The Target

Posted on Tue May 14th, 2019 @ 11:21am by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Mona Gonadie

Mission: Fractured Fairy Tales
Location: U.S.S. Hera, Shuttlebay 2, Deck 22
Timeline: 2396

-----------------------
Two Weeks ago…
-----------------------
Sitting on the deck of her small, modified j-type ship, the Khallianen, Lieutenant Mnhei'sahe Dox was going through a series of small crates. Crates that had been left for her as gifts from the other Baronesses of the Artan Pirate family to celebrate her induction into their ranks.

Gifts of well-wishing, mementos of her own childhood as a smuggler that often intersected with the Artan Pirates, and forgotten family heirlooms.

Reaching inside, Mnhei'sahe picked up a small, ornate red box wrapped in velvet and trimmed with gold filigree. Inside was a beautiful necklace. Swirls of platinum framing a brilliant green stone. Dox recognized the piece as a Romulan ceremonial pendant, used in years past in bonding ceremonies. Holding it up to the light, she saw a name on the inside of the lid. The small gold plaque read: “Verelan t’Rul’. It was the name of her paternal Grandmother. The former director of the Tal’Shiar and current Romulan Senator that Dox has only recently learned about.

After examining the pendant, holding it in her hand for a moment, she replaced it in the box, placed that box back in the crate and continued to explore their contents for a while longer. After a time of sitting in silence, alone with her thoughts, the melancholy officer stood up, powered down the Khallianen, locked the ship up and left.

After a few minutes, in the darkness of the empty freighter, something stirred. The velvet lined box creaked open as a series of long, platinum legs reached out. The slightest green glow from the gemstone showed the hint of a shape that crept out of the crate and onto the deck. Eight thin metal legs clinked delicately, reaching out from the metal casing around the green stone. Behind it, the long necklace chain retracted, linking together and curling up over the rear of the body like the tail of a scorpion.

Skittering across the deck, the small metallic arachnid climbed up under the helm controls where it curled up to wait.

Its Target had touched it. Activated by a scan of her DNA left behind through errand skin cells, it had imprinted on her at last.

Its Target was Baroness Mnhei'sahe Dox.

And it was waiting.

-----------------------
Three Days Ago…
-----------------------

The hatch of the Khallianen hissed open as the small ship came to life. The overhead lights flickered on as Mnhei'sahe stepped on board. The stout, red-headed Romulan woman was wearing black sneakers, black work out pants and a snug black tank top with the word 'HERA’ in gold across the chest.

The thickly built young woman looked a bit slimmer of late, as her exercise regimen in preparation for the Captain’s upcoming tribunal had been intense. And it was to that purpose that brought her to her ship.

Opening up the locked weapons locker, Mnhei'sahe pulled out the crisscrossing black leather belts that held the sheathed twin Caitian short swords that she was to be practicing with today. As she shut the locker, her sensitive ears gave the generally anxious officer a momentary pause.

She looked around for a moment, sure she had heard something. A light sound of metal tapping on metal for just a second, but it was gone.

Walking down the ramp from the ships hatch, she powered down the ship and locked up the hatch behind her. Walking briskly towards the corridor, Mnhei'sahe strapped the x-shaped belts around her torso, the sounds of the busy flight deck obscured another sound.

From under the hull of the Khallianen, the platinum Scorpion peered out, watching its Target as it skittered across the deck, close to the bulkhead, following.

But the ship was a massive maze of busy corridors, and the small, metallic mechanism could only move when it was being unobserved. But it knew it's Target now.

In its green gaze, it could see where she was anywhere on the ship.

And it was patient.

Hours had passed as it moved through the Jefferies tubes. There, the platinum Scorpion could travel unseen. It had made its way slowly through the tubes. Careful to not trip any detection sensors as it made its way down from the flight deck to where it's Target slumbered. To Deck 8.

Slipping its thin legs through the hatch, the Scorpion crawled slowly down the bulkhead of the corridor, behind the edge of a panel. And it made its way to the deck, it paused.

