Take Everything Shiny

Posted on Sat Jul 16th, 2022 @ 5:09am by Lieutenant Christoph Ivers & Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Troy Marshall & Lieutenant JG Taina M'Tras & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov & Lieutenant JG Andrea Carrington
Edited on on Sat Jul 16th, 2022 @ 5:38am

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Talaxian Freighter
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1100
2551 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Talaxian Did'jim Class Freighter - Cargo Hold 1
The Cargo Hold of the Talaxian Freighter was full of boxes and containers of various types and sizes, but not a soul was to be found amongst them, for all the crew had moved to more secure locations. There was room for walking and some larger spaces for gathering on the margins of the room, but all in all, it was a small cavern of materials. At one of those margins, several shimmering shapes started to come into view as the transporter beams of team one entered the scene.

Ivan Petrov materialized with them, and once he was whole, he turned to the members of his crew in order to give commands.

“Commander, you and your people are Team One. You are to go together to the crew section of this ship and search the cabins for valuables. Return crew and passengers you find here alive if possible. Is that clear for you all?”

"Aye, Captain." Christoph replied, checking his gear one more time before they were to head out from the cargo bay. This would be easy enough.

“As Crystal Sir” Andrea nodded. “I’m sure we’ll find something over there we can use.”

"Yes, sir," M'Tras said, taking in the surrounding environs.

Some seconds after the first team departed the cargobay, a set of orange transporter beams brought the team from the Lovarr. Andrei Petrov smirked as if he felt good before his three Kazon Comandos. They stood behind him calm and silent, modified Kazon phasers in their hands.

“My team is ready, Captain.” He said, his voice less than boisterous, but still quite elevated.

“Welcome, Lieutenant,” Ivan said, eyeing the Kazon standing behind his son with steely resolve. He wasn’t a fan of armed slaves, even when it was just temporary. “You are team two. Your job is to secure the bridge of this heap and bring its crew back here with minimal loss of life. Phasers on stun.”

“I understand.” Andrei said with a nod.

“Good. Then get to it and keep me abreast of your progress.” Ivan said, and watched as Team Two moved out, in lock step with their commander.

Kori waited calmly, having beamed in behind Andrei's team and she stepped up to the Captain. "We are ready Captain." She said calmly. Her hand was on her hip and the Kazon behind her all wore collars like the slaves they were, and her hand hovered over the agonizer activation switch.

"Of course you are." Ivan said with a proud but slight grin. "You will be putting your considerable talents of questioning to work on these Talaxians, Lieutenant. I want to know whatever they know about this ship; about what we face in this region of space. All of it."

"They will bend like grass in the wind Captain. I will have the information from their very bones." Kori assured him. She snapped her fingers and the Kazon headed off. "They will tear the ship apart looking for information hidden in its walls. while I tear the crew."

Crew Section
The crew section was compact, but took up all three decks of the freighter. As the team approached, the corridor was clear and no sounds could be heard behind any of the doors.

"With me, Lewis." Ivers directed as he proceeded into the corridor with Lewis at his shoulder, both men on high alert even in the relatively "peaceful" situation they were in. The lifeforms they detected were not present and that was enough to be cautious. As they approached the first door, Lewis paused at the control, waiting for Ivers to give the go ahead and when his superior did so, he tapped the panel and Ivers entered.

"OUT!" Christoph barked at the two Talaxians within the room, making room for them to scurry out and be taken to the cargo bay. He smirked at their compliance and then entered the room to start to look around. He kept one hand on his weapon and began to ransack the room, looking for anything of note but finding little but trinkets and personal items. Some could be interesting, but they were looking for more. "Clear in here." He called out.

Troy walked along the corridor of what could be called Officers' Country. He stopped at a door and used his tricorder to scan the door and room beyond for booby traps. He entered the room once his tricorder determined it was safe to enter. He casually made his way through the quarters while using the tricorder to catalog the contents of the room.

