NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by stitch626 »

After sixty-nine hours of repairs, Darwin was exhausted. Most of the ship was back in working order, and the few minor problems were being handled by the science and tactical staff. Even the MACOs were put to work by Fulton; who knew that soldiers could be makeshift engineers.
Darwin reached his room; the door seemed to open slower than normal. As Darwin enter the room, the door began to close, jerking to a stop every six inches.
"Well, not everything is working right. I'll get to that tomorrow."
Darin looked over at Shravak, whom had gotten off three hours earlier. He was sound asleep.
Darwin opened his bag. "Hey furry, where'd you go?"
Looking around, he stopped at the still closing door.
"Oh no!" he exclaimed. Darwin rushed out of the door, which didn't open quite fast enough.

Running along the deck, Darwin's mind was racing.
"He couldn't have gotten off this deck; he can't operate the turbolifts. And someone would have noticed a small ball of fur, right? Unless they were too busy... everyone has been running around trying to fix this bucket of bolts. Maybe I should..."
The turbolift opened up, and Fulton walked out.
"Darwin, I thought I told you to get some sleep."
"Uh yes... sir, I just misplaced something, sir."
Fulton sighed. "Darwin, I'm off duty. Don't call me sir." He added, "Hurry up and find what you're looking for, I'll need you tomorrow for more modifications on the torpedoes."
Darwin rushed into the turbolift. "Yes si... commander."
As the doors closed, Fulton just smiled and shook his head.

Darwin entered the bridge and was greeted by the night shift.
"Excuse me, I need to check the internal sensors." he said to the officer in charge.
Getting a nod, Darwin walked to the sensors. He entered in the bioscan of his tribble. A few seconds later, the result came up. "In the mess hall?" Darwin thought.
Excusing himself, Darwin reentered the turbolift.

He entered the mess hall and walked over to the chef, who was amazingly still on duty.
"Hey Max, have you seen a brown ball of fur scurrying around here?"
Max looked at Darwin with a smile. "You mean this thing. Yeah, I figured he was someone's pet. Here you go."
Darwin graciously took the tribble. "Thank you so much! The stupid door to my room is having difficulty closing."
Max just smiled and continued cooking for the few crewmen who remained. Darwin headed back to his room, the tribble in his arms.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mark »

Nelson was somewhere between amused and annoyed. He and three of his MACOs had been accosted in the briefing room during reviews by the single surliest man Everett had ever met. This Commander Fulton stolled into the room with an irritated expression on his face and looked at the MACOs as if they had somehow been negligent in their duties.

"Can I help you, Sir?" Lt. Nelson asked polietly.

"I don't know if I'd go so far as say you can help me, but you COULD be a little less useless" Fulton replied.

The other three MACOs who were more familiar with Fulton all surpressed grins at the dumbfounded look on the new MACO commanders face, having served onboard Buran longer that Nelson.

With a complete look of bafflement, Nelson said "Excuse me?"

Fulton replied with a bark, "If I COULD excuse you, believe me, I would. Having untraied people messing with my ships systems in an invitation to disaster. But we're just too short handed. So, lend a hand."

Nelson had to remind himself this was a senior officer addressing him, and not some snot nosed ensign who wanted to try out his new rank. Drawing a breath, Nelson replied, "Not a problem, Commander. How can my men and I help?"

With an evil smile, Fulton pulled out a data pad, and tossed it to Nelson. "Well, since your volunteering................"

Everett's eyes got wider as he kept scolling down, and down, and down, and down. Looking to his left, he said "Corporal, go grab Top. Tell him to round up all our duty personel."

Looking at Fulton he continued, "This could take a while."

Fulton nodded as he left, "Try not to break anything else while your at it, will ya?"
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Reliant121 »

"Hmmm....Romulan base you say? Mork, any ideas?" Trellek said gruffly, chucking an empty bottle of some liquid, almost assuredly alcoholic, at the portly Tellerite behind him. it struck Mork, and dragged him unceremoniously from his alcohol fed slumber. The creature muttered a phrase somewaht akin to "whaaaaaaaaaaa" before opening his eyes. Trellek repeated the question for him.

