Midnight Threats

Posted on Sun Apr 18th, 2021 @ 3:48pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Micheal Robertson & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Angel Ramirez

Mission: Mission 13: Stowaway
Location: Deck 1 - Bridge
Timeline: MD 08 23:05
1807 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Gray dreadlocks clumsily hung over a skinny, gloomy face. Dead black eyes, set narrowly within their sockets, watched readily as the aging ship came into view. A scar reaching from just under the right eye, running towards the other eye, and ending on his forehead left a burning memory of his ex-love that he was determined one day he would seek revenge for the scarring.

He could not believe that they had used this ship to ferry the cargo to Betazed, nor could he believe his luck of Ferengi fundamentalists paying him to retrieve it. The ship would not take much to get to the cargo, and it was far better money than what he usually got from them. He stood tall above others, despite his skinny frame, and grinned as the Ferengi pair that was there to make sure he did the job correctly cowered just a little.

“How easy is this going to be? The ship barely looks like it will survive any type of fight.” He chuckled, his deep voice booming across the ship as he started barking out instructions to get things started.

On the SS Mary Rose, it was nearing midnight, and the ship was silent and calm. Even the bridge was silent, apart from the occasional whispered conversation or piece of information passed.

Angel stood in the back at the tactical station. He was on his third cup of coffee for the midnight shift, and he could really use a trip to the head right about now. He stifled a yawn, glancing around the bridge. This wasn’t an opportunity he’d ever gotten during his short Starfleet career. But it would be a good thing to put on his resume for his next job.

Hunched over in the conn, Burnie was tinkering with the controls in the arm. He'd taken conn for last watches before since he had the experience from Starfleet, but since it generally involved just being present in case something happened, he figured he might as well get some actual work done. He'd been meaning to upgrade these anyway; it had just been pretty far down the engineering priorities list. "Hey, Angel, can you run a system check on--"

**BAM!**

The whole ship rocketed from impact.

What the... Starfleet training kicked in before Burnie could complete the thought. "Frak! Shields up!" he yelled, activating a red alert. "What hit us?"

Angel’s fingers danced over the LCARS, bringing up the shields as the ship rocked. “We have company, sir,” Angel said, falling back on his Starfleet training with the honorific. “Ship coming back around at twelve o’clock.”

As the pair tried to organise themselves and the lighting flickered to red alert, the ship that had attacked them came into view on the screen, revealing a Ferengi D'Kora Marauder.

Burnie glared at the Marauder. It was probably better armed, but dammit, there was no way he was taking that attack lying down. "Phasers! Light them up," Burnie ordered as he ran to the engineering station. He just needed their shields to waver a little and he could beam a torpedo right onto their bridge.

“Phaser lock achieved. Firing,” Angel said. The red beams lanced out at the Marauder, scoring across its shields.

As the ship shook again, Gregnol rushed onto the bridge wearing his flight suit, doing it up as he came into the bridge. He looked tired but determined to work out what was happening. He had only just crawled into bed after meeting and greeting Fezzik and Jenna. "What is going on? Have they hailed us?" he demanded, taking in the Marauder class ship. What had they done to upset that type of ship?

"Ferengi," Burnie reported without looking up from what he was doing. "No hail, unless you count a disruptor blast."

"Ferengi..." Gregnol growled, thinking of the Ferengi they had onboard. What kind of trouble had he pulled the ship into? He knew the delivery was kind of grey, but he did not realise it was hot property. "Well, it is some kind of communication," the captain muttered as the door opened and more senior officers piled in to take their places for a potential fight.

Micheal burst onto the bridge, swearing under his breath. "Who the hell...!" Seeing the Ferengi craft, he quieted down and moved to the weapons station. "Got it, Angel! Get down to the cargo bay and don't let anyone but us near that load!"

“Belay that. I want you over there focusing on internal security whilst you concentrate on them,” Gregnol commented, taking his seat with a frown.

Eden came onto the bridge holding her head, that she'd banged against the bulkhead during one of the rockings that had roused her from bed. She didn't say anything but just stood there watching everyone else until she could figure things out.

“Yes, sir,” Angel said. “Shall I open the weapons lockers, sir?” he asked. “Arm the crew?” He moved over to secondary tactical and pulled up the internal sensors.

“Only if they come on board,” the captain said, looking at the ship just there waiting, not having exchanged anymore fire yet.

