Hunted (Reyes + Kinun)

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[USS Shran - Brig]

It had been a trying day.

Mahak had never seen Reyes so upset. Upset was the incorrect word. Kali Reyes was murderous, ready to tear out someone's throat.

The brig of the Federation flagship was the most secure place they could be while still remaining mobile.

A few days after the incident on Risa, they had received information that the Orion Syndicate was making good on its promises. It started with a few scout ships chasing the Discovery, who easily chased away the small fighter-like craft.

Then a frigate had shown up. Diplomacy was initiated with the Orions, but they were not interested in bartering. Their only communique was that Kali Reyes and Mahak must be delivered to them, or else. Starfleet showed that frigate what they thought of "what else" with a warning shot. The frigate had moved off, and diplomatic sanctions were initiated to little effect.

Then on Mahak's last away mission a squad of Orion troopers had appeared, armed to the teeth. That had been quite a fight: Starfleet security officers pinned down by fire for hours on end until the Orions eventually gave up. Mahak was grateful that they'd had a transport inhibitor on them at the time, it had prevented them from simply being beamed away.

After that, a Starfleet admiral none other than Admiral Newberry had ordered that they be placed on the Shran, on the brig, and ordered the flagship to move out. His reasoning was twofold: he wanted to protect his people, and also bait the Orion into attacking. Mahak could see the logic, but it did not make the confinement easy.

"Kali," The Vulcan murmured softly. "There is a reason we are in the brig. It is the most secure place on the entire vessel. We are not prisoners here."

[Kali Reyes]

[USS Shran - Brig]

The Syndicate is dead. Their black market trade is dead. She wanted their Generals clapped in irons and booked on an indefinite stay to the lovely Rura Penthe where the ladies were men and the men were men and the other unidentified gendered aliens were men because that's what happens when you're trapped on a Klingon penal colony.

So Kali paced when Starfleet marched her onto the Shran and away from the Discovery. She fumed, stalked, and banged on the forcefield every once in a while to take the edge off. But that wasn't the real kicker, oh no.

Her first board conference considered extending colonial resources to a jacked up planet in Syndicate territory that the Orions seriously needed - as a gesture of peace. Their greedy hearts were sure in the right place, but Kali didn't like dealing with slavers and dishonorable pirates.

Worst off, Mahak was roped into this. It really wasn't fair.

"Still not tired of me yet?" she asked him, almost viciously. "Because this is pretty bad! All of this over a stupid carnival game! Really?!"

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Brig]

"The safest thing for me to do, and the most logical, would be to leave you and never look back." Mahak said. "No, I am not sick of you."

He sat on the brig's bench and folded his legs up underneath him, as if to meditate.

"This has also become more important than our lives." He told her quietly. "To deal a crippling blow to an organized crime syndicate is too valuable for Starfleet to give up. I, for one, would give my life so that the Syndicate could be stopped. What, then, is my freedom? It's a bargain."

[Kali Reyes]

[Brig]

Kali loudly scoffed and dipped underneath a bench placed in a corner where the forcefield met wall. Her fingers sought for the emergency crash box embedded in the panel, minding the electrical shocks messing with it in the process. The Shran was brand-spanking new, and it was a doggone shame to start playing with her equipment when she barely hit the sixth month stint on her voyage, but desperate times came for desperate measures.

"Ow!" she hissed, snapping her hand back and shaking the static from her fingers. Then she went back to work. "You can't kill the entire Syndicate, but I definitely want to hit them with the equivalent of a spiked heel to the groin. Can't do it from Risa, can't do it from a ship brig. It would be a hell of a lot safer for you to stay here."

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Brig]

The human security officer watching them was easily pushing two meters, a red headed giant of a man, with blazing red hair, a lantern jaw, and a Viking mustache. Mahak knew his name, but only because the fellow had an identical twin brother. Both of them worked in security. It could have been either or.

"You keep that up you're going to hurt yourself." The big fellow warned, narrow his eyes under his swell of brow. It made him look like a grumpy caveman.

"He's right." Mahak told her. He stopped any pretense of meditating and instead knelt next to his partner, and touched her shoulder slightly.

"I'm also correct, I believe. Starfleet can take care of the Orion if we let them."