Andrea had chosen the Quarters next door, entering with caution she made her way around cataloguing what was there. Anything that appeared of interest she placed into a small pile, not that there was much to find in these particular quarters.

M'Tras stepped into the neighboring quarters. A Talaxian jumped up and she grinned, showing teeth. "You are now a slave of the empire," she said. He sputtered but said nothing clear. She hauled him to the door and sent him stumbling to be taken to the cargo bay. She walked back in and noticed some still hot stew on the table. She scanned it with her tricorder. She would have poisoned such a thing. She breathed deeply when it read as clean but she still didn't trust it. She searched the quarters for anything else interesting. There was not much.

Ivers and Lewis continued to move through the smaller rooms and eventually reached a larger room which gave Christoph pause. It was full of even more exotic things that looked expensive for just a mere passenger. "Let's have a close look in here, Lewis. Be careful." Christoph commanded the other man as they both pulled out their tricorders. There were definitely some nicer things here. Perhaps nothing of overly significant value, but small trophies and trinkets to distribute and sell. They were unhurried as they scanned and poked through everything with Christoph eventually moved toward a dresser on the far side of the room where his tricorder began to beep.

Quirking a brow, he opened the drawers and began tossing the clothes out and then pulled out the drawers themselves. One had been cut with an inset for something to sit behind and as he bent down, to look, he saw a small black box attached inside the frame of the dresser. Aiming the chirping device in his hands at it, he waited a few beats to determine that it wasn't some sort of trap as far as the tricorder could tell and then reached out to pull it away. He held it in his hand and turned it over a few times before he decided to pop it open. Within it lay a large, sparkling blue gem behind a shield of what appeared to be glass. "Oh. Well then." He grinned, just looking at the beautiful jewel for an almost lustful moment then eventually closed the box again and straightened.

"Lewis, I'm taking this to see if their captain cares to tell us what it is." With a brief acknowledgment given from Lewis, Christoph headed out of the room.


Freighter Bridge
Just five minutes after being sent out, Andrei and the three Kazon he was dragging arrived at the doors of the Bridge. They were sealed shut and not a soul could be heard beyond. The man gave a smirk. Unlike Kori, he didn't have to use the constant threat of torture to control his men. They were at least moderately loyal and wouldn't turn on him here. He walked over to the console, his eyes fixed on the strange display. After a few seconds, when he realized he had no idea what he was looking at, he decided to open the doors by more brutal means.

Andrei nodded to the Kazon and watched as they placed explosive charges at the center of the door. Stepping back, they watched as the doors flew in, and rushed in through smoke and bits of metal. Inside, four Talaxians stood, their guns drawn and pointed at them, their faces a mixture of resolution and fear.

"Drop those weapons, now! You were ordered to stand down!" Andrei called out, his eye placed squarely behind the sights of his weapon.

"I don't care what the Captain says. We're not going to be slaves to the likes of you!" Called one of the Talaxians, advancing forward. He was tall and much more dangerous looking than the rest.

"Then you will die." Andrei said simply, and let out a torrent of phaser fire.

The large Talaxian was instantly vaporized and, after a few moments of exchanged firepower, once the Kazon joined in, the room was devoid of Talaxians all together.

Andrei sighed and turned around with a shrug.

"What a paste. At least we got some target practice, right boys?"

Cargo Bay
Kori followed her Kazon down to where the crew was sequestered and after dismissing them with their instructions and the words of warning in their ears walked up to the Talaxian captain and took his arm. "Captain, come with me" she said with a tone of steel. She drew him off to a side room and got to work.

The portly Talaxian who commanded this freighter stood up, his legs shaking, his mouth agape. Everything about his demeanor told the story us his fear.

"Uh...okay then.." he said, walking with Kori into the next room. As soon as the doors closed behind him, he looked at her and frowned. "Look, friend, you already have everything I own. Why don't you just let us go. Friendly ships pass through here all the time. You can just drop us off there and keep the things."

