In Pursuit of Pergium (Part 1)

Posted on 10/09/2020 @ 7:13pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Henri Boudreaux & Lieutenant JG Larissa Syndel
Edited on on 10/16/2020 @ 10:41am

Mission: S2E2: The Auction House
Location: USS Kicking Bear
Timeline: Day 41 at 1000

"I'm looking forward to this trip," Larissa told Henri as they walked down the corridor towards the shuttlebay. "been a while since I've flown a shuttle and gone on an... excursion."

"As am I, Lieutenant," Henri said, the warmth of his Cajun accent rolling through his speech patterns, though he was mindful to keep the more colloquial expressions to himself. You never knew how officers were going to react about things like that. He was an experienced security officer so such 'excursions' were not at all unusual for him and truth be told, he enjoyed the investigative aspects of his work. "Robbing a colony of defenseless colonists just doesn't seem right," he said. "Steal their pergium and take the women and children. Kill anyone that fights back." He shook his head. "Be good to see the lot of them in holding cells."

"Intimidation, terror and ruthlessness, it certainly sounds like typical syndicate behaviour." Larissa remarked. "Doubt they would have gone as far as kidnapping an entire colony worth of people to sell though."

"I suppose," Henri said as he kept his pace measured to hers. "Generally though, its not evil acts for their own sake. There's a reason and maybe someone behind the curtain that we haven't seen as yet. Look, I'm not a fan of the Syndicate by any means, but I don't they'd take a chance like this without there being some serious benefit to them. I'd like to know what that is."

"Power, influence or money usually. Though I have heard they sometimes do things just for the fun of it." She said then added "They have probably been contracted to get pergium and whoever is paying them either didn't know or doesn't care about the colonists there so they are just doing what they want with them."

"That's a sound theory," Henri said. By habit, his gaze moved continually, quartering his surroundings, to be sure that nothing was coming at him ... or more importantly, her. "I'll pass it along to the Lieutenant Niun as an avenue of investigation if he hasn't thought of it already. Can't be that many people dealing with these Orions for Pergium."

"It will be interesting to see if that theory pans out," Larissa said as the rounded the corner to the shuttlebay.

[Main Shuttle Bay, Deck 12]

Together, they entered the Main Shuttlebay which was in the aft dorsal section of the ship. Knowing where things were and how to get there as quickly as possible was something that every security officer had to learn. When lives were at stake, it didn't help if you were wasting time querying the computer about where to find something or somewhere. So, Henri knew. He always knew. The bay itself was a hub of activity as crewman prepared the Type-9 shuttle, the fastest the Crazy Horse had available, for departure. Designed for scouting missions such as this one, he knew that it boasted two Type-VI phasers and was suitable for long range reconnaissance -- which made it a better choice than the battle-capable Type 18 shuttlepod. Course, the Crazy Horse would be better but, what can you do?

"Crewman Jenkins, is the Kicking Bear ready?" Larissa asked a crewman she recognised stood nearby as she and Henri entered the Shuttlebay, the type-9 shuttle was already stationed in the middle of the bay.

"Almost Lieutenant, she's warmed up, just finished preflight for you." The crewman replied.

Larissa smiled "Good, the Captain wants us underway as soon as we can."

"Head onboard and we'll have you out in no time Sir." He popped the hatch and stood aside to let the officer onboard.

Jenkins offered up a grin to Henri, once the Lieutenant was safely on board, and did a theatrical bow to let him pass. Henri laughed in response as he murmured, "don't want to be late to this fais do do, eh?" At Jenkins' inquisitive stare, Henri mimed dancing with one hand to his chest and the other upraised. Dancing under the lights, amid family and friends, after a hearty meal to a Zydeco beat was a part of his life that he missed. Jenkins nodded his understanding by smacking the side of his head and Henri moved into the shuttle; he automatically went to check the onboard supplies. He'd been caught without once and he made it a point now to be sure that emergency supplies were fully stocked before the shuttle left the bay.

Larissa headed straight for the cockpit and slipped into one of the chairs, she trusted that the crew had done everything needed for the shuttle to be ready to go but still quickly checked things for herself. After a few seconds she looked back towards Henri, "All set back there chief?"

"Aye, Sir," Henri said. "One more ...." He searched out the last item on the checklist and nodded with satisfaction. Everything in its place as it should be on a well run ship like the Crazy Horse. "We're good." He moved forward and slipped into the other seat, smiling as he did so. "I knew this COB once who used to say, trust your fellow members of Starfleet but it still never hurts to check before you go out." He flashed a grin. "Wise man. Took me a while to realize that just the act of checking was a great way to calm the nerves. I've settled down more than one crewman by having kept the emergency gear."

"It's always good to have a double check," Larissa replied as she got to the last item on her checklist. "there is a human term I like, measure twice cut once."

"Ready on my end," Henri said as he came to the end of his checklist. He sat slightly forward in his seat, the natural urge to get moving, though once they were clear of the ship they'd be settling in for a long ride. Hopefully one with answers at the end. "Permission to request clearance for departure?"

Larissa smiled. "Go ahead Chief."

"USS Crazy Horse," Henri said, "this is shuttle Kicking Bear requesting clearance to depart."

"Kicking Bear," returned the clear tenor of Penbrooke, a young officer who preferred hanging out with the enlisted (not that Henri could blame him) and was a regular member of a barber shop quartet. There had been one or two performances already and while it wouldn't replace blues in his heart, Henri did enjoy the performances. "You are cleared for departure. Safe travels." He added in a lower voice, intended not to carry across the bridge, "We'll keep the light on for you."

"Most appreciated," Henri answered, nodding at the console, "no one wants to come home to a dark house. Back before you know it. Kicking Bear out." He turned his head toward 'the officer' who as yet had not revealed enough of a distinct personality to move her from just another officer he had to deal with to someone he knew and understood. "Ready when you are, Sir," he said.

