Planning the Heist

Posted on Sun Oct 15th, 2017 @ 11:21am by Captain Enalia Telvan & Baroness 2nd Class Schwein von Alcott & Commander Mal Xustos & Lieutenant Commander T'Pral Jordan & Lieutenant Nathanial Summers DSci & Chief Warrant Officer Daytona Ral & Staff Warrant Officer Nexi

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die
Location: USS Hera Conference Room

After a day at high warp, the Hera had finally arrived at Tortuga station, most of an old unfinished Cardassian space station that had been towed around Breen space into pirate territory and was now a piratical stronghold. It had long been a haunt of the Artan fleet when they wanted a seedier place to berth than the Artan Orbital Fortress, but that was little known knowledge, even in these quieter times.

The main thing about this station though, was that no one could partake in piracy or any actual crime in or around the station itself. Those caught were barred from returning, if not outright killed. As pirate killers, the Artans were often contracted to hunt those rule breakers down and permanently put an end to them, however, neither Enalia nor the Baroness really had much in the way of clout with the people they needed to do business with in this case. In fact, it was best to leave their Artan connections out of this completely.

This was what brought Enalia, Mal, the Baroness, Daytona, T'Pral, Nexi, and Nate together in the conference room while the Hera sat just a few hundred kilometers off the station itself with Enalia explaining the situation, a holographic map of the station in the center of the table.

Sipping from her glass of water again, Enalia pointed to a small shop in an alley. “This is the last known shop location of an information broker known as Formad. He deals in illegal starcharts that we need to find our way through the area of space the Master's last database pointed us to to reach his next labs. I hate to send a team of four, but in this case, I think it's necessary. Station security is just too tight.”

Nexi, who was familiar with this station and helped provide information on their security, chimed in, leaning back in her chair to make it rock slightly. "Once we find him, and we may need to search for him because he does like to move around, but once we find him, it's imperative that you do not get sticky fingers while on the station. I don't care how tempting it is to just take what we need if he don't wanna deal, everything has to be done above the table or it could mean a death sentence if we're caught."

"And the Artan Pirate Killers will likely be the ones with your coin," the Baroness added, referring to the form of contract the station's leadership used.

"As my presence here suggests," Daytona said. "I am not in the habit of getting caught. Nonetheless, I will keep your advice in mind, Nexi."

"As the number of people who've wanted or still want you dead suggests," Mal said. "You're not in the habit of making a clean getaway, either. Mind your manners when you are on that station, Mister Ral. We don't have time to deal with you getting a death warrant put out on you."

Daytona chuckled and then grinned.

"Yes, sir, Commander," Daytona said. "Really, Mal. Have you no faith in me?"

Mal decided that was a rhetorical question and chose not to answer it.

"Hey, I've only be caught once, ONCE! And that was because the ass-hat I was after decided to run and attract attention to us in Hera's cargo bay," Nexi interjected with a smug grin. "Which, by the way, that Security chick still owes me dinner for that very thorough pat down."

"We have faith in you..." Enalia added, deciding it wasn't rhetorical enough. "Which is why you're going. You and Nexi have the underworld knowledge needed for the mission and while you'll be officially leading it, Commander Jordan will maintain operational command of the mission and maintain security. Lieutenant Summers is your specialist and is going with you to confirm that the data you're getting is the data we need. Any other questions so far?"

"We taking my ride or is the Selune up to the job?" Nexi asked.

Enalia nodded as she pulled up further schematics of the station's docking bays. "I have to ask that you do. And please take precautions so they don't trace the job back to the Hera. While I and the Baroness are friendly with the station commander, I'd prefer not to indicate any ties to the Artan family to this mission. It could pose... Complications... In future Artan dealings with him."

The Baroness added a bit more to explain. "To clarify, as Formad isn't entirely honest with his dealings with the station commander, he's not on good terms with him. If Zan Shorzen gets wind that the Heiress of the Artan Pirates is doing business with him, he may not take kindly to that information at all."

"Okay," Daytona said. "But doesn't that mean that if Zan Shorzen finds out that our little merry quartet is doing business with Formad, he's going to take exception to us, too?"

"As long as there are no ties to one of the eight pirate Lords or families, no." Schwein was blunt, but no one knew the pirate's code better than her. She was born and raised to it. "As long as you're just a merry band of common pigs, no big bad wolf will care what you do, granted you don't actually do any actual piracy."

"Wandering Star it is," Nexi replied. She hadn't taken her ship out since Demon Enalia tore it up, but she had allowed one of the shuttle crew to do a quick test run with the Orion-class runabout to ensure that it was mission ready. "I would recommend we forgo the uniforms; these people typically don't take kindly to 'Fleeters nosing around their business."

