Out Of The Frying Pan

Posted on Thu Dec 20th, 2018 @ 4:50pm by Lieutenant Commander Shadi Zatra & Captain Remas McDonald

1,814 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: S1:3: Myriad Problems
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: Timeline: MD 61 9.15AM

The transporter beam cut out, for a moment everything seemed well. Then the computer core let out a deep seismic groan as it toppled backwards, no longer supported by the three like branches of Abborax's ship. As it came to a rest, the cylindrical bulk crunched and rattled, as data cartridges on its lower flanks began to take a weight they were not designed to bare.

Nor was bare potting soil an ideal medium to put the core in.

The transporter had placed them in the largest open space immediately available and free of use. The Arboretum was designed for the housing and care of alien flora found in Messier 4 for transport back to the Federation or the Colony/. But given no exploration had begun, it was merely a large room filled with raised planters with a neutral growth medium filling them.

But before Ari could gain his bearings further than that, the pressure batch to the Arboretum opened and a trio of Expedition Security officers in light body armour raced in. Each carried a compact phaser carbine they kept pushed into their shoulder and aimed squarely at the Chief Engineer.

Quick on their heels was the Chief of Security and his plucky Ops Chief companion.

Shadi snarled. "I smell an electrical fire... Arivek Zhuri! You're dead meat!"

Arivek held up his hands, "Wait, hold on." He looked behind him where the other aliens were. "This one needs medical attention now. Please take her and her brother to Sickbay."

The five aliens vanished in a haze of transporter energy. At the same instance, Remas strode in through the door, his eyes tracking to the computer core and then to his Chief Engineer.

"Notable concern. T'was a might lacking yesterday when Abborax used this ship to blast the colony barge out of orbit," Remas said slowly, checking his tone to keep it flat. "Given we have no computer core to run your...simulacrum, I imagine your running off something the Myriad gave you?"

Arivek swallowed hard. Here it was, his deepest, darkest secret, laid out for the world to see. And he stood here, figuratively naked without an escape to the breach of information. Slowly, he just nodded.

"Wait... Wait just a minute..." Shadi cocked her head first to one side and then another like a bird of prey getting a fix on a rodent. "You're a... hologram... but where did the real Arivek go?" Her big eyes spread to full width. "You are the real Arivek! You've always been a starving hologram! That's why you always smell like the spoiled egg of an ODN relay that fucked an EPS tap! That's not how Bolians smell!" She turned to Remas and repeated, "THAT'S NOT HOW BOLIANS SMELL!"

"That I know well Shadi, but be calm. Fight's long over," Remas said and stepped forward towards Ari. He walked to his side so he facing him, shoulder to shoulder as though holding a private conversation. "What's about to happen now is out of my hands. But I'll ask you as an officer wearing the uniform to answer honestly as to why? If this were a Rish homesteader, you'd be before the seniors and the captain's eye with a short walk ahead of you. Make me see why you'd risk it all."

"Who cares why he did it?" Shadi spat. "He hurt our tasty ship! He doesn't deserve to live!"

Shadi pounced at Arivek and passed right through him, distorting his holographic apparition like a fun-house mirror.

"Famine!" she cursed, having landed somewhere in a pile of potting soil.

"I care enough to ask because his actions help put this ship in harm's way. Had Abborax just done what he wanted we'd probably be in the same place we are now, but we'd have had the best engineer available to us," Remas explained patiently. "So my question stands Ari: why? We are crew, and to me that is bond that transcends blood and family. It's a choice. So why?"

"I didn't know he was going to take the core," Arivek said, softly. "And I did everything in my power to return it to you."

"But you knew he wasn't on the level, you knew he had eyes for things that were not his long 'fore he put us to his guns. And you kept that to yourself, along with other things," Remas said with a regretful sigh. "What am to do with you Ari? Where did you think this would end?"

The captain's words boiled Shadi's cold blood. "Computer! Delete program Arivek Zhuri!"

"BELAY THAT!"

The voice rolled from Remas like the crash of a wave onto a rocky shore. In it was contained a firm handle one whatever emotion drove him along, and the acknowledgment that firm control could be turned on them if given a reason. He turned his head slightly, one eye glancing back at the Saurian.

"A life for lives lost makes us no better than the Myriad. We are Starfleet, never forget that Shadi," he said in a voice part threat and plea. He then turned his head back to Ari. "Hers will not be the only voice I fight, but I will. You have my oath and bond on that."

