[Backsim] K'Turk - The Demands of Honor
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Jona ch'Ranni
Jan 13, 2021, 12:13:16 PM1/13/21
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((Spacedock 44, Palanon))
sh'Shar: I'll show you. The only catch is... we have to do it while the power's on. So this is going to be a little terrifying.
K'Turk: Proceed.
sh'Shar: If I die just now, I want my last words to be... ::She couldn't think of anything.:: Just tell Benna sh'Shar I said something cool, okay?
K'Turk: ::staring blankly at the woman:: I'm a cargo runner, not a messenger.
Ignoring his protests, sh'Shar carefully slid her hand into the tiny gap, closed her eye, and slowly lowered her bare hand into the machinery. K'Turk watched impatiently as the woman cautiously fished around inside the engine. At one point her whole arm was inside the device. After a couple of minutes she withdrew a nondescript box with a series of leads snaking away from it.sh'Shar: Well. That was terrifying. Haven't done that since I was fifteen... had smaller hands back then. It was a lot easier back in the day.
K'Turk: What is it?
sh'Shar: It's a bypass. The Hew-Mons call them 'limpets', but to the Ferengi they're called blek'rektarii. Means 'ball and chain'. They're basically power sinks. Installed one of these in the critical system of a mark just like this. Typically in the computers, weapons, engines, or life support if you really wanna be a cold-hearted hongr'val mon-kri and straight-up kill the poor sod, you know? They're ingenious; the devices passively listen for a subspace signal, and when it's sent they absorb all the power of whatever system they're attached to. It's engineered to remain there until the mark — that's you, by the way — pays up to remotely disable it. They're shielded against scans, they hide themselves from computers and diagnostics, they're almost impossible to find unless you know exactly what you're looking for. ::She bounced the device in her hand.:: My guess is that their plan was to just keep milking you for "repairs", finding problem after problem that would cost more and more, but you scared 'em off before they could really put the squeeze to you. Or you ran out of latinum so they just took what they had and ran for it.
As the words sunk in, K'Turk found a low growl forming in his throat. Within seconds it transformed into a roar as the indignity of months of being stranded on Palanon was released vocally. That obsequious Ferengi, Mir, had done this! He would make the rodent pay for what he had done. No one - no one - made the proud K'Turk, son of Bevag, stoop to the level of a common street performer to pay off imagined debts! When the guttural cry finally died away, the Klingon was left sucking in lungfuls of air through clenched teeth.
sh'Shar: Your ship wasn't broken. It was sabotaged. Probably by the Ferengi who conveniently swept in with a perfectly timed "loan" for "repairs".
K'Turk: His name is Mir and he will pay for his misdeeds.
--
After hours of intense manual labor, the port nacelle lay in pieces strewn about the floor. The Klingon sincerely hoped the Andorian girl knew what she was doing. There was no chance that he could reassemble all the pieces on his own. He grunted as he lay the heavy section of hull plating on the floor with a thud. His lower back was protesting, though, he'd never let the woman know. It was unbecoming of a Klingon to admit such things.
sh'Shar: I have a bad feeling about this.
K'Turk: Have you found something?
sh'Shar: Pretty sure. ::She turned the tricorder around to show him.:: Look at the power flow review from the distributor's diagnostic systems. Power comes into the nacelle as clean as a whistle, but then it hits the phase variance compensator's distributor and it's immediately syphoned away. There's your problem right there.
He hated to let her know that her explanation was far beyond his technical comprehension but he had little choice. He took consolation in the thought that if she made fun of him he still had the option to gut her like a targ.
K'Turk: Is that bad?
sh'Shar: It's bad for me. Good for you. Means I can have your ship fixed in a couple of days, tops, unless I blow myself up in the next minute or so.
The woman pointed into the guts of the ship at a section of the outer casing of the distributor in question. A section appeared to have been cut away and hastily repaired, leaving the smooth surface with noticeable scars.
sh'Shar: See this part here? Someone modified your distributor. Recently, too. Probably about the time you were starting to have engine troubles, or maybe a month or two beforehand.
K'Turk: Why would someone do this?
The hefty Klingon regarded the smallish Andorian woman. Her words belied the danger of the situation but her voice seemed steady. There was an impressive amount of bravery on display. If she died, K'Turk would be sure to send her off to Sto'Vo'Kor with an appropriate death howl.
sh'Shar: If I die just now, I want my last words to be... ::She couldn't think of anything.:: Just tell Benna sh'Shar I said something cool, okay?
K'Turk: ::staring blankly at the woman:: I'm a cargo runner, not a messenger.
K'Turk: What is it?
sh'Shar: It's a bypass. The Hew-Mons call them 'limpets', but to the Ferengi they're called blek'rektarii. Means 'ball and chain'. They're basically power sinks. Installed one of these in the critical system of a mark just like this. Typically in the computers, weapons, engines, or life support if you really wanna be a cold-hearted hongr'val mon-kri and straight-up kill the poor sod, you know? They're ingenious; the devices passively listen for a subspace signal, and when it's sent they absorb all the power of whatever system they're attached to. It's engineered to remain there until the mark — that's you, by the way — pays up to remotely disable it. They're shielded against scans, they hide themselves from computers and diagnostics, they're almost impossible to find unless you know exactly what you're looking for. ::She bounced the device in her hand.:: My guess is that their plan was to just keep milking you for "repairs", finding problem after problem that would cost more and more, but you scared 'em off before they could really put the squeeze to you. Or you ran out of latinum so they just took what they had and ran for it.
As the words sunk in, K'Turk found a low growl forming in his throat. Within seconds it transformed into a roar as the indignity of months of being stranded on Palanon was released vocally. That obsequious Ferengi, Mir, had done this! He would make the rodent pay for what he had done. No one - no one - made the proud K'Turk, son of Bevag, stoop to the level of a common street performer to pay off imagined debts! When the guttural cry finally died away, the Klingon was left sucking in lungfuls of air through clenched teeth.
sh'Shar: Your ship wasn't broken. It was sabotaged. Probably by the Ferengi who conveniently swept in with a perfectly timed "loan" for "repairs".
K'Turk: His name is Mir and he will pay for his misdeeds.
sh'Shar: Response
K'Turk: Thank you for your assistance in this, Andorian. You have yet to tell me what payment you require for your services.
sh'Shar: Response
K'Turk: ::shaking his head:: Honor demands that I repay you for your help.
sh'Shar: Response
K'Turk
Stranded Cargo Runner
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