Cold Comfort pt 3: Come Out, Come Out
Posted on 27 Sep 2022 @ 12:58pm by Commander Calliope Zahn & Command Master Chief Tāne HaiRoa
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:44pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: DSSO 717
Timeline: M3 - Backstory - following "Cold Comfort pt2: Drop Ins"
6110 words - 12.2 OF Standard Post Measure
HaiRoa hung on the ladder desperately trying to decide what they should do about the open hatchway below them.
In the end he decided simply staying where they were was not an option. It had been a couple of minutes and besides the open hatch neither he nor Rowle had seen or heard anything else. If it was the Breen and they knew they were in the ladder then they should have probably poked a head in by now. The longer time passed the more sure he because that the open hatch was probably just an oversight and had been left that way.
Still he was not at the point of just sticking he head out to see. He motioned for Rowle to climb up next to him and pushed himself as far into the side of the tube as he could to make room.
"Can you do a ladder slide?" he asked Rowle and mimed moving his feet and hands off the rungs to the outside of the ladder and then letting himself slide down the ladder uprights. It was a fast way to descend ladders and jeffries tubes.
Rowle nodded "Yes"
"Ok you drop down fast past the hatchway, then stop maybe six feet below. I'll stay here, if a Breen sticks their head in to look, I'll drop on them! If they have a weapon you grab it and I'll kick them in the head until they let go, then we go down as fast as we can and get off on Seven. Ok?" He did not want to go all the way to Nine and get trapped on the bottom deck.
Rowle looked a bit doubtful but nodded.
"And don't fall off!" HaiRoa added, they both looked down, the ladder dropped another five decks, some seventy plus feet, a fall would result in serious injury if not death.
"Ok" Rowle descended until he was below HaiRoa, Got a good grip on the outside of the uprights with his hands, took his weight on them, then moved his feet out there too. He looked up.
HaiRoa did the same, looking down between his chest and the ladder to Rowle.
"Go!" he mouthed, Rowle relaxed his hand grip and dropped away.
The Antican descended swiftly and passed beyond the open hatch, succeeding in slowing and halting his slide roughly as directed. The vertical tube remained still, though a shadow seemed to pass over the open hatch before the light steadied again. Rowle looked back up at HaiRoa, as if to ask what it meant now.
"Aww dammit!" HaiRoa muttered under his breath. He had seen the movement too, it was not just a forgotten hatch!
If the Breen were there, it appeared Rowle had managed to drop past unnoticed, HaiRoa wondered if he could do the same. But then that would leave both of them below the open hatch, trapped and exposed in the ladder tube for any Breen that happened to lean in, they would be defenseless.
The original plan had been feasible, now they just needed a reason for a Breen to look in. He got Rowles attention and mimed making a noise by hitting the ladder.
"Same plan! Make a noise! Get them to look" He mouthed.
Rowle looked skeptical but nodded. he lifted a boot of the rung, drew it back and kicked the ladder. A metallic BONG resonated in the tube.
He kicked again, twice more BONG BONG
This time there was a hurried shuffle in the corridor as someone ran past and Rowle, craning his neck around saw the flash of the standard issue cold weather gear with the command red stripe across it.
"It's Zahn!" Rowle said outloud, starting back up the rungs.
His voice must have carried into the hall because Zahn returned, green face looking into the hatch while still defensively gripping the long handled spanner. "Oh, for the love...." She was mad and relieved all at once.
Malmrose joined her, and seeing HaiRoa descending and Rowle coming from below griped at Rowle even while lending a hand to pull him up. "What were you going to do? Try to drop on us?"
"That was the plan if you were a Breen," HaiRoa admitted clambering through the hatch.
"You were clearly fixing to hit us with a wrench!" Rowle barked back, emerging into the hall and pointing at Calliope's white-knuckled hold on the implement.
"Oh she can't hit worth anything." Malmrose let slip.
"Hey—" Calliope started, mouth hanging open with mild offense.
HaiRoa let that go and addressed the most important issue. "So what the hell are the Breen doing here? You see what kind of ship it was? I got a quick glance when they were at the out hatch, but only saw one of them."
