The End of Hex (Part I of II)
Posted on Tue May 11, 2021 @ 9:19pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Commander Caleb Ryan & Ensign Jessica Mayhew
Edited on on Tue May 11, 2021 @ 9:21pm
2,048 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: The Box of Delights
Timeline: MD01 2100
Previously in
"Come to DS5. Doors to evil other dimensions and mirror universes just below your feet and racial tensions to your left and political tensions to your right," Maritza said drily. "Knowing most fleeters," she sighed, "it will work."
Rell smiled at his daughter pleasantly and gave her a nod. “Of course it will. I thought of it.” But he said nothing more other than, "We are supposed to get service here, aren't we? What does someone have to do to get service? Die?"
Something hit at the back of his neck, and he felt a sharp sting.
Reflexively, Rell's right hand flew to the back of his neck, as he said, "Ow." There was a needle there.
And now the conclusion
Hex let the dart rifle fall, the screams from across the promenade more than confirmed that the job was done. Leaving the weapon behind was a practical choice. The point was to look unremarkable between here and escape
He moved as quickly as he dared towards the public transporter pads. It would be quicker to beam straight to his shuttle, but it would also attract attention, and there was only a small window of opportunity here.
It was two minutes to the service core, and the floor below was now awash with action and confusion. Hex kept walking. Running attracted attention. But by the time he reached the pads, a small crowd had formed, and an apologetic ensign in yellow was trying to explain the Promenade was closed.
Hex looked over the railings, trying to get a good look at Anatole's from his angle on the floor above. Anatole's was in disarray, but there was no sign of Darag Rell or his family. The captain must have ordered the promenade closed as her father lay dying. Cold bitch.
But now he had to abandon plan A -- leave in the confusion. Plan B then. He took a hypospray from his jacket and pressed it to his neck. Plan B needed a counter agent. He peeled away from the crowd and sauntered towards the stairs and The Lotus Lounge.
Sick Bay
Medics and nurses had swarmed on them the moment they materialised, whisking her father away, leaving her and Tonza to wait. Maritza couldn't do anything more for him but hope. And keep a promise. Her mother looked just about ready to collapse, and she slipped her hand into her mother's and squeezed, but touched her comm badge with the other. "Soran to--" her voice cracked. She stopped. "Soran to Commander Ryan."
“Ryan here,” Caleb spoke, on duty in Operations.
"Hex is on the Promenade. I ordered it locked down." She had to breathe, to keep her voice steady. "Hex tried to kill my father."
There was silence for a moment. “Understood,” he said. “I’ll handle it, Captain.”
When the channel was closed, Caleb ordered extra security onto the Promenade. The local security would have their hands full with locking it down. They needed a manhunt.
“Get sensor visuals for the Promenade,” Caleb instructed, “around the area Commissioner Rell was attacked. Ah want eyes on that level. Ah want extra security on the docks and shut down all public transporter facilities. No one leaves this station. The station is a bottle. Let’s seal it up tight. And start tracin’ all Joined Trill signatures on the Promenade decks around that location.”
"Aye, sir," Ensign T'Vril said, quickly linking to the internal scanners. "I'm picking up six Trill signatures. I can't tell if they're joined or not."
“Shut down the turbolifts on that level,” Caleb said. “Only Security can use them. Alert Security on that deck ta round ‘em up. Keep ‘em under guard. Ah’m on mah way down.” He headed for the lift out of Ops.
Promenade
Hex moved away from the increasingly agitated crowd, pulling the tie from their hair to let the blonde locks fall over their face, obscuring the spots. It took effort to keep the pace steady to not draw attention amongst the evening crowds, but it managed it. Security was weaving through the crowd, and more than a few had tricorders out.
Hex veered away towards one of the rear steps, only to see a pair of security guards coming up the steps towards him. One had a tricorder in their hand. It tried to back away as nonchalantly as possible.
Jessica tugged at Travis’ sleeve and pointed. The larger male Human used his size to push his way through the crowd toward the Trill signature on their tricorders.
A glance in the windows of the stores showed Hex it hadn't lost its pursers just yet. Huffing frustratedly, it realised it was going to have to do something desperate. Go somewhere it didn't want to be. With a quick check of pockets to reassure itself its weapons were there, it swerved into the Box of Delights.
“Heading for the Box,” Travis told Jessica, and the pair followed. She noticed Bocero and his partner pulling aside another Trill from the crowd, questioning him. She noted that specific biosignature marked off of the scan as the Bolian security officer wrote up a quick report.
Jessica and Travis entered the Box and looked around, Jessica studying the sensor scan. There was only the one Trill signal in here, rapidly heading towards the back, and the staircases up to the Level One exit.
"Can I help you?" Yolanthe appeared in front of the two officers. "The Box is a place of leisure, not business," she added pointedly.
“It is if a murder suspect entered,” Jessica told Yolanthe coolly. “We have reason to believe our suspect may have come in here. We’d like to take a look around.” She held up her tricorder, hoping Yolanthe would be reasonable.
The Bokkai frowned, and her colouring flowed into various shades of ochre. "Please be discreet." She stood aside.
