Robbing Riss

Posted on Mar 05, 2016 @ 4:34pm by Raxl Dreyton
Edited on on Mar 05, 2016 @ 4:45pm

Mission: Promethean

= Interlude - Robbing Riss =

(cont’d from “Bring It On”)

LOCATION: BAD WOLF, somewhere in deep space

SCENE: Cockpit -> Living Area

STARDATE: [2.16] 0304.2000

TIME INDEX: This post takes place before the PHOENIX reaches LAVENZA II

Seated in the pilot’s chair of the BAD WOLF, Raxl Dreyton throttled down and cut power to the warp engines. Selyara, seated in the co-pilot’s chair, turned to look at him. She brushed a strand of midnight colored hair away from where it had been hanging over her stunning emerald eyes.

“You’ve stopped,” Selyara said.

“I’ve stopped,” Rax said.

“Did I miss something?” Selyara asked.

Rax pointed out the cockpit window, at the starfield outside. “See that?”

Selyara followed the bounty hunter’s gesture, searching the darkness that stretched on into infinity before them. It was a breathtaking view, though it was perhaps a dangerous one; Selyara thought too long staring out into the void might be enough to push some lesser mind’s over the edge. But other than a whole lot of forever, Selyara didn’t see what had caught the bounty hunter’s attention.

“I see space,” Selyara said, turning to look back at him.

A self-satisfied expression passed over Raxl Dreyton’s face. It was annoying, but Selyara didn’t say anything; the human was obviously driving at some kind of point. She affected her best “tell me more” expression and waited for Rax to continue.

“What you’re not seeing is a field of cloaked mines,” Rax said. He sat back in his seat, crossed his arms, and stared indignantly at the invisible minefield. “I know a little bit about Riss’s operation. He’s always paid good money for military surplus, and he keeps the best toys for himself. About three years back, ol’ Riss laid his hands on some stolen Romulan tech, and he--”

“He fitted low-yield explosives with Romulan cloaking tech and started using them as an early-warning measure for his storage facilities,” Selyara finished. Rax stared at her for a moment, and Selyara enjoyed the way his self-satisfied look gradually fell away.

“How did you--”

“Shadow Master,” Selyara said, smiling innocently at him. “The deactivation frequency for the mines has already been uploaded to your comm system, by the way. Call it a gift.”


“Were you planning to let me know you already had a plan for those mines?” Rax said, frowning at her.

“I assumed you would assume I did,” Selyara shrugged.

“I don’t make a lot of assumptions, sweetheart,” Rax said. “It’s why I’m still alive.”

“You’re still alive thanks to a combination of low-animal cunning and blind luck,” Selyara said. “But let me put your mind at ease, Mr. Dreyton: I usually have a plan.”

“Right, ‘usually’,” Rax said, rolling his eyes. “And when you don’t?”

“I go undercover as a Romulan courtesan and let someone else do my fighting for me,” Selyara said. “And you can quit it with the ‘sweethearts’, Mr. Dreyton. Your unique charms are lost on me, I assure you.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Rax said. “So, Ms. ‘I Usually Have A Plan’. You brought us out here. What next?”

Selyara sighed, and rolled her eyes once more. “As I must have explained at least a dozen times now: your Ferengi crimelord Riss is currently wooing the Orion Syndicate, hoping to broker a deal so that he can expand his slave trade into their territory. As a show of good faith, Riss has secured a quantity of Syndicate cargo in this facility: chems, mostly, but some weapons and a small store of valuable minerals.”

Selyara turned to gesture outside the cockpit windows, at the empty starfield ahead.

“The Syndicate is feeling Riss out, looking at the way he runs his operation. They don’t really care about the cargo, but they want to see how Riss handles it. They want to know he can keep it safe, can fight off any vultures who come sniffing after it, before they trust him with anything more valuable. If we take those goods, or destroy them, it will embarrass Riss in front of the Syndicate. They’ll pull out of this deal, and Riss will have bigger things to worry about than paying men to track you down.”

“Which frees me up to help you with your vendetta against the Neo-Essentialists,” Rax said.

“I’ve been up front with my intentions since we started,” Selyara said. “Yes, I need your help. But this is as much for your sake as it is mine. Or have you forgotten your Andorian friend back at the Bazaar?”

“Oh please,” Rax grunted, “I’d clocked him long before I ran into you.”

“But not his ship,” Selyara said. “The only reason you evaded him is because of my help. And this is the only way you’ll get Riss off your back. Short of killing him, maybe, but I’m afraid we don’t have the time for that kind of detour.”

“Lot of good this will do,” Rax sulked. “Riss takes some time off to square things with the Syndicate, and then he’s after me again. If anything, he’ll be even more pissed that we embarrassed him in front of the Orions.”

“I told you I would help you settle up with Riss,” Selyara said, sounding annoyed. “*After* Edgerton.”

“Oh sure,” Rax said. “‘Throw some rocks at the hornet’s nest, Mr. Dreyton, I promise I’ll be standing by with the hose.’ Who’s to say you even live through this thing with Edgerton?”

Selyara looked out into space, her expression thoughtful. “I hadn’t really considered that,” she confessed after a moment. “Though if it’s any consolation, you’d likely wind up dead right alongside me.”

“Oh, that makes me feel a lot better, thank you,” Rax said, shaking his head. “Alright, lady... I suppose we should get this over with, before we show up on long-range sensors and one of Riss’ patrol ships gets curious.”

Selyara gave him a tight smile. “That’s the spirit, Mr. Dreyton. Once more into the breach.”

