The Alice, Part III
Posted on Mon May 5th, 2025 @ 12:29pm by Lieutenant Katya Davi & Commander Rhupert Tyree & Lieutenant Tavana Kolan, Daughter of Kretorg & Lieutenant Amy Gordon
2,505 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
The Foragers
Location: Aboard the Alice,Treadis System, Moon V871. Cardassian Space.
Timeline: After The Alice, Part II
Good heavens Disco seemed to be in some bizarre habits. "I've heard of that, but I don't indulge in that. Is that something you are into?" Amy was wishing she had something a bit stronger to make Disco drop to the floor. She may have not made it strong enough. Maybe if he were to drink the bottle meant for Frank. "Oh, it looks like you're almost done with your drink. Care for another?" Amy prepared to slide away out of his possible grab.
"Well, don't mind if I do," Disco half burped as he accepted the next flask. Raising it in toast to Natasha, he tipped his head back and began pouring. And his head kept going...his body following as he dropped like a pole-axed vocal steer.
Amy took a look around, Disco was down and out for the count. Her eyes settled upon an antigrav sled for moving equipment. She activated it and moved it to where Disco was. With a grunt she dragged him onto the sled, found a blanket to put over the unconscious Disco. "Nighty night." she muttered, "And boy do you stink, when was the last time you bathed." pulling out something to place under her nose stop the stench from making her retch. Her fingers also brushed against the bottle that was her own, she had put back inside her pocket.
She pulled out the bottle which held the rest of her alcohol, which had an emerald green color to it. It looked very pretty when held to the light, shimmering like the jewel. It was half way gone, and looking at Disco, Amy decided to drink the rest of it. It had a flavor, she wasn't certain what it was, but she liked it.
It hit her head and Amy was feeling good, she looked at Disco, then the sled. They were going to go on a joyride. Placing one knee upon the sled she pushed off, floating down steering it, having a huge grin as she scooted along. "Yee haw" could be heard echoing in the ship.
She had to pause noticing that Disco's hand had slipped out from its position, and she put it back, it sticking upwards as if to say, "Tally ho" and Amy was off once more, yelling "Tally Ho!"
"Yay, we are not burning up," she said matter-of-factly. "Sorry about that... I am heavier than I look," she said as she turned around. They were standing literally face to face only her face was facing his upper chest. She lifted her chin looking up with a grime smeared face up with a wide grin. "It worked, no explosion, so no firing me. It seems today is good for magic," she said as she wiggled past him, eyebrows raised, blowing imaginary air through rounded lips . If he knew how close they were to blowing up, he would probably fire her.
Rhu blinked and breathed. Relieved that nothing (including the torpedo) had gone off. Counting to five, he turned and made his way toward the bridge again. Looking at his crono, sent out a thought to his minions. ~Right. We need to deal with Disco and Franks then get this show rolling.~
As she gathered her tools and checked her work, she realized she'd lost track of everyone else. Kat sighed. Well, she'd hear if there was a problem. Her head was feeling a little fuzzy. How long had it been since they ate last? She was able to program a level four containment field and an emergency beam out of Franks and Disco to an escape pod on command. Now she had to make it look like the warp core was breaching. After that, she'd go in search of something to eat. For incentive, she started thinking about that bath again.
Rhu waited.
Well. Lurked was more likely. It was a small ship and Franks should be coming this way soonest. Then they could get this over with. Glancing around, he knew the others had or were converging. . Looking at his crono again, and reached out his mind. ~Ok, so. Like how do we handle him and make it seem like his idea?~ Rhu glanced around the bulkhead of the bridge, looking down the short corridor.
"I have an idea..." Kat thought back. "It would require me acting like a panicky dumb blonde, telling him that the warp core is acting up, but we should be able to get out of the system before it fails. Maybe. And if it does, we still have one good escape pod that's green and two others that are flashing red when I run a scan, but that may just be a coupling problem." She was rambling a bit. Tired and hungry and...something she wasn't going to consider right now...messing with her head. "Basically, I’m gonna plant the suggestion that we might not make it. That way, when we the warp core starts to malfunction, he'll run." Amy got him drunk, Tavi would be less believable as a half Klingon, so it fell to Katya. Rhu could be her backup if she needed it.