Lifting its green torso, the mechanical creature scanned the corridor in the direction of its Target as it froze in place.

The delicate sensors in the slinky creature saw something inexplicable. 3-D scans of the corridor over fifteen meters away showed the doors to two separate Chambers. Outside of the chambers, though separated by a good distance, each door was guarded by pairs of towering women. But it was not the guards it would have to pass that caused the silent mechanism to pause.

It was the energy auras.

From the nearer of the two rooms, was a vacuum like blackness that both radiated out while absorbing it's scan data entirely. And beyond, at the other door, was a golden radiance that pulled outward in all directions.

Passing the auras would alert those that were projecting them to its presence. And the auras appeared to be of types its sensors had never encountered. It could not approach its target on Deck 8.

Scampering back to the Jefferies tube, it would wait.

-----------------------
One Day Ago…
-----------------------

On Deck 4 of the Hera, Lieutenant Mnhei'sahe Dox was hard at work at her desk in the Flight Control Office. The room was empty but for the Romulan officer as she reviewed crew rotations on her computer. From above, however, she was being watched.

Slowly, the platinum covered mechanical Scorpion moved around the perimeter of the room, watching its target from the edge of the ceiling as it inched close, being careful to not be seen.

Moving to the ceiling behind Dox's field of vision, the sharp pointed metal legs began to move slightly quicker until it was nearly within a few feet above its target. Unfolding it from below, the links of its barbed tail began to slowly extend downward towards Dox.

Suddenly, the twin doors of the office slid open with a twist as the sensor eyes of the palm-sized Droid observed a subject unknown to it enter the room. It was Dox's assistant flight chief and bond-mate, Mona Gonadie. The platinum mechanism paused to evaluate the situation as the barb of its tale twitched above the two women.

Mona flounced in, happier than usual, and pronounced her latest trials down in R&D a success, insisting that her bond mate join her for lunch so she could enjoy the best view in the galaxy.

Before it could strike, Dox stood up, kissing the brilliantly feathered woman softly on the cheek, accepting the offer as the pair left the room together. The shiny legs of the Scorpion twitched as it scampered back into the darkness of the corner of the ceiling. Its target had escaped again. The green stone at the center of its form pulsed for a moment as the palm-sized creature pondered its next move.

The Baronesses room was inaccessible. Deck 8 had protections on it that the assassin didn't comprehend. And while it's programming allowed for collateral damage, it was ordered to be as unseen as possible in the execution of its duty. This office space was too busy. Too many sensors recording activity that were difficult to avoid. But the flight deck was different.

The flight deck where Dox's small freighter was parked was busy during the day shift, but only had one officer on duty overnight. It was quiet. It's doors easy to seal. It's security systems easy to override at night. An ideal location to trap the Romulan pilot.

There it would wait, the Scorpion decided as it skittered away to set its trap.

-----------------------
Today...
-----------------------

It was just shy of Oh One Thirty hours, and has been her habit of late on Saturday evenings, Lieutenant Mnhei'sahe Dox was just finishing up a particularly intense work-out. Walking down the corridors of Deck 22 of the Hera's Stardrive section towards the Shuttlebay, where her personal vessel, the Khallianen was parked.

Dressed in her usual workout gear, the red-headed Romulan was still sweating with a towel draped across her neck and the black belts of her twin, curved Caitian blades in hand. She was getting much more proficient in sword fighting, which was important this close to the Captain's tribunal as those skills were likely to be put to the test for real within a few days. As such, Dox was putting in extra hours in the holodeck to practice and it was paying off.

As she walked up to the double door to Shuttlebay two, the surprised officer had to stop herself from walking right into the doors that failed to automatically open for her as usual. Momentarily confused, but not thinking much of it, the exhausted officer simply tapped the door entry pad on the side and the doors slid open with a hiss.

Stepping in, she paused for a moment at a bizarre sight. In the center of the deck was a crew member, laying face down. "Paulson?" She called out cautiously

Ensign Raphael Paulson was on the duty roster for the overnight shift, and the cavernous room was otherwise empty of personnel. Concerned, she trotted over to the center of the room, passing her ship parked to the starboard side of the chamber. On the port side, a small yellow worker bee shuttle at rest. "Paulson, answer me!"

