Tracking Tetayn

Posted on Fri Apr 7th, 2023 @ 5:44pm by Lieutenant Commander Rayek trLhoell & Captain Linda Wilson & Commander Qillin Wren & Lieutenant Commander Klarth

2,713 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: A whole new world
Location: Cargo bay > Jeffries tubes
Timeline: Same time as Messing Around

CARGO BAY - Deck 13

Tatayn, one of the Ventaxians that had been rescued, was hiding. Apparently, she thought that Rayek was a Vulcan, and that seemed to be a very bad thing in this universe. The security team, with Dr. Klarth, were searching for her. They meant no harm, but convincing the young lady of that could be a challenge!

Klarth had an idea, he had found the closest replicator and made a tray of roast beef and gravy and mashed potatoes and carrots. He was hoping that the smell would be a better ambassador then he was.

Then he returned to the cargo bay and found the junction he thought the girl had likely crawled into and with the tray started to follow the little gopher into her hole.

After giving his report to Commander Arkyn, Rayek headed to the Security Office, located on Deck 5, where he could better access the ship's sensors and security measures. As he strode through the halls towards the turbolift, he listened in via his earbud comm to the Security teams currently searching. Presently, there were three Teams of 9 individuals, broken out into 3 Fireteams of 3 crewmen each. Each Team of 9 was responsible for clearing a deck. Rayek had ordered Decks 13, 14 and 15 searched thoroughly - Jeffries and all. Deck 13 held the Cargo Bay which had been cleared already. From what he understood Klarth had joined in on one of the teams.

"Fireteam Beta One A - reports Holodeck 4 clear. Sensors placed and room locked. Continuing on to Deflector Array."
"Fireteam Beta One B - Transporter Room 4 clear. Ops personnel onsite. Continuing on to Lower Computer Core."
"Fireteam Beta One C - Jeffries tube - section 13 line 2 - clear... moving to line 3... *sniff sniff* mmm something sure smells good down here."

On it went, with each team reporting out their progress.

"Deck Five" Rayek called out.


JEFFRIES TUBE - Deck 13 >> Deck 14

Tetayn found herself relaxing only slightly after hearing her brother's voice through the comm system. She couldn't detect distress in his tone of voice, and his message had indicated his life was not a risk - for now. "Never trust a Vulcan" was so ingrained in her genetic code that she could not unconditionally trust her ears. Pancakes indicated she should lay low, that people were out looking for her, so she kept moving.

She looked up, climbing the ladder to the next level. She needed an access panel so she could look at the ship's design and its floor plans. Finding a way off of the ship would be extremely challenging and she resigned herself to the idea that she would be found long before she could escape. She knew she could play the long game, however; she had once before.


SECURITY OFFICE - Deck 5

Arriving on Deck Five, Rayek headed to the Security office and logged into the computer there and called up all the video feeds the ship had for Deck 13 and the two decks above and below. "Elle, highlight for me areas where your sensors are limited." This way he could direct his teams better to focus on area Elle could search.

JEFFRIES TUBE - Deck 13 >> Deck 14

Trapped. She was trapped. The hatch above her would not open and the hatch below locked after passing through. It was only a matter of time before someone would come to find her. She swore under her breath.

SECURITY OFFICE - Deck 5

After a time, Rayek noted the flashing indicator light of an open hatchway. There were actually several of them lit up on his screen. But this one was of interest because none of his teams had called out anywhere near that section. Acting swiftly Rayek, locked down the section in front and behind. Their intruder was trapped.

Rayek directed the nearest team to her location. Of course, it had to be the team that Klarth had joined. The Romulan almost rolled his eyes.

"trLhoell to Fireteam Beta Two A - Head to Section 14. Line 8. I have the intruder locked between two hatches." He considered a moment... the female had seemed far more reasonable than Lt Cmdr Wren. "Allow Dr. Klarth attempt to talk her out, rather than going in using force. However, he is not to be put in any danger or you and your team will be scrubbing the hull with a toothbrush for the next month of shifts."

Rayek smiled; envisioning his Ferengi friend, Lek, nodding in approval of his threatened reprimand should the doctor get injured.


JEFFRIES TUBE - Deck 14

Klarth arrived on the scene by one of the hatches. He still had the tray of food. "Elle make sure she can hear me," he said. "Hello in there," he said. "This is Dr. Klarth, we talked a little bit earlier. Is it all right if I come in and have a chat with you? I brought some food for you if you're hungry."

