(Fanfic) Wages of Wrath 1.1 (Revised and improved)
Colin'The Yosemite Bear'Witz
the "Demo" version of Wages of Wrath (The Barfight), posted last year, I had to
recover most of this through Goggle Groups, so sorry.
Wages of Wrath: Games of Chance & Skill
Starbase: 2862 Observation/Trade Base near the Gorn/Federation Border.
A Couple Thousand more Isseks and he could get Rebecca the Wedding he had
envisioned. The human card game was known thought the quadrant, and Vash (as he
liked to be called as apposed to his full Rigellian name) had been familiar with
it long before he had entered the Academy. Growing up in the Bloodflower
Syndicate, there was little room for males, so he had learned the craft of
gambling quite early. Most of this boiled down to a height
ened perception of emotion and bodylanguage. The Klingon captain was flush with
too much wine, and his tells were more pronounced, touching his beard when his
hands were good, rubbing the back of his skull ridge when he was bluffing. Vash
had recently received a promotion up from Ensign despite his racial background
because of his efficiency in security matters, his talent in reading people
helped in this, there were only so many ways the quadrant's closely related
species could try to cover deception, and he was an expert at all of them. Thus
the game of "chance" had started out as a contest of skill, and was now becoming
a slaughter, only a matter of time.
Unfortunately time did not decide to play nicely with the young Starfleet
officer. The familiar beeps of his Starfleet communicator cylinder at his belt
chimed.
"This is Vashtriklyn, over." he spoke into his hand.
"Sir you have 5 minutes to get on board, immediate recall, something big's
happening, and all leaves are cancelled."
"I understand."
<Gentlemen, I am sorry but, honor and duty have recalled me to my ship of
battle, May we fight again in this pleasant arena.> he responded in his hosts
native words as he gathered his winnings, and laid down his hand conceding the
current round of play.
<The battle is not DONE, Honorless Orion beast!> the captain shouted as Vash
and his fellow shipmate David Vasquez found themselves facing a dozen disruptors
apiece. Conceding the point Vash returned to his seat. His hand was good but
could be better. David tossed in a few Isseks, at a silent signal from his
former roommate. The two V's had worked in concert since Starfleet Academy, and
had poker down to an art. While Vasquez couldn't read pheromones, he had
learned Orion slave codes.
Bridge of the USS Ithaca
"What's the status" Captain Haller's grimly asked
"We have retrieved all of our personnel except Ensign Vasquez, and L.T.
Vashstriklyn, they are presently onboard the Klingon ship, which raised it's
shields at the same time as our alert and the general station alert came up."was
the comm. officer's response.
"We will have to leave them behind, the situation is worsening. About a day
ago, Negotiations with our new neighbors the Cardassians have fallen apart, and
the Gorn are sending subspace communications for our assistance. As of this
moment Starfleet Command has placed all ships on High Alert, while they are
examining what we can do to help our Allies."
Over in sickbay Intern Rebecca Goldwin stared at the read out, once again
confirming the impossible. Yes, conception between many other races within the
Galaxy were possible, Such conceptions were rare and very difficult. With
Orion's special geneticists would have to be called in, to prevent immune system
conflicts, and other problems, considering how engineered the Orion Genome was,
the standard federation medical facilities could never handle the discrepancies,
only an outlaw genesplice banned in the federation because of the Eugenics wars
could save this child.
24 Hours Later, The Gorn/Cardassian Border, Bridge of the Miranda Class
Starship, USS: Ithaca
An explosion, shattered another consol onboard the Ithaca, Her sister ship, the
Sparta was already in flames. The sudden Cardassian Offensive had taken the
Gorn by surprise, while the Gorn plasma weapons were the most devastating
weapons in space un fortunately they took too long charging up. The devastating
power of the weapons exceeded the ability of the warp reactors to properly
power, as a result Gorn ships were eggs armed with very powerful hammers.
Against the Numerically superior Cardassian vessels, the Gorn were being
slaughtered. Before Captain Haller, the static filled screen, showed the First
officer of the Sparta, bloodied uniform in rags.
"We have--- on all decks, down to 40% weapons, 30% shields, and have lost
Warp --- We have 20 torpedoes, but our launch---" Spoke Commander Pressman
between cut outs
"There's too many of them Retreat Sparta!" came Haller's response
"If we could leave, I doubt they we would let us. Time for us to make a stand
like our ship's name sakes. Time for them to 'Go tell the Spartans.'" came
Pressman's reply.
