Headhunting

Posted on Sep 25, 2015 @ 11:59am by Commander Jacob Crichton
Edited on on Sep 25, 2015 @ 11:59am

Mission: Civil War

= Headhunting =

(cont'd from "Forlorn Futures")



LOCATION: ELANDIPOLE IV

SCENE: Settlement

STARDATE: [2.15] 0924.2327



Jake had roused Ben and Dahlia early, in time for them to beam down to the surface and catch the dawn breaking over the ocean. Dahlia was cranky, and wound up falling asleep, curled up on the towel Jake had brought for them to sit on. Ben hadn't been in a great mood at first either, but the young boy had perked up quickly. While Dahlia slept, Ben and Jake worked on another sandcastle. Jake hadn't gotten any better at building them, and neither had Ben, but at least it was far enough away from the water this time.



When Dahlia woke up, she was hungry. Jake's own stomach had started rumbling as well, and he realized he should have packed something for the kids to eat. He gathered up their belongings, and led the children up the beach towards the burgeoning settlement to find some breakfast.



Jake hadn't taken the kids into the settlement yet. He wanted to wait a few days, to make sure things would calm down now that the refugees finally had the space to expand. But so far, things were going well. There were few reports of crime, though there was still the occasional reported theft. Violence was practically nonexistent; occasionally, a pair of refugees might have too much to drink and decide to work off the alcohol with an old fashioned fistfight, but these were quickly broken up by more levelheaded onlookers. All in all, the settlement had proved to be safe, and Dahlia had been asking Jake to see it ever since the PHOENIX had arrived in the Elandipole System.



Though she was hungry and still a little tired, Dahlia was thrilled to finally see the new Shantytown. She practically chewed Jake's ear off with questions as they picked their way up the sandy hill towards the outskirts of the settlement.



"If there was a food shortage on the PHOENIX, how come things are okay now?" asked Dahlia.



"Industrial replicators," Jake said. "More heavy duty than what we could install in the cargo bays. Power draw is too high for a starship, but they're perfect for fixed communities."



"But where's their power coming from?" asked Dahlia.



"Some portable generators, but most of it comes from the planet," Jake said. "Between the sun and the tides, they've got plenty of juice to feed a community this size."



"But what if it gets bigger?" asked Dahlia.



"They'll run into trouble within a generation or two," Jake said. "But that's plenty of time to figure out a solution."



"I'm hungry," Ben whined.



"How come you're letting us visit here but you wouldn't let me see them when they were in the cargo bay?" asked Dahlia.



"Doesn't smell as bad down here," Jake said, winking at her.



"Dad, I'm hungry," Ben repeated, more shrilly than before.



"I know," Jake said. "It's just a little farther."



They entered the settlement. The town was just starting to wake up, but things were still quiet. Jake found a canteen, replicated a round of pancakes and bacon, and sat down to a hasty breakfast with his children. Ben's mood improved once he had some hot food in his stomach.



Refugees had started coming into the canteen. Jake and the kids cleared their table to make room for the new arrivals, and headed for the exit. As they went, Jake heard a commotion from the street outside. Someone was yelling something.



"What's that?" Dahlia asked.



"Dunno, kid," Jake murmured, as they stepped out of the canteen. Jake squinted against the morning sunlight and picked out the hulking form of Chaucer, the Gorn who had saved his life when Savaar had attacked Main Engineering. Chaucer wasn't looking at him; the huge lizard's attention was focused on a group of young men who were a few feet away from him. The youths were shouting taunts, and throwing rocks. The rocks, mostly small pebbles, bounced harmlessly off the Gorn's scaly hide. Jake couldn't tell if their taunts did too.



"Greenskin!" one of the boys shouted. "Where you going, greeny?"



"Don't touch him," another cautioned. "Your skin gets all dried up and cracked. He's contagious."



"Freak!" screamed a third.



"He betrayed Embry," the first kid said, hurling another rock. "He's scum!"



"Go back and hide under your rock, lizardbrain," the third shouted.



For his part, Chuacer stood stock still, not reacting even to the pebbles the dinged harmlessly off him. His hands were raised, palms spread, to show he was unarmed and meant them no harm. The youths either didn't notice, or didn't care. One of their rocks went high and found it's mark, striking Chaucer at the edge of one of his eyes. The Gorn's hands flew to his face to ward off further attack, and he double over. The sudden spasm of movement from the formerly motionless Chaucer surprised the youths, who jumped back. One of them let out a little yelp of surprise.



"They're being mean to him," Dahlia said, looking up at Jake with genuine concern. "You said he was nice."



"If he wasn't, those kids would know about it by now," Jake said. He started towards Chaucer, careful to keep Ben and Dahlia safely behind him.



The kids, seeing that Chaucer was in pain, regained some of their bravado.



"Does that hurt, freak?" one of them sneered. "Good!"

"Yeah, good!" another agreed.



Keeping his hands up in front of his face, Chaucer managed to activate his Vox.



[[No,]] it squawked. [[No.]]



"Go back to your own planet!" the first kid shouted. He threw another rock. It bounced off one of Chaucer's biceps.



[[No,]] the Vox pleaded.