Sliding to her knees, Mnhei'sahe was now worried. She felt for a pulse on the back of the officer's neck, but found nothing. "Paulson!??" She yelled as she turned the body over to see a small pool of blood around a sickly looking puncture wound in the side of his neck. His eyes were frozen open in a look of shock, bloodshot but hazy. Crusted foam was collected around the corners of his clenched jaw.

Tapping the comm badge on the breast of her tank top, Dox yelled out. "Medical emergency in Shuttlebay two! Dox to sickbay, Dox to security!" But there was no telltale chirp or response. She tapped her badge again, but there was nothing.

Behind her the double doors hissed shut with a loud clanking sound as they locked and in an instant, Dox found herself in darkness as the lights turned off. "Imirrhlhhse!" She muttered in Rihan.

Immediately, the emergency lights came on, filling the flight deck with a dim, eerie red glow. Mnhei'sahe was crouched next to the body of her fellow pilot, squinting to let her eyes adjust to the minimal light, listening for the slightest sound. She heard a faint skittering of metal on metal to her left, against the portside bulkhead moving through the space.

Quickly, she grabbed Paulson's body and with a bit of a strain, began dragging his limp form over next to the nacelles of her small private craft, tucking him into as safe a position as possible.

Still standing in a crouch, she sidestepped toward the nose of her ship as she pulled the twin curved blades from the sheaths on her back, listening for any sign of who was in the room with her. The skittering was gone, so she tried to make her way over to the main door, only to confirm that the hatch had been security sealed.

Suddenly, there was a sharp hum of power turning on somewhere in the room. Mnhei'sahe spun around to try and see where it was coming from as she stepped slightly forward. In the dim, red light, details were all but lost, but she thought she saw movement across the room, against the port bulkhead where the work bee pod had been parked.

"HNAEV!!!" She shouted in Rihan, realizing the work bee was no longer where she last saw it. Suddenly, the twin spotlights at the top of the dome of the small yellow craft flared to Dox's left as the pod rushed forward towards her. Leaping forward, the pod rushed past her, slamming against her legs as she went spinning to the deck hard with a shout of pain.

There was a dull crack as Dox hit the deck, trying to roll back to her feet as she gave out a shout. The twin blades slipped from her grip as she grabbed at her left kneecap that had been snapped by the impact of the pod. Tears falling from her eyes, she grabbed the only blade close enough to her reach as she pushed herself back towards her ship with her right leg. As she did, the work bee spun back around and above her, extending it's servo clams towards her.

Grabbing her right ankle as she tried to scootch away, it clamped hard causing the young pilot to cry out in pain again. As it brought it's other clamps forward to try and grab her neck, she twisted the blade in her hand down and plunged it hard into the rubberized joint covering of the arm holding her.

With a hiss, the hydraulics released and she scampered back away, but her sword was now stuck in the joint. Still muttering in Rihan, Mnhei'sahe tried to get up to her own good leg, but fell back to the deck. "Think! Think!" To one side, out of reach, was her second blade. Even further away to the other side was her ship. But the work bee made her choice for her by forgoing it's clamp arms and flying straight down towards the deck, trying to simply cleave her in half with its mass as she barely rolled out of the way in time.

The work bee slammed hard against the deck, twisting itself into the metal floors with a loud wrenching sound as Dox pushed herself up to her one good leg and began limping in pain towards her ship.

As the work bee pulled itself free of the twisted metal of the deck plating, Dox slammed hard against the side of her ship, slapping her hand against the biometric pad next to the hatch. As the work bee hovered back around, it began flying at full speed towards her. With only seconds to spare, the hatch slid open and Dox rolled in just as the work bee slammed into the side of the ship, wedging it's triangular canopy sideways into the open hatch.

