Examining the Shuttle

Posted on Sun May 27, 2018 @ 4:01pm by Civilian Ricardo Draxx & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca

1,791 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Victory Conditions
Location: Security - confiscated items
Timeline: MD10 - 20:00

ON

Now that the testing was over, Alanna had time to have a good look at Draxx's shuttle. She was curious to find out what was in it and how he managed to get past most of the protections in place to keep people from reaching the surface.

She cleared the morning--and most of the afternoon--to give herself plenty of time to explore. As a precaution, she brought Brianthe with her.

She was initially going to ask Commander Ryan as he'd been with her when they stopped the shuttle, but now that he was First Officer, he was far too busy.

With the small box carefully stowed away, along with a tricorder, PADD, and a data rod, she and Brianthe made their way to the shuttle to have a look around.

Draxx's shuttle was sparse but had an air of mystery about it. A lone replicator had about 35 preprogrammed selections including a moose called angel delight. A very small room was at the back of the main shuttle, next to an unexpected dunny. Inside a lone bed and small shelve overhead containing a copy of book Little women, an unknown sex toy and small figurine. Its culture and significance also unknown.

"Little Women?" Alanna said, picking up the book. "An interesting choice in literature." She flipped through hte pages to see if there was anything significant about the book.

Brianthe looked at the figurine. "I don't think I've seen anything like it before."

Alanna glanced over. "Me, either." After looking through the book, she set it back on the shelf and went to a console to look at the computer files.

Brianthe walked around the shuttle again, looking at what little was there.

"Its a tribal idol from a backwards planet I got stuck on for nearly half a year," a voice rang out as a monitor at the front switched on to reveal Draxx's face. "The B'Loxianu. If I have pronounced that right. Its been several years since I was there. Blondie good to see you again. I wish it was under better circumstances. You have my thumb?"

"In my pocket," Alanna said. She wasn't as surprised as she should have been at his appearance on the monitor.

Brianthe looked at him for a long moment. "The owner, I presume?"

There were several loud tuts. "Blondie. I told you to come alone," Draxx stated. He was already annoyed enough that his first mate had turned traitor.

"I brought my assistant," Alanna said. "It's always better to have a second opinion." And she really didn't want to come alone.

"Well," he wolf whistled loudly taking in the other woman. "I can forgive you." Turning to look directly at the brunette he added, "Ricardo Draxx and you madam, let me guess a fairy princess from ancient times?"

Brianthe laughed, pleased at the compliment. A fairy princess was nice. "I appreciate ancient times," she said. "And modern ones. I'm Brianthe. Alanna says you got past security. Impressive."

"I got past the texan many times. Its's easy to divert his attention. He always falls prey to his emotions. And ridiculous code of well he considers it chiviary. But really he's living in a different time period playing Sheriff of ole time west if you know what I mean. Got his secrets though. Everyone does."

"But Blondie here was too clever for me. Saw through the cloak on this ship," he grinned at Alanna. "Credit where credits due darling. If you weren't starfleet I would be offering you a job."

Alanna smiled. Even though she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, she did appreciate the compliment. "If you weren't a privateer, I would consider it. Alas, I'm far too moral for your liking." And he was far too underhanded for hers. But she could learn from his ship, and she intended to do just that. "So, how did you manage to get as far as you did?" she asked.

"Oh blondie. You need to live a little. I bet you think I'm a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder too," his winked at her. "Whatever. You starfleet lot are too boring and rigid for the rest of the galactic population. The hilarious thing is you all bleat about your morality so much, making out your better than us but the reality is you all lie and cheat as much as us when it comes down to your neck. The secrets I know about half of your lot would turn your hair grey love. You should keep an eye on ole texo's daughter. Things are not as moral as they seem there," he stated pointedly for a moment.

Then settled back into his seat and took a swig from a bottle of Kanar. "How did I get as a far as I did? Well switch things on. Handle my digit baby then have a look at the cloak. When you have finished having your science/techgasm, then you tell me the mumbo jumbo voodoo eminited from that planet's atmosphere that upset it. It always had no issues before. And truthfully, I've lost my science man. I'd like to know so I can make sure my other babies don't fall foul of it."