Kori smiled faintly. "Where would the fun in that be?" she asked curiously.

Christoph found the side room Korinna had sequestered herself in with the captain after being pointed there by the others. Stepping inside he cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Quevremont, I found this in what I assume is your new friends' quarters." He opened the box to show off the shining blue gem. "I thought perhaps you might like to ask him about it?" He offered the box over to Kori and smirked at the Talaxian. "It must be valuable given how he tried to hide it."

The gem he was holding was striking in its beauty. Upon seeing it, the Talaxian Captain's face grew sullen and deeply sad. He shook his head, looking away from the gem.

"That was my chance at greatness." he said, his tone somber. "And now its gone into your hands."

He turned away then, as if he intended to say no more.

“Now see, I don’t think that’s nearly as helpful as you could be about it.” Christoph noted, his voice holding just the barest edge of threat. He didn’t need to play “bad cop” in this moment, as the old saying went. “Care to try again?”

The Talaxian turned around again, this time his face lined with confusion. He lowered his brows, a question on his face.

"Are you trying to tell me you don't know what that is? Where are you people from that you've never heard of the most valuable resource in the Delta Quadrant?"

"Water is one of those, according to the Kazon." And if they had not told her everything Kori was going to gut them all. "But please enlighten us." she glanced at Ivers. "Make sure your men tear this place apart looking for more of this."

“Oh don’t worry, we will.” Christoph said with a chuckle in his voice.

"They won't find any. That's the only one." the Talaxian said with a shake of his head. He sighed. "Its true that water is rare as far as the Kazon Federation is concerned, but the rest of the area seems to run on different steam. These crystals are rare and unique, as they grow in that exact shape and formation. One of them could buy my freighter. Four could buy a Kazon Predator. There is no more valuable a resource to our knowledge."

Ivers looked at the man and quirked a brow as if asking if he was truly serious thinking they’d take his word for it even if it did make sense. “You found this where, exactly?”

"I found it planeside quite a way from here. We were there looking for a certain little animal that, when cooked, goes will with leola root stew. While searching a cave formation, I found that jewel hidden in the crevasse of a rock. It seems they grow there naturally. I kept it a secret, you might imagine...I've known my crew for many years, but there are several of them who might kill me for such a prize. Not that it matters now."

His arms crossed over his chest, Christoph listened intently to the alien who was so dutifully chirping away with information already even though no one had laid their hands on him. He briefly wondered if this was just his way of survival - cooperate until they go away and hope you see another morning. Too bad it wouldn’t work this time. Especially if he stopped being so forthcoming. “What is it called and where is the planet?”

"Well, perhaps we can make a deal? I'm a business man after all. My ship..my crew. We're worth nothing to you compared with that prize. I would gladly tell you the location of the planet if you allow us to leave with the ship."

"Or, consider, we will get the information either way. One would be considerably less painful to you." Christoph replied with a smirk, not concealing the threat in the slightest. "The lieutenant here takes particular enjoyment in extracting information, and she is quite good at it too."

"But I don't understand!" the man said, his face turning slightly orange with exasperation he had been barely restraining. "I'll tell you, but let us go! We have families, man! Children! You don't need us. Keep the ship if you want; the clothes off our backs. Just let us go."

"Ah there you are wrong, the Terran Empire does need you. You, your families, Your children. All will join us and serve like the Kazon will" Kori said without remorse. "You see, we are not from around here, and by the time we reach our home world, the Terran Empire will have grown to encompass the Delta Quadrant for the Glory of the Empire. You are lucky Captain, you get to see your people join the Empire."

"It is a great honor. That can be painless if you submit. Which would include giving us the information we have very kindly asked for. I won't ask again." Christoph said, looking at the Talaxian with a hard expression.

The man thought about refusing to tell them, but he knew it was futile. Their lives were over so long as these Terrans held them in bondage. He shook his head over the unfairness of it all. He looked over at them again and parted his lips. “Do you have a starchart?”

END