Any other words he might have imparted to convince her, however useless they may have been, were cut off when the Shran vibrated so forcefully that Mahak felt his teeth snap together violently. Steadily, he caught Reyes before she could fall, but this only made them both tumble to the deck.

"What was that?" Mahak asked the redhead when he got to his feet, who was tapping away at his console.

"Something hit us, it felt like," The big man said. Blood redder than his hair was dripping into his eyes, he had chosen that unfortunate moment to be close to a bulkhead. "I'm being ordered to my emergency duty station. You'll be safe here. Don't you let her break out, the admiral will have your head."

When the other man left, Mahak turned to Reyes, wanting to know if she was injured by the jolt.

[Kali Reyes]

[Brig]

Electrical shock wasn't new to her, but it was a desperation borne on salted earth, heavy gunfire, and the urge to stifle a pierced artery while pinging a failed distress beacon halfway out of orbit. All of it was futile, but every failure moved her to the next problem. Try to make it better, fix this, fail at fixing this, so the failures start stacking up against her. And they continued to because she just couldn't stop fixing.

She came out with a base plate and a sour expression at the wiring when Mahak took her shoulder. Can't stop. Keep tinkering. Don't sleep. Fix. Fix.

"Can't trust Starfleet." But she could trust herself. That always seemed to work. The Shran jostled so violently, Kali would have banged her head hard on the floor if Mahak didn't catch her, but she clung to the base plate like some kind of drenched cat until the whirring in her head finally settled into the present.

So tired. Her fingers tingled from the shock, but the pins and needles kept things alive and active. "I'm alright," she muttered when he looked at her. She finally let the base plate clatter to the floor. "Don't like this! Don't like it at all!" They were caged. What if the Shran was boarded?! She needed room to maneuver, to plan, to make a getaway and come back with an army the best that latinum could buy.

Holy hell - she was starting to feel like a pirate queen.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Brig]

Reyes was losing control. Mahak considered pinning her down, but the notion did not sit well with him. It also likely would have been futile. Reyes may not have been as strong as him, but she definitely fought dirty.

The entire ship was still except for the red alert sirens in the brig. Curiously, Mahak glanced out at the porthole. The stars were utterly still.

"We are supposed to be staying on the move," Mahak said curiously. They did not have commbadges. The brass was of the opinion that the less ways to track them, the better. The Orion Syndicate wasn't particularly sophisticated, but they were capable of piggybacking off of a signal.

"I believe you had better get us out of this cell." Mahak told her, switching gears so rapidly that someone not used to a Vulcan's logic might be annoyed.

[Kali Reyes]

[Brig]

He didn't need to tell her twice. She scrambled desperately for the box and started pulling out wires. If she was a bit less desperate, she could have avoided further shocks, but desperation's mistress was time, and they had very little of it. "Stupid carnival games, stupid petty Orions!" she growled and yelped with each shock. The power source wrenched apart from her fingers and the forcefield dissipated into nothing.

Kali crawled up to her feet and rubbed her singed fingers. "That'll do!"

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Brig]

The forcefield winked out of existence with an audible bzzt. Mahak experimentally reached out and was rewarded when nothing happened. He lifted his feet and stepped through the opening.

"=/\=Attention all crew: we have been hit by a warp disrupting weapon deployed by an Orion dreadnought." a disembodied voice said to the ship. "=/\=Shields are down. The Orions have transported over boarding and slaving parties. Nonessential personnel remain where you are. All crew: battle stations, repeat, battle stations."

Phaser fire could be heard outside. Mahak did not curse, because he did not feel frustration, but he knew why humans did at moments like this. Wordlessly, he went to the brig weapons locker, and took out two rifles. He handed one to Reyes.

"We need to help," He said simply.

[Hust Kinun]

[Corridors, USS Shran]

It was bad enough that Hust had been assigned garden duty of watching the ship. What was worse is that he had to be watching Starfleet officers. He'd much rather be on his way to any other outpost, but the Admiral had given him his marching orders and so here he was.

When the details of the task had been outlined, he had balked. The Admiral wanted him to come along and find any reason that the Orions had stepped out of line, and nail them with it. Any leverage they could hold over the Orions was a good thing. What he had not expected was for the Orions to break every rule there was an openly attack a Federation starship- and not just any Starship. The Shran was the tip of Federation tech, but somehow they had been caught with their warp manifold down.

