Threat Assessment Part I

Posted on Tue Nov 6th, 2018 @ 10:08pm by Captain Alistar McKeon & Chief Petty Officer Malcolm Reynolds & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi & Lieutenant Commander Akira-Ri Sato & Lieutenant Jera'turak Ros & Lieutenant T'lon & Ensign Sarleya D'Nal'khiy

1,065 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Memento Mori

Baham was like most other Ferengi border worlds: A loud, living marketplace full of just about anything you could think of. Anything and everything could be bought or sold, and Alistar couldn't help but glare in anger as he passed a stall with a pair of Orion women being sold by a slobbering Ferengi. Legally, Starfleet couldn't interfere, Baham was a Ferengi controlled world and the laws of the Federation wouldn't protect him and his crew if they started anything. Still, it didn't sit right with him. He had elected for his party to remain in uniform, which drew some looks but most ignored them. It wasn't unheard of for Starfleet to visit border planets, and most of the people either didn't want to draw attention or had been scared into giving strangers a wide berth. Arriving at a cross roads, Alistar frowned at the signs. "Anyone read any of this gibberish?" he asked. 

Jera felt the eyes of every Ferengi upon her. There were a few other women in clothing who the group had passed, but most took painful efforts to not stand out. A woman of obvious mixed heritage such as her in a Starfleet uniform clearly stood out, and the attention wasn't something she was happy with. If anything, it made her long for her engine room on the Endeavour even more. When the captain stopped and was trying to read the signs, she glanced over and frowned. One of the signs had writing that looked familiar, but she couldn't make anything out. 

"One of the signs had been written in Cardassian. The others appear to be a mixture of Ferengi, Orion, and several other written languages of which I don't recognize," T'lon said. "The area appears to be broken up into quadrants based on the goods that are being sold. Slaves are sold in one direction, weapons are sold in another. The other two areas seem to be various goods, but those are the primary categories that have been listed."

"Makes sense, you don't want slaves to have the chance to grab a gun and murder a potential buyer, now do you?" Jera said angrily.

"Easy, Lieutenant. We're here for our people, not to invoke an interstellar war by violating the Prime Directive. We can't do anything about it right now, and I'd rather deal with one situation at a time," Alistar said.

"So the question becomes which way do we go?" Mal asked as he scanned the area around them. He had a standard phaser rifle in his hands, with one of the Endeavour's projectile assault rifles slung across his back. Everyone had been issued handguns and hand phasers, just in case. 

Alistar tapped his commbadge. "McKeon to Endeavour," he said. "Scan the area directly due south west of our current location. See if you can scan for any Trill life signs."

Isabella stood on the bridge of the Endeavour and did her best to not start pacing. She couldn't help but fret and worry more than just a little, mostly due to the overall situation. The commanding officer of her ship and friend was on an alien planet which could could potentially turn hostile if something should happen. To make matters worse, he had several others with him, but not enough in her opinion. To that end, she had taken to walking about the bridge, looking at the readouts from each station before moving on to the next. When the captain requested a life signs scan, Isabella instantly moved towards the science station. There was no one at operations due to T'lon's absence and the fact that the Endeavour was short staffed. The science officer on duty, Sarleya, was already on it. The Orion officer nodded after a moment. 

"Commander, a scan of the immediate area up to a range of on square kilometer detects no life signs that identify as Trill," Sarleya reported. 

"Endeavour to away team, we have a negative on the scan," Isabella reported. 

Akira stood at the Security/Tactical station and scowled as she monitored the readouts on her screens. She was far from happy with the situation but there was little she could do. Frowning at a particular reading, she leaned forward and typed in a command. 

"Why am I not surprised?" Jera muttered. "Why can't we get the planetary defense forces involved in this?"

"Because they are most likely involved in any criminal activity that occurs on their planet, including activities involving the criminals we are currently seeking," T'lon said. 

"Unfortunately, the lieutenant is more than likely right about that," Alistar said as he looked around. Their uniforms were drawing some attention, mostly from a group of ten beings that seemed to be in the process of surrounding them. They stopped several paces from the away team as one of them, a Klingon, came closer. 

"You are Captain Alistar McKeon of the Federation star ship Endeavour. You will choose one officer and come with us. Now," the Klingon growled. 

"I'll go, sir," Mal said as he took a step forward. 

"Not him," the Klingon said. 

"Lieutenant Ros, you're with me," Alistar said. "Lieutenant T'lon, return to the ship and update the XO."

"As you wish," T'lon said, clearly not in agreement with his captain. Tapping his commbadge, he hailed the Endeavour. "T'lon to Endeavour. Two to beam up, energize when ready."

Jera took a step closer to McKeon and raised her chin in a clear hostile demeanor towards the Klingon. Her defiance had often gotten her into trouble, but she would be damned if she was going to let any criminal intimidate her. 

As T'lon and Reynolds disappeared to the him of a transporter beam, Alistar nodded. "Alright, where are we going?" he asked. 

The Klingon tapped a comm unit device on his wrist. Without a spoken word being said, Alistar felt the tingle of a transporter beam. The main marketplace of  Baham vanished and was quickly replaced with the interior of a ship. The darkened and muted room signaled to Alistar that they were now on a cloaked ship, a Defiant class by the looks of the room. The Klingon stood in front of him and motioned with his head. Alistar checked and found That his weapons had been removed during the transport. Glancing over at Ros, he nodded. "Well, Let's go see What this is about," he said. 


To be continued.

 

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