The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men... CPO Nealy
H. Forster
Skoleryn Outpost
Nirik's Ship
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
Joana made her way to the outer ring of the platform, to where one
particular ship had docked. It was an older model transport vessel, a class
of ship that Nealy was vaguely familiar with.
All those hours of studying merchant vessel schematics were finally coming
in handy in spite of what one of her A-School collegues had said. "Waste of
time to look over those things...you have the weirdest interests, Jo." The
gentleman's voice whispered from her memory.
Shaking off the past conversation, Nealy continued walking down the
corridor, passing a few nameless faces. They looked her over but dismissed
her as someone of no import. It was one of Joana's talents; she called it
the 'can't see me' trait. It was just who she was...not really
memorable...when she wanted to be.
She walked to the platform that lead to airlock of the ship and was
surprised to see no one there. Raising a brow, Nealy silently reminded
herself that not everyone operated with the same level of paranoia that
starfleet ran under. They also probably operated under the auspices that
the merchants had a pretty good security system and didn't have highly
classified technology or information on their vessels might be a reason as
to no physical security either.
Pulling out a tricorder she had managed to pilfer from requisitions years
ago, Nealy flipped it open and studied the ship. There weren't all that
many crew on board. Apparently they must be enjoying themselves on the main
deck. There was a ton of shielding in another area besides what she assumed
was main engineering considering the 'heat' source along with it. Nealy
thought that was odd, but dismissed since it wasn't her concern...seeing if
there were any terran signatures aboard the vessel...that was her concern.
Not seeing anything initially, Nealy frowned. Of course it wouldn't be that
easy...that would mean that she'd have to...
A small blip appeared on-screen. A human signature. It was enough for the
foolhearty Nealy to swallow and shrug. In for a penny, in for a pound.
After all this was proving to be the most interesting vacation of her life
so far. Walking up to the hatch, Joana took a deep breath and got to work.
A passcode security system. A smirk slowly spread on her lips. She could
crack this within a minute. This was what she was trained for in
intelligence...how the gods of luck were shining upon her this moment.
-------
23 seconds later, Nealy found herself into a vessel that had to smell as bad
as a klingon bird of prey that had been out on patrol for a few years. At
least that was how Nealy imagined a klingon vessel would smell...for it was
just plain foul. Aparently the air filters on the recyclers hadn't been
replaced in god knew how long. That was just plain icky.
Using the tri-corder, Nealy, as silently as possible, crept down the
hallways, avoiding areas with lifesigns. There were a couple of close
calls, but so far so good.
The faint signal took her to what appeared to be a med bay. There wasn't
anyone in it, save the one human signature, in which Nealy breathed a heavy
sigh of relief. Following it back the surgery bay, Joana was surprised to
find herself in the morgue. The morgue?
"Jesus wept." Nealy swore as she rushed over to one of the slab doors and
flipped the lever that would depressurize the seal and open the door. That
was where the faint human signature originated from. To be trapped...she
shuddered involuntarily as she swung the door opened and peered inside.
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