"It was a scout class," Calliope said, "Not big, but probably can be run with a crew of around 6, and has some light cargo space. Which means if we let them hunt around and take a few things they can't be long before they fill up the holds. Probably they figured on using the ion storm to prevent the station from an auto subspace alert of their presence. My guess is they secure operations and the engine room then start going through the parts cribs."
HaiRoa nodded. Zahn seemed to have a reasonable handle on it, for an Ensign. The chances were the Breen were indeed here to see what they could steal and the storm was good cover for them. Even so, he was not much in favor of just letting them rifle through and take things.
"We hid everything we had out on the Operations level," Malmrose added.
"We had to leave one of the plating tanks running, it was nearly done, but would have taken longer to cancel it, than to let it finish," Rowle said.
HaiRoa was about to comment, when there was a hiss of static and the over head speaker announced.
Starfleet Crew, you will report to the control room immediately! The voice had that characteristic metallic rasp of a Breen helmet speaker.
"How..." Calliope's jaw went slack with disbelief and horror as the auto generated emotionless translation came through, destroying all of her hopes of laying low. "Maybe it's just a blanket warning! Internal sensors are not operating in the ion storm. They can't *know* we're here."
Rowle and Malmrose looked at HaiRoa, as Calliope was clearly grasping for straws.
"They might be marauding scum but they're not stupid," HaiRoa muttered. "They must have done recon here in the past, so they know the station isn't in shutdown mode." He waved a hand around. "Heat, light, air... all were running when they arrived. So they are pretty sure somebody is here, probably not how many of us though. We need to-" He was interrupted by another announcement.
Starfleet Crew, we know you are here! You will report to the control room immediately! We will not harm you, we need emergency repairs, then we will leave
"Yeah right, we ain't falling for that." HaiRoa snapped. "We need to stay away from them and find weapons, There must be some stored here. Where's the inventory PaDD?" He fumbled in his jacket pocket then stopped "Dammit! I left it in the bay on Deck Five! We need to go get that PaDD, it has the full inventory of everything on here. " He looked around the group, "We can't risk comms, then they will really know we're here, so probably best if we stick together, it's only one deck down lets get down there before they start looking for us." He headed back for the hatch.
The overhead blared again Starfleet Crew, we need your help, we will not harm you! Report to the Control room immediately
"Persistent bastards aren't they," he said, taking a quick glance up and down the ladder tube. "It's clear." He clambered through and began rapidly descending.
Calliope motioned for the two crewmen to follow on. "I'll take up the rear guard." She said, as if it were a decision she made. They shimmied inside and Calliope carefully pulled the access panel shut behind them.
HaiRoa quickly clambered down to the next deck below. He pressed his ear to the hatch for a moment, hearing nothing it slowly and quietly swung the wheel to unlock it, he had left it only just locked previously. Cracking the hatch slightly he listened again, still nothing.
He looked up at the others crammed into the tube above him. "Here we go," he mouthed and swung the hatch open. He listened again, still just soft rush of the storm. He leaned forward out of the hatch and risked a glance up and down the corridor, paying close attention to where the elevator shaft was. Again no sign of any intruders.
He clambered out, stood up and waited for the others to join him. "The PaDD's in Bay Four-Twenty-Seven, down there." He pointed to the right. Checking the corridor again he set off at a soft-footed jog.
He slowed as he approached the elevator shaft and moved to the far side of corridor to pass it, then continued, checking the bay numbers until he reached the right one. Swinging the door open, he saw the PaDD where he had left it, on the pallets of supplies.
Snatching it up HaiRoa activated it and scrolled down. "P.. P.. PE.. PH.. Phaser!" His eyes flciked over the screen, finger swiping the entries, his face intent as he searched. The tension turned to dissapointment and disgust. "Phaser - Activation capacitor; Aim compensation assembly; Attenuation assembly; Automatic lock assembly; Barrel - heavy, light, medium; Barrel screws; Barrel shroud; Batteries... Capacitors... Electronic targeting... parts! There's nothing but parts! Not one single case of complete weapons!"
"Okay, okay." Calliope's big eyes got bigger with a straw of hope to grasp at. "This is good news, right? So we don't have weapons, but we've got everything we need to assemble some! We just have to make a plan on how to move through the access hatches and get to everything we need before—"
"The lift's running!" Rowle called over from the door where he was keeping watch.