"It's going take more then that, we need more ships!"Yelled Haller
"Sir, I am picking up a fluxuation, there's a number of ships decloaking!" came
the comm. officer's response, almost in request
The main battle screen showed a number of light raiders, being led by a single
Klingon Ship. The new communication screen opening up showed a face that
Haller, had thought he would never see again.
"Greetings my captain, The Klingon's insisted I stay for the conclusion of the
contest, I am now in possession of this ship, and spent a million Isseks, to
convince these Orion free traders that keeping the Cardassians from complete
control of these trade routes would be disadvantageous to their long range
profits." Came the response from Lt. Vash.
Small warp drones(Oversized photon torpedoes), and Phasors flicked out at the
Cardassians. The sudden onslaught of new targets allowed the Gorn enough time
to charge their heavy plasma batteries. The starfire completely consumed the
cardassian ships that it struck. The Cardassians realized that the battle was
turning against them and retreated.
The Vulcan officer entered the brig area of Starfleet H.Q. his assignment to
defend this young officer had been unexpected. Orion's and Vulcan's had been at
odds since before the humans had domesticated animals. This war with the
Cardassians was looking to turn ugly, The Gorn were fleeing to the Beta Quadrant
behind Klingon lines.
"I need to speak with my Client" the Vulcan told the guards, who conviently
stepped away allowing him to talk to the Orion through the force shield.
"Mr. Vashstrklyn my name is Tuvok, I have been appointed defense counsel for
your Court Martial, do you have any information, that may help in your defense?"
The Vulcan asked
"I will make what ever deal they want, as long as Rebecca and David are not
charged. I know I am going to be condemned no matter what, I am the Orion
nephew of the woman who embarrassed one of the three Admirals who will be
judging me."
"I see, why don't you just file a motion?" Tuvok asked.
Grinning Vash responded "So you want to know how to detect a lie without using
a Mind Probe?"
Elsewhere in another galaxy:
Two years before ANH
The Pirate raids had brought the Farsetter family and their company -
Farsetter Transit of Centerpoint - to bankruptcy. Forcing them to sell all
of their holdings and ships to XTS at a considerable loss. Still some
members
of the once proud merchant family had suffered more then others.....
Centerpoint Station <Medical Facility>
Still unconscious in the Bacta tank Krell was costing my uncle much more then
he
could afford, but as the last surviving witness to the Pirate massacre
of 'The Wanderer' one of the newest and most expensive ships that
had been left in the Farsetter fleet. He had seen his parents and friends
killed, and managed to crawl into an courier Boat despite being
critically wounded. When a small shuttle had picked him up and brought the
passenger
back everyone thought Krell was as good as dead. As it was Krell had lost both
forearms to Gangrene and had been gutted. Officially Krell Farsetter was
dead, however he would soon be a new person with a contract to the Bounty
Hunter's guild. His eye's were still bandaged from their replacement, not
for medical reasons, but to confirm my death. The eye's looked human
enough, but were really compact sensors, Krell would be able to see in the
night, far away, and even see through walls.
One Year Later.
He dressed quickly, the black mesh suit first, then the Belt and the
Harness. Next came the light armor coat, and finally the Helmet. It was the
mask that hides ones fear from others, and by betraying no emotion makes
others see you not as a man, but as a force; In this case a force of
Justice ... and Vengeance.
Con Vance had once been a small time swoop racer, turned pirate, turned
bandit. He frequented a cantina known as 'The Burning Droid', in the Gearad
system, most of the clientele were known associates of the 'Mark' in
question. Still He thought he could perform the capture, with minimal loss of
life among any innocents that might be present, though that would be a
small enough number.
Con would be a start, Krell was not interested in stopping any time soon until
the last of the Pirates who had killed his family had gone to hell.
Walking in the Front door would just get you killed, there were too many
and they were too well armed. Looking around the area he could sense some
infrared traffic around the back. A group of Jawa's were rummaging through
the waste. Krell handed one a med pack, the Jawa's could trade the Medic kit
for some food or something, and it acted as a functional bribe. If he died he
would not be needing it, and if he succeeded he could buy others. The
creature's left him alone to cut through the grate. Afterwards he replaced
the small plasma torch on the belt. It was a tight fit but Krell am a small
person and could squeeze through the opening, albeit with some difficulty.
