Captured Rescue

Posted on Sat Feb 14th, 2015 @ 4:35pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Lieutenant Commander Ethan Chaparral MD & Lieutenant Dylan Santiago

Mission: Reman Z
Location: Raptor Brig and Shuttle
Timeline: Same time as 'Minefield Now'

Waking up slowly, Enalia pressed her hand to her eyes. Her head was pounding like a drum, pain coursing through her as she tried to move. She was laying on something hard and uncomfortable and as she tried to roll to a sitting position but instead fell to the floor. The sudden jolt cleared her head and glancing around, she saw that this wasn't on the Hera. This was a Klingon cell. She figured she knew exactly where she was now – on the Raptor.

Standing, she studied the cell. It was an old bar type cage system, no doubt installed by the pirate leader to store her victims in. Thankfully it seemed to use an antique locking mechanism as well. She just needed something to pick it with and a little luck.

Then she noticed something else. Someone in Starfleet gold in another cell. "Hello? Ensign Veltarin, is that you?"

The Vulcan groaned softly and nodded his head. "Yes Captain, I am Veltarin. As you have no doubt concluded, we are prisoners, I have not been ill-treated, at least not yet. But I have heard screams. So perhaps we are next, the screams did stop not long ago. So perhaps whoever was screaming is no longer useful to them and is dead. We may be next."

Checking her hair for the bobby pin she hoped was still there, Enalia muttered to herself for a moment. "Fucking pirates kidnapping my fucking crew... I'm going to stab that fucking bitch in the face then piss on her mother's grave..."

Finding the pin, she moved to the old physical lock and started working on it. "Let's not give them the chance to do any more damage, shall we?"

Veltarin flinched ever so slightly at the Trill's words and the venom behind them. Neither were logical and neither would actually help the situation. It struck him, not for the first time, just how emotional Trill were.

His face however remained impassive as he kept those thoughts to himself. "I would suggest that you hasten your actions, the guards do randomly patrol this area. I am not sure how much time you have left."

"Almost got it..." Suddenly with a click, Enalia's bars swung free, her cage opening. Glancing around and not seeing the keys, she got to work on the Ensign's cage as well. "Second time is always easier, right?"

"Yes ma'am, that's what they say."

He moved out of his cell, just as they heard the outer door began to open.

Grabbing a pipe laying nearby, Enalia quickly struck the white coated woman that entered. Thankfully, she went down like a sack and no one was behind her. "She looks like she might be their doctor," Enalia said, motioning to the medkit the alien woman had been carrying. Grabbing the disruptor, she tossed it to her Vulcan companion. "How's your aim?"

"I scored a 97.3456 on the Academy range and a 94.212 in the simulated battle function." the man replied.

"Better than me." Enalia didn't want to say by how much though. she had barely passed the advanced combat arms courses needed to be in command. Peeking out the door a moment, she moved into the hall. "Which way did those screams come from?"

"They were rather faint. Haunting but faint. I believe they were on the deck below us." The Vulcan began moving down the hall, "But it can't be too far."

Haunting? Enalia supposed even Vulcans would be affected by the torture of a likely crew mate. Following him, she stopped by a wall mounted maintenance kit and grabbed the plasma torch from it just in case. "If I remember the deck plans for these old ships, there should be a crawl way coming up soon here on the left."

Just as Veltarin was nodding his head, they heard another fresh scream, that was like nails across an ancient Terran chalkboard.

Cringing at the sound, Enalia paused for only a moment before hurrying on towards the sound. "We need to hurry. Lead on."

The Ensign found the hatch to the crawl way just where the Captain said it would be and rather effortlessly lifted in and entered, trusting that she was right behind him. They had gone about four meters when they came to a junction. one passage curved to the left and continued on the same level they were currently on, while the other ended rather abruptly with a ladder one portion ascending and the other descending.

Enalia was right behind him, closing the hatch behind them. "Still say it's one deck down?"