“Oh shut up,” Raxl grumbled.

He powered the BAD WOLF’s engines once more. Beside him, Selyara spread her hands across the ship’s console. Her fingers flitted across the controls, transmitting the deactivation signal to Riss’s cloaked minefield. The BAD WOLF surged fearlessly ahead; Rax held his breath, half-expecting a sudden explosion to rip his tiny ship apart. Selyara was staring straight ahead, her expression a perfect mask of calm confidence.

Up ahead, still invisible against the curtain of darkness behind it, was the small mining platform that served as Riss’ temporary storage facility. Raxl had heard that the Ferengi had bought the platform off a mineral baron, then had the hulk towed all the way out into deep space. High warp speeds would have ripped the platform apart, and so the trip had taken almost 4 years. Rax didn’t know how much of this story was true, but he didn’t put it past Riss to order his own men to throw away years of their lives to satisfy their master’s bizarre whims. It was possible the platform had simply drifted out here, and somebody in Riss’ operation had discovered it after the fact, but that didn’t make for a very interesting story.

Rax angled the BAD WOLF towards the blip on his sensors. He knew that if he could detect the platform, whatever security was left could definitely detect the BAD WOLF. He reached out, priming the shield generators and readying his forward-phaser array.

“Security drone,” Selyara said, pointing at something outside the BAD WOLF’s canopy cockpit. Rax tried to follow her gaze.

“I don’t see anything,” he muttered.

“I have better eyes than you,” Selyara said. “Adjusting course.”

“*Don’t*-” Rax started, but Selyara was already doing it. The BAD WOLF juked to starboard, and suddenly the drone was there, the pear-shaped vessel bearing down on them. It opened up with its primary weapon, a cutting laser designed to shear its way through the hulls of attacking starships. The BAD WOLF rocked under the blast, but Rax locked phasers and fired. The drone was ripped apart, and a second later the BAD WOLF screamed through the slowly expanding field of debris it had left in its wake.

The cockpit display began to flash. Rax looked down at it.

“Two more contacts,” he said. “On our tail and closing fast.”

“We’re almost at the platform,” Selyara said. “Initiating scan now. Once I have a lock on the cargo, we’ll beam it aboard and go to warp.”

“Your intelligence better be good,” Rax said, shooting a skeptical glance in her direction.

“I’ll try not to take that personally, Mr. Dreyton,” Selyara said.

The drones were closing quickly. Rax cut speed and turned, keeping the ship within range of the mining platform. The drones shrieked by, not able to adjust their speed in time to keep up with Rax’s maneuver. Rax pulled the BAD WOLF into a wide loop, keeping pace with the drones now far ahead of him. His console flashed again, indicating phaser lock. Rax grinned savagely and fired. The drone exploded.

“Cargo located,” Selyara said. “We’ll have to drop shields to beam it aboard.”

The BAD WOLF suddenly rocked again. A second later the remaining drone screamed past them, already tipping it way into a lazy turn, intended to bring the BAD WOLF back into its firing range.

“Not a good idea just now,” Rax said. He did his best to match the drone’s turn, but it was already too far ahead. Rax fired phasers, but the angle was wrong; the beams flashed past the nose of the drone. A second later, the drone had angled enough to face them again. It fired, scoring a direct hit on the BAD WOLF.

“One more hit like that and we’re done,” Rax said.

“Shall I take over for you?” Selyara asked, sounding annoyed.

“I don’t need your help!” Rax said. He pulled the BAD WOLF into a nosedive, then starboard. The drone disappeared behind him, sailing off in the opposite direction. Rax cut the engines and angled his ship up again, flying in a tight loop until his guns were pointed at the rapidly disappearing tail of the attack drone. Rax fired. The phasers found their mark.

Rax relaxed, falling back into his seat and letting out a deep breath. Selyara adjusted her position on the co-pilots seat and glanced over at him.

“Your shooting was adequate,” she commented. “Your flying needs work.”

Rax glared at her. “The BAD WOLF ain’t a fighter craft,” he said. “I think I did a pretty damn good job, all things considered.”

Selyara quirked an eyebrow at him. “You do?”

“We’re still alive, aren’t we?”

“That’s a little ‘bare minimum’, don’t you think?” asked Selyara.

“Dropping shields now,” Rax said, too frustrated to let the argument continue. “Get that cargo aboard so we can get the hell out of here.”

“Signal locked,” Selyara reported. “Energizing.”

The whine of the transported sounded behind them. Rax glanced at his console, and nodded. “Cargo is aboard. Initiating warp drive.”

The BAD WOLF accelerated, the stars dragged into long, shimmering streaks. They felt a split second of vertigo before the inertial dampers kicked in, and then Riss’s outpost was gone, left far behind them.

“Your crimelord will have trouble explaining what just happened to the Syndicate,” Selyara said. “Which should free up your schedule considerably, Mr. Dreyton.”

“Here’s hoping,” Rax said. “Alright, lady. A deal’s a deal. So where to next?”

Selyara glanced over at him. “It’s not obvious?”

“No, it’s not obvious,” Rax frowned. “I never have any idea what damn fool thing you’ll want to throw us into next.”

“Sector 001, Mr. Dreyton,” Selyara said, returning her gaze to the starfield ahead of them. “We’re going to Earth.”

=[/\]=

NRPG: Might be some party-crashers for the next mission…. ;-)

ALIX: Hope I did okay with Selyara!

Shawn Putnam

a.k.a.

Jake Crichton

Chief Engineering Officer

USS PHOENIX

and

Raxl Dreyton

Bounty Hunter