The Gate Crashers (Part 2)

Posted on 10/18/2020 @ 1:07pm by Lieutenant JG Larissa Syndel
Edited on on 03/02/2021 @ 6:27pm

Mission: S2E2: The Auction House
Location: The Auction House
Timeline: Day 41 at 1545

Continued From The Auction House: Gate Crashers (Part 1)

Siobhan eyed the knocked out Orion woman.

"She is too short. Besides, she wasn't really wearing anything." She looked at the XO meaningfully. "I can as well just undress and be naked, if that is what you prefer." She winced not amused. "Or I'll stay behind, will keep an eye on them, and secure the way out." She offered.

"Be naked on your own time, Doctor, but not on mine and not during an away mission" Jodon replied though he did find her amusing. "I prefer you clothed, very clothed. Keep an eye on them and secure the way out. I don't want to overstay our 'welcome' here" the First Officer replied shaking his head. She is certainly unorthodox he thought to himself as past experience from his symbiont started to kick in once in a while, offering tactical and command insight.

Siobhan pouted overdramatically at the first officer’s words.
“Aww… I think I am losing my touch if a man tells me to remain dressed when I offer getting naked.” She commented wryly and sighed. Her face lost the dramatics and she continued with suddenly matter-of-fact tone. “Understood lieutenant.”

"Happens to us all," replied Jodon with a small smirk. "Don't worry, I used to be a woman of grandeur and maturity, Doctor. I would not take it at 'losing your touch' so much as I have a dulling effect."

Tahlin leaned over in the doctor's direction and whispered, "Come by and we'll talk once we're back to the ship." She winked and patted the cute doctor on the shoulder.

While they talked Niun worked his way down the corridor, testing doors and poking around in corners. While it would have been great to find a bunch of clothing just waiting for their use, there was little of interest. Instead, he moved back to his former vantage point and watched the open space. Everyone he saw was armed in one fashion or another and there didn't appear to be a standard of dress so that helped. He watched the cargo lift doors open again and another grav sled, with a neat pile of crates on board, was led out by a team of two where it was met by another team. Transfer complete, the area emptied out again. A pattern, he thought, good for our side.

While he watched, he went about the task of reversing his uniform. Some might think it weird but he had spent enough time in the field to be prepared for just about anything. He stripped off his jacket and shirt, turned them inside out, and dressed. Now in black, top to bottom, he felt ... better. Kel wore unrelieved black and while it had been years since he'd been among the people, he'd never gotten all that comfortable with wearing bold and bright colors. He tucked his pants into his boots so that his combat knife, tucked into its sheath in his right boot, was easily accessible, tousled his hair a bit, and waited.

[Meanwhile, Down in the Vaults - Henri]

They were brought from the ship to a dismal looking room where rust patterns formed the only hint of decoration and turned over to a different set of guards. Four guards for each prisoner seemed excessive but then again, this was the point where many realized that their hope of release was slipping away. Or at least that's how Henri saw it. He'd been around long enough to know that rash moves were generally both stupid and costly. Instead, he watched. Studied. And hoped there would be some hole in their defenses that he could exploit.

After their chains were removed, he was ushered toward one door and that was the last he saw of Larissa she was being herded by other guards toward another door. Separate the women from the men, he thought. Makes sense in a creepy, think-of-people-as-merchandise, sort of way, I suppose. Guards are all armed. And there's always two that stay back, out of reach, so even if I could over-power the hulking brutes walking on either side of me, and granted, that wouldn't be easy because credit where credit is due, the other two would take me down long before I could reach them. So that means at least one night in their cells. Blast it.

They brought him to a featureless room whose metal walls seemed almost to be weeping rust and grime and left, locking him in. This, he thought as he made a slow circuit of the five foot by eight foot room, noting the door that fitted seamlessly into the wall and the small, regularly spaced vents placed at the top and bottom of the walls, does not look good. Not good at all.

Outside of the room and outside of Henri's hearing, the guards shook their heads. The rules, which they all followed rather than risk the wrath of Galir which was not inconsiderable, required that males post a certain age had no value as slaves. The senior of the two guards checked the nearest terminal to determine if the prisoner could be used for other purposes and luckily (or unluckily in Henri's case), there was a buyer who would take a corpse. He shared the information with his partner and the two began preparing to flood the chamber with lethal gas.

[Meanwhile, Down in the Vaults - Larissa]

After being pushed down a different path to Henri Larissa was taken through a door and down a long corridor, she passed several doors that resembled prison cells doors with small peepholes to discreetly observe the people inside them. She was pulled to a stop outside one of them, the door was opened with a large key and she was pushed inside, the door slamming shut behind her.