The Fresher was occupied by a Twilek in gang colors, who spun around to
face the hunter. Raising a hand the repulsor blast smashed him into the wall
with a slight humming
sound
(once more silently thanking Uncle Marson for paying for a few
augmentations to the replacement cybernetics.). Searching the body he found
a shoddy blaster pistol, that was ok he wasn't planning on shooting it.
Moving through the galley he placed the blaster into the buildings power
converter, the blaster would overload and short out power in a few seconds,
that would even the odds up some. Pulling a concussion grenade out of his
armored jacket pocket He threw it with a little repulsor assist, sending the
orb into the middle of the room seconds after the power shorted out. The
wall in front of him turned red hot as plasma cooked it, other blaster bolts
had managed to pierce the thick ceramic structure. Scanning the room in
Thermal Krell recognized a few gang members (Small catches), good the light
grenades charge had the civilians down and the Targets up, with one arm he
fired around the corner, striking one of the bandits in the chest. In
thermal vision he saw that one of the bandits was preparing to throw a
grenade of his own. He fired two shots, one hit the gangster in the wrist,
severing it, then he fired several shots into the area before jumping
behind the wall again.
The Heat blast from the dropped grenade killed a cluster of pirates, as
well as a few civilians. Firing with one blaster in each hand Krell killed
Bandits as they tried to charge around the corner. He dropped the empty,
overheating blaster pistols on the floor. A Gammorean with a vibroaxe came
charging around the corner a few seconds late, but moving like a runaway
lifter. activating the holsters in the artificial arms launching a pair of
hold-out Blasters into his hands. Firing six rounds into the big alien , Krell
dropped him in an adrenaline rush. He had two more blasters, and 3 tangle
grenades left. The micro-tractor repulsors in his arms would need time for
his bodies natural EM field to regenerate it's power supply.
Running, Krell leapt into the room, firing the last six shots in the holdouts
for cover effect before rolling behind a table; just as the bandits blasted
the card-dealer droid beside Him. Surrounded by burning metal and plastic Krell
threw a tangle bomb over the table without looking, the plastiod ribbons
would keep them busy for a few seconds. Pulling out the last two blasters
and taking careful aim, he gunned down six more as they struggled with the
plastiod mess. With more down Con made a break for the door. He was
not getting away, as Krell shot Con's left leg out from under him, he wouldn't
need it when they shoved him against a wall a week or so from now. Laying
aside one pistol he pulled out another Tangle throwing it right into the
laps of the bandits.
Surveying the damage, Krell reloaded. The Jizz band had bought it during the
crossfire, but they had been an insult to Jizz music anyway! Standing over
the target he didn't notice Con's mistress, the Dancer, coming for his back
until he was bent over and placing restraints on Con. The vibroknife cut
through the long jacket, but he was already turning and the blade glanced
off they bulky cybernetics instead. Firing a shot pointblank He disintegrated
half the girl's head, cooking her brain, and rupturing her opposite eye
with the excess heat transfer.
The troopers came and hauled away the garbage, the bounty hunter was faced with
a Captain of the Local Militia. He ranted about the number of 'Innocents'
killed,
in a foolhardy action.Still he paid quickly when asked. The curious
thing about a Helmet; It makes one seem larger, not human, and doesn't
betray little details, like the fact you wanted to be sick, the fact that you
could not get the girls last seconds out of your mind or that you were so scared
you needed to piss right then right now. Krell left the officer with him
shouting
for the hunter to get the hell off of his planet.
The Economy berth's noisy but few people look his way, it's a pointed
matter. You see the social rule, to deny the existence of artificial limbs,
is to keep them from being noticeable. Krell's however are much bulkier,
housing some combat enhancements; arms that look like they were salvaged off of
a droid. The right one was still malfunctioning from a vibroblade injury a
couple of weeks ago. Subsystems had begun to short out from the repairs he
had made. The Repulsor coils were shorted and the eject mechanism had
jammed shut just after the attack. In short it was in need of some serious
reconstructive work and The Farsetter/Sonjou family no longer had the resources
to repair much less replace them. While the battle had netted him some credits,
Krell had made a lot of people angry with Him. His current I.D. showed him to
be a former Imperial Army grunt, cashiered out for Injuries. The close-cropped
hair and the arms fit the image.