"That would be my estimation, but you heard the lase scream, what do you think?"

"I think your ears are better than mine. I could barely tell which direction it came from." Enalia said as she hopped on the ladder and made her way down to the next deck.

The crawl way here was slightly narrower than on the deck above, but still manageable. The two made their way to the hatchway leading out into the main corridor and heard voices on the other side. There were more than two, but beyond that is was difficult to tell how many. "What no ma'am?" Veltarin whispered in her ear."

Enalia motioned a bit further down to another hatch. It likely led them to a place they didn't want to be, but it was bound to be better than next to several pirates. This ship only held a dozen people or so normally and 3 dozen tops so they were rather unlucky for finding more than 2 at a time. Listening at the other hatch, Enalia didn't hear anything offhand so she pushed it open and ducked down so her Vulcan companion could shoot over her if need be. The sight before her though... well they found the torture room...

Chained against the wall brutal sight confronted them, it was Dr. Chaparral. His face was battered and bruised, there were letter etched into his skin, dark blood around each letter. The Vulcan could just make out the words Property of Ian ,that were scrawled in the poor man's chest. It was rather obvious from the angle of the feet and one arm that bones had been broken. How many it was hard to tell.

Veltarin swallowed bile as the real horror of the situation hit him full force. The doctor's right arm was missing from the shoulder down. Just a stub was there. Blood covered the man and the floor around him. And what made it even more difficult not vomit was the smell of burning human, or half human flesh.

There were two other occupants in the room, beside the chained man. The first was an older looking man who was looking between Ethan and the other man with an almost neutral expression on his face. The other man had a blow torch in one hand and a smoldering mound of tissue that had at one time been an arm.

The mask of inscrutability the Vulcan had been wearing dropped away and a look of barely suppressed rage replaced it. "What do we do now?" the Ensign asked.

Biting back her desire to throw up, Enalia pointed to the torturers. "Shoot them." She was strangely calm at the moment, the stench of burnt flesh assaulting her sinuses. "Preferably in the face."

Ethan didn't see his would be rescuers all he could see was Ian's gloating face and the doctor preparing his instruments to remove Ethan's other arm, or leg, he didn't know which, nor did it really matter to him then.

"All... alright...you, you ...win!" he relented between sobs. "Just stop. I, I give up. I'll I'll tell you what you want to know. Just, please....please stop."

Equally as oblivious to the invasion, Ian sneered and dropped the charred remains of the arm in disgust as he said "Finally, you see the light." he wandered up to Ethan until his face was mere inches from his and said harshly "Now talk."

"Fi fine, I'll talk. Ju...just please stop the pain first."

"Nuh uh uh." Ian shook his head, "Talk first, pain relief after if you're a good boy."

Spotting a nearby stolen phaser rifle, Enalia stepped out of hiding, grabbed the rifle, toggled the safety, and fired a concentrated volley into one of the pirates. As that one dropped to the deck, Enalia didn't care if he was dead or alive - she hadn't even checked to see what setting the weapon had been left on. Turning the rifle to the other one, she wanted to shoot him repeatedly too. She barely kept her rage in check though. That one had nowhere to hide and nowhere to run and he was less than 3 meters from the business end of a smoking phaser rifle.

She did her best to keep calm, slowly growling out an order to the filthy scum that had kidnapped her people. "Surrender or die," was the single order she gave.

The second pirate had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender.

"You're going to escort us to whatever passes for a shuttle or escape pod right now." Enalia ordered, shoving the barrel of the rifle against the pirate's neck. "Ensign, I need you to carry the Lieutenant out of here. I don't think he's in any condition to walk."

Without hesitation Veltarin approached the poor man chained to the wall. He found a set of discarded keys and tried not to wrinkle his nose at the odor emanating off of the human. He freed him from his restraints and caught him as he collapsed. He easily picked him up. "I have you now," he said, "You're safe." Then he turned to the Captain and the pirate she was holding at bay. "Speed is again of the essence. I estimate our odds at surviving this at, well you don't want to hear the odds."

