Weeks had passed and the crew of the disguised Starfleet ship called the USS Adventure continued their covert mission near the Cardassian boarder.  Raids on transports and freighters had increased and R’Tor in the guise of Ranor, a Talarian smuggler, and his crew seek to uncover the reason for the increased activities and the power that is supporting it. Since arriving Ranor had met a few unsavory characters, including several Ferengi, an Antican and most recently a Yridian . 

Captains log Supplemental (Classified – security level Bravo Encrypted)

Operations continue. While we have gained some information about the raids in this area, something bigger is in motion, but we have not been able to discover it. The crew is starting to feel the strain of being on this type of mission, and we will need to resupply the ship soon. Besides, I wouldn’t mind having my own face back. 

R’Tor / Ranor and his crew sat around a small table in a dark corner of a seedy bar. They had expected to meet a contact, but the time had passed by over a standard hour. “Now what!” Russell growled, as he hit the table with his fist, causing all the cups and glasses to jump. “If we continue to chase our tails, we will never accomplish our mission.” The XO complained, as he become more and more agitated over the past few days.

“Calm down” Ranor ordered, “You’ll give us away.” He stated in a hushed by harsh tone. He understood the XO’s analogy but bemoaned the temporary loss of his own tale. “We must play the part we are given and collect the evidence we find.” He gave a piercing look to each one of his crew and held it a bit longer for his first officer. “We have a mission, but I say when it is finished.  Am I understood?”

Each one nodded in a response and the XO thought about it for a moment and then yielded and bowed his head slowly.

“We will wait five more minutes and if the contact has still not arrived, we will finish our drinks and return to the ship.” And once that order was given, the tension fell away.

As a Ferengi server passed by, he dropped a note for Ranor. He looked at it and cursed in his Caitain tongue. “Commander get back to the ship and prepare it for departure, doctor your with me.”  He stood up quickly and addressed his team. “It appears our contact is not coming, but we have been given another job.”

“Where are you going?”  Commander Russell inquired. Ranor gave him a sideways glance. “Docking Bay 3, we are being offered another job.”  The commander looked at him with bewilderment. “Is that wise ?” Ranor gave a shrug.  “No, but we are out of options.”

Docking Bay 3

Shadowy figures gathered in the docking bay.  A few Ferengi , a short Breen and few others, including a Yridianhe recognized as the individual who he was suppose to meet earlier. Ranor approached and growled, “What is the idea?” The Yridian turned and could have sworn that Ranor had fangs. “My apologies …” he stammered a bit, “This will be a profitable…I assure you.”

“It had better be.” As stated as he grabbed the frail man’s arm. “Listen, I am getting tired of do nothing jobs.” Before he could continue, the assembled group was soon joined by a familiar face,  Gul Vissan.  The smug Cardassian looked around and found it difficult to hide his disdain.

Once a proud and powerful people who had joined forces with the Dominion were on the brink of taking over the Alpha Quadrant at one point in time. Their alliance crumbled and the Cardassians were almost wiped out because of it. Who knows what this Gul wants.

His grating voice echoed in the bay. “Apologies too all. Your waiting will not be in vain. 

In fact, if I were standing in your position…well let’s just say, this is one of those rare opportunities.”  Vissan continued with his platitudes, till the gathered group’s attention started to wain. 

He outlined a tactical assault upon a protected transport ship that was filled with, what he described as riches. However, he required the ship to be damaged and not destroyed as it held technology that he required. Each raider was given a PADD with the description of the items required and potential locations. 

“And where will your ship be?”  Ranor spoke up. 

Vissan in his smug response. “Well, due to current tensions in our current political environment it would be ill advised for us to be involved in the beginning of this confrontation.” He extended his arms wide. “But have no fear, we will be nearby should you need assistance.” He smiled with insincerity. 

TRANSPORT RAID

The ship rocked as it received another hit from the defensive systems of the transport.  One ship was damaged, another bugged out, leaving just three ships. Ranor was attempting to play his part, but without hurting any civilians. But this transport ship appeared to be carrying more weapons than a standard vessel of its size. 

“Hard to port.” Ranor ordered. The ship moved with ease out of weapons range. He needed to re-evaluate their strategy, otherwise his ship would begin to take damage. The thin ablative armor had prevented them from taking severe damage. The other ships attempted to hail him immediately, but he chose to ignore them.  

Unlike a Starfleet, he owned no loyalty to these other ships. 

“Sir, what if we send a resonance pulse from the deflector dish to disable the transports engines.” Russell suggested.  Ranor gave a thought and then agreed to the plan. “How long will it take to realine the dish ?” 

“It won’t take long, about five minutes.” Russell answered. 

“Get on it.”  The captain ordered. He then outlined the plan. 

Captain’s log supplemental

Our plan is to disable the transport’s engines. We will then move in and connect using one of our umbilical lines. This will allow us to easily access their computers and deliver Anesthizine gas into their environmental systems. We will then board the ship and retrieve the This will allow us to access the transport un-impeded. We will call off the other raiders.  

Once we have the item and returned to our ship, we will reinitialize the transport’s  engines and send it to coordinates safely out of the range of the remaining raiders. 

By the time he completed his log, another ship had departed the fight. Ranor and his crew put the plan into action and while there were only a few hiccups. They found and identified a distribution manifold with something that looked like a power converter and EPS relay that looked twice as large as anything Ranor had seen.  

The team, with their booty beamed back to the ship. Colt initiated a countdown and moved the ship moved away from the transport. Once they were clear the transport’s engines roared to life and safely disappeared into warp, leaving the remaining raiders behind. 

BACK AT THE BAR

“You ran away.” Ranor argued with the Ferengi. “It…it…was a tactical maneuver.” The stout Ferengi sputtered.  The others around the bar watched this spat unfold and kept an eye out for anyone else who would want to involve themselves.  

The two had been arguing about the raid for the past ten minutes and Ranor did not want to explain himself, because he couldn’t.  He had a mission to accomplish and so far he had seen limited results. 

Ranor snarled and poked the little troll’s chest, “Listen, the next time we go on a raid and you run away, I will make sure you do not return for any profit.”  

This seemed to strike a cord as the Ferengi  hissed and scurried away. Ranor looked around the room seeing if anyone else had an issue with the days events. He noticed the Breen standing stoically in a corner. “You have something to say?” Ranor shouted. A few bar patrons decided to avoid any further conflict and turned their attention to their own drinks and conversations. 

Bel-voraat, his Antican contact walked into the bar and greeted his friend warmly. “Where have you been?” Ranor snapped. “Ahh my friend, not to worry, I have been making some inroads with our patrons.” He grinned. “You have impressed them so much that they wish to meet with you.” He paused, expecting there would be some witty retort. “They wish you to take on even bigger…..opportunities.”

Ranor turned and headed to the door and looked back and Bel-voratt. “Well, lets get out of here, sounds like we have work to do.”