"Feck! Out, get out! Go left there's another ladder down there!" HaiRoa urged shoving the PaDD in his jacket pocket and running back to the doorway.
Calliope dashed inside of the wall again, struggling under the bulk of her coat and pulling the hatch shut carefully behind them, all the while, feeling once more like a rabbit going to ground... They just had to last long enough without confrontation for the Scorpio to come back and chase the Breen raiders off.... Just another three and a half days. That was all.
HaiRoa came awake with a jerk. He was shivering with cold. He blinked, looking around him, trying not to let his teeth chatter. It was dim in the cramped service duct, just one tiny red light every five meters. The other three were huddled up next to him on the duct floor.
They had found there were small rectangular ducts, about four feet high and six feet wide that ran around the inner hull on each deck. They carried service conduits, ventilation and the power grid lines around the station. There were access hatches in the deck at the very back of some of the cargo bays.
After retrieving the inventory PaDD some thirty hours ago they had played a game of cat and mouse with the Breen. Moving between decks constantly trying to stay one jump ahead of the intruders.
So far they counted six or seven Breen, it was hard to tell some apart due to their suits. They had managed to observe some of the search, a couple of snatched observations from hatchways and once when they were nearly trapped in a Cargo Bay on Deck three, which was when they had found the service ducts.
There had been several more announcements, promising everything from good treatment, food and that the Breen would leave as soon as the storm passed.
When that had not gained results, there had been a couple of threats, then nothing except the heat had been turned back down. It was now down to six degrees Fahrenheit, balmy for the Breen, bitter cold for the Away Team.
HaiRoa rubbed his hands together, trying to get the feeling back as he watched his breath condense on the metal grill supporting the power conduit above his head.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, besides the cold he had a headache coming on, and then he noticed that despite the cold and just waking up his heart seemed to be beating quickly.
Why was that?
He quickly glanced up and down the duct, was there some kind of danger?
He did not see or hear anything, but he felt he was on edge for some reason, other than being trapped and hunted.
Then he noticed Zahn was awake too. He nodded to her. "You ok? he asked softly.
"Yuh-yeah." Her teeth chattered as she grit them in a forced smile. Her eyes were reddened from tears she'd obviously dashed away with her glove. and she was sniffing. "I was just... regretting."
"Oh?"
"My mom, she's a recruiter." Calliope's breath froze around her she could barely feel her face anymore and was sure her lips were bright green. "And there was a second recruitment office on the same strip mall, for the SFMC. I used to go meet my mom at her office after school. The Marines would try to recruit me when I went past. Sergeant Nicolas Tenpenny. My mom called him Sergeant Fifteen-cents. I had to look up the old coin reference to get the joke. But he'd shout stuff like the Marines would make me dangerous. That they could teach me to survive anything. I'm kinda wishing I had taken him up on his offer about now. Maybe I could be taking this place back with a sharpened icicle instead of... becoming a popsicle."
"Yeah, except the Marines wouldn't been sent here to fix the air scrubbers, they would have let the air get so thick you could cut it and then they'd wonder why they have headaches," HairRoa joked "And talking of headaches this cold is giving me one." He pinched the bridge of his nose again.
"True enough." Calliope agreed while watching him try to handle the headache and wondering...
"How did you end up in Starfleet rather than the Corps? " he asked.
"My mom's fleet enlisted, like you— PO1 Jacinta Zahn. Sergeant Tenpenny was trying to enlist me out from under her, but... I decided to try and get sponsored to Starfleet Academy, go for officer. Worked my tail off for grades," she admitted between shivering. "I'm not feeling like any of those late night study sessions are giving us any advantages now."