The entire ship slid sideways, slamming into the starboard bulkhead as the work bee strained, stuck in the hatchway. Dox had rolled hard against the side of the interior of her ship, smacking her head against the bulkhead and seeing stars. After a second of blackness, she shook off the impact and pulled herself back against the far wall, grunting as the spotlights from the work bee filled the small interior of the cabin. "Okay, the computer may not be working in the shuttle bay, but somebody had to have heard that! C'mon, Security!"

Muttering to herself, Dox pulled the thick leather belt off her back and tore off the two blade sheaths. Pressing them on either side of her shattered kneecap, she wrapped the two belts around the sheaths and pulled them tight, creating a makeshift knee brace. As she tightened the belts, she let out a gravely scream inside the small ship. "IIIEEEAAAAGGGHH!!!!!"

Suddenly, the work bee stopped moving in the hatchway and powered down, the bright spotlights going dark. Once again, it was only the dim, red emergency lights leaking in from the flight deck that illuminated the interior of Dox's ship. With a hiss, the hatch of the work bee opened, as Dox pulled herself up to her feet. "Hnaev..." She whispered.

Limping to the storage locker, she swung the door open to grab the antique Romulan Disruptor she had purchased at auction with the captain and slapped the power cell into place as she swung it back towards the open canopy. "W... where are you?"

Expecting to see a person step out, she instead saw an empty seat as she heard that eerily familiar scampering sound again. That same metal-on-metal skittering she had heard a few times over the past week. The sound seemed to echo through the small chamber as she limped towards the cockpit of the small ship.

As her eyes began to adjust again, she saw the faintest green glow moving towards her on the floor a few meters away. Taking aim, she fired towards the glow as a green flash of disruptor fire streaked forward, punching through the deck of her small ship. But the small shape leapt back away. She could see it now, silhouetted on the deck by the red light creeping in from outside the ship. It was a small, metal creature with eight sharp, spiked legs and a barbed tail curving up the back, not unlike a scorpion.

Firing again, the creature bounded to the side and was now against the side bulkhead as it began scampering forward towards her. She fired again, missing again as it was too fast to get a bead on in the darkness. As it flew towards her face, she ducked and rolled forward onto the deck. Turning around, she saw it sitting on the console of her ship, it's tail swaling like a lance about the strike. Struggling to her feet, she kept her disruptor aimed at the platinum assassin as it waited.

To her left was the open cockpit of the work bee. As it lept for her again, she scrambled to roll into the seat of the work bee. The force of her full weight hitting the seat was enough to push the small pod free of the twisted metal of the door frame of her ship. The power was completely deactivated, so she reached up and grabbed the handles on the inside of the hatch and with all of her strength, she pulled it shut just as the creature landed on the transparent aluminum canopy.

Scampering back and forth, the small metal creature began stabbing at the canopy with it's razor-sharp tail. The scritching sound was unnerving as Dox tried rebooting the power inside the work bee. "What did you do in here, you little... You overrode the entire system. Shut out the security overrides and sensors. This whole room is dark to the ship right now, isn't it? Imirrhlhhse!"

There was a cracking sound as the tail strike caused a stress fracture in the canopy shield. The creature was small, no bigger than Dox's hand, but strong. In a few minutes, it would break into the cockpit for sure. Dox looked around in the cockpit trying in vain to restart the internal power.

"Think..." She muttered to herself in Rihan. "It cut the power to the entire chamber. You can't get out. You can't call for help. And since security hasn't beamed in, it's likely nobody heard the impact from before. That wound on Paulson's neck... it must be from its tail. Poison. You've still got your disruptor and you know where it is. And... the Khallianen! The door opened! It's got power!"

As she spoke, the glass fractured more as spider web cracks began to fill the canopy above the frightened Romulan officer. Looking around again, she saw the manual canopy release lever next to the seat. In an emergency, even without power, explosive bolts will blow the canopy away from the work bee. "That will give me a few seconds..."

Grabbing the lever tight, Dox tried to curl herself forward as much as possible as she brought her disruptor up as she watched the platinum scorpion digging away at the canopy glass. With one strong strike, the sharp edge of its tail punched into the glass.