T'Pral, as usual, was quiet as she absorbed the information. She hated the sight of Nexi but tolerated her as she was after all, a member of the crew now. "I would agree with Nexi," T'Pral said and then pausing for a moment. "However, I do not understand my role here. Is it to keep Ral and Nexi out of trouble?" She hated babysitting...and if she had to babysit other officers, why were those said officers on such a supposedly critical mission?

Enalia sighed and leaned back in her chair. It was going to come up eventually. Glancing to Mal, she nodded and turned off the conference table's holo-display so she could make eye contact with T'Pral without distraction. "You're there as insurance. As one of our strongest combat specialists, if the black blood in Nexi goes out of control, you have standing orders to kill her and clean up the situation using any and all force necessary, even if it results in the destruction of Tortuga station but do not risk the safety of the Hera in any way if you can help it. Does anyone object to this?" While Enalia was expecting Nexi to object, her eyes were locked with T'Pral's.

Nexi certainly had no objections, especially after she coerced a promise out of Enalia to kill Nexi in the even that she lost control; if it came down to it, Nexi would rather die than become a monster like the Master or Demon Enalia. But she did avert her eyes in shame that this was coming out like it was. "Dedjoy fitted me with a belt that's slowing the spread of the black blood, but anger feeds it and the belt gives me a warning if I get too angry. Though, I doubt you'll need an alarm if I start losing it, the effects of this stuff is... kinda noticeable..."

Daytona frowned. He knew that Cato had started up something with T'Pral and then dumped T'Pral (without actually telling her she was dumped) for Nexi. If he knew it, then T'Pral had figured it out by now. She clearly didn't have any love for Nexi at the moment, so she likely wouldn't hesitate to take Nexi out at the very first sign that she was losing it. He was going to have to keep an eye on the two of them. Nexi was tough. T'Pral was tougher. Last time they were on a mission together, T'Pral shot a Harpy out of the sky with a phaser pistol and then kicked the crap out of an Amazon without breaking a sweat. The woman was actually quite scary.

"No objections, Captain," T'Pral replied with a typical emotionless Vulcan response. Inward she sighed. 'A babysitting job it is then--Lieutenant Commander T'Pral Jordan--Babysitter Extraordinaire.'

"Good. And if you do happen to have to destroy the station, please make sure it looks like an accident." Enalia added. "Now... Does anyone else have questions so far?"

Suddenly, Nexi rose from her chair, her breath intentionally measured to try to regulate the anger she was feeling as she stared down T'Pral. The anger wasn't enough to set off her alarms, and she was doing good to keep herself calm enough to not feed the black blood, but that didn't mean she had to take such an insult from a fellow crewmate, even if it hadn't been voiced aloud. "You know what, I don't need a 'babysitter', Commander," Nexi said sharply. "What I need is to know that the Officers I have chosen to serve along side will have my back. If you can't do that, then maybe you should stay here."

"That's enough!" Mal said in a commanding voice as he rose from his chair. "Both of you, my ready room, RFN. Captain, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go deal with this. Commander Jordan, if you'll come with me please?"

With a huff, Nexi abandoned her chair and stormed out of the briefing room go to the XO's office as ordered.

Enalia nodded. "Mal, please have a talk with Mister West at your first available opportunity as well." She too was tired of this little love triangle, but unlike the one between the eight crewmen on decks thirteen and twenty one, this one was volatile and annoying. Now that Mal had stepped in, she knew it would at least be handled and dealt with by someone with a modicum of sanity and reason.

"Oh," Mal said. "I intend to. Trust me. Well, I'm off to play high school principal. I'll fill you in on the details later."

T'Pral was silent as she exited the room.

Enalia nodded silently as the hum of the ship and the deck plating reigned supreme for a few moments. She then broke the silence. "Do the two of you have any further questions? Nate, you've been quiet this whole time. We're counting on you for authentication of the starcharts."

"My apollogies, Captain. I've just been listening to the whole "discussion" trying to figure out my role in this away mission. Up until now, I was going to question your decision to have me along. on this jaunt," Nathan said trying not to openly question his captain. But it was just now that he realized why the captain invited him.

As a bit of an outsider, Enalia also needed Nathan as a bit of a sanity check for the others, but his assigned task was also incredibly critical. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Starfleet only has very basic scans of the area and what we know of it is that it's similar to the badlands. We also know that several pirate groups have mapped large portions of the area, but those maps aren't going to be cheap. Our source is probably also going to try to give you fake charts, so be prepared for that as well. Any questions?"

"No Captain, I have no questions. Thank you for having faith in someone you don't know from Adam. But knowing that, I will endeavor not to let you down. I will do my utmost to assist the away team in any way they and you require."

Enalia nodded and stood. "Then this briefing... What's left of it... Is concluded. Dismissed."