The First of Many
Posted on Sat Aug 30th, 2014 @ 12:54pm by Master Warrant Officer Vestara Stronghold & Commander Brian Ratchford & Lieutenant Colonel Edward Maxwell & Ensign Sivity Dar-Barriun & Vendenje Kamdram & Lieutenant Lynsi Mason & Karx & Venin
Edited on on Mon Sep 1st, 2014 @ 12:53pm
Mission:
Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Thieves
Location: Starbase 332 - Docking Bay 47
Timeline: MD10: 1400hrs
[ON]
Docking Bay 47 was one of the many docking bays on the station designed for civilian use, and the onloading and offloading of commercial freight. Essentially an enormous shuttlebay, the decking of the chamber was covered in an array of all different types of civilian craft - a few large shuttles, but most of them were small freighters. Brian and his security escort were able to take it all in as they rode the turbolift down. The particular turboshaft that they were travelling in ran down the internal bulkhead of the bay, and the half facing into the chamber was constructed of transparent aluminium, allowing a view out across the bay floor. The commander could already pick out the craft that had just been escorted inside - the six N’Veci vessels obviously shared a common design lineage, and their crews were already spilling out onto the decks. Ratchford could just make out the form of one of the station's fighter craft, which had landed far enough away not to get swamped in the off-loading passengers, but close enough to be clearly identified as their escort.
Security was high and very visible. None were more visible than Ensign Sivity Dar-Barriun. She strolled amongst the newly disembarked passengers and answered questions and pointed directions. Her outrageous high heels clicked as she went. Her short skirt drew many eyes and served as a very capable distraction from the uncertainty of the refugees' new situation. Her multiplicity of charms and fetishes were the topic of more than one discussion. Consequently her presence was a distraction that served to keep emotions diffused. For her part, she welcomed the attention, but didn't let it distract her from spotting potential trouble makers. Finding trouble was something at which she was particularly adept.
Venin looked up from pretending he understood the schematic of the ship they had hired. He and his brother were preparing the little shuttle for their trip to the Latinum promised land offered to them by Crelar Rax but Venin's lobes were positively trembling at the notion of fresh meat.
He clocked the fighter lying a short distance away and, through the transparent turboshaft, the red collar of a ranking Starfleet officer and his escorts.
"Karx, Karx!" He exclaimed, nudging his brother to attention. "Look!"
Karx had been kneeling down to examine the underside of the shuttle (he'd seen pilots do that before) and quickly stood up at his brother's warning, doing his best impression of somebody who wasn't doing anything. "What?" he said as he looked to the turboshaft. He scowled as he saw a few Starfleeters in the lift. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"
"Well, you've been down here plenty of times before. When was the last time you saw a Starfleet delegation that big, with one of their ships docked in this bay?" Venin asked his brother, knowing full well that the answer was never. "Those ships must be worth something."
Karx looked again at the red collared officer and then back to the recently arrived ships. He licked his lips as he lobes sensed opportunity.
Kam seemed distracted, only half paying attention to what was going on around him. Or, at least, so went the way he wanted it to seem. His eyes were focused on a heavy box that he was kneeling over, but his eyes were ever watching, scanning the faces around him. He, like several others, recognized the value of some of what was in the area.
As the turbolift reached 'ground level' and opened to permit the exit of Ratchford and his entourage, the arrangement of the other vessels seemed to almost create a corridor down towards the N'Veci vessels, and Brian began the walk down, trying not to look like a dictator flanked by his two body guards going down to make his demands upon some new subjects. He kept his walk casual, and prevented his face from falling into a stern visage, but he couldn't help but feel like the essence of a dictator was following him; the docking bay was larger than most of his past assignments, and he was acutely aware that it was only a small portion of the much larger station that he had been left in command of.
Mason weaved her way through the crowds of people that was just starting to form from the N'Veci ships. She was still in her flight suit, though she left her helmet in her cockpit. "Commander Ratchford," she called out, seeing the entourage exit the turbolift. "We didn't get any trouble from the N'Veci ships. Everyone played nice and followed our commands."
