The Fall of Caleb Xeod (Part V of V)
Posted on Sun Oct 18, 2020 @ 4:22am by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Civilian Jason Haines
1,247 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Asteroid field near Xi'cadian Space
Timeline: MD 08
Previously in
Xeod was silent for a few moments, then spoke. "Very well," Xeod said. "Ryan, pick those on your crew who go back."
Ryan frowned. Tessaro was going to hate him, but she wasn’t here, and his team was. “The other team,” Caleb said.
Xeod tapped a couple of buttons, and after a moment he said, "As promised. Do feel free to confirm if you wish, Commander. As Mister Haines here said, I do have some honor, but I can understand if you don't quite trust me."
Caleb tapped his comm. “Ryan to Tessaro. Are you safe?” he inquired.
And now the conclusion
Runabout / Akira
As the pilot watched him and tried to pilot the runabout, there was a thud as a small chunk of rock hit the ship. The impact alarm went off and the pilot turned his attention back to the panel. Jason didn't waste the opportunity, and smacked the man in the back of head with his cuffs. Moving quickly, he got the electronic key unit and got free from his cuffs.
He tapped the comm panel and said, "Hey, Xeod, sorry to keep you waiting, but your guys were trying to double cross you and keep me away from the party. How about you beam me over to the party?"
Rob grimaced slightly. He didn't want Jason here. Yes, he was a man with training, and he could fight, but this wasn't his fight.
"Well, well," Xeod remarked with a smile. "Dreams do come true." He activated the transporter, and Jason appeared.
“Seems like your crew is just as fed up with you as we are,” Caleb Ryan commented. “It’s over, Xeod. Turn yerself in now an’ the magistrate might go easy on ya.”
Xeod smiled, and a moment later Jason appeared in the shuttle bay relatively close to his dad. He cast a glance towards his dad, then to Ryan and his team, and said, “Sorry, I am late.”
“That’s okay, Mister Haines,” Xeod said. “I’ve waited eight months. I’ll be with you momentarily.”
He looked to Ryan and his team. “Now, as I told you, once I had the brat, I would send you and your team home as well. No hard feelings about your lost crew. I did warn you though. Remember that, should we cross paths again, Mister Ryan.”
With that, Ryan and team felt the transporter beam wrap around them and they soon appeared on the Pioneer.
Caleb cursed, looking around, doing a quick headcount. Tessaro and her team appeared to still be milling about the area, too. “Xeod’s got both Haineses! Get a lock on them!”
"We can't, the ship's shields are back up," the transporter operator said, looking a bit frustrated.
Akira Shuttle Bay
“Alright, let’s get this over with, Xeod,” Rob said. “None of us are growing any younger.”
Xeod left the shuttle control room and came out with a disruptor in hand. He stood back some and dropped the shield.
“Boys, you are hard to pin down,” Xeod said.
Rob smiled and said, “Indeed. So what is that you are going to be shooting us with? Is that really a Varon-T disruptor?”
Xeod smiled, “Observant as always, Bobbie.”
Rob took a slight step forward and closer to Jason.
“I’ve heard those are illegal,” Rob said with a chuckle.
“I heard that rumor too,” Xeod said. “Seems like some idiot filed it in evidence in a trial thirty years ago and never destroyed it. I couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands.”
“You always did have the Federation’s best interest at heart,” Rob said, making another slight shift.
“Yes, well,” Xeod said. “As you said, we aren’t getting any younger. You caused me a lot of pain, Bobbie, here’s some back.”
Xeod pointed the disruptor at Jason and Rob jumped into action. For being fifty-five years old, Rob could still move rather fast. Rob knocked Jason to the deck as Xeod fired. Rob took the disruptor shot meant for Jason right in the chest.
The Varon-T disruptor was illegal in the Federation because of its horrific effects. It tore a body apart at a molecular level, inside out. It was a painful death compared to that caused by a phaser or other disruptors.
As Jason started to recover on the floor, he heard a brief yelp of pain and looked up just in time to see his father disappear before his eyes. He was stunned. This couldn’t be. Anger and pain started to cloud his sight. His mother had died before him. Now his father. His hands started to shake.
“Well, damn,” Xeod said, snapping Jason briefly out of the fog of what just happened. “Not exactly how I wanted it to go, but dead’s dead, I guess. Sorry, kiddo, but your turn. No loose ends.”
“Fuck you!” Jason snarled.
Unlike his father, Jason was much younger and much more spry. He moved right before Xeod shot. Rolling, he was able to get to a good vantage point and swept Xeod’s legs out from under him, sending the disruptor and Xeod’s self-destruct unit flying.
It wasn’t a moment before Jason was on top of Xeod and punching the man in the face. A haze of red started to fill Jason’s eyes as rage tore through him. There were so many things he was angry at right now, so many people. He saw their faces as his punches rained down on his father’s murderer.
He saw Xeod’s face as blood spurted from the man’s nose. Then there was Sovok’s, then Soran’s, then Ryan’s, and finally his own. The faces kept cycling until what would have been the death blow for Xeod.
As he pulled back his fist to punch the man, he heard a voice simply whisper, “Jason.”
It was a voice he hadn’t heard in ages, his mothers. It made him pause.
Xeod chuckled some and spit out blood and said, “What’s a matter, boy? Ain’t got it in you to kill me? Not like yer daddy.”
“You’re right,” Jason said, tears now starting to flow. “I’m like my mom, and she could kick his ass.”
With that, reducing the force in his punch, Jason hit Xeod, knocking him out. Jason sat there and took in a few breaths to somewhat calm himself. There would be time enough for tears later. He stood up.
His hands trembling, he tapped this comm unit, “Haines to Pioneer. Two to beam over. Have security on hand, one is a prisoner.”
On the Pioneer Commodore Stuart smiled, triumphant. "Get that bastard to my brig. Helige, get a prize crew on that ship. Congratulations, Mr. Ryan, your team did an excellent job." Stewart got up from her chair, wanting to see Xeod in the brig for herself. "Ch'escat, you have the conn. Join me, captain."
"One moment, sir." Soran had been watching the lifesigns on her own station, and she hadn't missed what Haines hadn't said. She left Ch'escat to manage Xeod. It took a moment to lock on to the transponders, finding the fallen and bringing them home.
[OFF]
Captain Maritza Soran
Commanding Officer
Deep Space 5
Jason Haines
Bait Extraordinaire
Deep Space 5
Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer
Deep Space 5
Lt Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
DS5
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