Shadi spat on the ground at Remas' feet. "Before I was Starfleet... I was and am a daughter-spawn of Ragolar, and that is a space demon if I ever smelled one." She thrust an accusing talon at Ari. "If it had any honor, it would have ended its miserable existence already. Before the Goddess I repent that I did not do it when I first smelled his treacherous musk. And now you order me to defy the Warrior Code of my people? Do not tempt me, Captain Remas. Do not tempt me!" Her voice had descended into shrieking by the end.

Arivek ignored the Saurian, who was honestly acting much more as he expected, rather than the cool calm that Remas was exuding. "Remas, I need you to..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say. He had no defense. Arivek sighed, taking a deep breath, "I want to explain what happened, to explain my decision. Leaving the Traveller was not something that was supposed harm you, the crew or this ship. Abborax told me that he could help me see my full potential, that he and his kind would understand me and relate to me better than you could, you being flesh and blood."

The hologram looked up at Remas for the first time since he'd returned. "I agreed to go with him because I was afraid." And there it was, an admission he wasn't expecting. "Afraid you'd never accept me, after all this time. Afraid of what would happen if you found out the truth. Afraid you'd be disappointed in my secret. And he offered me something I didn't think I'd ever get here on the Traveller: a life without keeping that secret. A chance to be around people who were like me.

"But he lied. He deceived me, deceived all of us. And I..." Arivek wiped away the tears that had started to trail down his cheeks. "I deceived you and this crew. And I hurt you. And for that, I am truely sorry. I am ready to give up my commission and spend the rest of this mission in the Brig. I will assist the Traveller in putting the Computer back together, as well as any other task you deem necessary."

"Don't listen!" Shadi seethed. "His tears are as holographic as the rest of him. For all we know, he planned the bombing conssspiracy that botched our launch. Maybe he has been working against us all along!" She turned back to Ari with murder in her eyes. "You killed Gark Zark, you monster! You demon!"

She took another swipe at him to no avail. It was a futile gesture, she knew, made in spite against her outcry that failed to convince even her. Arivek's remorse was plain to see, but Shadi was angry.

"We need to revoke his security access Captain at the very least, prevent this from happening again." Victor said, finally speaking up unsure what to say up to this point. "Not sure how we could restrict him to the brig either but I'm sure engineering can figure something out." He turned to look at his security officer,"Set your weapons to max stun, it'll disrupt his matrix and cause him to go offline momentarily if need be while not damaging anything."

One final hiss. By it Shadi forfeited her claim to Ari's blood, after which she turned around and crossed her arms in a sulk.

"We all make mistakes. Ones of judgement, of pride, and hubris are ones all too commonly seen. In you Ari I see all three of these: you judged us poorly, your pride blinded you, and hubris brought you low. You will be placed in judicial confinement as best as we can, but you will not face summary judgement here on this ship. You are in debt to this crew, and I will see that debt paid here," Remas said, and turned back to the others. "Victor, revoke Mister Zhuri's security clearance. Shadi, I'm placing the re-intergration of the Core into the ships systems in your claws. Work with Clee'san on that."

He then returned to look at Ari.

"I need time to think about how best to reintegrate you into the ship's complement. Can I trust you to abide by the terms of confinement to your quarters?" he asked his former Chief Engineer.

Arivek nodded. "And uh..." he hesitated for a moment, "if you need help putting the Core back together, let me know." He turned and walked towards the Cargobay doors.

"Ari," Remas spoke up with a polite cough into one hand. "Victor's ExpSec officer's will escort you to your quarters. I'd appreicate it if you'd wait for them, and follow their directives."

Looking up at Remas, Arivek just nodded.

Vic gestured to his officers. 2 kept their weapons up while the 3rd moved towards Ari, "Move." he simply said as they proceeded out of the cargo bay and towards his quarters. Vic stayed behind with the rest of the senior staff. "Now what Captain?"

"Now we make a space demon cage," Shadi said. "And we already have one to consssult."

"You can't see it Shadi, but Ari is already in a cage," Remas sighed, and rubbed his eyes with one hand. "As for what we do now Victor? We find out where we are, and figure out how to get back to the colony barge. We left them in a sorry state, and we need to be the ones to set it as right as we can. Keep working on the anti Myriad weapon you were cooking up. Just in case."

 

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