Hall
Nesh Saalm threw her knife at the Ferengi, keeping the distance. Her top had ripped, because obviously the universe was living with the Orion female stereotype. She looked over at Laeon, breathing hard, before she looked over at Stark. There were more Ferengi, but Stark had taken out quite a few, even when wounded.
When the first Klingon materialised, Nesh threw a saucepan at him, only for it to bounce off. "Sorry!" Nesh called out, grimacing slightly. "Didn't mean...err...sorry!"
The Klingon made a sound like a growl before attacking the Ferengi, and Nesh took some pleasure in a sound that to her ears reminded her of a squeal.
Laeon took the opportunity to get to Nesh, gripping her arm tightly with concern. "Are you okay?" he asked quickly, his eyes wide with worry as he checked a cut close to the rip in her top.
"Yeah...yeah, I am," she gripped his arm in return, meeting his eyes. "Are you? Are you okay, Laeon. Your dad will murder me if you're not..."
He rubbed the bruises at his neck, but nodded with a wince. "I'm fine, you took the brunt of the attack. Remind me never to make you angry..." he laughed softly.
Gabriel Stark made his way to them, blood stained and slightly awkward with his injury, but he was grinning. "I don't think you needed security here at all," he teased.
"Can I come out now...?"
Gabriel instinctively lifted the rifle and aimed it towards the larder where the voice had come from. He lowered it a moment later though, as he registered that it was the voice of a child.
Nesh smiled, moving to the larder. "Yes, Lily, you can," she opened it up, watching the girl. "Oh, you are amazing at hiding! Could not have done it better myself," she offered her hand to her.
The young girl gripped the hand, pulling up close to her to wrap both arms tight around the Orion. "Shoulda known the Elf Princess would be the best at fighting..."
Nesh laughed, hugging her back. "Of course, I had to make sure we all stayed safe, right?" she put her down.
"This is Lieutenant Rice, we are engaging the Ferengi ship alongside the Praxis'. All hands, secure the Ferengi onboard and go to battle stations."
Nesh looked at Gabriel, taking a breath before she walked to him. "Are you okay?" she asked him. Not just because the hit he had taken, and he had saved them from slavery, but also because that was his Chief's voice over the comms. Which meant whatever had happened, Tarin was not in a position to talk. And Nesh's little brain suddenly realised that the short, energetic woman who could try to outdrink half a bar...was...in charge. Now that was worrying!
"Yeah," Gabriel nodded with a frown, clearly reaching similar conclusions to Nesh as the cogs moved in his brain. "I can't help but think we've just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire though," he said quietly to her, shaking his head. "Stark to Rice, do you need me at tactical or should I try and keep things under control down here?"
"Try keeping things under control. I will need you to lead a boarding party once we've beaten the Ferengi into submission," Aria said over the comms. "We have things under control here." And we wanted to give the bridge the confidence they needed. "Rice out."
Nesh looked at Stark, giving him a grimace. "We got this...you get yourself healed up, Stark, so you are ready. Sounds like acting CO High Boots need you to be a hero."
"No pressure then," Gabriel teased back, reaching down to tousle Lily's hair. "Just give me a call if you need me to come back, although it seems like you had everything under control here," he winked, heading out, holding his side.
Nesh watched him go, looking at Laeon before she walked to Lily, touching her hair. She looked at the Klingon, holding his eyes, before giving a small nod. Then her attention went back to Lily. They were going to go into combat, so...what was she supposed to do? "We are going to make sure everyone here has some water to drink, then sit down and wait until...the red alert lights go back to normal."
Laeon watched the Klingon with a frown, his arms folded. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was just as much of a wannabe pirate as the Ferengi had been....just biding his time. "We should sit on the floor, against the counter." So they could brace themselves, and didn't have far to fall.
"Good idea. Get to!" Nesh called out with a smile she didn't feel, gathering everything thrown and securing it. Once done she sat down, motioning Lily over. "Stay close to me..."
Deck 7 - Main Engineering
Hel pushed a Ferengi onto the floor, sneering, blood in her hair, but not hers. She hit the Ferengi against the deck, again and again, slamming his head against it until he went still. Her hands were slick with blood, but the Ferengi was still breathing. She saw the shimmering at the corner of her eye and turned, teeth bared, before she looked at the Klingon with some confusion.