Alanna couldn't help smiling. It was one of her own "babies" that caused the trouble, but she wasn't going to let him know what she'd done as she didn't want him repeating the process. Her goal was to find out how he got as far as he did and then keep him from doing it again.

She nodded and activated the computer and the main systems.

"I'll have a look at the shields," Brianthe said, going to another station.

When the ships systems were up, Alanna began to look at the modifications. "Very nice," she said.

"Oh you can do better than that Blondie. My baby is a sexy little beast. Alien tech. From further you have uncovered. Older than Humanity but further ahead of us. Also if the rumours are to be believed - from another universe," Draxx said mysteriously. He knew more than that of course. He had made it a point to get as much information about the aliens and their history as possible for Torm Juniors regime. But he wasn't telling her any more or pointing starfleet in the direction of it. She could have that, put them on a possible advantage when the "big guy" made his appearance. But she wasn't getting all his secrets and knowledge.

"Don't worry," he read her body language. Mind whirling. Sexy as hell to watch but totally starfleet. Through and through. Working out what she could learn to ensure the criminal element didn't have the jump on them again. "I'm not planning on coming back. I had to clear out. Theres too much bad juu juu brewing in your station. Lets just say some titans are going to clash and leave it at that." She needed to heed his words but he figured she already had painted him as just out for himself. He had tried, so when push inevitably was going to come to shove he had a clean conscience.

"However I want you to relay a message to Yolanthe, the boxes owner. I am generally sorry about what happened to her bar. And for being a pig headed fool I guess. No you know what .... don't tell her that. Just say Biggs acted on his own. Make sure she knows that." It was cryptic and no way was he getting into the trap his former best friend had set, having to watch two of the gorn babies burn and Lucy who tried desperately to save her brood after shoving him and Orson into the cargo bay locking them to safety. He hated every moment of it. He had lost his navigator, his first mate and well .... his whole family in one evil twist of fate. He hadn't wanted to go back into Torms organisation in any way but managing to drive Biggs to betray him had warrented a different plan of action.

So much information in a cryptic data dump. "Alien tech? Is it connected to the race that created Pangaea?" Alanna asked. "And what titans?" Whoever they were scared him enough to leave and she didn't want to be caught unprepared for whatever was to come. "I'll pass on your message. Now, what can you tell me about this ship and the race that created it?" Whether he knew it or not, he'd set her on a course to find out more about the ship and its origins.

"You saw how far I got on Pangaea Blondie," Draxx smirked. "And you have one of your own and one called Torm senior heading your way. Do NOT go looking for him. Do NOT get under his radar in any way. Like I said alien tech from further than you have uncovered. That's all I can tell you. Biometric. With some clever coding though you can make it recognise your bio signature. Im sure you don't want to be carrying round my dead thumb for years to come. And your clever. You won't have any issues cracking it."

One of her own? And someone named Torm. She would remember that name. And avoid him--or her. "You know, if we weren't on opposite sides in this, I might have enjoyed working with you." He was clever, and knew quite a bit about what was going on with Pangaea. No, she wouldn't have too much trouble with the biometrics. She already had a few ideas. "Thank you." That was for the information, and the ship. She was going to enjoy learning about this ship.

Brianthe smiled at Alanna. She knew how she felt by the expression in her eye. It was how Brianthe looked when she first saw the arboretum here.

"Oh no thank you blondie. If I was going to lose a finger, I'm glad it was so you can pull that face. Multiple techgasms then?" he grinned. "As much as I would like to stick around and see your afterglow, I have an ex-best friend to hunt down. You take care of my baby now."

Alanna felt her cheeks flush, but she refused to rise to the bait. "I'll take care of her." She turned back to the computer and began working on the biometrics.

"Nice to meet you fairy princess," Draxx winked at Brianthe before ending the transmission and disappearing off the screen.

Brianthe grinned. "Any idea what he was talking about with the warning?"

"No idea, but I'm going to be very careful."
____


Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca
Assistant Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

Ricardo Draxx
Privateer

END?

 

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