HaiRoa grunted. "What I tell new crewmen when they come aboard, is that all their time at the Academy prepared them for one thing, and one thing alone, their first day on an operational starship. All the training, classes, theory and drills just means they are less likely to do something dumb that first day. And now is when they start learning how to do the job." He looked around the dim freezing duct and back to her, shrugging his shoulders. "No class can teach this. We make it up as we go along and trust we're making the right choices. Oh and realizing that? Means you not quite as dumb as the average new Ensign"
Calliope seemed to brighten at that and then fell into a moment of contemplation. "We need to warm up, without drawing attention. There's got to be some shielded conduits around the computer core, to keep stellar rays from scrambling the data. We could probably hook up some batteries and make a heat source there that won't draw attention like using the grid would, and would keep us insulated. Maybe, when we're warmer, we can think clearer."
HaiRoa nodded. "Being warm works for me!" He reached over and prodded Rowle and Malmrose. "Wake up guys, we might have a way to find some heat"
Rowle blinked and looked around, groggily coming awake, smacking his lips and rubbing his face.
Malmrose remained hunched over and grumbled. "Just fine here, rather be cold than risk getting shot."
"Cut that out," HaiRoa snapped. "Get your ass in gear, we're moving!"
"Why? It's safer here," Malmrose responded, curling up more. "I'm not going."
HaiRoa punched him in the shoulder, not sure why he did so, but suddenly feeling angry at the sleepy crewman. "I said get up!"
"Back off Bosun!"
"Get up!" HaiRoa got to his knees in the confined space, fists balling "Now!"
Calliope put a gloved hand on HaiRoa's shoulder as she started feeling afraid at the rising rage in him. "He's right. Malmrose is right. It's dangerous to move—"
"Of course it is!" HaiRoa snapped, shaking off her hand.
Seeing how the tattoos in his face accentuated his flaring temper, Calliope cringed reflexively but tried to maintain control. "But you're right too, Bosun. It's even more dangerous to stay here. They seem to still want to drive us to them, but when they tire of that, it would be easy enough for them to change the computer settings to suffocate us just as well." She looked around them all, hoping not to lose Rowle and Malmrose' s participation. "If we move to the core to warm up, I can try a back access to try to override the control input as well, to keep them from turning off or poisoning the air. We have to risk moving, because they could just asphyxiate us in our sleep if we stay here."
"You heard the Ensign! Get up Malmrose, now!" He glared at the crewman until he rolled over and sat up.
"Alright, alright! Take it easy" he grumbled, rubbing some feeling back into his limbs.
"C'mon," HaiRoa began crawling down the duct heading for the nearest hatchway.
"You all go ahead, I'll follow and be sure the hatch is closed properly," Calliope said, planning to test a theory by putting some space between herself and HaiRoa. She wondered how long in her sleep she had been curled up close to him.
Rowle and Malmrose gathered their few items and crawled off after the Bosun. Twenty meters along HaiRoa stopped and waited for them to join him. He pressed his ear to over head hatch, listened for a moment, it was hard to hear much over the rush of the ventilation
For all he knew there could be a Breen stood over the hatchway with a weapon pointed at them right now. He could not hear any sounds like cargo boxes being moved or rummaged through, so he risked opening the hatch. They had left it unlocked, so as not to make noise or movement when they opened it.
He cracked it a tiny bit, listened again and then slowly pushed it open. He peered around. The cargo bay was not as they had left it. A least half dozen of the containers had been opened, the contents strewn around the floor. It seemed the Breen were determined to go through everything they could while they were aboard. His view of the bay door was now obstructed by a tipped over container.
HaiRoa cautiously stood up and clambered out of the floor hatch, crawled over to a upended container and peered around it. The cargo bay door was shut.
He signaled the others to come out and join him. It was a little warmed up here, not much but a little. The air seemed better too, he took in a lungful, his headache seemed to lessen and he relaxed a little.
He looked over at Malmrose. His earlier anger at the man had gone. "You alright?" He asked quietly.
Malmrose nodded, still looking a bit unsure of the Bosun
"Good, sorry about earlier" HaiRoa said "Cold must be making me grumpy."
Malmrose nodded again "It's alright, we're all getting a bit on edge I guess."
HaiRoa felt the ire rise again and was about to snap back that he personally was not on edge! But took another deep breath and let it go. "C'mon lets check the door" He said, got to his feet and walked over to the bay door.
