Shairo

Posted on Thu May 22nd, 2025 @ 7:21pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Chief Armoury Rormu Yazlin & Liha t'Ehhelih

Mission: Shackles
Location: Cotrie
Timeline: MD02 18:00
1702 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

The shuttle down had been uneventful to say the least but as the shuttle landed and Gregnol got a look at the crashed ship for the first time. It was impressive that the super structure had not collapsed, the Orion’s engineers at least had something going for them. His admiration soon turned to disgust again as they got out of shuttle and he got a proper look at the people that had survived the crash.

“Let’s go and find Ford and Burnie. Try and get a catch up after last hour or so you have been gone.” He started to look around for Ford and Burnie and was surprised to find them inside the structure with a console powered up. “Status report.” He asked softly.

Liha looked at Burnie, nose buried in the guts of the console and knew he hadn't registered the request. "Hey," she said louder, and tapped a finger into his back. "What's our status?"

"Huh?" Burnie looked up, saw Gregnol, and realized Liha hadn't been the first to ask. "Sorry." He ducked his head, pulling at the back of neck. "We've been trying to work out where the survivors came from so there's some hope of getting them home, but the Orion - of course - encrypted their files. Even Kali's little gift from aunt didn't help," he added, before Liha could ask. "So I'm trying to see if I can pull any data directly from the nav system."

"The locals don't seem to have a lot to go on either," Jake added, slowly trundling up. "Best they can do is landmarks, that sort of thing. Like looking for a specific padd in a room full of padds."

“Which is understandable if the Orion’s are stealing from pre warp species.” Gregnol said sadly as he thought about the people he had seen coming in and the fact sow. Of them might never get home. “We need support on this.” He said rubbing his face. He didn’t want to open that can of worms but he could not just leave the people here to sink or swim without support. He had been at the mercy of Orion slavers for several years thanks to Barton so he dreaded to think what had happened to them before they landed there.

"I'm not against informing Starfleet if there's no other way to help these people," Burnie said, albeit with a frown. "But I'd prefer to give any who have a chance to go back the option, and you know fleet will make this a Prime Directive ruling." He glared unhappily at the console. "Still hard to believe the more primitive ones can't give decent descriptions of constellations that astrometrics could reverse engineer."

"Burnie's right," Jake nodded. "They've got rules, and bureaucracy. And some of us escaped Starfleet for a reason." He folded his arms tightly. "We could put the word out among the Rangers? See if any of them have any intel on these Orions?"

"I am fully aware of why I escaped Starfleet Jake, but I also do not know if the other rangers have the resources available to help," Gregnol said gently despite his words. They were rangers too, and they were the ones with the biggest ship in all honesty why they dealt with former slave transport out of systems. "We have the biggest ship available, why we do the runs."

"Bigger doesn't mean we know more though," Burnie cautioned. "We're fairly new to the Rangers and some of them out here have making runs through this part of space since before the Neutral Zone opened." He thought on that for a moment. "Actually, didn't that new navigator take her training on FreeCloud? She might have some sources or ideas outside what we're coming up with."

“She did.” Gregnol agreed, deciding not to delve into the caution and being reminded of all the things he knew. “When I was taken by slavers… Orion slavers, they used to have a paper copy or at least the Captain, they kept me did because she wanted something to bribe people with if things ever went wrong.” He said quietly, thinking of all the spaces on the ship, anything could be and that was before the survivors could have used it for something else.

Burnie sighed. "Even if these ones did the same thing, we'd have to hope it was destroyed in the crash. That is, if we had any idea where to even begin looking."

Mina appeared in the doorway awkwardly and glanced back at the person with her. "There was a survivor." She revealed softly, making Gregnol turn around, revealing the Orion Engineer. She had no choice at this point but to tell the people from the Stars about the prisoner.

