Reaction Time

Posted on Sun Dec 8th, 2013 @ 1:13am by Vendenje Kamdram

Mission: Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Docking Levels

He stood just outside of the doorway.

The door was closed tight behind him, a curse, he thought.

The Commander had known more about him than he had expected. The man was good, he had to admit. Good enough that he'd done his homework.

Kam pushed away from the door and began walking down the dark corridor, picking his way from shadow to shadow.

He paused at a wall console and scrolled through pages of information, hunting and pecking for ship departures. It was a laborious task, and he squinted and mouthed words slowly as he did. It wasn't all that long ago that he had been illiterate entirely, and had a certain Starfleet Captain not taken an interest he might have never learned. He had come to find the new skill to be useful; instead of guessing what symbols and sigils meant, he could read them. He still flew his ship almost entirely by feel, but it certainly took some of the guess-work out of it.

He found the Sunburst. Docking clamp G, in the lower levels. It was set to depart in twenty minutes. He pulled the map up and began working out a route. Even at his top speed, it would still take him sixteen minutes to get there.

He started to work his way through the corridor, nearing the end of the restricted area. "Hey!" Kam turned in time to see two gold-shirts. "Damn," he whispered, running.

Blue overhead lights blurred by, his long coat unfurling behind him. He stole a glance over his shoulder and saw that two had become four. Flying down the corridor, he could hear them shout again. He ducked around a corner and, with a swift kick of his dirty boot, smashed aside a jeffries tube cover. It clattered away and he cursed as he tried to scoop it up. They came around the corner before he could climb in so he threw it at them and continued on.

He saw the first Security Officer draw his phaser and point it at him. Kam dove into a roll as the stunning blast hit the ground where he had been. "Well, this is stupid," he said. He wasn't about to throw down with Security. He darted around the corner and then turned left once more. Luck was on his side as a turbolift door had just opened and an officer in blue had stepped off. He slithered into the lift, the man looking at him surprised but doing nothing to stop him.

The doors slid shut. Kam slumped back and closed his eyes. He looked down at his hand and realized it had instinctively clutched his Bajoran disruptor. His gloved knuckles were white and he had to forcibly pull them off of it. He felt his age as his tensed muscles relaxed and then began to ache painfully.

With age came the patience and reflection needed to not shoot and fight your way through every situation, but it also made those fights harder. He rubbed his wrist absently as the lift rushed downward, levels passing by so fast that he lost count.

The lift doors opened.

She was the first thing he saw.

She stood there, as though she had been waiting for him. There was no surprise in her dark eyes; her dark gray flesh was ridged and lined, her glossy black hair worn loose and wild. He stepped off the lift and drew his disruptor. "Raela," he said.

"Kam," she replied. "You are chasing a ghost," she said.

"You, or Mosel?"

Raela shrugged. "As far as everyone - Mosel included - thinks, I am dead. I want..." She looked away. "I need it to stay that way. I don't know where Mosel is, and I don't care."

"Why don't I believe that?" Kam asked.

Raela smiled. "Because you are an ignorant slave who never learned his place."

Kam's face twisted in anger. "I'm not a slave," he said.

Raela nodded towards his left shoulder. "That brand on your back says differently. You know Gerun is still looking for you?" She stepped back as two workers moved by, carrying heavy loads in their arms. "He considers you lost property. He even put out a sizable reward for your return."

"There will be time for Gerun," Kam said. "You know where Mosel's next drop is going to be. I know you were part of the team that helped him plan it." She said nothing as Kam stepped towards her. "I don't know what you are running from. I don't really care. I will kill you right where you stand, just like I killed your pitiful husband so many years ago, I swear to the Prophets Raela."

"The drop isn't happening," she said. "The buyer was dead when Mosel and his Klingon allies arrived. Shot in the head. The stuff was gone. They got a lead on it, a planet in the old Demilitarized Zone. I think you know it; New Graham. Mosel went there to get it, but they were beaten to the punch."

"By who?"

Raela shook her head. "I don't know."

Kam turned and started to walk away. "Kam," Raela said. He paused and looked back. "Don't go to New Graham. I know you had friends there, even if you wouldn't call them that. They're dead, Kam. Everyone there is dead."

Kam turned and kept walking. The walk became a jog.

The jog turned into a run.

He ran all the way to his ship.

--

Vendenje Kamdram
Ship's Captain, Freighter Alei
Starbase 332