Cruel Harvest

Posted on Mon Apr 21st, 2025 @ 9:12pm by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis & Lieutenant JG Zub Enel

3,562 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Interlude 1 Gamma Quadrant
Location: DS18 - Cargo Handling Deck
Timeline: Some time before the "Predator" posts

[ON]

Zub Enel’s tricorder confirmed that whoever was hiding in the cargo machinery also had a phaser. Enel guessed he had cornered a member of the cloaked weapons trade, a trade deadly serious about secrecy. The automated cargo deck was darker than most of the DS18 areas. Perfect for business.

His silenced tricorder tracked the smuggler. Enel crept closer, feeling breathless. Low oxygen.

He sought a silhouette among idle belts, cargo forks, and sorting arms. Usually deafening, their stillness helped.

A scuff. A boot? His tricorder showed a humanoid, phaser out, hunched behind nearby machinery. Dangerously lightheaded in the lo-ox, Zub deliberately didn’t gasp.

Click. A phaser switched to Kill! Instinct sent Zub flat. Behind the machinery, flaming red, a beam missed by a micron. He rolled away.

The next shot blazed lower. Where he had been.

Prone, Zub pulled his phaser. He stayed quiet, listening.

A deep female voice issued from Zub’s combadge. “Enel?”

The Klingon female Master-at-Arms, B’rala, sounded 50 shades more bored than the last time she checked in.

When his combadge betrayed his position, he blindly rolled again but clanked loudly against a machine skirt. A crimson beam vaporized his tricorder, which had trailed by its strap behind him. He hoped B’rala would not ask his status again.

Guessing that she would, without thinking, he pulled off his combadge and sent it skittering away.

“Enel?”

It vanished in a red flash.

He heard scuffling. Someone was running?

He stood to give chase. Dizziness took him to one knee. A ruby beam scorched where his head had been. He gulped air noisily, trying to oxygenate his brain.

Someone ran. A metallic thumping accompanied it like the shooter was blundering off machinery, maybe panicking in the dark. Zub lifted an arm to protect his face from hitting something, turned an ear, and pursued.

Blind, he caromed painfully off heavy metal, each sound marking his trail. He glimpsed someone ahead. Seeing meant he was a clear shot. He ducked.

A beam cauterized the air just overhead.

Zub returned fire. His beam set a massive gripper aglow. There came the clank of a hatch. The perp had fled. Or had he?

Zub stood cautiously, senses tingling. He felt dizzy. So dizzy.


“Enel!”

As he lay on his back, someone shook him so hard that his arms flopped. Alarmed, he swung up his phaser, but a big hand knocked it away.

“Breathe!” B’Rala’s deep voice, slightly distorted. He reached for something pressing on his face, but she pinned his wrist. “Don’t claw at it. It’s a rebreather!”

Enel took a rich breath of air. Lit dimly, B’Rala had a broad, gap-toothed face only a Klingon could love. A clear rebreather had molded itself around her nose and mouth.

She sat back on her heels. “All that phaser fire set off the alarms. Half of Security is probably converging on you. Where’s the shooter?”

Enel felt tremors as he started to come down off adrenaline. “He lives to shoot another day.”

Despite their difference in rank, B’rala didn’t hide her disgust at him not making an arrest. She looked around. “Great place to hide stuff. This machinery will kill anyone poking around in it. Maybe your fugitive left without whatever they came for. I’ll just do a quick scan.”

B’Rala brought up her tricorder and scowled at it as she moved it left and right. She rose to her feet as she continued her scanning.

Her tricorder pinged. “Okay! Cloaked object. Small. High up. It's near some open ducting back there.” She pointed off into the gloom. “Be right back.”

She came back grinning behind the clear rebreather. Her big palms balanced an oblong, boxy object about the size of a high-powered phaser.

He had gotten to his feet by then. “Is it a hidden weapon? A cloaked bomb?”

She shrugged. “No signs of beam generation or explosives. To the tricorder, this thing appears to be some kind of tool.”

He took hold of the heavy object. As he felt around blindly on it through its cloak, the cloaking field collapsed with a faint whir. The object had a place for a humanoid hand to grip. When he gripped that part, part of the object rested on his wrist. Some more of it pointed forward.

Not at all sure what its function was, especially since he was holding an unknown device like an operator would, he took it from his hand. “Let’s get it into some decent light.”

In the brightly lit corridor, he could see that the thing was well-made, metallic, and had glyphs on it.

Hovering at his shoulder, B’Rala stated, “Those glyphs looked vaguely like Romulan to me.”

Zub touched his combadge only to remember it had been vaporized.

The Klingon touched hers. “B’Rala to Security Center.”

A female voice answered, “Security Centre.”

“Please tell the Commander t’Aegis that Lieutenant Zub Enel and I have a cloaked object with Romulan writing on it. It is not a bomb, but since we don’t know what it is, I am assuming it is not safe to carry through the base to her. Is she available to come here?”

“Standby.”

A squad of Security responding to the phaser fire alert made a noisy approach. B’Rala waved a hand toward them. “Just what I need. While you meet t’Aegis, this squad and I’ll hunt down the shooter.”

She raised her tricorder and waved the squad members to follow her. The hurried clomping of boots faded. The corridor grew quiet and deserted.

Holding the heavy object with one hand, Zub anticipated the arrival of the no-nonsense Security Chief. He straightened his grease-soiled uniform with the other hand. Not needed in the corridor, he pulled off his oxygen mask and held it at his side. He stood at attention.

---

Rhiana had been waiting for a report from B'Rala ever since the phaser fire had caused an alarm in the security centre. When that report came, she hurried down to the cargo area.

She was not exactly running but walking at a swift pace down the corridor in which Enel was waiting for her. Coming to stand before the security officer, she looked up at him. There was no smile on her face, but also no hatred or anything else. She was being professional and did not waste time with niceties or small talk about the weather.

"What did you find?"

Zub reminded himself it was best to simply offer the commander what she asked for without any precursory information. He was sure the more he spoke, the less she respected him.

“I’m not sure, sir. Perhaps you recognize it.” He held out the device with a three-fingered hand on either end so that the slender, unsmiling officer could take it by the middle.

Rhiana frowned when she looked at and recognised the object in the Voth's hand. She had never seen the actual item before, but she had seen images and holographic models of it.

Knowing what it was used for, she did not immediately take it out of Enel's hand. She was actually somewhat reluctant to do so, but masked this by pretending to study it from a distance. Realising that she could not continue to do that, she eventually reached out to take the object. It felt solid in her hand and well-built. Certainly not a copy. This was the real thing.

"This is a Vidiian organ harvester," she explained to the waiting security officer. She sounded not quite as matter-of-fact as she usually was. It was possible that this object aversely affected the Romulan, despite the fact that everybody knew that Romulans were willing to do the most abominable acts.

Zub stared at the device in her hands, his eyes large with growing horror. “An organ harvester? I suspected these people were smuggling something,g but organs?”

"We are far away from the Delta Quadrant. It may not be used by Vidiians," Rhiana replied, though she really did not want to think about who could potentially be as cruel as to use this other than the creators of this device. "Where did you find this?"

Lt. Enel stopped staring at the ghastly device to look at the Security Chief. He pointed behind him. “Chief Warrant Officer B’Rala found it among the automated cargo handlers in there. Hidden in ductwork. I had tracked one of two cloaked individuals reported by Chief Truman here. It’s not clear if this person was retrieving or hiding this harvester.”

While he described the hiding place, he noticed t’Aegis’ dark eyes had focused through the wall of the cargo handling room, seeming to imagine how the object had been hidden and found. Her gaze rose back to his face, expression neutral.

He stared at the hideous device in her hands. The Vidiians suffered from a degenerative disease called The Phage. Despite their medical brilliance, the disease adapted so quickly that the Vidiians were forced to prolong their lives by replacing failing organs. Their medical skill allowed a recipient’s body to accept any new organ, despite its source. They were a race with a voracious and grisly need.

Zub Enel hesitated, reluctant to open an avenue of conversation that could make him look inept to his boss. Her left eyebrow rose in question. Clearly, she’d noticed his pensiveness.

He said, “Sir, that cloaked person eluded my attempt to capture. Officer B’Rala commandeered the Security detail that had responded to the phaser fire alert. They are searching for the individual now.”

Rhiana nodded at that. She did not appear unhappy by that revelation. But then, she knew that B'Rala was highly reliable. Unlike others. "Did you or B'Rala check the remainder of the cargo area for more hidden devices?"

Enel put his hand where his tricorder usually hung. Had hung. Vaporized in the fight. "I am not certain, sir. Officer B’Rala retrieved this device as soon as she located it. I doubt she finished her scanning."

Feeling very Junior Grade, the Lieutenant’s little feathers prickled under his scales. “I lost my tricorder in the firefight, sir. I went unconscious due to oxygen deprivation. B’Rala did the search while I was recovering. I will procure another tricorder and finish the scan.”

Rhiana nodded again. She did not appear surprised by the Voth's explanation. Her expectation of him was likely not very high. "Fetch a breather and a tricorder. I will wait for you here." Almost as an afterthought, she held the Vidiian device for him to take. "Bring this to the security centre where it is to be secured until my return."

---

Being 7 feet tall, Zub Enel swept out a huge 5-foot stride. He felt swelling pride as he covered the relatively long distance to the security center in short order. Still, he smarted from so many disapproving looks from the people he loomed up on and zoomed past. He didn’t have time to explain to them he was on a mission for the Security Chief.

At the Centre, he felt shocked and dismayed. The security staff’s reaction to the Vidiian Organ Harvester was muted. It was treated like an object to catalogue and store away, and not like one of revulsion and horror.

He puzzled this as he checked out another tricorder and strode back to Security Chief t’Aegis. He held out the new tricorder and his rebreather. “Ready, sir."

Rhiana barely glanced at the items. Having seen him arrive, she had already put away a PADD she had been working on, put on her own rebreather, and was now drawing her phaser and her tricorder out of their holsters at her belt. "Show me exactly where the Chief Warrant Officer found the harvester.”

Zub Enel activated the illuminator on his tricorder. A bright blue-white beam issued forth in a tight cone to reflect off the corridor wall. He slipped on his rebreather. Following the Chief Security officer’s example, he took a moment to verify his phaser was on Stun. He led the way back into the cargo handling room.

The gigantic lifters, sorters, and packers stood stationary, shoulder to shoulder, but with many shadowy recesses. Someone might still be hidden there somewhere. The smell of hydrocarbon oils penetrated his rebreather. Wear and tear had shed black dust everywhere. Zub and t’Aegis crossed to the next row via a gap made by a grit-covered belt.

He scanned ahead. After ducking under a huge lifting mechanism and clambering over two more belts, he arrived where Officer B’Rala had found the grisly artifact. He pointed at the top of a hexagonal stack of open ventilation pipes. “It was in the top one, sir. A fairly easy climb. Shall we?”

It was impossible to move without making a sound, and Rhiana had little hope that someone else was still hiding here after the two of them had clambered over the belts and other equipment. But it was not impossible.

She looked up at the ventilation pipes, then at Enel. "You will stay here and cover me." She made sure that her tricorder and phaser were secured in their holsters, then made her way up the ventilation pipes. It was a good hiding spot, she had to concede that.

Enel watched the Security Chief, trim and athletic, climb the six ventilation pipes with the ease of an arachnid. No sound came from her ascent. It occurred to him that she was being cautious about giving away her position.

He lowered his tricorder illumination off of her so she wasn’t free-climbing in a spotlight. The feathers under his scales prickled. He felt a sudden chill. He remembered that Security Master at Arms B’Rala had stopped scanning the machine area once she spotted the organ harvester. Half the room had been left unexplored.

He doused his tricorder light so he could scan without being tracked. He swept the remainder of the room. Outlines of row upon row of cargo handling machines, cables, and belts. No life signs. He clicked a setting or two to scan for all known cloaking techniques, mechanical or organic. He scanned again.

Partially blocked by the edges of equipment, glimmering like a ghost, a humanoid form was crouched nearby. There was the power signature of a phaser.

Enel’s deep voice rang out. “You there! Freeze or I will shoot.”

The figure didn’t freeze. It turned and headed away furtively from Zub Enel.

Zub recalled how trigger-happy the previous suspect had been. Guessing this new one was the same ilk, Zub opted to be less directly confrontational. He panned his tricorder, tracking the suspect’s retreat.

It revealed a pattern in the rows of cargo handlers. A massive cargo bin lifter next to a boxy unpacker next to a short stretch of horizontal belt that lead into another boxy packager: fork, box, belt, box. The set repeated. The suspect’s glimmering tricorder image vaulted over a belt and further back in the room.

Zub also remembered that the first perp had escaped via a door. Zub stood to take a better scan of the walls obscured by machinery. There was a door in the direction the new suspect was hurrying. Enel moved quickly to intercept him.

The suspect was silent. Zub worried the tricorder screen was lighting his face. He took one last look at the layout of machines before he shut off the tricorder. He’d have to hunt in the dark. At least they were moving away from the Security Chief’s position in the ventilator pipe.

From up ahead in the gloom came a ringing like a metal tool bouncing on the deck. Zub angled toward it, thinking the suspect had dislodged it. He pulled his phaser and held out his other hand ahead as he used his memory to navigate. He just needed to get to the door first. His boot hit the tool and sent it clanging off the metal machine skirting.

Knowing he’d given his position away, Zub dove. He winced from landing chest-first on the tool, some sort of spanner. A phaser beam angled above his back and head crest. The suspect had a disturbingly good aim.

Zub grasped the spanner. He heaved it end-over-end at the spot the shot had come from. There was a loud clang as it struck something solid and metallic. It pinged repeatedly on the deck again. Zub knew he’d made far more noise than necessary. He couldn’t hear over it.

He crouched and headed again, one arm out, toward the unseen exit door.

A commotion exploded from behind him. There was a flash of light as a far-away door opened and slammed. He heard B’Rala's deep voice cursing in Klingon. He heard running boots. He guessed she’d chased the first perp back to the cargo handling room. Now there were two gun-happy suspects.

Zub refocused on moving forward. His hand brushed a flat metal wall. Remembering the layout, he followed it. The door the second suspect was heading toward was near the end of this set of machines.

The far-away door flew open again. B’Rala’s shape charged through loud and coarse. In that flash, Zub saw ahead a Ferengi by the second exit door, on one knee, bringing his phaser to bear on Zub. In utter darkness again, Enel realized only then he’d been silhouetted by the flash of light. He fired his phaser. The difference between the hand speed of a Voth and a Ferengi made all the difference. The Ferengi was hit as he fired. He glowed blue, spasmed in pain, and put his beam into the metal over Zub’s head. Zub heard the shooter flop, stunned. A phaser clattered. Zub gave a loud exhale. One down.

Rhiana had been watching part of the events unfold beneath her. She had missed the beginning since she was investigating the interior of the top-most pipe. But she had seen the - in her opinion - important parts. Now she was crawling along the top-most pipe and doing her best not to make too much noise. Though with the arrival of B'Rala, she did not need to worry. The Klingon was an excellent security officer, but her steps were far from light.

The rest of B'Rala's security team arrived as well, adding to the noise and commotion. It was impossible to separate that noise from whatever the remaining criminal was making.

Crouching low next to the pipe, Rhiana briefly pondered their options. Given the number of security personnel in here, there were not that many.

"Computer, light, gradual increase in illumination until seventy percent," she ordered quietly, hoping that the slow increase would not blind her team immediately. Unfortunately, it also allowed the criminal to get used to the light, but that could not be helped. At least it would make it easier to find them and not fire at each other in the process.

Zub Enel confiscated the stunned perp’s weapon. B’Rala bellowed from somewhere, “Cover the exits! Sound off when you have!”

A male security guard vaulted across a nearby belt. He aimed at Zub for a moment.

The guard yelled, “Exit secure!”

A distant female called “Secure!”

B’Rala yelled, “Listen, you. There’s no escape. We have 8 phasers. Be smart and give up. I promise not to kill you.”

Zub brought up his tricorder. It located the perp one row away, crouched and armed.

B’Rala silently slipped into Zub’s row. Zub pointed. B’Rala yelled, “Time’s up. I’ll count to 3….”

“Don’t shoot!” a male shouted.

“Drop your weapon. Now!”

Zub scanned, nodded confirmation.

B’Rala inched toward the connecting belt to that row. She yelled, “You move, you’re vapor.”

“Please don’t shoot.”

The Klingon yelled, “Lie face down!” She looked at Zub for verification. Zub nodded. She signaled Enel to approach her.

Zub and B’Rala crossed the belt together. A Ferengi in expensive clothing lay spread-eagled on the deck. He said pleadingly, “Please.”

“Shut up!” B’Rala bellowed. She crushed her knee into his back while Enel bound his wrists.

Smiling proudly, she and Zub hauled the suspect upright.

While B'Rala and Zub were taking care of the Ferengi, Rhiana had climbed down from the pipes and instructed another security guard to secure the unconscious criminal.

"Take both of them to the brig, Chief Warrant Officer," she ordered, looking at B'Rala. "We will interrogate them shortly. Lieutenant," she continued and looked at Enel, "You will supervise the thorough search of this area. Report to me once you are done."

“Aye, sir,” Zub said, ever so briefly holding the Security Chief’s gaze. He looked at the remaining Security squad. He said in a more commanding tone, “Alright. Nothing gets past us this time. Let’s get more light in here and search every square meter of this place."

[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis
Second Officer / Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Lieutenant JG Zub Enel
Security Investigations Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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