“Thank you. We will,” Jessica said, studying the tricorder again. “Up the stairs,” she said, hurrying that way.
Hex remembered why it disliked the Box. Too many people, not enough places to hide, and the gaping doors and multiple exits meant people could sneak up on you. Though those multiple exits were all part of the plan right now. And the plan was working.
"Ahjess?"
Hex flinched, it couldn't help it. The voice triggered a wired reflex, and it hunted through its meat suit’s memory until he placed it. Taking a breath, it turned, and gave the croupier a lopsided grin. "Blake. Long time no see, buddy"
The waiter's face was filled with surprise as he looked Hex's stolen body over once, then threw his arms around him in a bear hug. "Where have you been, dude? Everyone's been worried sick!"
Hex hugged back awkwardly, using the opportunity to scan the bar. The blasted yellow shirts were talking to the Bokkai, waving their tricorders. Those were going to be a problem. Station sensors were too big to give more than a vague area when focused internally, but the tricorders more than solved that problem, their small grids better suited to the finer job of isolating one person in a crowd. Hex decided if it got out of this alive, he was going to refresh its engineering skills. The last engineer it had ridden was over a century ago, and its knowledge was out of date for all but the most basic things. And pharmacology had been far more interesting and profitable.
"No!" Hex said, too fast. Then it caught itself. "No, the fewer people the better. Just help me get out of here without being found."
A shadow of doubt passed Blake's face, then it cleared. "The jefferies tube access in the back," he decided. "Come, on." He led the way towards the Employees Only door.
Jessica and Travis paused at the top. So many people in the Box. Travis nudged Jessica’s shoulder. “I think I got it, over this way.”
Jessica frowned. “There isn’t an exit in that direction,” she said, then she and Travis locked eyes. “Jefferies tubes,” they said together.
“This has to be the killer!” Jessica said. “Why else would a Trill be going into a jefferies tube?”
They pushed through the crowd after the Trill. Jessica was already calling in another team to help them.
The back store room of the Box was large, filled with tanks and crates and fridges that held the hand crafted fare in perfect stasis without anything that looked like replication. "You're going to have to help me with this." Blake motioned to a stack of barrels against the wall. When he saw Hex's expression he held up his hands in defense. "You're not supposed to be in and out the jeffries tubes. We all thought if we needed to get in there, it wouldn't be an emergency, you know. So push." He turned on the antigrav pallet that the top hogshead was on, and started to pull it away from the wall.
"Alright, allright." Hex helped the other man to shove the barrels aside, but they only got the first couple moved before it heard a sound from the corridor. Cursing under its breath, Hex put a hand in the pocket of the jacket it wore, palming the small hypo filled with brain melting neurotoxin, and moved so Blake would be between it and the door to the store room.
“Back this way,” Travis said, and he and Jessica rounded the corner.
“Security!” Jessica called, phaser out. “Stay where you are and put your hands behind your head!” she ordered the Human and Trill.
But Hex moved the other way, grabbing Blake and swinging the young man's body in front of its own, pressing the hypospray close to his neck. "Breathe wrong," the Trill warned, "and his brain will be mush before he gets to sickbay."
Jessica scowled, keeping her weapon trained on the Trill and his hostage. Travis followed her lead.
“He has nothing to do with this,” Jessica said. “We just wanted to ask you a few questions. No need to escalate it to this,” Jessica told the Trill. “Let him go, and we can still take care of this civilly. You don’t want to make things worse for yourself.”
"No, I don't think so." Hex tightened its grip on Blake, who was puling at Hex's arm, trying to keep the hypospray from his neck. "You're going to let me walk out of here. Your Commander Ryan will certainly suffer if I don't. So put those pop guns away and bugger off."
“We can’t do that,” Jessica said. “Security is going to surround this place soon. You’re in space. There is no way off this station,” she reminded Hex. “Killing him is just going to make things worse for you.”
Travis wondered what the Trill meant about Commander Ryan. “There is nowhere for you to go,” he reiterated Jessica’s point.
"I'm done negotiating with the monkeys. Get your organ grinder down here so I can talk to someone capable of making decisions."
“We can do that,” Jessica said. She kept her eye on Hex as she reached for her comm badge. “Ensign Mayhew to Commander Ryan. We have the Trill cornered in the back kitchens of The Box. He’s requesting your presence, sir. He has a hostage, one of the boys that works here.”
Caleb paused as he received the request. “Ah’m on mah way down,” he said. Closing the channel, he called Tessaro in Security to get more officers to surround and cut off the Box and clear it out.
Hex gave the security guards a nasty smile and tightened its grip on Blake. "Don't wiggle, pretty boy. If my hand slips you'll be even more brainless than you are now." It looked up at the security guards. "I'd tell your boss to hurry. I'm on a deadline, and he won't like the consequences of me missing it."
To be Continued…
Hex, in the body of Ahjess Denn
"pharmacist"
[NPC by Soran]
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner, The box of Delights
DS5
Cdr. Caleb Ryan
XO
DS5
Ensign Jessica Mayhew
Ensign Travis Nottingham
Security Officers
DS5
[NPC by Ryan]
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