Ens. Gnai - A Most Inauthentic Vacation
Lich
((Crew Decks - Nova Gamma Borealis))
Seemingly out of nowhere, a large crash broke through the air as Lt. Jg. Sadar had apparently decided to throw caution - and her hiding place - to the wind. The clattering continued as her crate knocked over various others, which was frankly impressive to observe, given the obvious lack of intent. That was enough to make Gnai rocket up, servos that controlled its suit's legs activating in response to its shock, catching but the slightest air before it settled back to the ground.
Lt. Jg. Sadar and Gnai were clearly not members of the Bolian's crew, and he made his surprise well known as they both ended up in good view of the scene. As Gnai had surmised, their Bolian guide was pulled up by his lapels, straining to turn his head away from the nasty muzzle of whatever sort of energy weapon that was in the pirate's other hand.
NIC Pirate: What in blazes-
With all the acting sense that it could muster (not much), it tried the first thing that came into its head.
Gnai: ::to Gila:: ~ Please play along, Lieutenant? ~ ::loudly:: This tour is absolutely dreadful. The only decent exploration is behind the scenes!
((OOC: Gnai can't hear anything said quietly by Dakora or Savel!))
Sadar: Response
Such a harsh review seemed to stun the guide out of his panic, as did the redirection of the pirate's gun to Lt. Jg. Sadar.
Guide: ::incredulous:: What? We provide the biggest viewports of any ships taking the wormhole! We've spared absolutely no expense! ::muttering to himself:: Dreadful...
Gnai: Yes, dreadful. The wormhole? ::with as much derision as it can muster through monotonous speakers:: Derivative. This has seen... hundreds like it before.
The guide sputtered, finding a bit of courage in his rage at the customer's evident distaste for what he had planned to be a perfect trip. Planned to a T. Everything accounted for, even things that couldn't be counted for. But then these stupid pirates had to throw a spanner in the works...
Said pirate had had enough of the horrible acting, and enough of the Bolian that he still had by the collar. With a yell he tossed the Bolian to the ground, drawing a second weapon and aiming one at both visible officers. The Bolian wheezed, as the impact had forced the air from his lungars, stunning him at the pirate's feet briefly.
Sadar: Response?
NIC Pirate: What, and I repeat myself, IN THE BLAZES is going on here?
Dakora: Go!
Sadar: Response
Gnai's antics had held the pirate's attention long enough for it to watch as Ens. Savel deftly avoided the obstacles that littered the floor and grasped his neck. He crumpled, a marionette with its strings severed, strange guns clattering to the deck.
Savel: I was not sure that would work, being unfamiliar with this species, but we are fortunate that it did. ::looking to Talos:: I would not expect all Vulcans to be familiar with this technique anymore.
Their XO emerged from wherever he had been, spanner in hand.
Dakora: I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I’m caught unarmed in a pirate interdiction with a Vulcan partner. ::To Gila and Gnai:: Are you two okay?
Brushing off the dust that had been kicked up by the crashing boxes, Gnai made its way to where the other officers stood. It was a funny question, if it had been hiding just a few centimeters to the side, it might have had a far different answer. But bringing up that it had narrowly avoided being crushed by the falling containers seemed a bit rude to Lt. Jg. Sadar. There had been no harm intended.
Gnai: Yes, sir!
Sadar: Responses
As Ens. Savel handed out the two guns, one to himself and the other to Lt. Cmdr. Dakora, Gnai was very pleased that it was being looked over. There was no way it should be trusted with strange weapons, it didn't even want to be trusted with standard issue Federation phasers…
Guide: And why does he get a weapon? This is my ship! I should be the one trying to take it back.
Not that he had done a particularly good job of keeping it in the first place.
Savel: I have already evaluated your response to the stress of a potentially violent situation while you were being held hostage. We are all much safer if you do not possess arms of any kind.
Dakora: Mister Savel is correct. ::To the guide.:: We’re Starfleet Officers and we’re here to help.
Sadar: Response
The Bolian didn’t seem happy about it, huffing as he crossed his arms, but he did accept their reasoning.
Savel: I am unsure of how long he will stay incapacitated. It could be hours, or he could awaken anytime now. I am open to suggestions on what to do with him.
Dakora: There has to be some sufficiently strong cables or rope in here somewhere, tie him up. ::He paused.:: And pat him down for comm devices. I don’t want him making any unexpected calls for help.
Gnai wasn't sure of its ability to properly secure this pirate, so it left that to the others. But patting down? It could do that. Better to personally ensure that every trace of weaponry was removed from this pirate's possession.
Gnai: Aye, sir! Will search for comms ::pause:: and further weapons. A pirate probably is armed to the teeth, one would assume.