"Gotcha!" Dox mumbled as its tail tip was wedged in the glass momentarily. Yanking hard on the manual release, there was a loud series of bangs as the canopy was blown off the work bee, flying up and away from the ship with the platinum scorpion attached.

As it fell back to the deck15 meters away, the glass shattered freeing the creature. But Mnhei'sahe was already moving. Limping out of the cockpit and towards the rent door of her damaged ship. As she moved, she raised her disruptor and fired in the direction of the canopy, hoping for a lucky shot as the scorpion skittered away with ease.

Her broken knee screamed in protest as she climbed up into her ship, trying to shut the hatch behind her. But the work bee twisted the frame too much when it rammed the doorway earlier and it only groaned in protest. But it's impotent whines proved her small ship still had power so she quickly made her way to the cockpit, powering up the small craft. With a flicker, the console lights came on. "Yes!" She exclaimed as she first tried the comm system, but it was jammed from the outside just like her own com badge.

"Hnaev... now what..." Dox slammed the console angrily as she heard the metallic skittering of the scorpion as it circled the hatchway. Trying to keep it from entering, she fired wildly at the doorway as she tried to think.

'Okay...' Dox thought to herself, looking at the console. 'No communications. Can't call for help. Sensors are blind in here but... "A slight smile crossed her face. 'Nobody's heard the commotion in here so far, but they can't miss this!"

Calling up the weapons console, Dox aimed at the bulkhead ahead of the ship and opened fire. The room shook violently as powerful phaser blasts hit the internal shields that the creature had erected. As they did, her sensitive Romulan ears picked up the faint sound of a security klaxon in the distance. "That did it! They know something's going AAAAGH!!!"

As she spoke, the sharp metallic legs of the creature dug into her upper back as it leapt from the door frame onto her. Scrambling, she ran her back across the edge of the pilot's seat, shaking it off to fall to the deck plates behind her, it's legs dripping with her own green blood. It was between her and the hatch now and scampering back towards her.

Turning towards the windshield of her own ship, she fired a series of shots from her disruptor that shattered the transparent aluminum glass from within as she crawled up and out of the cockpit. Rolling to the deck with a massive thud, she let out a scream as her right ankle, already damaged when the work bee grabbed it, snapped on impact. GYAAAGHH!!!

With both legs out of commission, Mnhei'sahe tried to pull herself back from the ship with her one free arm, keeping the disruptor aimed at the cockpit as the Scorpion skittered into view. "C... c'mon... where the hell are you?"

For a long moment, Dox stared at the mechanical assassin in the dimly lit red light of the room as it stood there, readying it's tail to strike as she could no longer pull herself any further. She squinted an eye as she prepared to fire, hoping to hit it before it could strike with its poison filled tail like it did to Paulson. Then, without a sound, the creature skittered back into the cockpit.

"Hnaev..." Dox muttered as she could hear it crawling out of the side hatch and down to the deck plating on the other side of the ship, out of sight. "This would... this would be a great time for security to appear!" She yelled to the room, exhausted and frustrated.

Panic setting in, she was darting her eyes around, trying to see what she could hear getting closer. Suddenly, she saw a flash of light reflect off it's shining platinum limbs as it flew into the air at her face from the shadows. Dox winced back in fear as she heard a shimmering sound, as when the holodeck is activated and saw a blur of green pass in front of her, snatching the platinum Arachnid out of the air, inches from her face.

At first it was a hazy outline of purple with green stripes in the shape of a very fat and fluffy cat floating in the air, a green glowing haze coming off of it and the tail swaying back and forth as there was a metallic crunching sound. Then the face of the cat turned around to show two big bright moon yellow eyes and a very wide white-toothed grin, the remains of the scorpion between the teeth. This was definitely a holographic Cheshire cat of some sort, and it was definitely Starfleet, judging by the golden patch of fur in the shape of a delta shield on its forehead.