It wasn't just Elle 'listening' in. The Romulan had activated a rarely used security protocol to remote into the Doctor's comm badge. It would allow him to monitor the situation and ensure the Doctor's safety.

Tetayn adjusted her seated position to being more upright at the sound of the Klingon's query. "You can chat," she agreed.


SECURITY OFFICE - Deck 5

Hearing this Rayek, released the lock on the hatch in front of the door, as he comm the security with the doctor to keep alert but only intervene if the doctor was actively threatened.


JEFFRIES TUBE - Deck 14

Klarth came in and said "hello again....Here I brought you some food. I hope you are hungry because it is not easy carrying a tray in a Jeffries tube." Klarth handed her the tray. She accepted it and looked it over but did not eat from it.

"Now we don't know each other very well, but let me tell you a story. Once there were two neighbors that had back yards that faced each other and there was a fence in-between their properties. One had a large dog and the other neighbor had a rabbit. There was a gate on the fence and sometimes when the neighbors were social the dog and the rabbit would play. The dog was much larger than the rabbit but she was very gentle with the rabbit so neither neighbor was ever concerned for the rabbit's safety.

One day when the dog was coming inside the house the owner saw something dirty and fluffy in the dog's mouth. "Oh my!" she said it was the rabbit and it was dead. She thought the dog must have somehow hopped over the fence and played with it too rough and killed it. The rabbit was so dirty the dog must have dragged it in the dirt. She shouted for her husband and the two of them tried to figure out what to do. Neither of them wanted to admit to the neighbors that the dog had killed the rabbit. How could they live next door to them after that? At best they'd be shunned by the neighbors and at worst they'd become enemies.

So they hatched a plan; they gave the dead rabbit a bath and cleaned all the dirt off and put her back in the neighbor's yard. The neighbor would find the rabbit and conclude it had died of natural causes.

Well, a couple days later the neighbors were talking down by the fence and the owners of the rabbit mentioned how their rabbit had died. And they said it was the strangest thing. They had buried it in the backyard and the next day they were shocked to find that someone had dug it up.   

"The owners of the dog breathed a sigh of relief and confessed that the dog must have dug the rabbit up.

"Oh, well that explains it," says the husband that owned the rabbit. Then he thought for a moment and added "But how did the dog give the rabbit a bath?"

Klarth starts laughing at his own story and says, "The point of the story is that if the neighbors had trusted each other more there wouldn't have been such a misunderstanding. Now I know it is hard for you and your comrade to trust anyone after what you must have been through, but I am hoping that in time we can knock down the proverbial fence which is what the two couples did after this misunderstanding. The one couple bought several rabbits and the dog was always friendly to all of them."


SECURITY OFFICE - Deck 5

In his Security office, Rayek silently chuckled and shook his head at the Klingon and his allegory tale.


JEFFRIES TUBE - Deck 14

"I can tell a story, too." Tetayn responded.

"Well, I'd like to hear it." said Klarth


SECURITY OFFICE - Deck 5

Rayek found he was curious what sort of story the young woman would come up with in reply to Klarth's. But since his task presently wasn't to swap stories, the Romulan commed for other security to close in on the section.


JEFFRIES TUBE - Deck 14

"Once upon a time," Tetayn gave a sardonic smile, adding, "(that's how all good stories begin,) there was a small village filled with very crafty people. They made the most beautiful stone statues and metal work with fine filigree details... They sold their wares far and wide at fair prices. The income they made collectively was enough to keep the pantries full through every season.

"Until one year when a war broke out in the land over the mountain. Though the village wasn't involved in the conflict, the war affected crop production and the economy for the entire region. The crafters did not know what to do. They did not know how to work the fields, and so, over time, they began leaving the village to find ways to fill their bellies.

"Out, into the world they went, hungry and ill-prepared for what they would find. And here is where we follow two of the villagers into the woods, looking for berries and anything that might feed them. One morning, they come to a strange barrier after crossing a cold river. It's a wall covered with vines and fruits. The wall goes on as far as the eye can see, but there are no people around and so Holone and Iliven fill their stomachs with the fruits until they can no longer stand. They had been hungry for so long, any sense on manners had escaped them. They sat down at the base of the wall to have a good sleep and when they woke again, they repeated the gluttony until they were sick.