"I'm glad to hear it," the XO responded, pausing in his trek down to the N'Veci ships to speak with the fighter pilot before he reached the newcomers. "The inspection teams reported no unusual substances beyond a few exotic food items. Which one is Tel'Narnic's ship?" He jutted his chin in the direction of the freighters. There was nothing that he could use to identify which ship was the one whose captain he spoke to earlier.
Mason pointed towards the furthest ship. "It's down there. He landed first. I don't know if he's disembarked yet though. There's been a lot of activity from all of the ships."
"Okay." Ratchford responded as he began down the ramp, flanked by his little group of attendants. "What's their medical status- any reported conditions, injuries or causes for concern?"
Mason shook her head. "Nothing major. There's some cuts and bruises that I've seen, but no reports of anything major. The medical scanners didn't pick up any signs of infectious diseases."
"Thank heavens for little blessings." Ratchford replied, adopting an old Earth turn of phrase. "Let's head down and get a word with Tel'Naric."
Vestara was still getting used to being on a Starbase. It was full of people and overwhelming interior, she had arrive a few days ago from the Nimitz; she had taken the following two days to get familiar with who she would need to interact with on a daily basis and know where she needs to go. She especially wanted to know how to get to those places so it took her most of those days exploring.
Now she was still learning but her official duties as Boatswain had begun and she needed to get involved in the immediate activities. Many vessels were docked and under repair so she located the ranking officer who was in charge of the repair efforts, a Commander Ratchford.
"Commander Ratchford? I'm Master Warrant Officer Vestara Stronghold, Boatswain. I'm here to help coordinate repairs on our visitors' vessels." The Trill announced.
Ratchford didn't break his stride as the group continued to snowball in size. "Ah, good. You're with us then. I want a full list of required repairs and assignments completed as soon as possible. I doubt that Lieutenant O'Donnell has the personnel to spare from Engineering. What about your deck crew, Mason?"
The fighter pilot shrugged as best as she could while still holding her helmet. "We might have some to spare. Our technicians are usually busy keeping the birds maintained, but depending on the work load we might be able to work something out. I'll have to review the work orders with Reaper."
"Right." Ratchford declared, coming to a halt near a group of more regally dressed N'Veci. "If you can spare a deck crew from The Express, do so. Have them report to Bosun Stronghold here, she's getting her baptism of fire."
"Willco, Commander. I'll see what I can do." With a nod to Stronghold and Ratchford, Mason retreated from the entourage to see to her other duties.
Ratchford gave a wry grin. "Better step to it, Bosun. You've got your work cut-out for you."
Vestara smiled. "On it!" She replied and immediately went to find a console.
One of the N'Veci was conversing with another when Ratchford's group arrived at the scene. Like the other N'Veci, the one that appeared to be in charge had pale reddish skin and prominent cranial ridges. The center one only went as far as his forehead, but the other two were far more pronounced and stretched to the top of his skull. Grey hair filled the gaps between the two crests. He turned to greet the gathering of people. His features were rugged and weathered, and it was clear that he had been flying his ship for a very long time. He handed a PADD back to his subordinate and approached Ratchford. Giving a short bow, he introduced himself. "I am Captain Tel'Narnic, of the Ord'No. I cannot thank you enough for allowing us to land. We have traveled very far to get to safety. They came so fast, I was afraid that none of us would have made it alive."
"Who is 'they'?" Ratchford asked thoughtfully as he studied the face of Captain Tel'Narnic.
"The Sojourners mostly, along with some of their Ritorian allies," Tel'Narnic said matter-of-factly. He seemed surprised that anyone wouldn't have known about the Sojourner expansion. "They gave little warning. They just came in and started firing on our cities. Our defense force is meager, and posed no threat to them. They seemed to have been interested in taking prisoners since they didn't destroy many ships, though they did fire upon us. The N'Veci civilization is only a few planets strong, but we had thousands of ships try to flee. Many were disabled and captured, but hundreds were still able to leave the system. Our small convoy was lucky enough to get to Federation space, but others may not have been so lucky."
