Order and Disorder

Posted on May 26, 2014 @ 5:54pm by Lieutenant Commander Aerdan Jos
Edited on on May 26, 2014 @ 6:09pm

Mission: USS Pendragon
Location: NESTIS VII
Tags: Aerdan, PENDRAGON,

"Order and Disorder" (continued from "Of Vacuums and Spaces")

Location: NESTIS VII
Stardate: 2.140411.0200
Scene: Slums

~*~

“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
~Carl Gustav Jung

~*~

Blood ran cold as an inhumane mask of a familiar face stalked the area. The vaunted ideals of the Terran Empire was just a footnote in their own history, something that was studied by bored cadets who had a bit too much interest in a good conspiracy theory and historians who loved wading thorough the annals of dimensional crossovers.

For Lt. Commander Aerdan Jos, the history lesson was one he never focused on, though he could read the emotions on the faces of his fellow Terran officers. This was not a god position to be in, in any way, shape or form.

Behind him Izhlana Vort gave him a sidelong glance. He knew what that glance meant, and suddenly he prized the familiarity he had with her - familiarity he had eschewed for so many years with his fellow senior staff. Well, hopefully he would have time to kick himself for that oversight later (though Zabrielle would be the first to champion him as being ‘decidedly improved’ on the sociability aspects of life, he wasn’t going to dwell on that either) in the moment all he knew was Izzy’s glance meant ‘distraction.’

And so he decided to do something completely stupid.

Holding his hands up, he stepped forward, looking the Terran Commander in the eyes. “I am completely unfamiliar with this empire… perhaps you could educate me?”

She smiled ever so slowly and strolled closer to him, being absolutely sure to sway her hips as she walked for the fullest sex kitten effect. As she moved she drew a small ship from a holster on her belt. “Well, hello there small, blue and handsome. Perhaps you were lost in this life so far?”

“Lost?” His antennae twined downwards, feeling like this was a loaded question

“Do you need to be dominated?” she asked with a sickly sweet tone.

“Define dominated.” Aerdan countered drily.

The response came in the form of a whip-crack. He didn’t even have time to flinch as the tip of the whip snapped across his face, cutting a precise, stinging line of blue blood across his cheek. He set his mouth in a thin, hard line and let his sapphire eyes bore into hers.

She giggled. “Oh, I do like you stoic, heroic sorts. All tough and manly and never submitting. But you will submit. All non-Terrans will submit.”

“Are you so sure?”

Aerdan watched her for a second, flexing his antennae. He could see her guards watching her, and he could sense Izzy and perhaps a half dozen more of the ragtag group behind them readying themselves. And for a second Cade’s voice chided him in his head. ‘You are a self-sacrificing nutjob’ it said.

He couldn’t disagree.

The Terran Commander smiled, bringing her whip up a second time and as it flickered out, Aerdan lunged, snatching the coil out of the air and pulling with all the unbetrayed strength his thin Andorian form carried. While it wasn’t a fantastic attack by any means, it was plenty to get her off balance. She shrieked and he instinctively hit the floor.

The first volley of phased energy fire lanced out so close that he could smell his own singed hair smouldering at the back of his head. It was followed by the gut wrenching screams of pain and anguish by voices that were too untrained to be officers of anything. Innocent victims hurt by an insane squabble.

Still, there was no time to dwell on that now. Aerdan rolled to get to his feet and was greeted with a sharp, steel toed boot to the ribs.

“How dare you…” the Commander’s voice screeched in a most unappealing manner, seething with raw anger. Aerdan Jos felt the air leave his lungs as sharp pain blossomed across his torso and he cursed inwardly. White spots of light spread across his vision and he heard movement to the side as he coiled back to protect his vitals.

“How dare you?” Izhlana’s voice cut through the din of chaos like a knife. “Screw Terran supremacy… you kick my doctor and you’re gonna pay.”

Aerdan screwed his eyes shut, trying very hard to get a full breath and regain his equilibrium. He was taking the whole ‘I’m not feeling a fresh burst of pain’ as a positive sign that Izzy was, in fact, winning this little altercation. The next few milliseconds felt like hours as he opened his eyes and his vision cleared enough to make some sense of what was happening.

The away team had bolstered themselves behind a line of crates and carts selling trade goods, with the civilians sheltering behind them. The Terran Imperialists were driven back to the doorway. It left the Commander, who was staring at Izzy in great surprised as an impressive volume of blood dripped down her arm.