As they crept section by section through the halls, Calliope knew they were too sluggish and worn down to be very effective. But the goal of getting to a place of warmth and gaining some level of control of the situation was right, she also knew. She was just second guessing her judgement. And as she observed HaiRoa's hackles lowering, she had something else to worry about. With days to survive in close proximity with three men, she realized she should have grabbed more than just rations when they went into hiding in the ducts.
Fifteen minutes later the group had descended down to Deck Nine, the lowest and final level. They had previously stayed clear of it since the reactor and other life support equipment was located there and it was likely to be patrolled by the Breen. It was also one of the smallest decks, like Deck One, and there were less escape routes, all of which only went up.
HaiRoa cracked the ladder tube hatch and peered through, then jerked back. "Breen!" He hissed. He had caught a glimpse of a single Breen, walking away from the hatchway, down the corridor.
Calliope motioned with a finger to her lips and then waved for the whole party to back up. "We'll find another way." She said in barely a whisper.
"Screw this, its time we did something! There's only one, we need to take him out!" He had had enough of skulking around, he was angry and ready to take it out on the Breen.
Rowle seemed to be half convinced by the rousing words of the Bosun, but Malmrose, already bruised, tried to squeeze back past Rowle in an effort to retreat, and shoved the Antican who shoved back. There was a reverberating clang in the shaft.
Everyone looked at one another, knowing the sound could not have been missed.
The Breen turned around, the scanner-visor of his helmet honing in on the direction of the noise and he could be heard speaking, repeating something. His weapon was raised as he walked back towards the source of the sound. Between each of his attempts at speaking, there was a mess of static in return. It didn't take knowing the language to ascertain that a message wasn't getting through.
Terrified, Calliope realized they were about to be uncovered— and they were all fish in a barrel. Wild eyed, she locked eyes with HaiRoa and gave him a single affirming nod. If there was any advantage left to them, HaiRoa stood ahead of them all and he should take that sliver of remaining opportunity.
HaiRoa had already made up his mind. Regardless of the Ensign's decision, he was done hiding. He gripped the hatch's inner handles tightly in both hands, pushed it open a little more, about six inches, bent his knees, tensed up, locked his legs and waited, his face a tattooed mask of concentration and determination.
His lips moved as he spoke silently. " I ahaha! Katu te ihi-ihi, Ka tu te wanawana, Ki runga i te rangi, e tu iho nei, tu iho nei, hi!"
And it is my time! It is my moment! The anticipation explodes!
Feel the power! Our dominance rises!
He did not have long to wait, the moment he felt the Breen's touch on the hatch he jerked it towards himself, until it clanged on the rim, then violently slammed it back open. Driving up with his knees and shoving his shoulder into the hatch he drove it open, clambering through the hatch, using it like a shield to batter into the Breen.
There was a crackle of energy and a green disruptor bolt shot off down the corridor, HaiRoa kept pushing into the hatch, swinging it fully open pinning the Breen into the bulkhead behind it.
There was a metallic crunch as the top edge of the hatch impacted the Breen's helmet.
The Breen had its weapon in its right hand and it tried to pivot it around the hatch towards HaiRoa. He saw it coming, kept his right shoulder into the hatch and grabbed at the barrel with both hands, forcing it downwards.
The Breen fired again and a patch of deck near HaiRoa's feet bloomed red hot. HaiRoa kept his hands on the weapon but eased up the pressure of his shoulder, letting the hatch move back towards him a little, the Breen moved, thinking it could get free, then he slammed all his weight into it again. There was another satisfying clang as the rim impacted the helmet again.
"Help me Dammit!" HaiRoa called out
Calliope had shoved Malmrose and Rowle out ahead of her, hoping they could all overwhelm the one Breen and break past, but as she stuck her head through, she saw Malmrose was laid out on the floor, stunned, a few paces away in the opposite direction— he must have tried running away from the conflict— and Rowle had his hands up; HaiRoa was still actively struggling with the Breen he was battering into the wall, so that meant there was another raider, firing around the nearest corner. While Rowle was shouting for the other Breen not to shoot, Calliope dashed to HaiRoa's aid and twisted the rifle from the raider's grip. She felt a surge of adrenaline at the resistance he was putting up and as soon as she got the rifle free, nailed the raider with the butt of it into the side of his helmet.
