Triton's rage
Posted on Friday November 20th, 2020 @ 6:30am by
Mission:
The Forgotten Outpost
Location: The Codfather
Daniels had gotten a note from Stran that there was a civilian signal requesting aid.
Starfleet vessels were strained in this area.
He strolled onto the bridge of his tow vessel, and nodded to his crew, such as it was.
Stran was a calm Vulcan, but as broken a man as Lyra, or Daniels, himself.
Stran sat at what passed for the science and tactical console.
Daniels sat down at the Captain's console, which counted as both the Helm, and the operations console.
At the engineering console, the word sit didn't quite apply to the translucent crystalline arachnid named Lorissa. At least, that was the the nickname she had adopted. Lorissa had a very unique set of consoles that allowed her to operate pretty much anything that didn't involve navigation, the tractor beams, or shooting at things with what passed for weapons.
Daniels took a breath. "Deep Space Three, this is the Codfather. Departure codes transmitting now. Sending mission parameters and flight plan now. Priority clearance for a rescue mission."
"Departure clearance authorized, Codfather." The flight control officer noted. "Good luck, Codfather. We'll have you a medical contingency if needed."
"Thanking you, Deep Space Three." Daniels nodded. "Docking thrusters at 75%." Daniels watched the screens carefully.
"Clearing Deep Space 3 docking restricted airspace in 20 seconds." Stran noted, quietly.
"The weaving of this one bothers me." Lorissa said, in her quiet whispers.
"Me, too." Daniels agreed. "We couldn't get an ident reading on the distress beacon."
"Restricted airspace cleared." Stran paused. "Do you remember that diplomatic conference?"
Daniels looked back. "Yeah."
"Remember how Tramira said she didn't like the way the prophets spoke of it?" Stran asked.
"It is so bizarre when you speak in Kyt." Daniels paused. "What is wrong?"
"I feel it here." Stran nodded. "Something... Dark."
"The correct movie reference is-" Daniels paused to do a C-3P0 voice. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
"Whatever the reference." Lorissa shook her head. "We all agree. We're not going to enjoy what we find."
"We still got the doc in a box, right?" Daniels asked.
"Such as it is. It's technically black market technology." Stran nodded.
"I'll go unpack it once we get to warp." Daniels frowned. "Speaking of. Warp clearance in 3... 2... 1..."
"Let's hit it." Lorissa nodded her quartz head.
"Local speed limit is Warp 5.6." Stran added.
"Warp 5.6 it is." Daniels tapped the controls, and then pushed a big silver bar forward.
The Codfather blinked out.
---
The ship rapidly approached the coordinates, and Daniels frowned.
"What have you got?" He asked, looking out the forward viewscreen.
"Magnification at 3,000 perecent." Stran noted.
A section of the viewscreen blew up.
Daniels stared at a familiar looking ship mostly devoid of any power.
"Tell me that's not-" Daniels began.
"ID Confirmed. That's the Calysto Trading Conglomerates private vessel set aside for crew transfer." Stran noted. There was an edge in his voice that implied he knew precisely how much those words were going to hurt. "The Westward is disabled."
"Life signs?" Daniels asked.
Stran was quiet.
"LIFE SIGNS?" Daniels shouted at him.
"None." Stran's words were barely above a whisper.
"None?" Daniels voice cracked.
"Joseph." Lorissa looked out at the screen. "And Leanette."
"Narissa." Daniels couldn't actually speak. It was more of a rasp. "Angi."
"It's mostly intact." Lorissa said, reading one of her screens. "I can't actually identify how it was disabled."
"No energy radiation. At all. There is nothing." Stran agreed.
"They're gone." Daniels fell off his chair, and leaned against the console. "They're-"
"Lorissa, get a stable tow on that." Stran shook his head.
"Daniel-" Lorissa began.
"Do not." Stran held up a hand. "He does not want to hear it."
"How would you know?" Lorissa asked.
"Because every time we ship out, I keep hoping we will come across a wanted criminal named Tramira Kyt." Stran looked down.
"What do we do?" Lorissa asked.
"One problem at a time." Stran nodded to the wreckage. "Can we tow that at warp?"
"With that structural integrity? Warp 2 is the maximum safe." Lorissa looked towards Daniels.
Stran slaved his console to one of Lorissa's blank screens.
He walked towards the helm, and took a seat.