"I'm making the odds one to one." Grabbing the pirate by the scruff of his jacket, Enalia pressed the rifle to his back and walked him out of the torture room.

Thankfully, it was clear on the way to the cargo bay where an older model Ferengi shuttle was sitting. It looked like they had barely gotten it in through the door but since it was in here, that meant Enalia could get it out. Hitting the door controls, the hatch slowly slid open and the internal lights flickered on. "Ensign, check the inside and get Chaparral situated."


The Vulcan, slightly bemused by the Captain's words and actions moved silently. The doctor whom he was carrying had passed out, but as they entered the shuttle he came awake fear radiating from his eyes. Eyes that were a deep crystal blue that the communications specialist thought fascinating. "It will be okay," he whispered reassuringly as he lay him on the floor. "We're set here ma'am. I'll hold him while you fly the shuttle."

Turning the pirate around, Enalia pressed him up against the hull of the shuttle and struck him as hard as she could in the face with the butt of the rifle, the pirate crumpling to the floor. Finished with that business, she headed into the shuttle and started getting it running, the engines snapping to life quickly. "Let's see if we can get that door open..."

Setting the shuttle to reorient to face the door, she started punching at the comm panel, trying to get the door to open. After a few seconds, she finally got it, the large hatch slowly lowering.

"Ma'am, you have no doubt triggered an alarm of some kind, I think it would be safe to assume that the Pirates would take precautions and would set up an alert system to notify them when someone opens the shuttle bay doors. We may only have one shot at this."

Noticing another odd looking panel, Enalia punched up the controls on it as the doors took their time opening. A cloaking device? Jackpot! Hitting the activation sequence, the outer skin of the shuttle vanished, leaving engine wake to be the only sign it was still there.

"Just a little more..." The door finally opened wide enough, then stopped. Enalia didn't care though. She just gunned it, barely scrapping the top of the shuttle hull on the ceiling as they rocketed out of the shuttle bay. "Now let's see if we can find the Hera, shall we?"

Veltarin did his best to keep his face impassive, but he could not help a small smile that played at his lips. Then as he took a closer look at the man laying at his feet, he said, "Do we have a medical kit? He is in a lot of pain."

"I hope so. Check the storage locker in back. It'll probably be in Klingon or Ferengi if there is one so good luck." Typing at the flight controls with one hand and the sensors with the other, Enalia brought the shuttle about and started flying back along their course. Thankfully they were still in that nebula so hopefully she could pick up the Hera... and there it was. The duck egg blue hull plating of her ship never looked so beautiful.

Tapping her chest, she realized her comm badge was missing as soon as she did so. "Great... Now to figure out the comm system... How much Ferengi do you know?"

This time Veltarin did allow a smile. A small one that played at his lips for an instance and then was gone. "Ma'am, I am a Communications specialist, I am fluent in seven languages and know and there are an additional six that I can carry on a conversation in. Providentially Ferengi is one of those that I am fluent in. Just let me get this poor man something for his pain and I will send a message to our ship."

Noticing a blinking light on a random panel, Enalia had a sinking feeling about it. "Take your time. I think we might have a tracker on this thing. I'll see if I can figure out the more advanced flight controls so we're not quite so easy to find." Enalia may have been an exceptional pilot and the controls may have been laid out in a standardized pattern, but they were still in Ferengi and without a tricorder, she couldn't exactly read it too well.

Veltarin felt compassion for the man lying on the floor of the shuttle. It was clear from the broken bones in his feet and remaining arm that he had been through a lot. He found a med-kit. He wasn't really a proficient medical practitioner and certainly no doctor, but he did have basic first aid skills.

