Fate's Folly
Posted on Sat Jan 18th, 2025 @ 9:27pm by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Ensign Rimal Iska & Darius Wulfe & Senior Chief Petty Officer Mason Malone
Mission:
Pandora's Box
Location: Wreckage
Timeline: MD5 - After 'The Things They Do For Profit'
4131 words - 8.3 OF Standard Post Measure
The inside of the planet killer was about like any standard wreckage; no power, dim lighting, some debris and loose conduit scattered around. Atmosphere had more or less been set up in certain areas to allow the various Starfleet personnel to work without the restrictive suits. It so happened that a series of blue shimmering lights appeared in one of those pockets, depositing the Athena's security team. A few seconds later, Zade's communicator chirped, and she got confirmation that the Spruance team transported in as well, to a different area of the wreckage. They were in EV suits in case they had to pursue in the less forgiving parts of the wreckage, or worse on the lunar surface.
It was easy enough to make sure their transport site was clear, and Zade wasted no time in her briefing of the situation, keeping her comm line open so the Spruance team could hear her. Some raiders had managed to get through the defense perimeter and transported to the surface, likely to try and loot what they could. Many of the raider transports were near the computer core and what was likely an engineering section, where the Athena and Spruance teams were respectively close to, and both areas contained things that the raiders could sell for a wealthy sum. Their job was to hunt down the approximately 30 raiders while the Edison's and Aurora's security teams protected the scientists. "Heavy stun, we want to question some of them if we can and we can't question the dead. Good luck." At Zade's signal, the groups fanned out, searching for raiders.
After splitting the team into groups, Zade adjusted the phaser rifle in her hands before turning to Mason and Iska. She nodded her head toward a path that the other teams hadn't taken. "Iska, watch our six. Malone, help me sweep." Their suits were configured to alert them when they got close to the edge of the atmosphere pockets, and would automatically transition air intakes between the outside and their reserves as needed.
Mason nodded, lifting up his weapon. While a rifle was more cumbersome to carry, it was actually his preferred weapon because it offered more stability and accuracy when used. "I'll tag right , you take left," he suggested without turning his head to look at her. He started walking, just a fraction ahead of his boss but leaving room for her to take point if she wanted. "Stun it is," he vocally acknowledged. "Recommend wide beam, it'll save us time to aim properly."
Iska acknowledged, swallowing his nerves as he took up a position behind the other two. Being told to suit up on such short notice left his heart pounding in his ears, not helped by the confined space of the EV suits. At least he got a break from being on the ship, especially after the chaos caused by Q, but it was hardly a relaxing break.
"Agreed, wide beam," Zade responded to Mason, making the necessary adjustments to her weapon. With so many raiders running around, they needed to be efficient. Signalling to move, she advanced with Mason, weapon raised and ready to fire. They were careful when stepping over debris, checking for company while also making sure to not trip over anything. The first junction came up, and Zade paused them right before it, glancing to Mason to make sure he was in position on the right wall while readying herself on the left side. They needed to check their respective corridors. There was a pause before she gave him the sign to clear his side.
Mason gave a nod in acknowledgement and moved down the corridor, sweeping left and right into the odd room. He only had to fire once but the caught by surprise opponent was quickly secured .
With practiced movement, Zade turned her own corner, finding a rather disappointing dead end of collapsed debris. At least it was an easy start. "Clear," she quietly said into her comms. It looked like their only options were to continue straight or take Mason's path.
"Also clear," Mason reported, "I've encountered another corner, one side is blocked off, the other looks -" he broke off, ducking low as a beam went over his head. There was a sound of a phaser firing and a suppressed expletive. "Now it's clear," Mason reported, "one managed to hide."
Admittedly, Iska tensed when he heard the weapons fire, and glanced behind him only briefly before continuing to look down the corridor they came from. "Still clear from behind."
Hearing the weapons fire, Zade had her weapon ready, but saw Mason handle it. Hearing both of them confirm that it was safe to continue, she nodded, more for her own assurance than for their acknowledgement. "According to available data, one of the access rooms for the computer core is this way," she said, gesturing in the direction of the fallen raider. "It's where I would go if I were a raider." It was a logical place to secure, as the only thing more valuable than the parts of a planet killer were the schematics to build one.
Knowing that Mason and Iska were sufficiently providing cover, Zade glanced down at the controls on her forearm, putting a partial map on her HUD. Thanks to the science teams and ship scans that managed to get through the reflective hull, they were able to get a rough idea of the decidedly most critical areas. It was a few series of turns, but it wouldn't take them too long to get there, especially if they took a shortcut through a section without atmosphere. She sent it to her partners as well, then prepared herself to continue. "I can take point. Let's move."
Checking his suit, Mason confirmed the suggestion and followed his boss's directions.