As it studied Dox with that mad look on its face, it floated a bit closer and first turned its head upside down, then its body, grinding its platinum prey almost in half as it did so. Finally, it blinked and floated right side up, resting its head on its paws and wrapping its tail around its body. It then said one word in that slightly odd voice that the computer sometimes used. "Me-ow..."

Catching her breath, Dox looked at the bizarre sight as the sparking, platinum creature fell from the jaws of the projected feline, clanking to the ground. "M... Maru?" She muttered.

"Yes?" asked the holographic purple and green cat, the fine mist still coming off of its fur. It tilted its head ninety degrees as it waited.

Then young Romulan pilot tilted her head as the slightest of exhausted smiles cracked the corner of her lips. She had only heard Maru speak once before, when she was mind-melded with her closest friends to try and talk down the goddess Gaia. But in that link that connected her mind to that of the crew and the ship, she felt a presence in the background. It was a presence she now understood was the entity before her, and it gave her just a bit of comfort in the moment.

"Thank you." Was all Mnhei'sahe could think to say.

Maru grinned wider, rolling over a couple times as her body seemed to fade into nothing but green mist that quickly faded away. Then her eyes closed and vanished and her smile morphed into a crescent moon that closed out to a new moon - invisible and gone, just as the first of the security teams forced their way through the doors.

As they did, power was restored to the deck and the lights came back on as Mnhei'sahe winced in pain. She tried to scooch back to a seated position but only succeeded in flumping back against the bulkhead behind her. "Aaaagg!" She hissed.

"Lieutenant! What happened?!" The first two security guards came in the door. Dox looked up, squinting at them as she fought back a wave of nausea that was coming on as her adrenaline was beginning to subside.

Recognizing the two tall women from her training sessions with security as Petty Officers Grell and Wagner, she waved them over. Wagner, a wide shouldered human with caramel skin and a short buzz cut ran over to Dox while Grell, a stockier Bajoran covered her rear trying to see if there was still a threat.

"Th... Threat is neutralized Miss Grell. That's what's left if it. Call a science team in to contain it right away, though." Dox gestured to the small piece of crumpled platinum by her feet as the pair of Amazons-in-training looked at it incredulously. After all, the pair of officers were both a head taller than the young Romulan, but that didn't stop her from putting them both down on the mat in combat training, so they had a hard time processing the minuscule creature as a threat at first.

Hissing in as her cracked ankle and shattered knee cap protested her movements, Dox chuckled lightly. "Trust me... It hits harder when it's ramming you with a work bee. Call a med team, please. And... Nouhha... Paulson."

Reaching up to grab Wagner's shoulder, she gestured with her chin to go up. "Help me up, please."

Looking at the twists in her legs, Wagner hemmed for a moment. "Lieutenant, I don't."

"Help me up!" Dox snapped back, but there was a tremble to her voice that Wagner responded to as she motioned to Grell. After calling in science and medical as ordered, a second security team entered, weapons drawn. Then Grell joined Wagner and the two women tucked themselves under Dox's shoulders and lifted the stout pilot up.

As the weight of her lower legs pulled on the broken joints, Dox winced in pain, clutching at the women's backs as she bit her lip trying to not cry out again. "It... It killed... help me over... Please. Paulson... he's over behind the ship."

Slowly, the two security officers obliged, keeping most of Dox's weight on their shoulders. Still, each step was clearly agony as they arrived at the limp, lifeless body of the young Flight Officer. Gently, as Dox motioned with her head, they lowered her down to the deck to Paulson's side. Tears down her cheeks as a medical team arrived.

Gently, she put her hand over his heart as she whispered over him in her native Rihan. "May Al'thindor carry you on swift wings."

The young Romulan had never been a religious woman, but on a ship with three God's in residence, one that had just saved her life, the words came naturally to her.

Lightheaded and nauseated, she turned to the medical team and gave a simple nod. Quickly, they stepped over to help and she let them, offering no protest as they moved her gently to a grav-lev gurney for transport to Sick Bay.

As she was being moved to the door, she whispered again in Rihan, "I'm sorry, Raphael. I'm sorry."

https://youtu.be/NlzkGd7qaMY