She staggered backwards, grabbing at her shoulder and stumbling for the exit. “This isn’t over.” She growled, letting her lackeys provide cover fire as she leaned on one of her lieutenants for support. “Not over in the least.”

Izhlana ducked down, grabbing Aerdan’s arm as the last massive volley of phaser fire cut through the area, sending a roof panel crashing down less than a meter in front of them. As the dust settled and the room cleared, the whole area was bathed in an unnatural silence. So much that Izzy’s voice sounded thunderous in Aerdan’s ears.

“You in one piece, Doc?” She tried to make it sound flippant, but worry crept through.

“Yeah…” he sat up and winced, feeling a stab of pain. Nothing life threatening, but something Cade would surely chew him out for when they got back.

If they got back.

“Check on the others. I’ll be up in a minute or two.” He affirmed, trying to get his bearings. He was all too aware that he was the medically trained officer of the group and his skills were almost assuredly needed.

Ishlana was going to ask if he was sure about that, but the expression on his face told her that yes, he was indeed quite sure about it. She nodded and scurried upwards, heading over to the barricade. She flagged down Ryan Santiago, the first familiar face she came across. “Ensign, how is it?”

Santiago bit his lower lip. “Not so good. We have a few civilian casualties and a mess of people were injured. We could use the good doctor’s help.”

Izhlana turned towards Aerdan’s slowly moving form. “Doc, we got wounded, how are you holding up.”

“It’s Doctor, and I’m coming.” Came the somewhat dry response.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Izhlana indulged in a minute smirk. If he was feeling snarky enough to correct her, he had to be doing fairly well.

~*~

It didn’t take a genius at triage to determine that there were far too many injured for one doctor and a handful of lay healers to tend to. Some hours in, when the worst of those who could be cared for with only a medkit and the gathered supplies of the low-technology shelter were stabilized, Aerdan leaned back, forcing himself to take a break.

Nearby Karmaq groaned as he forced himself to move despite the aching lump on his head. “Terran Empiricists. They rank right up there with the Ullithane for the prize of greatest scum in the galaxy.”

Aerdan bit his lip, darkly holding back the comment ‘I could think of worse’ and opting instead for “I did not expect to find them here.”

Karmaq grunted. “They like to think themselves lord of the slums. But lords over garbage are still garbage.” He huffed and added, “dishonest garbage.”

The Andorian gave a small nod of assent, shifting his weight as Izshlana approached. He winced, holding his injured side. “Did Thomas have any luck breaking the interference?”

“Not yet, but there’s a better chance the farther away we get.” She settled down next to him. “How are you doing?”

He shook his shaggy head slowly. “I had to let half a dozen patients go because I simply couldn’t save them.” His voice was low and full of frustrated pain. “One of them was of my own kind. I had to peel her son off of me, pleading for his mother.”

She winced, she could clearly remember the crying. “I couldn’t get over there fast enough, what happened with that?”

With a deeply guilty look in his eyes, the XO admitted, “I sedated him.”

“If it let you save a few more people, it was a good choice. Maybe we can help the children more tomorrow.”

“We need a medical team. We need supplies. We need an uninjured away team and communications with the ship.” Aerdan started, sitting up so fast he winced in pain. “I don’t know how to get these things, but I know we need them.”

“You got enough strength in you to work a little diplomatic magic?” Izzy stood, offering the slim blue man a hand.

“What did you have in mind?” He accepted, letting her pull him to his feet.

“Well…” she started, waving a hand. “You remember how they were telling us about the keeper of the artifact?”

Aerdan nodded slightly. “Vaguely.” It had been a long time since that was mentioned. Or at least it felt like a long time.

“Well, he… she… it’s been watching us. And you’re our brave leader so I need you to come with me.” She gave him an encouraging smile.

“Remind me why I accepted William’s proposition to become acting first officer again?” Aerdan groused a bit too melodramatically to be honest in his questioning.

Izzy waved a hand, an indication that she would have smacked him, were he not injured. “Because you like it. Come on.”

~*~

The keeper could hear the creaking of the stairs before the aliens entered. The thin veils of the fabric that served as a door were drawn back to reveal the two Starfleeters.

The wizened figure beckoned them in, peering at the oddly bedecked travelers with beady eyes. They entered slowly, eyes no doubt adjusting to the dim lighting and heavy saturation of sweet smelling incense. It reminded Izzy of musk and strange forests, to which she idly wondered where one would scrounge up such things on this odd world. The keeper pulled at his lobes and turned his gaze towards them.

