Shipment has been delayed

Posted on Tue Jan 25th, 2022 @ 4:12pm by Hurs

Mission: S1 Episode 1: Caretaker, Part I
Location: Badlands
Timeline: MD Unknown
1207 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

The ageing Groumall type creaked and groaned as it lazily trekked across the badlands, far away from any of the raging plasma storms, still the turbulence in the region was not kind to the Cardassian transport, buffering her shields and causing the ship to shudder with gravitational fluctuations.

"My Gul..." spoke a Cardassian Trooper as he examined his console, an air of urgency in his voice attracting the tired eyes of his captain. "I'm detecting some unusual sensor readings, I think we are being scanned."

"Impossible, there aren't any other ships in this sector." Scoffed the Cardassian captain, his fat hands shifting his excessive weight as he sat up.

"There aren't any ships, I don't know where it's coming from...uh, that's not right..." The trooper replied, moving his hands over the controls.

"Trooper?..." The Gul growled, sensing something else.

The Trooper paused for a moment before turning in his seat, looking directly at his Captain. "I'm picking up a displacement wave on our port, it's moving directly towards us."

"On screen," He demanded, snapping his attention to the small oval viewscreen at the front of the bridge. "Red alert, helm start moving us away..." The Gul added, feeling a bead of sweat creep down the side of his face.

---
Claxons rang out across the ship, delving what little lights populated the transport into a murky red.

"Shut those blast doors!" Shouted a Cardassian as his boots clicked past her cramped cell, the energy shield humming as the thick armoured door closed behind him, hissing lightly as it locked into place. "What are you looking at..." He scoffed, glaring at Hur'sue as she lay on the hard metal slab protruding from the wall that was her bed.

"Bad man..." She replied softly, looking down at the floor as a long tired exhale left her nostrils.

His eyes narrowed, deepening his grey features as his hand moved towards his holster, gently fingering the latch loose. "Call me that~" He warned, his sentence cut short as the ship rocked violently, flinging him down the corridor as a blinding light encompassed the ship.

---

Moments later the displacement wave collapsed into an infinitesimal point, imploding with a whimper as the transport buckled along its spine, drive plasma and broken metal fluttered through the empty void of realspace, glinting and shimmering as the vessel split in two, unable to withstand the forces exerted on its hull.

"Report!" Demanded the Gul, lifting his face from his bridge floor, a stream of saliva and blood still connecting the two for a moment.

"Engineering isn't responding! power is failing across all systems!" Shouted the Trooper, blood dripping down his face from a particularly nasty gash.

"Do we have life support?" Shouted the fat Gul as he struggled to climb back into his seat.

"Here, yes... the rest of the ship? I can't say." He replied, wiping away the blood from his console with the sleeve of his uniform.

"Put out a distress signal... and you, find out what's happening in engineering." The captain growled as he settled into his chair, pointing at another and gesturing over his shoulder, not noticing in the slightest that he was cradling his broken arm.

---

inside the cargo cells, Hur'sue hung motionless, floating in her darkened room with a small stream of blood coming out of her nostrils, the dark crimson orbs trailing behind as her body rotated before suddenly accelerating forward, splattering against the bulkhead as she snorted awake in a mild panic.

"What happened...where's bad man..." Hurs gasped, finding the air thinning even as she breathed in deep. "Ow..." She groaned, clutching the side of her head.

Then her eyes caught a glimpse of the floor moving away from her. "Why am I flying?!" she panicked, not understanding gravity or lack thereof as she awkwardly moved out of her containment cell, holding onto anything she could out of fear she might just fall at any moment.

The lights flickered on briefly as she looked down the length of her cell block, noticing the bad man by the door at the far end, she remembered walking through that door when she was brought aboard, "T'eely..." She gasped, remembering her friend was through the other door, a Sequus like her who had been sold.

The door was cold to the touch as Hurs pulled herself level with the small window of thick glass, despite being heavily cracked she could still see through it, but nothing was on the other side, nothing but stars and broken metal as the rear half of the transport twisted out of view.

It took a moment to process, confusion mounting before her brain finally realised T'eely was gone, the cry she let out strangled on what little air she had as she pushed away from the door, not noticing the tears that had left her eyes being sucked out of the tiny cracks around the somewhat buckled door frame.

"Animal," Coughed a guard, awoken from the cry she let out. "Get back in your cell..." He wheezed, trying to move towards the other door with blood in his eyes.

"You..." Hurs snorted in response as she spun around, recognising the Cardassians face. "You're bad man that didn't want me to talk to T'eely!" She bellowed as she kicked off another cell frame, hurtling down the corridor towards the guard.

"Oh, fuck..." the guard muttered as he grasped at his holster, finding it empty as the Sequus mare kicked off another cell frame.

Panic set in as he looked about for his sidearm before opting to open the door instead, moving his wrist towards the controls until it blinked green.

Once outside he found himself back inside a part of the ship that still had active artificial gravity, pulling him away from the controls on the other side as he promptly fell to the hard floor.

"Get back in your cell!" He yelled, his voice breaking as he scrambled to his feet and hit the controls to shut the door.

His confidence however was short-lived as his eyes flicked to the large hooved fingers wrapped around the bulky security door, scratching the tan paint from its surface as the door slowly began to open.

"No..." Was the only response Hurs gave, staring at him through the viewport moments before it steamed over with a loud snort.

Genuine fear filled the Cardassians heart as he stepped back, watching the door shudder as it was shunted back into its alcove.

"I'm ordering you..." He warned with trembling words, reaching around his back and retrieving a knife from his belt. "To get back in your~."

His words were cut short as Hurs lunged forward, the sudden speed despite her immense size taking him by surprise as a dinnerplate sized hoof connected with his chest, The sudden force and ferocity of the kick sent him hurtling down the corridor, tumbling over and sliding to a stop.

His pained but laboured groans were quickly replaced by the gurgling of blood as Hurs clicked over, standing above him, watching him attempting to breathe as his mouth filled up with vital fluids.

"Bad man..." She snorted venomously before lifting a hoof, enjoying the wide panic in the Cardassians eyes.