Still, even with those the injuries were worse than he could comfortably handle. The best that he could do was use the hypospray and give him a sedative to ease his pain. When he had administered it, he went back to check on the Captain's progress.

Enalia had figured out the autopilot and had set it to do a large corkscrew pattern towards the Hera as they flew along the edge of the minefield. "Ready to figure out the comm system?"

"Of course ma'am." The Ferengi was easy to read, but the communications system itself was another matter. It seemed that Ferengis were less organized than Humans. Their whole system was a chaotic ball of tangled twine. But Veltarin was moderately bright, even for one of his species, and after about 90 seconds, he had it figured out enough to work.

"One minute and I should be able to transmit on a narrow high frequency wave. Then all you have to do is call the ship."

"Excellent. Hail them and send them a docking request in shuttlebay 2 with my signature." Coming up on the Hera, Enalia slowed the shuttle's roll to bring it in line with the shuttlebay door. As soon as she was lined up, she maintained a slight distance so they wouldn't slam into the massive ship's shields.


The Vulcan inserted the ear bud, which was rather large and odd shaped, which didn't make it easy to fit, but he made it work.

After a few moments he looked up, removing the device from his ear with the barest hint of a frown as he wondered where it might have been. "They are expecting us ma'am and will have a medical team standing by."

"Excellent." Seeing the rear shields drop and the shuttlebay door slide open, Enalia turned the cloak off and hit the thrusters, driving the craft quickly into the hangar bay's waiting tractor beams. From there, the shuttlebay door closed and the tractor beams secured the shuttle near a waiting medical team. "Welcome home gentlemen," she said as she started powering down the Ferengi shuttle.

Ethan stirred slightly and groaned. The sedative he'd been given had dulled the pain some,though not enough. "Where am I?" He asked.

"You're safe, back on the Hera," Veltarin explained.

"Dylan, " the doctor requested, "I want, is Dylan around?"

As the shuttle door slid open and the medical team rushed in to help the doctor, Enalia stood and oversaw his care. "As soon as you're in sickbay, I'll send him to see you, ok?"

"Just tell him I'm sorry." Ethan said, though it wasn't clear what he was apologizing for.

Enalia nodded as the medics carried Ethan out of the shuttle. "I will. Just get some rest for now, ok?" Following the team out of the shuttle with Ensign Veltarin, Enalia turned to him for a moment. "You get some rest as well. Good job out there."

"Okay," he said flatly not feeling like he'd done a good job at all.

There was a commotion at the entrance to the shuttle bay as Dylan barged in, pushing people out of the way in his haste. He had heard whilst on the bridge that the shuttle had arrived and had run all the way there. "Ethan! Ethan!" he called as he ran towards the medics. Skidding to a halt as he spotted his ex laying on the gurney, all of the blood drained from his face as he saw him and he staggered backwards, "W-what happened?" he asked in a shaky voice as he looked around at the others.

Before anyone else could reply, Ethan said, "Dy, Dylan, I'm sorry. So sorry."

"For what?" Dylan frowned, his eyes focusing on Ethan, unable to look away from the grisly sight of the carvings on his chest, "I'm pretty sure that you're not the one who should be apologising here." he added, forcing himself to smile for Ethan's sake.

Ethan was finding it difficult to focus, "But I never should have gone to see him."

"Well let's just concentrate on getting you better right now okay?" Dylan took Ethan's only hand and gave it a squeeze, trying to fight back the lump in his throat.

"Okay," Ethan managed to say before losing consciousness.

Looking at the medics, a tear finally escaped Dylan's eye as he said "Keep him alive okay?"

As the medics nodded and rushed Ethan off for treatment, Enalia came up and stood beside Dylan. "I told you we'd get him back. I just wish we had gotten all of him..." she said morosely.

"Believe me Ma'am, you're not the only one." Dylan replied as he swiped angrily at the tear that streaked down his face. With a deep sigh, he headed towards sickbay, intent on being there the minute Ethan regained consciousness.