“Ferengi…” she murmured, her eyes widening in light surprise.

“Race no longer has meaning here. You should have already learned that lesson.” The keeper replied in a high lilting tenor. “You seek answers?”

“We seek… help.” Aerdan started, settling himself haphazardly on one of the cushions. “Many were injured - our crew and the refugees here. But I do not have enough supplies to help them.”

The keeper considered this for a moment, training his ears towards a box at the back end of the room. “Your actions were the key that allowed you passage to this place. Your intentions spoke through them. Why can you not travel?”

The Andorian took in a slow breath. “The artifact you keep… it creates interference which our communications cannot penetrate. Because we transported to this planet with false directions, we cannot easily backtrack.”

“The artifact is. This will not change.” The old man replied evenly.

“You cannot suppress it?” Izzy asked gently.

Very slowly the Ferengi started to laugh. It began as a chuckle and bubbled up into a full blown belly laugh. “I would never dream of it!”

“But you said you could help!” she protested lightly.

“I can.” Wiping tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes, he calmed down and fixed the two officers with an even gaze. “You have not asked the important question yet.”

“How?” Izzy tried.

The keeper merely smiled, closing his eyes and rocking lightly in place. Several long seconds of silence passed before it became quite clear that he was not going to answer.

Izshlana Vort slowly frowned, folded her arms across her chest with a light ‘harumph’ sound.

Aerdan leaned back, glancing from the keeper to the artifact and back. Slowly his antennae curled upwards and he ventured “what does the artifact do?”

“Very good!” The keeper grinned, opening his eyes. “Quite simply, little blue, it moves things.”

“Moves things?” Izzly queried. “Like a transporter?”

“Yes. Only much, much better.” With the trademark Ferengi fangs, the keeper gave them both an enigmatic smile. “Please, go ahead. Touch the case.”

“Touch the case…?” Aerdan trailed off, looking to Izzy who shrugged in confusion. Aerdan sighed, slowly rising to his feet. He was never one to overthink a course of action – why start trying now? He headed towards the artifact and reached out.

“Aerdan… what if it’s dangerous?”

“Izzy… have we ever faced something that wasn’t dangerous?”

“Point.” The little Alterian conceded. She was just about to suggest that she go first when he leaned over and touched it.

There was a momentary flash of white light… and Aerdan was gone.

Izshlana gasped. “Where did he go?” She looked wildly about the room, cursing to herself and thinking the next time he insisted on trying something dangerous she would tackle him before he got the chance. Finally her attention landed on the old Ferengi in front of her.

“Home.” The keeper smiled again. “It is quite safe, I assure you.”

“Can I follow?”

“Not yet. It is not time.”

Izzy frowned, walking over to the case and stubbornly laying a hand on top of it. But there was no glow from the case anymore, and no flash of white. It simply felt like a locked wooden box. “No…” she murmured in frustration.

“It will be time, soon enough.” The keeper smiled, gesturing for her to sit back down. “Would you like any tea?”

~*~*~*~

Location: USS PENDRAGON
Scene: Main Bridge

"Thank you First Aide Vartis."

Peter sagged in to his chair as the comm cut; this was not how he envisioned his first command going. Slowly he turned towards Lieutenant Fenlan and asked a question that he really didn’t want to know the answer to. “Lieutenant, have you had any luck hailing the away team?”

Fenlan’s voice was calm and professional. “No, Sir. I am continuing to try on all frequencies.”

“Keep it up.” Captain Aspinal clenched and unclenched his hand for a few minutes more, until the waiting built to an unscratchable itch in his legs and he rose from his chair to walk around the bridge. Not that the news was any better. Nothing – on all frequencies and scans. Just one big fat featureless dome.

“Where could they have gotten off to?” Peter asked the thin air.

He never expected the thin air to answer. But that’s exactly what it did. There was a brief flash of white and unexpectedly his executive officer appeared standing directly in front of him.

Aerdan blinked in obvious surprise. “…Captain?”

“Commander Jos?” Peter furrowed his brows and asked the million credit question. “How did you get here?”

~*~

NRPG: So I was excited by the posts and finished this much earlier than expected. I left some thing on the planet vague for others to fill in.

~*~

Jamie LeBlanc
Lt. Commander Aerdan Jos
Executive Officer
USS PENDRAGON


"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"


~Julian Beck