Daniels looked up.
He didn't say anything.
Lorissa's console beeped.
"What?" Stran asked.
"Scanners register nothing onboard. No cargo. No lifesigns." Lorissa paused.
"We heard you the first time." Daniels snapped.
"No bodies." Stran filled in.
Daniels looked towards him.
"Just like they never found Tramira's body." Stran added.
Daniels looked up towards the viewport. "You mean to say they might still be out there?"
"There are always possibilities." Stran nodded.
"Is that how you keep going, Points?" Daniels asked.
Stran shook his head.
"How do you do it, then?" Daniels asked.
"I do not." Stran replied. "That is the secret. I stand. I do the job. I try to help where I can. We run aid missions. A rescue vessel. We save lives."
Daniels looked away.
"But the secret?" Stran shook his head. "I deal with things one problem at a time. The next problem? That is the future me's problem."
Daniels looked up, again. "What do you mean by that?"
"I cannot function. I am told you have several friends who would understand." Stran paused. "But every single day, I get up. I do the first thing. I get dressed. I prepare myself for the day. I eat."
"And then?" Daniel asked.
Stran shook his head. "There is no then." He took a breath. "And then I deal with whatever the universe decides the day shall bring. If I am meant to find Tramira again, I will do so in good time."
"That's entirely too passive for me." Daniels took a breath.
Stran took Daniels' sun glasses off the helm console and handed them to him.
"Then get your ass up, take your damn seat back, and stop being useless. We have a job to do, and you will not find them any faster from here. If we get this ship back to the Starbase, they can run over it with a forensic fine toothed comb, I believe is the idiom." Stran noted. "You are the Dread Pirate Daniels. Act like it."
Daniels took the sun glasses, and stood up.
He put them on, and stared out the view screen.
"Hey, Points?" Daniels asked.
"What?" Stran looked up.
"Get out of my damn chair." Daniels said, in an even, determined tone.
"That is better." Stran said, returning to his console.
"The ship is ready for warp towing." Lorissa said, with an expectant nod.
"Warp 1.9." Daniels took a breath. He put his hand on the silver handle.
"Tactical systems show no hostiles inbound. We are free and clear and unlikely to be traced." Stran looked towards Daniels.
"Right." Daniels pulled the lever down.
Both ships blinked out.
---
"Attention Deep Space 3, this is the Codfather." Daniels said, as the ships came into sensor range of the Starbase.
"Go ahead, Codfather." The flight control officer noted.
"Rescue mission failure." Daniels gritted his teeth at the words. "We recovered the ship. No cargo. No lifesigns. No bodies. Requesting permission for Starfleet Criminal Investigative Services to investigate this vessel's attack."
"That will be pending the Security Department." The flight control officer said, in a quieter tone.
"Like hell it will." Daniels muttered under his breath. "Please transmit station-keeping orbital instructions."
"Roger that, Codfather, you are cleared for station keeping orbit at the following coordinates. Please retain tractor lock on the Westward until such time that the Station takes control." The flight control officer switched it off.
"You're going to call in favors." Lorissa guessed.
"Oh, no." Daniels shook his head. "I'm just going to tell Maddison."
"And then she will find whoever did this, and act with extreme prejudice, given her historical record." Stran added.
"Or give me the coordinates so I can." Daniels nodded.
"Ah." Lorissa paused. "We are at station-keeping. The Westward is secure."
"I'll be beaming over to the station. Stran, you call the boss lady. She's not going to be thrilled." Daniels winced.
"What if Starfleet doesn't allow us to go after whoever did this?" Lorissa asked.
"Then Jane Atwood, Daniel Daniels, and Stran of Vulcan will do it anyway." Stran retorted.
"They already call me a pirate on the station, apparently. It'd be nice to live up to the accusation." Daniels agreed.
Lorissa shook her head.
"You in?" Daniels asked, turning to look at the woman.
Lorissa focused 8 of her 12 eyes on him.
"Obviously." Lorissa nodded. "We're a crew."
Stran watched Daniels storm off.
"Where is he going?" Lorissa asked.
"To file a report." Stran said, calmly.
"And then?"
"A very large drink. Or twenty."
---
Civilian Captain Daniel Daniels
Probably not a pirate, The Codfather
Stran of Vulcan
Private citizen, The Codfather
Lorissa
Private citizen, The Codfather