~Acting~ Rhu thought back, attempting humor to buff his officer. And because it was amusing. ~Which part is the acting? The blonde part with the coupling problem?~ Biting his lip with amusement, he glanced down the companionway again. ~I think it's worth a shot and we need to move. You go girl! Tavana can help you deal with him as needed and I'll start rigging the Alice to run.~
"I can couple in my sleep," she shot back, her mental tone clearly indicating that she was smiling. Then, realizing the implication, she added. "But it's more fun when I'm awake."
~I was going to say,~ Rhu thought back, his lips twitching. ~That's illegal in most of Federation space. But what you do in the privacy of your cabin...from what I hear it's more fun when you're not alone too. But that's probably rumor.~
"No, it's not something to be done alone. As they say, it takes two to tango." She was laughing now, which helped lighten her mood, even if it also sent her thoughts in a very different direction.
Amy could be seen drifting along on the anti-grav sled, it coasting in where Rhu and Katya were. "Check out my new ride." she gave out a laugh.
"Nice ride." Kat said, looking up briefly. She made one more adjustment and the warp core was ready--if they needed it to malfunction. And if not, she could repair it easily. Now, to find out where Franks was.
Peering, at the corridor Rhu decided they were all getting loopy. He also wondered why Disco's arm had been sticking up like a flag from Amy's chariot. "Yeah," he murmured. "At least we know Disco is handled...now for Franks. Anyone want to find him and render him into a different state of consciousness? Or persuade him to want to leave."
"Really you two... Tavana interjected grinning. "You do realize that I can hear everything you are thinking, but I am all up for the dealing with him, as long it entails a bit of thumping"
Amy drew in a breath, and turned to put Disco's arm back under the blanket. "Tally ho my eye" she muttered.
Kat heard Franks coming and hurried over to him, her eyes wide. She put a hand on his arm and leaned close. "Franks, we have a problem." She looked around, pretending to make sure no one else was nearby. "It's the warp core. We don't have the right parts to fix it. I think we'll make it out of the system, but it's not good. I also checked the life pods. One is green, but the others are yellow. So, if there's a problem..." She let her voice trail off. "I don't want the others to panic, but since you're the boss, I thought you should know."
Amy went pale, Franks was here, she hoped he didn't see Disco underneath the blanket, When she heard, or overheard, somebody her heart started beating fast. "Wait there is something wrong!!?"
Turning toward the apparently gallivanting human Franks scowled and dropped the access panel to the deck. "What in the blazes are you thraggling around wit...is that Disco's arm sticking up. Where's the rest of him? And what does Kimi mean there are problems with the warp corp...and she doesn't look like she's anywhere near the escape pods. What are you doing??"
Sourly, Franks moved to draw his phaser and unhooked a savage looking truncheon from his belt.
Rhu's link beeped and he pulled out his tricorder. He checked the readouts and swore. He already had a headache from using his psionic ability but he shut his eyes and broadcast, ~Just picked up a telltale on the sensors. There's a brace of Hideki patrol ships dropping out of warp. Our limited time just became even shorter...~
"Honey," Kat crooned. "I came to find you and tell you we have a problem, but if you won't listen..." Kat used that time to pull her phaser and stunned him.
"Amy, Rhu says we have to bail. You can take these two to the escape pod, or I can transport them." She was mentally running through a list of what had to be done.
Then she sent a telepathic message to Rhu. "Amy and I have Franks and Disco. We just need to dump them in an escape pod."