Ratchford nodded his understanding. He kept his own counsel on his belief that Starfleet wouldn't send any ships to help the N'Veci and instead took a step back, motioning the Captain toward the turbolift. "We would be best to speak to a member of the Diplomatic Corps. I want to make sure we're able to get your asylum request moved up the priority list. You say there are likely more ships out there?"
Tel'Narnic followed Ratchford towards the turbolift. "I pray that there are. I'd hate to know that these ships represent all of the free N'Veci. But it's difficult to say how many are still out there, or even what direction they were heading. It was complete chaos."
"We'll do what we can to help." Ratchford replied, trying to shake off the knowledge of how overstretched their resources were.
Once things had calmed down in Flight Ops, Ed made his way down to the hangar bay where the ships were landing. He wanted to get his own eyes on assessment, not that he didn't trust Blaze to fill him in on everything. He trusted her more than he did the vast majority of the Fleeters on the station. Of course he still trusted his Marines more, but she was his Deputy CAG. When he stepped out into the hangar he was taken back by the sheer number of ships, and that was saying something considering the places he had been and served in his time as a fighter jockey.
"Blaze!" He called out to her after catching sight of his number two. "Talk about a packed house. We might need to rearrange the flight schedules by the looks of things. Anything I should know about?"
Blaze hurried over to her SO. "There's nothing too concerning. They appear to be refugees, not much of a threat. We may be asked to spare some maintenance crews from "The Express" to aid with repairs to their ships. Warrant Officer Stronghold will be giving me a list of what resources are needed. I haven't promised them anything though, not until I talked to you."
"Okay." Ed nodded. "Let's put the maintenance crews for the whole wing on twelve hour shifts. They're all varied duty hours anyway to keep a squadron on duty around the clock, so we can send each squadron's maintenance crews down here for four hours at the end of the standard eight hours for the squadrons. They might lose some personal time, but lets face it Blaze, all these refugees are going to attract attention. Whoever made them refugees in the first place might want to finish the job. Let's see if we can get them fixed and the hell out of here before that unknown comes calling."
"Sounds good, Reaper," Lynsi replied with a nod. The maintenance teams weren't going to like the long shifts, but she'd feel better with the refugees on their way too. "I'll go make the call."
Elsewhere in the hangar, the two Ferengi brothers had taken it upon themselves to hear the conversation. Venin dragged his brother to where they were obscured from view behind some packing crates, far enough away from the group to not be too suspicious but close enough that their keenly honed ears could pick up the conversation.
Karx's brow was furrowed in frustration as he strained to hear the conversations around him. There was a lot going on in the hangar and that meant a lot to keep track of. It was giving him a headache and he shook his head, "What do these people want?" he asked in frustration.
"It's not a matter of what they want, Brother." Venin replied in hushed tones, ensuring that his brother stayed down by keeping a tight grip on his arm, "It's a matter of what they need."
Karx looked at his brother and curled his lip, "I don't care what they need," he said, not quite understanding his brother's meaning. He could be a little dense from time to time and that was often made worse when he was doggedly focused on something else, like a vein of latinum on an unchartered world for which only he had the coordinates. "They're getting in the way!"
"You idiot. A true Ferengi should never pass up an opportunity for profit. The latinum vein is only two day's travel from here. When we come back we'll be rich men. We'll be rich enough to start our own bank. Extend our own lines of credit." He waved his hand dismissively at the clustered N'Veci. "All refugees really want is a better life and a better life means latinum!"
The gears cranked inside Karx's mind as he finally came to the same conclusion as his brother. "A bank, you say?" he said with a growing grin. Finally, as the thought settled in his mind, he patted his brother on the shoulder. "Let's offer these poor people the help they need for a better life, at a fair rate of interest of course."
Commander Brian Ratchford
Executive Officer
Major Edward Maxwell
Commander, Air Group
Ensign Sivity Dar-Barriun
Security Officer
Master Warrant Officer Vestara Stronghold
Boatswain
Vendenje Kamdram
Captain, Civilian Freighter Alei
Lieutenant Lynsi Mason
Deputy Commander, Air Group
Karx & Venin [NPC: Deakin & Gunning]
Ferengi Traders