"The next day, the keeper of the wall came through and found Holone and Iliven, along with the damage they had done to the vines. 'What is this?' the Keeper asked. 'What have you done?'

"'Oh, please forgive us,' Holone said. 'We were starving and our senses left us.'

"'Yes,' Iliven agreed, 'We meant no harm, what can we do to make it up to you?'

"'What can you do?' The Keeper asked, knowing full well that the fruit was gone forever. 'What can you do?' he asked again, wanting to know the value of the villagers before him.

"'I can work stone,' Holone offered, 'I am a skilled carver.'

"'And I can work metal,' Iliven added, 'I am a jeweler.'

"'I don't have need for those skills,' the Keeper said, 'but come with me, I will take care of you.'

"Holone and Iliven looked at each other, not believing their luck. And for the next few days, they dined like never before on meats and cheeses. They bathed and they slept in the most comfortable beds. But, one day when Holone woke, Iliven was nowhere to be found. She searched for him in every room she knew - then searched for him in strange corners of the home that she'd never seen before.

"And when she grew tired of searching, she found the Keeper to express her worry, 'I cannot find Iliven anywhere. Do you know where he is?'

"'Yes,' the Keeper said. 'I traded him to the Novax.'

"(The Novax are a cannibalistic clan of outlaws)," Tetayn explained.

"'The Novax? Why would you do that?'

"'To send them away from my home. If I offer them tribute, they leave me alone.' the Keeper explained.

"'But why Iliven? He doesn't deserve such treatment!' Holone protested.

"'He ate my fruit. I have treated you both with grace and kindness. It was time to pay.'

"'But he will die!' Holone cried.

"'That is not my burden.'

"And that is when Holone realized her fate would be no different from Iliven's, unless she could find a way to run off from the prison she found herself in. Over the next week, she searched for an escape, but none was found. And the next day, she was handed to the Novax, never to be heard from again.

"The point of the story," Tetayn explained, using the Klingon's words, "is that there is never free fruit."

"Well," said Klarth "That was a really depressing story, wasn't it?...It is true though that if you were to stay on this ship you would be expected to contribute. We are strangers here and your knowledge of this universe would be very valuable to us. However, we don't have any other motives. There would be no Novax in your future. Truth be told we don't even know what we are doing here. We're just taking a look around really. But I will ask you the same question the Keeper asked "What can you do?"


SECURITY OFFICE - Deck 5

After listening to the girl's story, it was clear that it would take quite a while for the youth to get over her distrust. When Klarth used the exact same words from the allegory, Rayek wondered if the Klingon was purposefully trying to sabotage their efforts.

JEFFRIES TUBE - Deck 14

Tetayn's head tilted while she pressed her lips together. "I'm barely an adult," she said. "And I missed out on formal education for several years through no fault of my own..." What she left out was that, given the right access port, she was fairly decent at sneaking through computer security systems. That was why Qillin had given her the chance to escape. Only, she had been slow to find a spot to hide. There really was an infinitely small chance of success, given the circumstances. "I really have nothing to offer at this time."

"Well education is certainly something we can offer," said Klarth. "Do you know what you would like to study?...And can we please get out of these Jefferies tubes and continue the conversation somewhere else? I could escort you to your friend if you'd like."

Just outside the section where Klarth and the girl were swapping stories, two security had moved in and were 'camped' at the closed doors above the storytellers' heads. The security personnel were ready to move in if given orders - but for now they waited.

"Sure, let's go," Tetayn agreed while discreetly checking for fresh blood. "As long as you tell me how it is that you're able to stand next to a Vulcan without messing your pants." She moved to her hands and knees once more and began following the Klingon out of the access tunnels.

Hearing that the girl had agreed to come out from the tunnels 'voluntarily', Rayek had his security back off slightly - still keeping close enough to react should the girl prove a threat but out of sight giving the illusion of trust.

The Romulan commed the Orion Security Chief. =/\= "We've located the girl and Dr. Klarth has persuaded her to come out to join her companion in the Mess Hall." =/\=

As they were leaving Klarth began saying "Well, I don't know for sure if this is the difference, but in our universe about 2,000 years ago there was a Vulcan named Surak that taught the Vulcans to purge their emotions and to live lives devoted to logic..."


OFF: Lt Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
OFF: Tetayn Wren, refugee
OFF: Klarth

 

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