"We....I mean....I and my previous partner....have a contact on a trading station on "Diipaxa Minor". A weapons dealer by trade, but he dealt in information from time to time....if anyone...it'd be him..." Mork replied, grunting every so often as his eyes struggled to remain open. Eventually, they failed and he returned to his slumped position, submitting to his drunken sleep.

"Well...there you go, hu-mans. I will transmit the coordinates," Trellek finished, before abruptly cutting the channel. The coordinates came in merely moments later. A weeks journey away at least, which gave plenty of time to prepare. They would need all the informative support possible. After all, coordinates were not the only thing to finding the informant. They'd need to negotiate the trading facility. Which could be prove a challenge indeed.

"Set course for Diipaxa minor, Maximum sustainable warp. T'Varaan....care to join me in my ready room? I am going to need your assistance on this." She ordered cheerily, before retreating into her private room.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mikey »

"Now let me tell YOU something about MY sphere of influence, sir," Nelson said, having had his fill of what seemed like Fulton being just another incompetent martinet. "I find it hard to believe that that thing is standard engineering kit," he said, indicating the pistol on Harvey's belt.

Fulton looked at Nelson, bemused, and answered, "You're right. But it's gonna be standard for me as long as we're rubbing elbows with who-knows-what kind of aliens. Now, two things about me: first, I don't go for all that spit-and-polish crap - my name is Harvey, not 'sir.' Second, if I tell you what to do, it's because I think you can do it right and because it needs to get done."

"Sir?" Nelson said, considering the fact that he might have been wrong about the engineer.

"Holy hopping snot, puppy! Try and keep up. If I need hands to help with weapons, who better to ask than soldiers?"

"I see, sir," answered Nelson, still standing at attention.

"Good. You know, working with me can have advantages... follow me. I have something to show you." Harvey led the lieutenant down the corridors in silence for a few minutes, then spoke up again as they approached the practice range. "You see, I'm a researcher and designer more than the glorified maintenance techs that pass for chief engineers." Entering the range, Harvey pulled something from a wall console and displayed it to Nelson. "This look familiar?"

"Of course. That's a standard MACO rifle... with a bunch of weird crap stuck on the barrel."

Harvey grinned and winked, and called up three targets arranged shoulder to shoulder. "Just check out my weird crap," he said, then thumbed a toggle on the barrel and fired a conical barrage that impacted all three targets. "I rigged it for your late predecessor."

Nelson quickly covered his stare and nonchalantly said, "Interesting. I wonder if you could rig a standard rifle to emit bolts like that at a sustained high rate of fire..."

"Sure I could," Harvey answered, his gaze growing distant. "I'd need some higher-tolerance materials than we have, though."

"Perhaps the trading post we're approaching?"

Harvey's focus returned and he grinned again. "Guess I'd better figure out my shopping list, then."
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mark »

USS Buran - Ships Gym

Nelson walked into the gym to find the MACOs already standing at ease. First Sergeant Monroe immediately barked "Atten-tion", and the MACOs all as one snapped to.

"At ease" Nelson ordered, and all of the MACOs resumed their former posture. He then continued, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are bound for a trading facility called Diipaxa Minor. It is an independently owned and operated outpost, with no direct affiliation to the Coalition, and therefore, must considered to have a potentially moderate threat level. We will be working in conjunction with ship's security on the surface. Our mission will be to safeguard the ship's officers while they are on the surface, each carrying out one of several independent missions, ranging from recon to intel to re-supply. Due to the nature of this mission, we will NOT be carrying our standard gear. We will be armed with pistols and stun batons ONLY. I want every man and woman here to log a minimum of five hours of pistol practice before we arrive. Assignments will be handed out after we arrive in system."

He then paused to look around, "Any questions?"

Nobody responded, much less twitched. Everett took a deep breath and continued, "I understand how you're last CO operated, and I have a deep respect for her and the ultimate sacrifice she made, but I do not want a bunch of drones! I'll ask again. Any questions?"

Corporal Hicks asked, "Sir, why the weapon restrictions?"

Nelson answered, "We don't want to intimidate the natives. A show of force may be required, but the Captain doesn't want to take that approach, at least not right out of the gate, and frankly, neither do I."

Hicks nodded thoughtfully, "Understood, SIR!"