So he'd left the Gearad system for the shadow ports of the Sirrison
system. Now, Sirrison can best be described as an Anarchy; Three Crime
lords. A Hutt who runs the slavers guild, a so-called prince of the Swamp
Rats, and some Ex-Military type ruling the port district. Now the only
paying industries are Smuggling/Harvesting of the honey of one of the
systems most deadly insects, and hunting the large reptiles for Food and
hides. Considering the actual hide density involved, the Locals are better
armed than the Imperial Militia. Not that they are too hot for this new
Rebel Alliance that's people keep hearing about either. The inhabitants
prefer to be left to their quasi-legal entertainments. The reason for heading
there is because one can find some decent mechanics on-planet, mechanics who
don't
questions and who know what they are doing.
The cabin had gotten dark, and he regrettably started to sleep, the past
has a tendency to use my dreams to catch up with you. The images of the girl
from two weeks back were blurring into someone who died over a year ago. No
pysical or spiritual rest for the guilty, Krell was about to give up and
open his eyes when the Liner shook and then once then again. This was no dream
that was actual cannon fire! There was a crowd heading to the observation
blister
for a better look, Krell headed deeper into the vessel, making for the lower
sections.
The vessel was a good old KDY starliner, growing up in a space port the hunter
knew ships
better then most. The safest place to be right now would be deep within the
belly, with
as many airlocks and hull between me and the pirates out there. He opened an
access conduit
and levered Himself inside just as the airlock doors slammed shut, the magnetic
shield warning
voice sounding over the comms. Announcing to anyone who knew liners that the
folks in the
observation blister had gotten closer to the action than they had bargained for.
Moving slowly
at a half crawl He was heading to the cargo section, most of his gear was sealed
up as
per Imperial Law. Now, under an emergency he could access them and this
qualified as an emergency
in any book.
About Thirty minutes later Krell had made my way to the central cargo area, It
was late and he was not alone. Observing the cargo hold from the vent he
found it swarming with Pirates, some human some alien. A big Trandoshan
tossed the cargo master aside with a broken neck, the way he played with
his trophy bowcaster made Krell nervous. The pirate crew was getting angry,
there were three sealed lockers that could not be opened without either a
good slicer or an Imperial order. One of them was Krell's. The pirates figured
that there was something valuable in them, but were having no luck opening
them. Checking his equipment stores; A short ranged Repulsor that still
worked and a hold out blaster that was trapped inside an arm that _didn't_
work. While watching this action from his perch he spotted a commotion; the
pirates had spotted a stowaway. The waif was maybe a young teen but couldn
't be much older. The kid was a good fighter, kicking one of the Pirates
right between the legs and making a run for it. A bolt or two struck the crates
behind the kid, as (s)he leapt to 'safety'. The kid was doomed though, there
were too many
of them and the kid was heading to a dead end, right near The hunter's nest
Slipping down with one arm was hard, actually it was impossible, He fell
and landed with a jolt that winded and sent feedback pain through the
malfunctioning
arm. He knew he had alerted the pirates to the presence of another interloper,
and needed to do something fast. Krell saw that one of their blaster bolts had
damaged the rigging holding the cargo crates in place. With a little patience
he triggered
The Repulsor generator just right and started an avalanche. The Trandoshan went
berserk pinned by
the falling luggage. Krell used the distraction to dive into an open floor panel
and right on top of
his fellow refugee.
For over two hours, Kyrs and Krell worked our way deeper into the crippled
ship. They needed the time, the repulsor generator takes about 30 minutes to
recharge and the right arm was just getting worse! Kyrs turned out to be a
girl and is alright, if a bit talkative for a liner tramp. They were resting up
now and she has produced a toolkit and offered to fix his arms - if he tell
her how he got them in the first place. Desperate and in no real position to
turn her down
so, getting comfortable he started to talk as she worked...
The Past: As narrated by Krell Sonjou, First person)
My parents had agreed to let me come with them for a full cargo run, eight
months away from Centerpoint and its Schools. My sister would have to stay
behind with relatives, when I found _that_ out I snickered and told her
"Thats what you get for being the young one". She was annoyed at our parent
's favoritism of me over her, and claimed that I only got that privilege
because I was a boy. The real reason was that with the down turn of
business they needed all of the help that they could get. If I had known
how hard they were going to work me, I would have not been so gleeful about
it. Still there were some advantages to working on the ship; One of them
was Xel. She was about a year older than me and like me, she worked in the
engineering section under the watchful eyes of a Wookie named Dalsabragg.
He kept us too busy to do anything; and too tired to do much more then
sleep when we were done, but I still was naturally interested in her. (Hey
watch it with that tool that HURT!, Ok, I will get back to how I lost the
arms, damn but your a vindictive kid. Well, anyways this DOES figure into
how I lost one of my arms.)
