Telan's Landing
Posted on Fri Jan 2nd, 2015 @ 7:24am by Zezz'a & Oleran Telan & Valia & Bothek & Amelia Darby
Mission:
Sins of Lives Past
Location: Approach to Starbase 332
The cockpit of the Bitter Vengeance was cramped, but big enough for all five of her crew to have their own seat. Right in the middle, in the captain's chair, sat Oleran Telan, his fingers steepled beneath his beard as he watched the looming space station grow larger out of the forward viewport. They had been waiting in a holding orbit for almost twenty hours by this stage and Telan's patience was running out.
He's there right now he thought to himself. He could almost taste the presence of the rat and it made him clench his jaw shut. He hadn't been able to sleep since they arrived in system and knowing that he couldn't get aboard the station until traffic control could fit them in just made his tension rise ever higher. Soon.
At the front left console sat the pilot, Amelia Darby, who was guiding the little ship through the congestion of countless ships of all shapes and sizes and origins. She didn't expect there to be so much traffic around the Starbase, but she hadn't counted on some humanitarian disaster either. She had other reasons to be nervous as well, but while she busied herself with navigating the ship safely to her berth she didn't have the luxury of wasting energy on those worries. Plenty of time for that later.
"Bitter Vengeance, this is Starbase 332 Control," came the no-nonsense voice of the dockmaster over the comm. "You are cleared for landing at Docking Bay Forty-Seven Delta, Berth Two."
"Copy that, Control," Darby replied. "Proceeding to Docking Bay Forty-Seven Delta, Berth Two, along the route you provided. Thanks for that," she added with a cheerful inflection.
Zezz'a seethed in his chair on the bridge. The idea of being the only Reman among these Federation wolves made him sick. It was bad enough having to deal with Telan's little pet project, the delightful Amelia Darby. The crash probably wouldn't be too bad if he slit her throat right now, would it? The autopilot would do mos- he shook himself from his own thoughts. There was work to do.
The Romulan Valia had barely even been paying attention. Instead, she just sat with her chair leaned back and her feet up on the console. Until they landed, there wasn't much for her to do. She had already called in a few favors with old contacts, just so she could get Telan the information he needed on Deakin. As far as she was concerned, he owed her some leisure time anyway. But the Bitter Vengeance was so cramped, there really wasn't anywhere else for her to go. But if nothing else, she was a master of paying attention, and Zezz'a's seething hadn't gone unnoticed. But the question she had to ask herself was, would she really care if he killed Darby? Valia just shrugged and moved on from the thought.
Bothek squirmed in his chair at the engineering station. The sniveling little Ferengi had long become impatient. Not only was he ready to get off this ship and stretch his legs, but he was ready to get after Deakin. Like Telan, he blamed Deakin for the death of his cousin, Duom. "Is it really necessary to be so...nice... to Starfleet. You do remember that they're the enemy, right?" she sneered at Darby through jagged teeth.
Darby screwed up her nose at the Ferengi and shot back, "Who do you think the customs people are more likely to single out for inspection, Bothek; the sweet, friendly pilot who brings them just a little good cheer on a busy day, or the angry, beligerant Ferengi who wants to assert his small-man dominance on their day?" Before Bothek could answer, she dismissed him with a wave of her hand and turned back to her console. "Don't tell me how to do my job, low-lobes."
"Enough!" Telan spat out, slamming a fish down on the armrest of his chair. He was beyond irritable and anxious to get this over and done with so he had zero tolerance for such bickering. He was paying them both and he didn't pay them to fight. "Both of you just shut up and do your damn jobs. Darby! Take us in."
Under the human pilot's control, the Bitter Vengeance glided around two other waiting ships and sailed into the open docking bay. It helped that she was a small ship; much easier to find a berth for what was essentially an oversized runabout than for an undersized merchant tanker.
Landing took them only about ten minutes and Telan led the way out of the hatch and jumped down onto the deck of the Starbase. He was here. He'd made it. He was now breathing the same air as the traitor. The docking bay was cluttered with small merchant traffic, with crews loading and unloading and passenger embarking and disembarking. The docking bay clearly wasn't being used as it's construction intended and the crew were doing their best to eek out some semblance of order in the chaos.
The Bitter Vengeance had been landed in a roped off landing bay that probably hadn't existed last week. The rope was watched over by security personnel and signed directed them down a rope lane toward a couple of trestle tables crowded with civilian and military types.
Valia took note of everyone's reactions to their rag tag group. No doubt the sight of the Romulan and Reman together garnered some looks. Some of the dock works even stopped to point and snicker. She'd have to keep a low profile. Even though the Star Empire and the Federation were briefly allies, their relations had fallen back into old habits. She probably wasn't really welcome here. Then again, they had good reason to not trust her.
Zezz'a took a long sniff of the air as they walked. It was lousy with the stench of human meat. He could feel himself baulking from the very pit of his stomach but did his best to keep it under control. He pulled a small box from his belt and threw back a couple of pills, discarding the box on the floor before they reached the checkpoint.
The Tellarite led his group down the lane to the table, which was a customs checkpoint. The crew were managing remarkably well under the circumstances, and they seemed to have worked their makeshift screening processes down to a finely tuned art. Telan approached the table and was greeted by a mildly curious looking Saurian.
"May I see your documents, please sir?" the Saurian asked in a polite voice.
Telan obliged and handed over a PADD with his identification and other important documents. He didn't say anything; what was the point in small talk with a customs officer?
"What brings you to Starbase 332, Mr Telan?" the Saurian asked.
"Business."
He could never read Saurians, so he didn't know what the customs man made of the response. The moment between his answer and the PADD being handed back to him seemed to last hours to Telan, who just wanted to get out of there.
"Thank you, Mr Telan," the Saurian said, then gestured to his left. "If you'll exit this way."
Telan nodded and stuffed the PADD back into his breast pocket. He glanced around at his crew then led the way off in the direction that the Saurian had pointed. With every step he moved closer to his revenge. His heart beat faster as he knew he was getting closer and closer. This was his time. He could feel it.
Bothek pushed his way back to the front of the line with Telan. The little Ferengi seemed to enjoy hovering around their employer. Valia however, stayed near the back. She couldn't help but notice that only Bothek, Telan, and Zezz'a were in front of her. There was no sign of Darby. On one hand, she wasn't really disappointed to be rid of the human. But on the other hand, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Oleran Telan [NPC: Deakin]
Amelia Darby [NPC: Deakin]
Valia [NPC: Von]
Bothek [NPC: Von]
Zezz'a [NPC: Gunning]