Kazik was beginning to question if working with some of Varem's grunts was worth the alliance he had made with the raider. The two that tagged along with him and his shipmate were practically breathing down Kazik's neck as they worked their way through the debris. It was tempting to just shoot the Orion's people and claim Starfleet got them, but reigned in his intrusive thoughts when they found a slightly ajar black door. It must be the access room. According to his own scans of the wreckage, an incredibly difficult task for one small ship being kept away by an entire Starfleet squadron not helped by the brief scans he and Varem did when they first transported, the computer system had several access rooms, and this one was the most readily accessible without cutting through debris. Inside, through their wandering flashlight beams, there were a countless conduits and walls of memory chips. Despite the destruction, the space was fairly intact, a testament to the durable material used to protect the brains of the planet killer.
Looking around, Kazik spotted what he was looking for: a way to access the computer. Several conduits seemed to converge into an odd shape by the wall, and a quick swipe away at the dust on top revealed it to be a console. It would be impossible to access the computer without power, so he turned to his three companions. "Hopefully one of you is smart enough to get some power to this thing," the 'Bajoran' said, tapping the side of the console with his energy weapon.
"Yeah sure," one of them said, "I can try to rig a phaser conduit into a small power source but it won't last long. Got any spare weapons? Or you know, and actual power source, or maybe some isolinear chips, they could help too ... Or you know... you could just flip the power switch?" The voice belonged to a young woman, possibly Human but who knew. She could have been altered to just appear human.
Kazik rolled his eyes. This was one of Varem's. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a portable power bank and tossed it to the woman. "I don't like this arrangement any more than you do, but I can assure you that a Starfleet prison is much worse," he grumbled.
The other two in the group, an Andorian and another Human, noticed a gesture from their decided team leader, and briefly exited the room to plant some sensors before returning. The Human took up a position by the black door, and the Andorian went to the second entrance that was in a similar state of semi-functional.
The woman said nothing as she set herself to attaching the power source. What could she say when the man was absolutely right about prison?
After a couple minutes, the console flickered to life, and Kazik gave a nod of approval. Maybe Varem's folks weren't useless after all. It wouldn't be long before the Starfleet ships tried to track them down, so he quickly got to work, inserting a data chip into the console.
According to the map, one of the control rooms to access the computer was around the next corner. Zade, Mason, and Iska took the shortcut, shooting down two other raiders as they appeared, and Zade paused behind the cover of the corner, pulling out her tricorder to scan ahead. "Four life signs," she reported, her tone hushed despite using suit comms. Transferring the tricorder readings to their HUDs layered some dots onto the map. It seemed there was only one guarding the door, two were inside, and one was on the other side of the room.
"Wide beam from the three of us should take them down in one go," Mason suggested as he studied the readings. "At least the three nearer to us. They seem to be working on something as the consoles just came to life. Whatever it is, we should jam those controls."
"We might want to be careful to not hit the computer or whatever interface is inside," Iska suggested. His back was to the other two as he covered from behind, looking back the way they came. "Who knows what further damage might do to this thing."
Zade nodded as she assessed, then glanced at the tricorder when it beeped. "They set up trip sensors," she reported with a slightly annoyed sigh, frowning at the readings. Displaying the results on the HUD, they appeared as thin lines that spanned the width of the corridor on either side of the entrance, effectively making it impossible to approach without setting them off. "The element of surprise will only go so far here." The sensors were placed just far enough away that even if they moved fast, the raiders would still know of their presence. "Can we jam the controls from out here? Or disable the nearest trip sensor?"
"I can try," Mason answered, "I used to be a radioman, but this is something new. I can't give any guarantee.l, maybe if we can get near the sensors we can fool them? Point them at each other somehow?"
Before Zade could respond, a couple of pirates turned a corner of the wreckage, right into Iska's view. "Contact!" He relayed, as the pirates spotted them and raised their weapons. He fired first, knocking one backwards, then ducked as the remaining two fired back.
Instinctively, Mason ducked as the shots went over their heads and debris were chipped off the walls. "Well .. time for stealth is over," he said as he too fired back. "They'll know we're here now so we might as well trip those sensors."
Zade ducked as well, then nodded curtly. Thanks to the wide beam, the other two raiders went down as well, but it wasn't time to relax just yet. The weapons fire definitely would have alerted those in the computer room. "Agreed. Iska, cover fire. Mason, on me." Knowing better than to run into a room with armed hostiles, she signalled to Mason to take up a position that gave them an advantaged view of the door, ignoring the sensor as she passed through it.
The sound of weapons fire made Kazik pause to look toward the guarded black doors, then at his wrist when the sensor tripped. He wasn't even halfway done yet. With a few muttered choice words, he canceled the file copy that was in progress, deciding that trying to continue was too great a risk. After a few seconds, he yanked the chip from the console and shoved it into a pocket, then turned to his companions. "Take them down, and I'll see to it that you get a hefty bonus," he said to the two at the door. Looking to the Human to got the console working, he gestured to make their escape out the hole in the back of the room.