Gun in hand Calliope took a moment to realize she was armed now, and the weapon was charged and ready. She swung around, determined to cover Rowle and Malmrose... but they weren't on the other end of the hall any more.
Now the Breen was unarmed HaiRoa slammed it with the hatch again and again and again until it crumpled, panting and sweating despite the cold. He looked around, seeing Zahn but not the other two.
"Where did they g- "
A green disrupter bolt came lancing down the corridor and he threw himself down on the deck.
"Get back in!" he yelled at Zahn and crawled towards the hatchway, throwing himself over the rim and pulling his legs in behind him as another bolt careened down the corridor. Since they were on the bottom deck the floor inside the ladder tube was flat, he got up as Zahn squirmed in with him, Breen weapon in hand.
Shock painted Calliope's face... two of the people in her charge were taken! Was she going the wrong direction? "They're captured!" She stated the obvious, herself processing it, as she pressed inside the narrow tube with him and slung the rifle strap.
"Go! " he urged "Climb! " He quickly reached out and grabbed the hatch, swinging it shut as a third bolt ricocheted off the rim. Slamming the hatch closed he spun the wheel to lock it and started up the ladder, stopping for a second to stomp on the hatch wheel with his boot, making sure it was locked tight.
"Go up two and get off!" he called up to Zahn ahead of him on the ladder, going hand over hand on the rungs to catch her up. "They know we're down here now, we need to get up higher as quick as we can or they'll trap us!" They had to climb some twenty-four feet to Deck Seven. "Go Go!"
Calliope pressed on as fast as she could go, the pain of the cold in her extremities overcome now with the blood pumping hard. She was sweating even, under her layers of coat, a clammy sweat of fear, but she pressed on, no longer drowsy at all, but winded. She came to deck two and spun the hatch open, looking each direction before army crawling out on her belly.
Reaching Deck Seven and tumbling out of the hatch behind Zahn, HaiRoa shut it behind them.
"Run for the outer hull, we'll use one of the ladders there!" He pointed to the left and set off running. They had to pass the central elevator shafts and he could hear one of the lifts running as they approached.
"Oh shit, they're coming." Calliope held a stitch in her side, and slowed up, ready to double back again.
"Don't stop!" he urged Zahn and they dashed pass the open shaft. As they did so the bottom of one of the elevators came into view on its way down.
HaiRoa pushed himself into the corridor wall, counted to five in his head and risked a quick peek. The elevator was dropping below the deck, but he caught the tops of three Breen helmets as it descended out of sight.
He ran after Zahn as she opened another hatch and they clambered. "Up to Deck Three!" He urged, "Need to get above them as much as we can, then we'll get into a conduit!"
Calliope shimmied inside the access and looked up at the next ladder. "Deck Three." She repeated. She hopped up and hustled, the rifle smacking her in the thigh every other step. The upward passage was tall and narrow and if the Breen started checking all of the exterior access tubes, they'd be simple targets. She remembered HaiRoa's plan to slide down on top of a pursuer and prepared herself for the possibility.
HaiRoa was thinking the same thing, if there was Breen at the top of this ladder they were done for. "There were at least two on Deck Nine, and I saw three on the elevator. If it is only a small ship, there can't be many more of them left, not enough to cover all the ladders" he whispered, wishing silently for some luck as they scrambled up the rungs.
Ten minutes later they were back in another dim cramped conduit, crawling away from the entrance hatch. After twenty yards they stopped.
HaiRoa slumped back against the conduit side, breathing heavily, his breath fogging around him.
"Sonofabitch!" he cursed "Dammitdammitdammit!"
He sat there getting his breath back and despite the adrenaline surging through his system, within minutes he was shivering again, the sweat turning cold inside his jacket. He fumbled in the pockets, pulled his gloves on and raised his hood, before folding his arms across his chest
"Exactly what happened to Rowle and Malmrose?" he asked Zahn. "Did I hear Rowle shout 'Don't shoot' at one point?"