"naDev jIH!" exclaimed the new Klingon who set sights on the foreign Starfleet alien. He dismissed her presence and snapped his head around to locate the rest of the Ferengi, then sprinted after one he saw scrambling for the ladder leading up to the warp core's second level. Like a targ hunting a wounded tribble, the warrior closed the large distance within seconds at a rapid pace then launched himself into the air and tackled the smaller renegade.
John was still hurting from the Ferengi whip as he managed to get upright. "We now have fu....dging Klingons?"
The chief, still sitting on the floor looked at the whole situation with some disbelief. "I guess we do." She said with some concern and then scrambled over to where John was pulling himself up. Something about the way Hel had just dealt with that Ferengi stuck in her mind though that she couldn't shake. The brutality of it... Hel really was worth of admiration.
"A sight for sore eyes," Hel said, grinning before she took a whip to crack at a Ferengi that was trying to make a run for the door. "Oh, you're not going anywhere..."
The short large-lobed man was sprinting away towards main engineering's exit, firing his disruptor behind him with bling aim in an attempt to flee and cover himself in retreat. But as he ran to the double doors, a blue sizzle of electrical pulses cascaded across his body, stunning him into submission and removing his motor controls. He fell to the floor twitching slightly, then became unconscious.
Seeing that the always dependable Hel and there unknown Klingon benefactor seemed to have the martial situation under control Naime tried to turn her focus to her downed engineer. "John, how are you doing?" He was obviously in pain but from where she was kneeling is was hard to see the extend of any injuries.
"Shittin' hurt like hell, but everything is still working." John replied while rolling his shoulders.
"This is Lieutenant Rice, we are engaging the Ferengi ship alongside the Praxis'. All hands, secure the Ferengi onboard and go to battle stations."
The Praxis? Naime wondered, assuming that this had to be the source of the Klingons she turned her head from Hollenday and shouted over to Hel over her shoulder "Hel, you've got this. Do your thing, I'm going to try and get John some help."
"I'll make sure we get up and running again," Hel said, but wasn't even looking at Naime as she walked to a console.
Rather than listen to a response from Hel, Naime had already turned her attention back to John. Knowing nothing about this weapon the Ferengi were using she tapped her comm badge, time for some outside advice "This is Chief Naime to sickbay, I have a person here hurt by one of these Ferengi whips, would appreciate it if you could send someone down and maybe offer some first aid advice here." She could only imagine that the doctors were being inundated with such calls so she closed her eyes for a moment and prayed that it wouldn't take too long for them to get back to her.
Nurse Inaros' voice came through, calm and steady. "This is sickbay. Is the crew member conscious and able to walk?" he asked.
"Yeah, we got other problems. I'll catch an aspirin later." John quipped back.
"That's not good enough John," Naime hissed in response then replying to Inaros "He's conscious but I don't know if he's able to walk on his own."
"Get to sickbay," Leon's voice came through, firm. "We have a triage going on here."
"We're on our way." Naime closed the channel and glanced at Hollenday, from what she'd heard of the man she felt like she could already predict his response "No playing the hero now, I'll get you to sickbay, you're what's important to me right now."
“Y’all can bring me up on charges later but an untested refit being on high speed runs and then engaged with a heavy Farengi cruiser we need to keep this ship goin’ and we don’t have but a handful of nut busters”
"No intention of bringing you up on charges Hollenday, just bringing you up to sickbay. Now stop complaining and let's try to get you up." Naime offered him a hand and a shoulder up. From where she was standing it didn't look like John could walk much at all and if she had to drag him all the way to sickbay then that is what she would do "I'm not giving you a choice here John, we're going now!"
To Be Continued...
[OFF]
--
Klingon Warriors
IKS Praxis
[NPC Saalm]
Lieutenant Aria Rice
Acting XO/Acting CO/Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
Nurse Leon Inaros
Medical Pfficer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]
PO3 Raine Ni-ya
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]
PO3 Heliun 'Hel' Inant
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]
Nesh Saalm
Sous Chef
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]
PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]
Dr. Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]
Dr. Ember Locksley
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]
Verity Thorne
Chaplain
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]
Laeon Wylde
Civilian
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]
PO3 John Hollenday
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]
CPO Afthinam Naime
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Ullswater]
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