The two who were guarding the door acknowledged gruffly before taking up cover positions and peeking out the door. Seeing the Starfleet officers scramble into position, they opened fire.
"No good," Mason breathed, winching as a chip of rock cut across his hand. "They have us pinned, our best course of action is probably to catch them outside. The moment we try to follow that pair over there will take us out, I'd rather see the opposite happen to be honest."
"Damnit..." Zade muttered. There wasn't a clear shot, but she didn't want to chase them through the wreckage either. "Assault pattern Gamma." A tactical retreat allowed for some breathing room to lure the raiders out.
Acknowledging, Iska laid down cover fire for the two to retreat, then backed off a little as well. The raiders definitely knew where they were, but by giving them some breathing room, the hope was to create a false sense of security. After a few more seconds, the air fell quiet, the weapons fire replaced by approaching footsteps.
"That's right! Run away, you rats!" One of the raiders shouted with a hearty laugh. For cocky measure, he sent a weapons blast down the corridor that was meant to intimidate.
"Really?" Mason wondered out loud. "They do know that we are better at this than them, right?" He turned and fired back, a yelp of either surprise or pain echoing towards them. He ducked back, retracing his steps a couple of paces before taking aim a second time. "Idiots," he muttered. "That's two down..."
Zade couldn't help the eyeroll she gave at the outburst. These had to be pirates, they were almost always cocky. It was unfortunate that in this particular instance, the cockiness became their downfall as the combination of weapons fire from the three security officers took them down. Keeping her weapon aimed at them, she knelt briefly to make sure they weren't faking it but also weren't accidentally killed. "Somehow predictable and unpredictable at the same time," she mused. Standing, she nodded to Mason and Iska before jogging for the door. Pausing right outside and making sure the other two were ready, the Trill took a breath before aiming the rifle inside.
Empty.
The gaping hole in the back of the room made her narrow her eyes, and she lowered her weapon. "They couldn't have gotten far," she said. Briefly pulling her tricorder again, she scanned for the raiders. "Twenty meters that way," she reported, gesturing toward one of the walls. The material of the walls provided some interference, but the organic matter moving around was just barely clear enough to make out.
Iska breathed a quiet sigh when he realized that they would be running in these suits. While lighter in weight than the models of even 5 years ago, they were still a little cumbersome. "I hope the recent upgrade to these things included running shoes," he muttered to Mason.
"Keep hoping," Mason muttered back, "let's go get them. They can't get away. Come on Iska... you got this, run." He held tight onto his phaser. "I'll go first."
A quiet sigh of disappointment came through the comms. "One day..." Iska mused. He followed Mason, hearing Zade close behind.
The three made progress, with Zade providing direction as best as she could given their available data. A few winding turns later, Zade spoke up. "We might be able to cut them off if we go to the left at the next debris pile." Up ahead was a pile of twisted metal and conduit, the latter occasionally offering a flicker of electricity that briefly illuminated the wreckage in an eerie white glow.
"Is that route stable?" Mason questioned, "it wouldn't do to endanger our lives to capture a crook, right." He studied the debris and the flickering lights. "Don't fancy getting zapped either if I'm honest. They'll get what they're due, karma has its ways.'
Zade frowned at the visual inspection of the alleged detour, seeing that Mason was right and it was much more dangerous than the tricorder had made it seem. Protocols be damned, she wasn't risking injury by being reckless, even if it did help them catch up to the raiders faster. "You're right. We're closing on them anyways," she decided. "I think a few more turns and we should have line of sight, but if they took something we cannot let them leave."
There was no argument from Iska, and he took a couple deep breaths to catch his breath during the short pause before kicking it into a light run again with the others.
"You still okay there Iska?" mason inquired as he took broke into a run again.
"Yeah, just want this over with," Iska answered.
A few more turns passed before Iska spotted movement. It was fleeting, a leg and perhaps an arm just disappearing behind a corner, and he likely would have missed it if he hadn't been actively searching. "Movement to the right, about 5 meters," he informed the other two. He heard Zade confirm via the tricorder readings, so he raised his weapon in preparation to shoot.
Mason too raised his weapon, inching along the corridor while staying out of the line of fire of the others.
"We're almost there," Kazik said to his companion, urging her to keep going. He knew Starfleet would be hot on their trail, and they just needed to buy time before they made it to the transport site to get picked up. It was a huge gamble, trusting Varem's ship to hold up his part of the deal so their respective ships could make it back through the perimeter Starfleet had set up, but if Varem wanted to get out alive too then their ships had to work together. It was a detail in their plan that ensured destruction for either party who dared to betray the other.