The smell of multiple people cooped up together in a medium sized room was the first thing that hit her and then she saw the worried looks of nine other women looking straight at her, they were a mix of species, most she recognised as federation member species. She was the only Orion in the room though. It wasn't her first time behind bars but the relatively dingy multi person room was significantly worse than a federation holding cell and she had a feeling she might be there quite a while longer.

The holding area, without windows or bedding, was little more than a metal box with a bucket in one corner. The few women there were huddled together, sharing warmth and encouragement, as they waited. The settlement had been born of a shared belief in rejection of technology and return to a more natural lifestyle. Happily, that belief had crossed lines of world and species; in their number, they included Humans, Risians, Bajorans, and a few from Alpha Centauri. They were similar in age, all below thirty, marked now with grief and fear. They turned together to see the woman who approached. "You are welcome," Adrya said quietly, "to share what little we have. Shared warmth and enough soup that we can all get a good mouthful or two. I'm Adrya of Skunil and these are my neighbors and friends, Marja, Leani, Terysa, and Tanni."

Larissa gave a small smile, all of the women looked in reasonable condition, she could see the fear on their faces though. "I'm Larissa, are you all from Skunil?" She asked the group though from what Adrya had said it seem like that was the case but the group looked to be only a portion of the colonists.

"Were," Adrya said, her face twisting into a grimace as memories flooded through her. "Until we were stupid enough to hire those experts." She added air quotes around the word experts while shaking her head. "The idea was to get a revenue stream going to fund a second wave of settlers. Course that didn't turn out as expected."

"Is that how you ended up here, you made a deal of some sort and it went bad?" Larissa asked, while she knew most of what happened hearing it from those who were there would be an insight.

"There were accidents at first," Adrya said as she resumed her spot on the floor, tucking in the edge of the material as a nod to modesty. "Structural supports gave way. We lost several good men. Then there was an explosion. No one was hurt that time but we had to buy new equipment and all."

Leani muttered, "Throwing good money after bad. That's about when some of us starting thinking that maybe it wasn't such a good idea but it was Mia, what happened to her, that's what settled it for us. We were no sooner burying Mia then we had the problems with our water and a whole lot of people got sick." She shook her head slowly. "Never did get that makeshift hospital taken down." She turned bleak eyes toward the newcomer. "There wasn't time."

"No," Adrya said. "There wasn't. That Galir showed up and said how the deal had changed. They weren't leaving and they wanted more. But we were free to go."

Larissa listened as they talked, everything matched up to the information the away teams investigation found. "Were you really free to go? you ended up here so I doubt they ever planned on letting you go."

One of the women broke down upon hearing that, crying softly against another woman's shoulder, and the others moved in to comfort her while Adrya leaned closer to the newcomer. "Personally, I agree with you but Tanni over there? She lost her husband and her two sons. Hasn't seen her daughter since we arrived. So maybe you could be a tad less ... pessimistic? At least in her hearing."

"I'm sorry Adrya." Larissa moved over to where Tanni sat and knelt down in front on her. "Everything is going to be alright Tanni." She said taking the woman's hands in hers trying to reassure her as much as she could. "My friends will be here soon and things will get better."

"Your friends," Tanni asked as she brushed away the tears with the back of her hand. "Who are they?"

"A starfleet ship, the USS Crazy Horse." Larissa told her. "We went to Skunil, saw everything that had happened and managed to track you all to here."

"Starfleet," Tanni whispered. The words rippled through the small group as the first stirring of hope flared to life within them.

"They'd better hurry," Terysa said. Her voice was low and gravelly, roughened by the tragedy they had shared, as her dark eyes turned toward the bars that kept them in. "We're in the next group to be sold, I think." She shrugged slightly. "Not much to do in here so I've been watching. They're emptying these ... cages ... in sequence. If I'm right, we're next."

Continued in The Gate Crashers (Part 3)

A Post by:

Captain Cian D'Anvers (as various NPCs)
Commanding Officer
USS Crazy Horse

Lieutenant Jodan Joral
Executive Officer
USS Crazy Horse

MCPO Henri Boudreaux
COB and Security Investigations Officer
USS Crazy Horse

Lieutenant JG Larissa Syndel
Chief Operations Officer
USS Crazy Horse

Lieutenant JG Siobhan Richards, Ph.D.
Chief Counselor
USS Crazy Horse

Lieutenant JG Lae'Or Tahlin
Chief of Security
USS Crazy Horse