When the attack started and boarders started attacking, Hust had found himself in a firefight with some nasty folk. All he had was a type-1 phaser he had found in his pocket, and was pinned down in the corridors, no cover. He was running and gunning, the weapon only on stun as he moved from scraps of cover to other scraps, falling farther and farther back. The comms lines were already down, and the group of five raiders were coming down on him fast.

He fired the weapon again, catching one of them in the shoulder. The stun blast barely phased the figure, and only made him more mad. Hust powered up the weapon once more and tried again to get a shot off, missing wide and destroying a nice new console. Shame for such as new ship.

[Kali Reyes]

[Brig]

Kali nearly fumbled the rifle. "This is a overdoing it a little, isn't it?! You just punched a guy in the gut!" Breaching space maritime laws, gambling ships, rifle fire couldn't hold a candle to simple assault. Whoever was leading the Syndicate right now was a whiny, spoilt, vindictive son of a gun.

Just beyond the corridor, officers were briskly running for their stations amidst the klaxon alarm now in full alert. Someone was shouting orders somewhere near the turbolift. "Blockade the turbolift! We've got incoming hostiles!"

Starfleet training kicking in, Kali headed for the open hallway and the shield generators already up and running to protect crouched officers from phaser fire. She collapsed back against the translucent blue shield and warmed up the rifle with shaking hands. God, she hated firing things. She hated it!

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Corridors]

Mahak was more composed, but he was not as trained as one might hope to deal with this situation. A security squad was busy taking up firing positions.

The turbolift opened and one Orion immediately lashed out with a kind of long electric whip. One female officer was immediately wrapped up in it and shocked; she was yanked directly into the arms of her captor.

"That's the wrong one!" An Orion growled, and then jabbed a finger at Reyes. "She's the one we want!"

Another officer took a disruptor blast full to the chest. The man fell forward and his mates returned weapons fire calmly.

Mahak had thrown himself head long onto the deck. Before he could find a target, this particular group of Orions had been dealt with. The security squad was busy freeing the female officer, who looked more angry than shocked.

[Corridors, USS Shran]

It was bad enough that Hust had been assigned garden duty of watching the ship. What was worse is that he had to be watching Starfleet officers. He'd much rather be on his way to any other outpost, but the Admiral had given him his marching orders and so here he was.

When the details of the task had been outlined, he had balked. The Admiral wanted him to come along and find any reason that the Orions had stepped out of line, and nail them with it. Any leverage they could hold over the Orions was a good thing. What he had not expected was for the Orions to break every rule there was an openly attack a Federation starship- and not just any Starship. The Shran was the tip of Federation tech, but somehow they had been caught with their warp manifold down.

When the attack started and boarders started attacking, Hust had found himself in a firefight with some nasty folk. All he had was a type-1 phaser he had found in his pocket, and was pinned down in the corridors, no cover. He was running and gunning, the weapon only on stun as he moved from scraps of cover to other scraps, falling farther and farther back. The comms lines were already down, and the group of five raiders were coming down on him fast.

He fired the weapon again, catching one of them in the shoulder. The stun blast barely phased the figure, and only made him more mad. Hust powered up the weapon once more and tried again to get a shot off, missing wide and destroying a nice new console. Shame for such as new ship.

"Ensign," Mahak said to the other man. "Perhaps you could tell us what is going on?"

[Kali Reyes]

[Corridors]

Mahak was more composed, but he was not as trained as one might hope to deal with this situation. A security squad was busy taking up firing positions.

The turbolift opened and one Orion immediately lashed out with a kind of long electric whip. One female officer was immediately wrapped up in it and shocked; she was yanked directly into the arms of her captor.

"That's the wrong one!" An Orion growled, and then jabbed a finger at Reyes. "She's the one we want!"

[Corridors]

"No I'm not!" Kali shouted back, though it was more out of instinct than genuine manipulation. One Orion paused, and he definitely didn't look like the brightest cadet in the Academy, but his comrade smacked him hard on the shoulder to keep pursuing. She squeaked and ducked under the shield when the whip extended over her head.

