Everyone Lives

Posted on Mon Jul 6th, 2020 @ 8:16pm by Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Leiddem Kea (*) & Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*)

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Timeline: MD03 20:30
1233 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

After everyone was back to the ship and Liha and Quin were safely drugged up and in process of being healed that Leiddem could finally take a breather leaving them with Christopher. He slipped out of sickbay assured that everything was okay and try to find Jake and Fordyce and tell them about the fact they had not seen Gregnol at all in any form. It was strange that the man could not be found and it been over a day since the alarm had been raised. He investigated the mess hall and found Jake, Cassie, and Michael all sat there as if they were waiting for him.

“Both will live for now until Liha killed Quin for something.” He said trying to sound perky but he felt so far from it as he slumped into the chair and watched as Cassie passed him a bottle of beer from the stack in the middle of the table.

"I pity Christopher handling them when they come out of it," Burnie remarked, taking a beer too. He should probably be drinking coffee to help keep going, but honestly his nerves were still a little jangly from the mine rescue. Covering with a smile, he looked at the rest of them. "So, any idea where I should blow the next hole so we can get to the Captain?"

"Maybe in the back door of this Equinox bunch?" Jake suggested, arms folded. "We've got some intel on where the Captain might be. It's pretty secure as far as we can tell, but applying the right amount of high explosives and a little muscle, we should be able to get to him."

Burnie grinned. "High explosives I can supply. Maybe some nice shaped charges to just make a hole in the door..." he mused, clearly already envisioning it. "And I've been tinkering with some of the phaser rifles to give us more 'muscle'."

"Maybe we need to take a gentler approach?" Cassie said with a roll of her eyes. Boys and their having to make things go boom. They were all the same around the table. "Has anyone made any friends with anyone from Equinox?" She wondered taking a deep sip of her own beer.

Burnie glanced down, not quite blushing, but definitely a change from his prior enthusiasm as he debated what to say. He did know someone now, and hoped to see her again. But if she helped them - and based on what she'd said about Gergnol, he was sure she would - and anyone found out, she'd almost certainly lose her job and quite possibly be in real danger herself. He didn't like that idea. Not one bit. He looked around hopeful that someone else had a contact.

"I got no one. Barely been off the ship." Leiddem commented and when he had been off the ship things had gone wrong and meant he spent time in sickbay or guarding the gangway to make sure no one got on or off. "What about that Engineer bloke we met? Was he Equinox or are the miners different?" Leiddem offered up a suggestion but he was sure the man would not be high enough to help them.

"Doubt it," Jake shrugged. "Maybe a lot of the people here at the colony are employed by Equinox, but I don't imagine many of them are up-to-date on kidnapping innocent bystanders." He scratched at his head. "If we had a bunch of marines at our back I'd say we go on hot, but..." he looked at the assembled group. "We might be better off using smarts instead of force this time, like Cassie said."

"You look like you are guilty?" Cassie wondered to Burnie seeing him staring at the ground like it was the most interesting thing he had seen in weeks.

Burnie sighed. "Not guilty, just..." He shook his head. "I did get to know someone who works Equinox, but I don't want to put her in danger for helping us. And I could rig a missile launcher and enough grenades to make it seem like we had a platoon of marines at our back," he added hopefully.

"Can we offer her a job here? Can we keep her safe after we get Gregnol back?" Cassie wondered looking at Jake. He was the one stepping up and taking charge when everyone else was floundering. She did not know who the woman is but it did not matter to her if it meant getting the Captain back.

"Honestly? I have no idea if any of us are safe," Jake replied, thinking back to how his brother had found them, all the way out on the fringes. "After this is done I wonder if the Captain will consider taking us out somewhere a little more out-of-the-way. As for this woman you met? I don't see any other way."

"I guess I can talk to her, make the offer," Burnie said hesitantly. "If there's no other way."

"We need her help. I do not think we have any choice." Leiddem shrugged downing his beer as he thought about things. There was no other way. They needed to get into Equinox and needed someone to help them get inside.

"What I am intrigued over is why they have Bio-mimetic gel. The stuff is highly illegal due to well hundreds of reasons so would an operation as highly respected as Equinox have it in such large quantity that we could detect it in a dirty alleyway." Cassie wondered.

Burnie nodded. "It is concerning. There aren't many uses I can think of that wouldn't be dangerous or exploitative or both." It was that thought that finally decided him. "I'm sure Nollel doesn't have any idea it's even there, and she'll want to help, especially if we can get her out there."

Leiddem who had been drinking back his beer nearly choked there and then at the mention and revelation of who Burnie had met. "Nollel?" He demanded. "As in the woman who blew up deck 7?" he spluttered looking around at everyone to check things out.

"Hey, blowing stuff up doesn't make someone a bad person," Burnie objected. "Besides, she feels badly about that. She even paid for a lot of the evac corridor parts as a way of helping to make that up."

Leiddem looked around and frowned that no one else was saying anything. He sat back in his chair and just shook his head silently fuming over it. "If she is willing to help let's go for it," Cassie said putting a hand on the Betazoid's hand sympathetically. She knew he was fuming but if the girl was helping so be it.

Burnie sighed, it made the most sense but he still didn't liking dragging her into it. "Okay. I'll talk to her." He took a drink and gave a crooked smile. "I owe her a comm anyway." With any luck, she was still interested in seeing the ship again, as it would safer to talk here.

"Make it happen," Jake nodded. "The rest of us need to start thinking of a plan to bust Gregnol out of there."

OFF::

Jake Ford
Chief Armoury Officer
SS Mary Rose

Leiddem Kea
Security
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson
Biologist
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Michael Burnstein
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose