To: , ,
        , ,
        , "JustKenning"
        
From: "Jay  P Hailey" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com


Title: Star Trek: Outwardly Mobile
Author: Jay P Hailey (JayPHailey{at}yahoo.com) Series: MISC - TNG OCs
COdes: None
Part: 119/335(?)
Rating:[PG]
Archive: Fine with me, just tell me where. Disclaimer: Paramount owns all
things Star Trek.  I claim Original Characters and Situations for me.
Webpage HTTP://www.phoenixinn.iwarp.com/jayphailey

    The Tallamatrix
    by
    Jay P. Hailey
    And
    The Star Trek Players

    The pirate ship Ferret laid low in the Phoenix Nebula. She was a smaller
raider, with a crew of about fifteen people.

    The crew of the Ferret were engaged in their usual activities, killing
time in a variety of ways.

    Ousthan, the Captain watched his crew carefully. To some people, pirates
were romantic rebels against society. To others they were thugs whose
manliness was measured in terms of body count. They all saw piracy as
either an expression of distaste for what was called civilization or as a
good way to get rich. No one in their right mind wanted to be a bad guy.
Piracy tended to attract people who were not in their right minds.

    None of the people who were new to piracy ever really had an idea what
the whole job was about. Mostly it consisted of waiting. Then it consisted
of taking a cheap back shot against a weak or helpless target.

    The Klingons claimed to be predators, but Ousthan doubted it. No
predator ever grew fat taking part in honorable combat.

    While waiting in a patched together pirate ship the mental instabilities
of the crew were magnified. Ousthan watched carefully. The most dangerous
time to be a pirate captain was while there was nothing happening.

    The Ferret had been prowling slowly around the nebula. The recent war
between the Federation and the Phoenix Domain had destroyed many of the
corvettes and destroyers that the Phoenix Domain used to escort their
freighters. That would seem to make the Phoenix Domain inviting targets,
except for two things.

    The big new battleship Lucifer could easily out run and out gun the
Ferret. If Ousthan made his move unwisely then the big new PD flagship
would be all over him.

    It was unpleasant to be arrested as a pirate in the Federation. The best
one could look forwards to there was time in a pleasant penal colony. Lots
of time. Life or more. Worse was the treatment the psychos got. They were
mind wiped and then did life in the penal colony. In the Phoenix Domain,
the best a pirate ever got was summary execution or being sold into
slavery. The worst was to be tortured to death for the amusement of the
ruling Duke. They had expert torturers who could keep an unfortunate victim
alive for weeks and months of torture.

    Ousthan waited and bided his time in the nebula. He carefully watched
the information gathered by the Ferret's sensors and communications gear.
If he knew where the Lucifer was, then he could strike where she wasn't.
"Hit
'em where they ain't." It might just be the pirates code. Ousthan smirked to
himself. He was getting sentimental in his old age. Pirate's code?
"I'm alive and rich, you're dead and broke." That was the
pirate's code. Ousthan upheld it whenever he could.

    The Ferret had an old cloaking device. Fifty years old if it was a day.
Mostly it could fool freighters and civilian ships. Ousthan had seen the
sudden course changes that took prey away from his strike zone. He knew
that his cloaking device was just too old. He calculated the price for a
newer model. He'd have to get a few more good hits with almost no trouble
if we was to buy a new cloaking device.

    McEnzie called out. "I got a bogey."

    Suddenly the quiet activity on the Ferret stopped.

    "What is it?" Ousthan asked. "Find out quickly McEnzie."

    Ousthan trusted McEnzie more than most of the other crew. McEnzie had
once been in Starfleet. You couldn't trust people who had once been in
Starfleet worth a damn usually. They had good technical skills, but usually
they were either Starfleet Intelligence plants or Maquis sympathizers.
Ideology didn't pay as well as greed.

    McEnzie had drifted into his circle after she had been dishonorably
discharged for selling classified secrets to the Ferengi. When Ousthan
heard how much she got for the sale, he knew he could trust her. McEnzie
operated on the principle of greed. As long as being trustworthy paid well,
Ousthan knew, then you could trust McEnzie with your life. The moment she
got a better offer then you were toast. At least she was predictable.

    "It's... Damn it's the Endeavor!" McEnzie said.

    "All call." Ousthan told the computer. "Attention, my
loyal crew. There
is a Federation starship trolling for us. Rig for silent running now. Right
now. Just like last time." He turned off the intercom and then said
"Activate the cloak and go to silent running."

    Ousthan was nervous, but didn't let it show. That was why he was
Captain. The Endeavor had been in scanning range of the Ferret twice
before, but never so closely. Each time they activated the cloak, and then
helped it along by shutting down nearly all power and electronic activity
on the Ferret.

    -*-

    "I got a ping, Sir." Paul Durango reported.

    "On screen." Kevin ordered.

    "It was just a blip , Sir. It's gone now."

    "Helm, intercept the last position of that blip." Kevin said.
"Are you
ready to run that program, Lieutenant?"

    Durango nodded. "Yes. Sir." He was annoyed. There was nothing
inherently
magical in the collection of software that the Captain brought back. He
could have done all of it. He had even improved the thing a little.
However, he just hadn't thought of it. It galled him.

    "Slow to one half impulse." The Captain said.

    As the Endeavor began to slow, Watabe asked. "Shall I raise shields?"

    "No, Lieutenant. That will just let them know we see them. I want to
take the Pirates as cleanly as possible."

    Watabe thought for a moment and then called an alert for his security
troops. "Prepare for boarding party." He said.

    -*-

    "Jesus Christ, they're coming right for us." One of Ousthan's more
reliable crewmen said. "We've got to get out of here!"

    "We can't run." McEnzie said.

    "Why is that?" Ousthan asked. He had an idea, but he wanted McEnzie to
be the one to voice it.

    "If the Endeavor makes us, then she can out run us. We can't fight,
she'll blow us away. Our best bet is too sit tight and hope they don't scan
us." McEnzie explained.

    "Her shields are down. We could make a quick attack against their warp
nacelle and then run." One of the crew men suggested.

    Ousthan thought it through carefully. Power up, prepare engines and
weapons. Decloak. Move into position, fire. Run, evading the returned fire.
It was close, but uncertain enough that he didn't want to risk it.

    "We sit tight." He said. Then he carefully picked up a PADD and began
reading a book that he had plowed most of the way through.

    The crew watched his casual performance and drifted away from the
scanner station, trying to act casual.

    Waving lightly to McEnzie he said "Maneuvering thrusters only. Move us
away from them."

    Using the lightest possible touch, McEnzie imparted a drift to the
Ferret. The would drift lightly away from the Federation ship.

    -*-

    "Mr. Watabe, prepare the brig for a lot of prisoners." Kevin ordered.
"Miriah set up the transporter rooms. We'll beam the crew off the
pirate ship as soon as we get lock on."

    "Organics only?" Miriah asked.

    "Of course." He replied. "Mr. Durango. When you get a
lock on to the
pirate ship. Relay the data immediately to the transporter rooms."

    "Aye, Sir."

    "We're in range of the anomalies' last recorded position, Sir." The
Helmswoman said.

    "Very good. Are we set?" Kevin asked. Security had prepared
the brig and
was standing by in the transporter room. The Transporters were energized
and standing by. Durango turned and gave the Captain a thumbs up. The
modifications to the sensors were on line and ready to roll.

    -*-

    The big Federation ship filled the screen. Ousthan hated it. He wanted
to run screaming, but he knew that would get him nowhere. He took a deep breath.

    "The Federation ship has stepped up scanning." McEnzie said. An
irritated beep sounded on her board. "They've broken the cloak!"

    "Drop the cloak and raise the shields! Bring main power back on line!
Arm all weapons!" Ousthan gave the orders sharply, yet calmly. He was
surprised at his own calm. He knew that they were doomed.

    -*-

    "Got 'em." Durango reported.

    Down in the Transporter room, the transporter officer repeated it. "Got
'em, Commander."

    "Set the filter and energize." Miriah ordered.

    The transporter of the Endeavor was fitted with biofilters that kept
harmful organisms off the ship. The Endeavor's crew had modified their
transporter's filters to be able to exclude a wide variety of inanimate
objects. The transporters of the Endeavor reached out and grabbed only the
most organic pieces of the crew of the Ferret.

    -*-

    The cloak came down and McEnzie reached for the shields. She felt the
peculiar tingle along her skin that meant that a transporter had her. She
quickly took her hands off the shield controls. Transporters were nearly
perfectly reliable, but there was no point in pushing your luck.

    She felt a strange slipping feeling along her skin as she
dematerialized. She saw other members of the Ferret's crew grabbing weapons
of various kinds.

    Then she was materializing in the transporter room of the Endeavor. As
she solidified a settling feeling and a slight breeze told her that her
clothes had not made the trip.

    Ousthan grabbed his chest and grunted in pain. He keeled over.

    "Idiots!" McEnzie yelled. "He had an artificial heart!"

    Miriah said. "Get off of the transporter pad, quickly." Most of the
Pirates stepped down onto the floor of the transporter room.

    When the Orion man on the Pad was clear, Miriah called sickbay. "We've
got a patient for emergency transport. His left his artificial heart behind."

    "I knew that your clever transporter filter wasn't as smart as you
thought." Starcloud said. "We're ready for him."

    The transporter technician beamed Ousthan to sickbay.

    "As for the rest of you." Miriah said to the naked Pirates.
"You're
under arrest."

    "Hey! She's a Klingon!" One of them said.


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