"Yeah." Calliope unslung the rifle and started checking it out to see what she could understand about the settings, targeting, and power while she recounted what she saw between heaves for breath. "Malmrose. He ran the other direction from you. There was another Raider around the corner, and he ran straight into that, I think. He was on the ground when I saw him, I felt like I saw him still moving on the deck." Or was that just wishful thinking? "I hope! Rowle must have seen Malmrose shot as he was climbing out. By the time I saw anything Rowle was shouting at the Breen at the other end of the corridor."
There was a hum of the PA system as it activated, interrupting their conversation and a moment later came the electronic voice of a Breen.
"Ensign Zarne, Petty Officer Harower. This is Ak'ched Jor. We have your crew. They are unharmed, despite your attack on my own crew. You will make your way immediately to the Control Deck and surrender!"
"Well that didn't take them long!" HaiRoa hissed. "Now they know there's just two of us!"
"Rowle isn't that creative I guess. Not enough to spin a yarn about more." Still breathing heavily, Calliope leaned her back against the wall and pulled her sweaty neck kerchief up over her face, hoping to capture what warmth she could of her own breath while trying to imagine a way of recovering the crewmen.
"How long until the Scorpio is due back?" She asked out loud, knowing full well it was still three days out.
"Too long!" HaiRoa muttered, thankful at least that Zahn had not suggested giving up.
Some fifteen minutes later Jor was back. Ensign Zarne, Petty Officer Harower, do not try my patience. You will immediately come to the Control Deck. You will be well treated, as are your companions Rawl and Malumruse. This game has gone on long enough. You will come here now!
"How long before he starts making threats?" HaiRoa asked rhetorically.
"If Ak'ched wanted us dead, he wouldn't be talking," Calliope surmised. "It's easy for the Breen in their suits to shut off all of the environmental controls and watch us die. They're raiders looking for stuff to steal which means they have black market access to sell stolen goods through. We're probably more valuable alive. They probably anticipate ransoming us or trading us to the Orions."
HaiRoa gave her a sharp look "Trade us to Your people?! Is that some kind of inside slave-culture joke?!" He could feel his anger rising again.
"My people?" Calliope looked aghast at the idea. In the small space between them both, their breath formed the same cloud. "The Orion slavers aren't My people!"
He wanted to snap at her, looked in a mirror recently?! But managed to hold his tongue. "Whatever you say Ensign," he waved her way with his hand.
"What the hell is—" Calliope cut herself of short with a frustrated growl. "All I'm trying to say is that if they start threatening to kill hostages, I think it's empty air," she explained, her own temper getting short. "But we need to get them back before Ak'ched changes his mind about turning a profit on us."
"Sure, go tell that to Rowle and Malmrose," he hissed. "I'm sure they'll find it very comforting! And empty air or not, we are not giving up to them!" He was determined on that. "We need a way to hit back! Something that they won't expect... " He thought for a moment "The ship! We need to go after their ship, stop them from leaving or hauling anyone off to be sold!"
"It's hella cold here. It's not going to be warmer there."
"It will be plenty warm if we set it alight!" He muttered "And the cold's the last of our worries right now."
"We have to go for it," she agreed. "But we need a plan so we don't make this even worse." There was a long pause between them, sharing the same air, and Calliope could feel his angry tattooed glare pressuring her. It was terrifying, and as much as she knew she lacked much experience and wanted to lean on HaiRoa's instincts, she thought he was likely to do something rash. A problem she felt certain her pheromones were winding up further. "Look, I need some space. To think. You're stressing me out."
"I'm stressing you out? Are you for real?" He waved her away. "Sure, go, whatever! Just leave the weapon!" He hunched up, trying not to shiver.
Calliope shouldered the strap of the Breen rifle without comment. She knew if she left it with him it was even more likely he was going to go off half cocked. She wasn't sure how to address HaiRoa, given the conditions of the situation and the likelihood his irrational irritation was partly her own fault. But this was her command, not his. She figured he didn't need her to say it and, rifle across her back, turned tail from him to shuffle away in the service shaft on her knees.
"And you better be back in fifteen minutes or I'm going down there alone!" he threw at her back as she crawled off. Typical naive Ensign, probably going off to cry because they didn't tell her it was like this at the Academy! He thought to himself.
"You stay here. That's an order." Calliope hissed back as she rounded a corner out of view. Goddamn men and their bravado.