I had this cousin named Tarn on the ship with me and while Xel was about a
year older than us, she was somewhat distracting to us both in her own way.
About three months out we had some Hyperdrive problems, seems someone had
shipped us defective parts during the last overhaul, and being the smallest
members of the engineering crew Xel and I were going to have to crawl into
the maintenance shafts to reroute the power couplings. I was working under
the floor while Xel was stretched halfway inside the Hyperdrive manifold.
During all of this Tarn comes in with a Repulsor-sled full of parts, and
sees nothing ahead of him but Xel's rear hanging out of the maintenance
shaft. I had just finished with my connections and was climbing up, when
Tarn's sloppy driving pushed the access panel closed on my left arm.
Dalsabragg sent Tarn flying across the hold, ripped open the damaged hatch
and had me in sick bay before I knew what was happening. The bones were
crushed and broken but the arm would be all right as long as the Bacta in
the cast was changed every twelve hours. Longer then 30 hours and the toxin
build up would contaminate the Bacta allowing the wounds to become septic.
Xel was furious at Tarn, because with me on light duty it meant that she
would have to do extra work; So furious in fact she gave me a get well kiss
that drove Tarn up the wall.
Well while Xel had gotten the systems back online, I was in the
engineering control, monitoring. As we prepared to activate the Hyperdrive
the energy systems back fed, blowing out more components, we were going to
need some new parts and work at an actual station. The nearest one had a
rather unsavory reputation so naturally Xel, Tarn and I were all for
exploring it. Unfortunately I was on Medical restriction, Tarn was still
grounded by 'Dals' and Xel was too busy to take advantage. The crew at the
station were friendly with us kids, almost too friendly. They got the
engine working again, my biggest problem with them was the way they were
being so nice to Tarn, and the way they looked at Xel. So bidding the
Station a fond farewell we headed out to make up for lost time. We were
half way to our next stop, when the proximity alarms went off - A mass
shadow that shouldn't be there! We came out of hyperspace and into an
ambush. The Pirates boarded the ship; my father stood there and ordered us
to make the cargo available to them, it was insured and wasn't worth the
life of his crew. We thought we were going to survive, until they came to
Xel. The Leader of the Pirates smiled and pronounced that he would be
taking the Wookie and the Girl as slaves. Tarn and Dals exploded into
action with the rest of us a fraction of a second behind. A rocket pistol
shot Tarn right to the groin, he lay there screaming in agony as the flame
burnt his thighs, waiting for it to explode but it was a dud. My parents
died next and one of the aliens clawed my belly open. I just laid there and
watched in impossibly slow motion, as the great Wookie took blaster after
blaster bolt before dieing. There from the floor I saw Xel; she was the
last to fall. She'd wrested a blaster from one of the pirates, killing him.
However the leader had just raised an outstretched hand and lightning shot
from his metal fingers. She fell and was still.
The villains walked away from the massacre they had caused and moved on to
the cargo. I knew that there was a small courier craft in the rear
sections, the unarmed ship had medical supplies and a working Hyperdrive.
If I could get to the ship I could be safe. As quietly as I possible I got
up and held my stomach in with my injured hand. With care I grabbed a spare
Bacta pressure bandage and applied it to my wound, I felt like screaming
but I didn't. However it was then that I realized Xel was just stunned. I
couldn't just leave her there, so I partially carried her while trying to
make my way to the courier boat. We almost made it! Xel had started to come
around when we got to the boat bay, there were guards but we made a run for
it anyway. I got in and reached for her, but a blaster bolt shot my good
arm. Xel slammed her fist on the emergency panel and the droid pilot took
over from there. The Pirate got a glancing hit on the boat, but we made it
into Hyperspace just fine. The only problem was that the ships
communication relay had been damaged, and I had no free hands to
administer/change the Bacta on my wounds.
"So does this mean that she could still be alive?" Kyrs asked.
"No." Krell replied more in hope then in any secure knowledge, those the
pirates
had not spaced were doubtlessly sold as slaves.
"Well I got those relays reconnected, I wouldn't suggest using that
Repulsor, it would blow the whole rig. Oh and I was able to reattach a
lever arm." Krys stated mater-of-factly
"Huh?"
"See." She zapped the arm causing a mild sensation of pain and launching The
hold out blaster into his hand.
Things were looking up for him, and the kid, and had just gotten worse for
the scum.