Sadar: Response
With Lt. Jg. Sadar on tying-him-up duty, Gnai got to work patting down the unconscious pirate. There were a lot of pockets and pouches, full of all sorts of bits and bobs. A small trapezoidal prism, clear and filled with beads. A chain that connected two pockets together, strung with small links that glowed when disconnected. Nothing that Gnai recognized from the Alpha Quadrant - these had to have been Gamma Quadrant technology.
Out of a pocket on the pirate’s left leg, Gnai pulled a hidden knife out. Its assumptions had been correct.
Guide: I-I'll tell you exactly what to do with him! ::exaggerating his words by holding a single finger in the air as he just barely lifted himself on his toes:: We shoot him a-and we make sure he can't get back up! Then his friends will know not to mess with Nova Gamma Borealis!
Further patting down revealed what appeared to be a communicator, strapped to the upper right arm of the pirate. Easy enough to slap an arm across and call, perhaps the pirate was predominantly left-handed, if this was the placement of his communicator.
oO I ::partial:: will be taking that! Oo
Loaded with a couple smaller concealed weapons, all the assorted doodads it could pull from the pockets, and the communicator, Gnai pulled open one of the crates, depositing everything within. If the container got mixed in with all the rest of the debris, the pirate would be hard pressed to find his things… if he got himself untied in the first place.
Dakora: Nobody is shooting anyone right now.
Lt. Cmdr. Dakora pointed to what Gnai had assumed to be holoprojector controls.
Dakora: By the way, what is that.
The guide hesitated and stammered a few times before seeming to explain himself reluctantly.
Guide: We strive to offer the most authentic tours in the whole Quadrant, really we do! But… sometimes… say… a colorful celestial phenomenon is obscured by a poloron field for a few weeks a year ::He rocked his head from side to side.:: We may— occasionally— augment our guest's experience with that exterior holoprojector.
How… terribly rude of them. They would really dupe their paying customers into believing that they were witnessing something impossible? Gnai would have scoffed at calling such a thing authentic, if it could scoff.
Savel: Response
Dakora: You’re telling me that you’ve got a massive holo-projector jutting out the side of this ship?
The Bolian’s eyes shifted left, then right. The interest in his holo-projector was clearly concerning him.
Guide: Y-yes. B-but, as I said we only use it to augment our authentic experien-
Lt. Cmdr. Dakora cut the Bolian off mid-sentence.
Dakora: Ensign Gnai, I need you. ::He waited for the exo-suited Ensign to approach and pointed to the projector.:: How are you at holo-programming?
Gnai rushed up from where it had been standing awkwardly next to the restrained pirate, eager to help with whatever Lt. Cmdr. Dakora was interested in having it do with the holo-projector. It’d do its best to make Prof. Kroyu proud of it.
Gnai: Reasonably decent, sir. There was a class on it at the Academy…
Savel/Sadar: Response?
Dakora: Response
Gnai bobbed up and down, it could certainly attempt to do that. Such an idea seemed a little far-fetched - would the pirates really believe that the USS Artemis had just been a system over, waiting for a call from its officers? - but if they could end this with minimal injury, that would be ideal. Scaring them off with the holo-projection device was a brilliant idea, to Gnai’s mind.
And it was certainly glad that it was going to be focusing on the projection, and not the acting. If its recent attempts had been indicative… acting was far from Gnai’s strong suit. Hopefully someone else in the team would be better at it. If they could make it to comms of course.
Gnai: Certainly, sir. One Luna-class projection coming up.
With a flourish of its mechanical limbs, Gnai started to tap at the machine. The design was similar enough to the holo-controls that it had learned on back at Starfleet.
Sadar/Savel/Dakora: Response
As the others discussed next steps, Gnai remained focused, tapping away at the screen. This didn’t have all of the different classes of Starfleet vessel programmed in, it only had a select few vessels. All fairly standard fare - ships that might be seen patrolling the Gamma Quadrant - with one notable exception. Buried in the files, there was a holographic recreation of the original USS Defiant.
((OOC: Feel free to have more discussion, Gnai’s focused on the computer for the whole time and won’t be responding!))
Gnai: Sir, it might take a prohibitively long time to make a recreation of the Artemis… But there’s another ship in here that could be used.
Gnai pulled the image up in full on the screen, and stepped back to show the others. There she was, the original NX-74205, not the renamed Sao Paolo. The visual distinction was irrelevant, as far as Gnai could tell, but that’s what it was labelled as in the computer.
Sadar/Savel/Dakora: Response
It was a curious choice to have programmed into the holo-projectors. The ship wasn’t in use anymore… how long had this Bolian been running this scam?
With luck though, the pirates wouldn’t have the foggiest idea that she was no longer active. But would such a small ship be an effective deterrent?
Tags/TBC :)
((OOC - posting from my phone, hopefully the formatting isn’t messed up??))
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Ensign Gnai
Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240102G11