Micheal quickly filled the seat as soon as Angel cleared it. Turning to the console, he ran his fingers over the controls. He was surprised that, since he was here last, they had somehow acquired a few old torpedoes. Turning his eyes to Reuben, he reported their status. "Weapons online, Cap. Forward dorsal and ventral phasers at full power, port and starboard systems showing eighty per cent readiness. Aft phaser is still offline for maintenance. Starboard torpedo tube loaded and ready, the port is having electrical issues on the conveyor system!"

“Burnie, get Jea to go fix it,” Reuben commented, as he knew his wife would be the only person able to with a clear head. “Comms, anything from them?”

The large Andorian who sat there silently with a headset on shook his head firmly. There was a lot of chatter, but nothing directed towards them yet.

Burnie tapped the comm. "Jea, port torpedo tube is jammed. Fix it, fast as you can." Working at the engineering station, he did what he could to reinforce the shields.

“I can put up some force fields at the entrances to the cargo bay,” Angel said. “Do we have the power?” he asked Operations.

Jake charged onto the bridge, having had to quickly throw on something more appropriate to wear that wasn't for sleeping in. "Who broke the ship?" he demanded, looking around. He spotted the marauder on the viewscreen. "Ferengi? Haven't we had our fill of those this week?"

"Do you want me to take over?" Eden asked.

Micheal acknowledged the arrival of the X-O, then looked back at Reuben. "What are your orders, Sir?!"

“Not broke just…” The Captain indicated the ship on the view screen that was just staring down at them. “Nothing yet. They have not fired anymore and that shot seemed to be a warning shot. Anyone want to bet it has something to do with our Ferangi guest and his Betazoid partner?” He said staring at the screen more. What was going on? Why were they just waiting there watching up?

The Andorian on communications turned as the ship rocked again from a shot that went beneath them. “They want to talk.”

“On the screen.” The Captain indicated moving further onto the bridge so he could be seen. The surprise when the person who appeared was a human-looking man with dreadlocks.

“You have something I want.” He said clearly without introductions or niceties. “I want it and you do not want to be destroyed so it seems like an easy exchange.”

“I do not do exchanges,” Gregnol said with a growl at the man assuming he would just bend to the will of someone. “Especially with people who do not ask nicely.”

“You are a fool. You do not even know who you are carrying.” The man working for the Ferengi fundamentalists laughed. How could someone defend something they did not even know they had? What was it with humans that lived out there in the darkness with idolistic dreams?

“Does not matter. I want my cargo and passengers to arrive at the destination I was paid to get to.” Gregnol replied without a moment’s hesitation. They needed the credits to pay the crew and to help Dixoho.

“Fool. You have forty-eight hours to hand it over or I blast you and it into particles.” Was the final words as the connection was cut.

"Right then." Burnie cracked his knuckles. "That means I have 48 hours to work out how to drop an active torpedo into his engine room."

"Carefully," Jake noted. "We're no match for a D'Kora. We should put some contingencies in place if they're after the cargo. And maybe get Robertson to put a detail on our guests."

The captain nodded at both suggestions. He liked them both but he was also a practical man who had stared ships and men like that down often in his previous life in Starfleet. They had little to lose and lots to gain over smaller and less powerful ships. He knew they were no match for that Ship class, they would never survive anything prolonged and it was not worth it for cargo but he wanted to know what had been hidden from scans.

“Ford is right though I still want you to work out how to do that,” Gregnol assured offering Burnie a smile. “Robertson get that Ferangi and Betazoid out of bed if they are not already and stick them to my office. Ford go down to the cargo bay. Take Burnie and Lil with you and rip it apart to find out what’s in the cargo that is so precious that we are being held, hostage.” He said ordering the senior team off to do things.

Micheal nodded at his new orders. He activated a command on his terminal, which called up one of his junior department members to man the weapons. "On it, Boss. Even if I have to weld them to the deck plating."

"Got it," Burnie said, transferring processes so he could head out. "If nothing else we could repakc the crates with explosives and let them have those."

“Ramirez keep scanning that ship for anything and everything that we can use to counteract them,” Gregnol said to the man. “Four hours I want to know everything about that class of ships security. Everyone else prepare for battle and potential borders," Gregnol said to everyone else as he moved to the comms and said the same thing. Everyone had to be on guard and prepare. No one was backing down in this fight but the man wanted to know what was going on fully.