[Hust Kinun]

[Corridors]

Mahak was more composed, but he was not as trained as one might hope to deal with this situation. A security squad was busy taking up firing positions.

The turbolift opened and one Orion immediately lashed out with a kind of long electric whip. One female officer was immediately wrapped up in it and shocked; she was yanked directly into the arms of her captor.

"That's the wrong one!" An Orion growled, and then jabbed a finger at Reyes. "She's the one we want!"

Another officer took a disruptor blast full to the chest. The man fell forward and his mates returned weapons fire calmly.

Mahak had thrown himself head long onto the deck. Before he could find a target, this particular group of Orions had been dealt with. The security squad was busy freeing the female officer, who looked more angry than shocked.

"Ensign," Mahak said to the other man. "Perhaps you could tell us what is going on?"

[Corridors]

Hust came within sight of the Federation lines, and thus began to feel more relieved... until the lines were summarily broken into shreds by the Orion onslaught. Hust swore to himself mentally. He was a lawyer, not a fighter! His phaser scores were baseline terrible, and he'd not expected to go into combat. He turned and fired, striking one Orion in the chest, and this time the brute went down. He didn't have time to think on his victory when the group behind him caugnt up with him. Of the five-person security team, Hust sensed as one went down in extreme pain, and the other viscerated by a disruptor blast, dying a short, painful death as his atoms were torn apart and he was eaten up.

Hust retired to the group, entering their protective barriers before relaxing at all, the five man team now back up to four when the woman was helped back to her feet. Those people were professional soldiers, not Hust. He turned as the two people in all the universe he didn't want to see in this universe showed up. They were supposed to still be in the brig!

He'd been caught mopping his forehead with his hand, and so when he turned to see the crewmen it almost looked like he was in the midst of an old style earth salute, though it was obvious that was not his intention. He looked at the two with a frown. "You were supposed to stay in the Brig." he said, but then shook his head. Nevermind. So far all I know we're under attack by orion slavers who are more hot to get their hands on you than a first-year cadet with a Deltan." he said, sighing as he collected a rifle from the downed security guard. He checked the power and tested the weapon by downing another Orion who had stuck his ugly nose out a little to far. What to do next was beyond Hust, but his orders were clear. Besides the dubious honor of being the policeman for the Orion syndicate, Hust also had the distinct job of making sure the two crewman stayed safe. 

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Corridors]

Mahak decided that conversation was best kept at a minimum. Mechanically, he found targets and fired. He wasnt the greatest shot in the galaxy, but he could hold his own. It was enough to stall a charge.

[Corridors]

"No I'm not!" Kali shouted back, though it was more out of instinct than genuine manipulation. One Orion paused, and he definitely didn't look like the brightest cadet in the Academy, but his comrade smacked him hard on the shoulder to keep pursuing. She squeaked and ducked under the shield when the whip extended over her head.

[Corridors]

He'd been caught mopping his forehead with his hand, and so when he turned to see the crewmen it almost looked like he was in the midst of an old style earth salute, though it was obvious that was not his intention. He looked at the two with a frown. "You were supposed to stay in the Brig." he said, but then shook his head. Nevermind. So far all I know we're under attack by orion slavers who are more hot to get their hands on you than a first-year cadet with a Deltan." he said, sighing as he collected a rifle from the downed security guard. He checked the power and tested the weapon by downing another Orion who had stuck his ugly nose out a little to far. What to do next was beyond Hust, but his orders were clear. Besides the dubious honor of being the policeman for the Orion syndicate, Hust also had the distinct job of making sure the two crewman stayed safe.

[Corridors]

"We are in the corrodor outside of the brig," Mahak pointed out. "It does not look very secure to me."

A fresh batch of enemy fire, green daggers stabbing at them, drove the security officers deeper into cover. Mahak responded in kind, blindfiring his phaser rifle over the barrier.

"Time to move," A security lieutenant said to them. "They'll have reinforcements soon."

"What about your reinforcements?" Mahak asked.

"That's a dreadnought out there!" The lieutenant interjected. "A slaver ship. They have more men, and that damn warp disruptor knocked our engines and shields out. Get the hell out of here and stop arguing, crewman!"