The Deal

Posted on Sun Jan 29th, 2023 @ 4:24pm by Captain Tristan Faust & Ensign Peter Novak & Petty Officer, 2nd Class Harmony Stardancer & Arianna D'Tal & Ensign Avis Larant
Edited on on Sun Jan 29th, 2023 @ 11:42pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Fool’s Errand
Location: Station Exar
Timeline: M1 MD10 (2268.25.05) 1945-2020

Within only a few short minutes, Arrianna and her crew burst into the auction hall's transporter room, holding the young girl in front of her, with a klingon disruptor pressed into her side. "You know.... I'm really not in the mood for this shit today." She said, getting everyone's attention. "Stop what you're doing, or this innocent little Human gets a very painful death!"

Avis wanted to shout back, 'As will you, bitch' as she aimed her phaser at the Orion leader. But it was the captain who needed to be the spokesman.

Within an instant 20 phasers were trained on Arriana and her hostage. Tristan gave a glare to the Orion Pirate, "Do you have no shame?" he asked, "Threatening a child for profit."

"My dear Captain, you think this move is just for profit?" Arianna said sweetly, though her voice was laced with anger. "Sure getting paid was the whole point of this little endeavor, but see... you have something far more important to me than money... and I want her back!" As she said this last, it was snapped out in anger.

"Please..." The girl said, obviously seeming scared out of her wits. "Don't let her kill me! Just give her what she wants!"

"Who do you want back?" Tristan asked. He himself did not have his phaser up, instead allowing his troops attend to such matters. "My officers have at least 20 phasers trained on you. One wrong move or if you shoot the girl and you won't walk out of this room alive." He nodded towards his engineering crew to continue transporting the hostages up to the ship. Time was definitely of the essense now that the Orions were on to them.

Arianna was about to open her mouth, when several armed Orions entered the room. Having found the auction hall was only occupied by captured slaves being beamed out, they'd decided to come here to provide backup.

"Do not fire!" She ordered, and they all stood there with weapons raised, in what appeared to be a stand off, as she looked back at Tristan. "Give me back my first officer, and let us walk out of here unharmed... You do that, and you can have both the girl, and the slaves."

"Ah... So that's who you're after..." Tristan responded, a devious grin spreading over his face, "What assurance do I have that you will let us leave here? I propose this... We beam all of our people out here and then I'll consider releasing your first officer?"

"I'm insulted!" Arianna snapped, then took a deep breath, letting it out. "When I make a deal, I keep my word, but if you'd prefer I just kill this girl, and order my men to slaughter you all, that can be arranged. Do your people a favor, Captain... Compromise."

"I'd like to see you try," Tristan said, "Set phasers to kill." He knew it was a tad breach of protocol but he needed to show he was serious.

Avis had to break a smile, just a little. She was way ahead of the captain, hers was already set to kill.

"At the end of the day my officers and the colonists are more important," he said, "Don't you Vulcans have a saying about the needs of the many? How about you compromise." He was buying time as the engineers were continuing to transport groups of hostages back.

"You want to subscribe to that weak Vulcan philosophy, fine." Arianna said, without missing a beat. At his moment, several more Orions entered the room, weapons drawn, and waiting on Arianna's order. "If he calls for a beam out of himself, or anyone other than the slaves, before I have Marina in my custody, kill them all."

"Understood!" Came the gruff reply from one of her officers.

"The needs of the many, Captain. Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of your officers, and this innocent girl, instead of handing over one woman?" Arianna asked coyly. "I'm already compromising by even allowing you to take them back, so now it's your turn."

"I'll return her, but our personnel will be retrieved first," Tristan responded, "That is the deal..." It was clear she want this woman back bad enough to let them walk away with the hostages, therefore he willing to bet she would wait. The Starfleet personnel and the Orions were about evenly matched at this point. Some of the security personnel even held phaser rifles which were trained on the Orions. "Continue the retrieval operation," he reiterated.

"You'll also let us leave unharmed." Arianna reminded him, then glanced at one of her officers. "How many are left?

"Less than a quarter." Came the reply. "Enough to know we're not getting paid!"

"There will be more opportunities, as long as the Captain here honors our deal." Arianna replied. "And poor Jenny here will get to live another day. Isn't that right?"

"Y-yes, Mistress!" Jenny said nervously.

Captain Faust made a mental note of the form of address before responded, "Of course, we will let you leave this room unharmed."

The stand off continued until engineer Itami reported the hostages were aboard ship except for Avis and some of the colonists they could not locate. Still it was better than what it could have been. He signaled the ship, "Transporter Room, beam down the hostage and then prepare to beam is up on my signal," he said as the acknowledgement came.

The transporter sequence began and the figure of Marina, the Orion female and Captain D'Tal's first officer appeared. She looked unharmed and well taken care of, but she still looked visibly shaken.

"It's just an even trade now..." Arianna said, then let go of Jenny, and took a single step back, with the disruptor still pointing at her. "Go to them, and they will take care of you."

As the trade took place, Arianna and her officers stayed true to Arianna's word. Once Marina was there next to her, she gave Tristan a sweet smile.

"You've been most helpful, Captain." The Vulcanoid woman said, as her and her people began backing out of the room. "Perhaps we will meet again."

With that, Arianna, and her crew left the transporter room.

Really? Harmony had done what she could helping to get as many of the 'slaves' out as they could, and when Arianna had shown up, she had retreated behind the landing team, who were better equipped for a confrontation.

But then Captain Faust...negotiated? What the hell? Harmony chewed the inside of her cheek, keeping her silence. Certainly, she was happy that the terrified child was released, but in the long run, who was going to account for the damage and death that the pirate's first officer was going to cause in the future?

She rushed forward as Jenny was released, wrapping a comforting arm around the girl, then hustled her behind the protection of the Midway's team. She didn't bother to look at Arianna. "You're okay now," she murmured, "don't worry."

The station lurched to one side. Something had exploded somewhere nearby. Tristan pulled out his hand communicator, "Midway, beam up the landing party, now!" he yelled quickly. Within a few moments the transporter beam enveloped them leaving Station Exar a distance memory behind them.

 

RSS Feed