"Hey!" Jake shouted sternly. The kids froze, one of them with his arm cocked back and ready to hurl another rock. They exchanged glances with each other, then the one with the rock threw it at Chaucer before all three of the youths broke ranks and ran, disappearing around a corner. Jake shouted after them again, but he couldn't give chase, not with Dahlia and Ben with him. Also, what was he supposed to do when he caught them, anyway? They were just kids; the oldest looked like he had been maybe 17.



"Shit," Jake said.



"Bad word," Ben said automatically.



Jake looked guiltily down at his son. "Sorry."



Ben didn't look too broken up about it.



Jake scowled after the kids for a moment longer, then turned to Chaucer. The Gorn had lowered his arms, though he was still rubbing at his wounded eye with one hand. His good eye was fixed on Jake.



"Are you alright?" Jake asked.



[[Yes,]] Chaucer's Vox reported.



"I'm sorry about them," Jake said, gesturing in the direction that the youths had run. "They're wrong, they don't know what they're doing-"



[[Yes,]] Chaucer's Vox buzzed again.



"They're supposed to be matching all the orphaned kids up with guardians, but God knows there's just so damn many refugees, and people keep moving around, and-"



[[Yes.]]



"-and... aw hell, you deserve better," Jake said at last.



Chaucer couldn't tell Jake that it had been worse. His home had been vandalized. He was routinely followed and harassed on the street. Mostly it was the young ones, the ones who didn't know any better. Sometimes it was older ones, with sagging fleshy faces and suspicious eyes, who would bark angrily at Chaucer to keep moving, they didn't want him here, and why didn't he just keep right on walking until he found an ocean to go drown in? Nobody had attacked him yet - even on LIMBO, Chaucer's size and rather fearsome appearance seemed to dissuade all but the most desperate of muggers, and even those ones quickly cried off when it became clear the Gorn didn't have anything of value - but Chaucer knew some time soon, one of them would be drunk enough to try something. Chaucer didn't know what he would do. He did not want to fight, but he also could not just let himself be beaten, could he? But if he fought back, even only to defend himself, and something happened... if his attacker was hurt...



Chaucer had been driven off his homeworld over such a misunderstanding. He didn't think the refugees from LIMBO would give him the option for exile, though.



But Chaucer could tell Jake none of this, limited as he was in vocabulary. And so, he merely stared at Jake for a moment, before activating his Vox and delivering his all-purpose phrase.



[[My name is Chaucer.]]



"Hi Chaucer," Dahlia said, stepping up to the Gorn and smiling sweetly. The Gorn towered over the young girl, but she didn't seem intimidated. Jake had told the kids about the Gorn who had helped him during the Amaterasu crisis (though he'd left out the part about how he'd almost died), and Dahlia looked pleased to finally meet him. "I'm Dahlia. That's Ben."



"Hi," Ben said quietly, peeking out from behind Jake's legs.



[[My name is Chaucer,]] the Vox repeated.



"I know," Dahlia said, still smiling. "Thanks for helping Jake."



[[Help,]] the Vox said.



"Yeah," Dahlia nodded. "Are you going to stay on the ship?"



Jake had offered the Gorn a spot on his engineering staff. It wasn't exactly Starfleet SOP, but field promotions weren't unheard of, and Jake knew that Captain Kane would be happy to accommodate an addition to the crew. But Chaucer apparently hadn't agreed. Talking to the Gorn could be tricky, since you had to suss out shades of meaning in four states delivered with identical inflection each time, but Jake had the feeling the Gorn was hesitant to join up after everything he'd experienced in the Hyperion Expanse. Jake couldn't blame Chaucer for that. It wasn't their best day, after all; shouting matches with the captain, a full-fledged mutiny, a dangerously understaffed starship, exploding aliens, and the promise of even more trouble to come.



But things weren't going so great for Chaucer down here. Maybe the Gorn would change his mind.



[[Help,]] the Vox said.



"Yeah," Dahlia nodded. "You could stay and you could be in Engineering with Jake, so if anything happens you can save him."



Chaucer tilted his head as he stared down at the little girl. His reptilian face was unreadable, but something in the tile of his head seemed to suggest amusement. Or maybe Jake was just imagining it.



[[My name is Chaucer,]] the Vox said.



Dahlia blinked. "Huh?"



[[My name is Chaucer.]]



"I don't get it," Dahlia said. She looked back at Jake. 'Ask him."



"The kid's right," Jake said. "You've got a spot on my team if you want it, Chaucer. You'll have your own quarters. Nobody will chase you around throwing rocks, you got my word on that."



Chaucer slid his yellow predator's eyes from Jake to Dahlia.



"Please?" the girl asked. "We can be friends if you stay."



"Yeah," Ben said from behind Jake's legs.



Chaucer looked back to Jake. [[Yes. Help.]]



Jake's face split into a wide grin. "I was hoping you'd say that," he said. "I should have her do all my negotiating for me, huh?"



[[Yes,]] Chaucer said.



"I get it from mom," Dahlia said, looking proud.



=[/\]=



NRPG: Might not be able to post next week, I've got finals for school, but here's one more. Chaucer's signing onto the PHOENIX as an engineer.



MOAR POSTS.



Shawn Putnam

a.k.a.

Jake Crichton

Chief Engineering Officer

USS PHOENIX



and



Chaucer

The Forlorn Gorn