"Lets go." Larrisa tapped at the controls and the Flying Hawk lifted smoothly off the deck and slowly through the shuttlebay's forcefield out into open space. "Should take us a few minutes to clear the system so we can warp, keep an eye on that trail. I don't want to lose it."

"Aye, Sir," Henri said. The passage of time had degraded the trail somewhat but there was enough of a Pergium signature for the Kicking Bear to follow. He settled back into his seat; this was something he knew. He had the patience for the long game, following clue trails, teasing out bits of information, which meant that he seldom fidgeted and wasn't given to restless movements.

Soon the shuttle was clear of the system and double checking the course was right Larissa jumped the shuttle to warp speed.

A few hours passed before something caught Larissa's attention. "What's that there?" She asked motioning to the display. "two ship sat close together."

"Checking the database," Henri said. "The trail leads to the freighter. That's the one on the right. On the left ... Hmmm ..." He waited a moment for the computer to check its database of silhouettes and looked up in surprise. "That's Sheliak, Sir."

"A Sheliak ship? what's a Sheliak ship doing in these parts?" Larissa asked as she dropped the Flying Hawk out of warp.

"Taking delivery, looks like," Henri said. "Transporter signature on both vessels. Want to bet that they are the customers for that Pergium?"

"I'd say that's a pretty safe bet." She checked the sensor display then quickly maneouvered the shuttle towards a small stellar dust cloud "If we sit near this dust cloud and go silent running we should be able to sit and watch them for a while, see what happens."

Henri nodded his agreement; he had been ensuring that they would have an admissible record of the meeting between the two ships. That was the investigator in him, the security officer preparing for the eventual arrests and trial proceedings to follow. The Sheliak. He remembered them from a course he took once. How they considered humans to be lower lifeforms and how it had required three hundred and seventy some legal experts to draft the Treaty of Armens to their satisfaction. But why Pergium of all things? Not the most common of elements, sure. To gather Pergium in large quantities though?

His fingers itched to start the computer working on research but remaining silent meant just that. Being as quiet as you could to prevent exposure because it was doubtful that the Flying Hawk could outrun either of those ships. Time passed. By the ship's chronometer, twenty four minutes, and then the Sheliak powered up and went to warp. The Orion vessel, an aging freighter though with many of their vessels looks were often deceiving, remained where it was for several moments. Henri turned toward the Lieutenant, a question in his eyes, as he wondered what her orders would be.

Larissa kept the ship silent for a little longer, not wanting to do anything till the Orion did. "Where do you think they're going to go next, back to this auction house?"

Henri shrugged. "Honestly, who's to say whether they are attached to the auction house or based somewhere else entirely? We've done our job though," he said. "the Pergium was meant for the Sheliak and that's significant. The Captain will want to know about that, I'm sure."

"No doubt," Larissa remarked. Slowly she bought the shuttle up to full power. "Make sure we have that ship's registry and transponder signal recorded, might need to find it again later."

"Aye, Sir," Henri responded though in truth he'd already done so. In fact, he'd gotten as much as he could on both vessels that could be done short of actively scanning both craft. Scans would attract attention and that was something they didn't want. The Flying Hawk was not equipped to outrun or outfight the Sheliak vessel though they might do alright against the aging freighter. Might. As long as it doesn't any friends in the vicinity.

Using just thrusters, she kept the dust cloud between the Flying Hawk and the Orion freighter hoping to get away from the area as quietly as they got there.

"Heading to our rendezvous coordinates near the auction house," Henri asked as the shuttle began to move away from the freighter.

Larissa quickly checked the charts. "If we're lucky we should get there not long after they do." Waiting until she felt they were far enough away from the freighter she activated the impulse engines and warmed up the warp engines ready to jump to warp.

Training and field practice meant that Henri was seldom a passive passenger. If you sat up front, you kept watch and that's what he was doing which was why he noticed almost immediately when the Orion vessel began to scan them. "Sir," he said, "that Orion vessel is scanning us. I think they caught on."

"Damm, we'd best get out of here." Larissa quickly jumped the shuttle to warp speed and accelerated up to its max of warp 6. She changed course several times to confuse the Orion ship as to their destination but kept going in the general direction of the rendezvous point. "Any signs of pursuit?"

"Still with us," Henri reported, "firing up their weapon systems which are considerably better than are own."

"Raise the shields, put everything spare into them." Larissa looked through the sensor data about what lay ahead of them hoping to find somewhere she could lose the ship. "I'm going to change course for that comet, if we can last long enough to get into its tail they might lose sensor contact with us."

"Shields at maximum," Henri answered. "Weapons are online." When the Orions began firing, Henri responded in kind, targeting their weapons and engine. The shuttle was no match for the bigger ship but he meant to make it as difficult for them as he could.

The Kicking Bear jolted from the impacts as torpedoes from the Orion freighter hit them. "They're targeting our warp engines." Larrisa said as she tried to evade the fire; not an easy thing at warp speed.

"Shields are down to twenty percent," Henri said. "One more hit like that and they're gone." There was one last shuddering hit that took out the engine; the cabin went dark, lit now by small tongues of flame. Henri surged to his feet and headed for the nearest extinguisher, then set to work knocking down the flames. There wasn't much more he could do; engineering had never been his strength. "Don't suppose you know anything about fixing engines do you?"

"I don't think that's going to be an option." Larissa said as the cabin was bathed in green shimmering light and several bodies began to rematerialise.

Continued in Part 2

A Post by:

MCPO Henri Boudreaux
COB and Security Investigations Officer
USS Crazy Horse

and

LTjg Larissa Syndel
Chief Operations Officer
USS Crazy Horse