Shairo had gone between some sort of relief to dread to hope to fear in the time it took them to find the group of sky people as Mina insisted on calling them. Now that she saw the first few of them she realised they weren't Starfleet, but that didn't necessarily mean good news for her. Seeing the composition of this small group, and knowing the area that they had been operating in it was most likely to independents or Fenris Rangers. Neither of those options were known to have a love lost with Orions, and the Rangers especially were keen on meeting out their own special brand of justice. So she kept quiet, head held low, staring at the ground between her and the 'sky people'.

"A survivor?" Jake echoed, sitting up sharply. "This changes things. Dramatically."

Gregnol turned and look at the figure that was stood there looking at the floor. The person looked like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders there and then. “This is Shairo… she has been helping me and some others keep the ship alive so we could stay alive.” Mina said stepping between the green woman and the group. She was not about to let her get hurt when that had been her promise when she had become her jailer.

Someone able to help keep a crashed ship alive immediately implied only one thing to Burnie. "You're an engineer?" he queried, looking at the Orion.

It took a moment for Shairo to realise she was being address. She cleared her throat and shifted the weight from one foot to the other. "Yeah. Yes. I'm, I was, an Engineer."

Gregnol nodded at the woman. "And how come they kept you alive?" He wondered quietly, thinking that there had to be something more to why the woman was alive other than engineering. The group seemed well ordered but he could not imagine that when they had crashed, it would not have been like that.

"To keep the replicators running, I'd bet," Burnie said, with a hard look at Mina. For all that he had little sympathy for slavers, he was under no illusion that having been taken as a slave put anyone in the category of virtuous. He couldn't necessarily blame them for taking revenge, but at the same time, he couldn't overlook cold-blooded execution. "Was she the only one you kept alive?"

Shairo simply nodded at the assessment. "Most died in the initial revolt." She shot a glance at the ex-enslaved that had gathered around. "Some died after." She pursed her lips together before adding, "There was only a handful left for the trials."

"You do not get to judge me or the others after what happened, after what they did," Mina said quietly as she stared up at Michael. Mina did not regret any action she had taken in getting closure and restoring peace to this new community that had been created.

Jake sighed slightly, more out of frustration than anything. "Well...this does complicate things, doesn't it?" he grumbled, looking at Gregnol.

“Not really.” Gregnol looked the woman over and the way Mina stood protectively next to her. Neither woman was a threat right then and there but he needed to assess what was going on properly. “You want off this planet I assume?” He demanded.

Now there was a loaded question. Yes, she obviously could do without being confined for most of the day. But she really didn't feel like returning to her parents. "Well. Yes. That would be nice." She was soft and hesitant.

Gregnol opened his mouth to anwser but a beeping sound from one of the console threw him off and made him turn to look at a console that had been silent until then and there. “What is that?”

Shairo looked over at the console. "Oh. Proximity alert. Perhaps one of your shuttles making its way down to the planet's surface?" Almost automatically she started walking over to the console. Then a hesitant step as some of the locals turned to shoot her a glance. "If I may? I'll exclude our friends here from the alert system." She started narrowing down the signal of the approaching ship's transponder. Then let out a string of Orion expletives as she realised why she recognised it. "It's Orions. There's an Orion landing party on its way."

"Shit..." Gregnol muttered. It was bloody typical that the Orions would come looking for their shop now that the Fenris Rangers were interested. "Go and find Yazlin and get her preparing." He said to Jake firmly. "Mina get your people aware and out of the way if they cannot help and fight."

Jake nodded. "We'll get a few together. Liha too," he added, heading for the exit.

"I'll grab Kali," Liha said, as she followed. "She took most of my weapons when I headed back to the ship."

"Based on what I saw you unload to her, the Orions don't stand a chance," Burnie remarked. "But I can mock up some grenades to give us a little extra edge."

“Talk to Yazlin.” Gregnol said firmly. “She is our security chief. Between her department and others I am sure we have a chance.” Gregnol stated glancing to Mina as she ran off to sort her people out leaving Gregnol and Shairo together. “You are going to help me.” He said, leaving the engineer no room for arguing.