Amy blinked, horrified seeing Frank drawing out his phaser and the truncheon. If she wasn't drunk she would have been able to deal with Franks but, she wasn't sober. A blast from Kat's phaser, Franks slumped forward, Amy squealed out as she was in the way, as he fell forward. "Oh gosh he smells as well." Amy managed to extricate herself from that uncomfortable situation.
Weaving back and forth, she managed to get Franks settled more on the anti-grav sled and headed towards the escape pod weaving her way almost running into the wall but she made it. Opening the escape pod, Amy turned off the anti-grav sled it lowering to the ground, she rolled Franks off of Disco, grunting with the effort. Disco seemed lighter than Franks, She had to get on the anti-grav sled and used her legs and feet to push Disco off of it. Sweat was pouring down her face, breathing heavily, she got out of the escape pod. Amy closed the door and hit the button. "Bye bye, stinkers." as the escape pod ejected from the ship.
Once Amy left with her cargo, Kat went back to the command area. "Amy's taking them to the escape pod. We can launch on your orders."
With the need to pretend over, Rhu activated his comms and slid into the helmsman's seat on the bridge, powering up consoles as he went. "Stand by to jettison that pod in one minute. Katya report to the bridge to run Ops. Tavi, sweep the ship for any tracking devices that might be in place. Amy can lend a hand with that once we dump the pod."
Amy called out "Bombs away!" to announce that the escape pod was sent out.
Kat slipped into the ops chair and began to turn on systems, checking everything as she went, just to be sure. She'd already run a diagnostic, but that was before they lit up the Alice. As the ship came alive, she listened to the happy sounds of a ship too long dormant. Only one light flickered, but it wasn't something they needed right now. She made a mental note to fix it as soon as she had some free time. Food and sleep would have to wait. "All set."
Rhu brought up nav control and got the sensors warming up, keeping them in passive mode. The signal he was getting from his tricorder indicated the other pirated ships were attempting to scramble. And then the feed cut off as the Gasser Plug jumped.
"Coward," Rhu snorted, but he wasn't shocked.
"They're just afraid of voodoo drives. They probably think the ship's contagious," Kat quipped. She patted the console. "Don't worry," she said to the ship, "We don't think you're a zombie, or a monster."
A tricorder was found, Amy swept for trackers She didn't find any. Finally, they were away from Disco and Franks. "Uh No bugsssss. We're clear." Now though, Amy wanted a bed, crawling into a bunk she passed out.
The control panel was being finicky. Rhu swore under his breath as he worked a few reroutes and used his tricorder to drop a coordinate heading into the ship's nav computer and said, "Ok. Stand by to detonate that torpedo in Five.....
Four....
Rhu waited, trying to time The Alice's jump into warp with the explosion's corona to mask their escape.
Three...
In addition to the torpedo, Kat had a pile of debris, including parts from a damage warp core she found, plus a container that, when the explosion hit, would release anti-matter particles to simulate a warp core failure. As soon as the torpedo launched, she transported the large pile of debris where she calculated it would be most effective in disguising their escape.
Two..
Reaching across to the small tactical panel, Rhu waited until Tavi signaled she had things ready in the weapons bay. He stabbed the commit button.
One.
Fifty meters off the starboard side, the floating trashcan that was the Type IV torpedo jettisoned and Kat's debris field beamed into the space around it.
Wishing Amy was there, Rhu hit another button flickering the Alices shields on as the torpedo exploded. Rhu's palm hit the engage field of his helm and the ship bucked and shuddered, bulk heads creaking as the warp field barely had time to form before the freighter micro-jumped a light year away from Treadis system.
Warming indicators blinked, reading some problems with the starboard nacelle and he sighed, rubbing sweat from his forehead.
"Well, that was fun," he commented to Kat.
"Peachy. Next time, I'll bring popcorn." At least it worked. With the shape the ship was in, that was something. Kat changed the transponder signal, then turned her attention to the starboard nacelle. She had no doubt she'd be running from one problem to another for the duration of their little trip. She'd be sure to add gorilla tape and bailing wire to the supply list for their next heist.
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