"Anyone else?", Nelson asked, and when all he heard was silence, he said "Outstanding. This will be our first official mission for this ship, and we WILL distinguish ourselves. PLATOON, ATTEN-TION."

Again, everyone snapped to the position, Nelson included, he then announced in a parade field voice, "DISMISSED".
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

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Normally, Darwin would not be eating breakfast in the mess hall. However, the entire engineering staff was getting a break. Fulton had told them all to take time coming onto their shifts. So Darwin was enjoying his breakfast for the first time since the academy.
Just as he had finished his pancakes, Darwin noticed Fulton walking towards him.
"Darwin. Glad to see you eating here. I'm sure by now you've heard about our next destination..."
"Yes s... uh, Harvey. Diipaxa Minor; some sort of trading station."
Fulton nodded. "Yes. When we get there, you and Sparky are going down."
Darwin was slightly confused. "Um, why would we be going down? I don't think I'm qualified for any sort of diplomatic..."
"Not diplomatic. You two are assisting me in some shopping."
Darwin almost coughed up his coffee. "Shopping sir?"
"I need some parts. We used a lot of equipment and spares while repairing the ship. I don't want to be caught without enough backups. And before you begin to worry, you will have a MACO with you. Here's what I need you to find."
Fulton handed Darwin a data pad.
"I've already informed Sparky. You'll be going down after the Captain says its clear. 'Till then, business as usual."
Fulton got up and walked over to get his own breakfast while Darwin headed off to his shift.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Nickswitz »

Crewman Westman still not completely familiar with the ship, now learned that by were about to leave to go to a trading post.
"I wonder what this post has to offer?" Westman said excitedly
The crewman he was speaking to was not nearly as impressed as Westman was "It's just an outpost, there probably isn't much good there, it isn't like a shoreleave or anything"
"No, but there's so many different cultures and species, we'll be able to learn so much"
"So far all I've heard about it is that there are some cheap stuff there, but where isn't there"
The crewman walked away as if he had just been punched in the gut, Westman stood there and wondered what he might be able to scrounge together. "I could get an artificial transducer to speed up the relay buffers, and some artificial silicon-steel bicarbon wiring for better conductivity without reducing the capacity of the buffers, that could potentially double the...". He began to trail off as he thought of the possibilities.
Then he realized that be would have to get permission from the commander in order to get anything
"Well, I'm not really part of the crew, so do I really have to..., no, I'll just make sure everything is legal and fair, what will I trade though, there's some parts in the cargo hold that I'm sure no one will even notice are gone, so, I'll increase the capacitors so they can work at optimum transfer rates, and then we won't have any more data transmission problems, I'll also boost the transport emitters a tad, then they'll be able to hold more data and still hold I in the buffers, brilliant, I'll work on the plans tonight, then we'll be so much better than any ship in the fleet!"
He then begins to walk towards his cabin like a child that just got a new toy, he began work on his designs immediatly. Once he got started, nothing could stop him.
The world ended

"Insanity -- a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world" - R.D.Lang
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mikey »

"You've got to be joking." Captain Chinatsu was staring at Fulton, and her expression certainly didn't look like she'd heard a joke. "You want to take two of your men, with a MACO escort each, to the post for a... shopping spree?"

"Of course I'm not joking!" Fulton exclaimed. "I'm working on something for Nelson that requires better materials than we have. Plus, I'm always looking for ways to keep this tub from being the main attraction at a Romulan turkey shoot - that's not going to happen by sitting and staring at the same stuff we've already got. I've already upgraded our capabilities to the limit of our technology."

Chinatsu swiveled her chair to follow the pacing of the chief engineer. "Still, Mr. Fulton-"

"Mr. Fulton was my father," Harvey snapped. "Unless you're busting me down to ensign, you can call me 'Harvey.'"

The captain gave Harvey a sidelong glance. "Still, a request like this is rather out of the ordinary. Our main goal here is finding information about the Romulans."

"And my goal is to have us as prepared as possible when we find them."

Seeing that Fulton was in earnest, Chinatsu relented. "Okay. But the MACO's are not your errand boys. And I want a complete list of disposable stores and supplies, and anything else that can be used for trade."