Weapons blast hit the corner they just turned, and Kazik looked behind him, baring his teeth. The Starfleet loyalists caught up. Before rounding the next corner, he grabbed his companion and pulled her back, putting her between him and Starfleet.
The young woman protested loudly as she as thrown into the line of fire.
Zade spotted the raiders running and fired, raising a brow when the one betrayed his own by throwing her directly into the line of fire. The betrayed raider took the brunt of the weapons fire, crumbling to the ground, and there was enough cover between her and the corner to protect this last raider from the wide beam. "By order of Starfleet, surrender yourself, now!" she yelled after the escaping raider, grumbling when there was no response. She continued the pursuit, letting Mason or Iska briefly check on the fallen raider as they passed.
Being a trained field medic, Mason knelt briefly beside the woman, then shook his head. "Sorry ma'am, she's gone. What a waste..."
The news made Zade even more irritated with the situation. Despite the path these pirates took in life, they still deserved to live, however this last raider seemed to think his own life mattered more. "Keep moving, we can't let him get away."
He was running out of options. Kazik reached into his pocket, pulling out the trigger. It was a short cylindrical shape, and he popped the cap on one end. He knew he wouldn't make it to the transport site safely with his pursuing company, and he knew Varem wouldn't appreciate an early deployment but there was no other choice. Capture was not an option. Failure was not an option.
The team continued to pursue, Zade just ahead of the other two, and while running she was trying to get just a little closer so the phaser fire would have the best effect. However, the raider stopped and turned around, setting off alarm bells that something wasn't right. Seeing a trigger, thumb covering the button, in the raider's hand, Zade stopped abruptly, raising a hand to stop the others a few meters away. It was a dead man's switch, meaning if any of them shot him down, whatever was connected to the trigger would go off. "Trigger active! Hold your fire!" she quickly alerted.
Iska backpedaled to stop behind his boss, keeping his weapon trained on the raider. "Trigger active!" He repeated, so Zade knew the order was received.
Kazik's eyes widened slightly when the Starfleet officers stopped. It wasn't because they didn't shoot him, despite the trap they were gradually realizing they walked into. Rather, he recognized one of them, even through the EV suit, and it was like seeing a ghost. He knew her ship was in orbit, but seeing her in person after over a decade was jarring. The moment was brief, as the current situation required focus, so he quickly composed himself. "Oh good, you little loyalists understand a conundrum when you see it."
Zade frowned. That voice... why did it sound familiar? Her eyes focused on his features, trying to see if she had run into him before, but what she could properly identify didn't ring any bells. "Drop whatever you have taken," the Trill demanded, keeping her weapon aimed at the raider.
Good, she didn't recognize him. Kazik scoffed at the rather bold demand. "Or what, you shoot me? Maybe I overestimated your smarts, Starfleet," he countered.
Subtly looking around, Iska spotted the explosives on either side of them, secured to the walls. It was guaranteed to take down this section of corridor. Knowing Mason was nearby, he subtly pointed out the explosives with hand signals, knowing he was sufficiently obscured from the raider by Zade to do so. His concern, however, was on the chief, who was right in the blast zone and in the most danger. The pirate was watching them closely, however, so he didn't dare take action.
Kazik studied the group closely, seeing the officers get antsy to find a way to stop him. He was pleased to see that the trigger in his hand successfully kept the Starfleet loyalists from pursuing, or worse, from killing him. This stalemate wouldn't last forever, though. He was, unfortunately, out of time. Addressing Zade, the corner of his mouth curled faintly into a smile as he took a step back, preparing to make his leave. "I would chat, but I'm unfortunately on a tight schedule. Until next time, Didrea."
The pirate's words made Zade's blood run cold, and she froze. It all clicked. She immediately recognized his voice, the way her own name danced off his tongue, but the face wasn't right. Almost nobody called her by her given name, and yet this random pirate said it as if they had known each other for years. It couldn't be him. Could it be him? It stalled her brain, because her ears and her gut were screaming that it was him, yet her eyes and her mind said otherwise.
The raider was going to blow the corridor to get away. Iska could see the pirate's subtle shift in tension, the readiness to make a run for it, and knew it was imminent. He knew Mason would likely be fine, but Zade would not be. How did the raider know her? His eyes quickly darted between her and the raider, his mind in overdrive. Could he make it to her in time? "Prophets, give me strength," he whispered in an attempt to boost his own self-esteem. Deciding it was now or never, Iska sprinted for Zade, hoping to the Prophets that he would get there in time and shove her out of harm's way. They weren't far apart maybe two meters at most, but it felt like kilometers, each step as if his shoes were filled with lead. He could see the raider's attention shift to his sudden movement and knew that he couldn't back out now. He just needed to get close enough...
In the same instant, Kazik lifted his thumb from the trigger.
Click.