Harvey grumbled a barely-intelligible thanks as he stalked off to compile a list of the extra spare parts they had taken on at the Vulcan station. He punched an intercom panel on the way to the cargo bay and barked, "Shravak! After we make orbit, start running the warp core in an ascending output pattern - I want the tap and intake monitors recalibrated, and the manifolds blown out. While you're at it, capture the excess plasma in magnetic bottles... I have a feeling that spare self-sealing stem bolts aren't going to get us what we need."
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mark »

USS Buran - Captain's Ready Room

"Mr. Nelson," Captain Chinatsu said, "We'll be arriving at our destination in a matter of hours. Lieutenant Federov has informed me that the two of you have reached an accommodation as to the disposition of forces for landing party security?"

"That we have, Captain." Nelson replied, as usual, standing ramrod straight.

"Excellent." The Captain said, "To be perfectly honest, I had some concerns about the tensions between Security and the MACOs that has developed on many of the other ships. I understand things actually came to blows aboard the Enterprise. When I met your predecessor for the first time, I feared I may have a similar headache." Gesturing at his military posture, she said "And please, stand at ease."

"Federov and I are both professionals, Captain." Nelson responded, assuming a stance of parade rest, "Above all else, we believe in the success of the mission. A couple of my privates and his ensigns were sprouting the usual nonsense, but we squared that away PDQ. We've come to the agreement that if it's on the ground, it's a MACO matter, but if it's aboard this ship, it's his barbeque."

Nodding, Chinatsu asked then, "So, how will you deploy your forces?"

Nelson pulled out a data padd and passed it to the Captain, "At the moment, I'm aware of three landing parties. Max and one of his helpers are going down, I've been informed. I've assigned Corporal Hicks and Private Steel as his escorts. Commander Fulton is bringing down some of his boys as well. At the moment, I've assigned First Sergeant Monroe and Private Hudson to the engineering crew, but he may need a second team depending on how many of his people he's bringing down, and if they plan on splitting up. I'm still unclear about that, because the number keeps changing. Anyway, I have Corporal Tanner and Private Beach on standby. "

"I'll get you a final count before we reach orbit" the Captain replied with a smile, knowing full well how Harvey could be.

"Last but not least Ma'am," Nelson went on, "for YOUR team, Lt. Federov and I will be your escorts."

At that the Captain raised an eyebrow, "I thought you just said that if it's on the ground it's a MACO matter."

With a grin, Nelson shifted the ever present cigar in his mouth and said, "It is. But you can't hardly expect a ships Security Chief to leave his Captain's safety in somebody else's hands."

"Well Lieutenant, if I have Federov, then why do I have you as well?" Chinatsu asked.

With an innocent look, Nelson replied, "You can't hardly expect the Commanding Officer of the Buran's MACO detachment to leave his Captain's safety in the hands of her Security Chief? Especially on the ground, where it's my responsibility, can you?"

With a laugh, Captain Chinatsu replied, "I'm not even going to TRY and follow that logic, Lieutenant. Dismissed."

Again snapping to attention, Nelson replied "Aye Captain" before executing an about-face and heading out the door.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Reliant121 »

"Drop from warp, engage impulse engines," Chinatsu ordered.

The ship jolted ever so slightly as it dropped from faster than light velocity, hinting at the slight possibility of a stabilizer misalignment somewhere in the bowels of the ship. Chinatsu chuckled to herself, knowing very well that the engineer had far more important things to cope with, like dealing with the flow of the warp drive.

"I am detecting a large orbital facility, as well as...22 vessels in orbit, mostly unarmed or lightly armed civilian traders. Notably, there does appear to be a much larger Tellerite bulk freighter with more comprehensive armament. Still not a match for ours," Federov said as the Buran approached. On the screen, the large metallic white station loomed before them, buzzing with activity as shuttle craft and transport ships came and went from the various ports. On closer inspection, it was merely a large formation of docking rings for large craft. Most were occupied, but a few were still open.

A synthetic beeping sound drew the attention of the bridge crew. Maddox glanced down at his panel, before notifying that the signal was coming from the station. Chinatsu nodded, opening an audio only channel.

"This is B'ohkama orbital docking facility to unidentified Starfleet ship, please state your intentions," Came the gruff voice over the comm. Strangely, he sounded very official and business-like, something that Chinatsu did not expect from a neutral trading station.

"This is the starship Buran, Captain Chinatsu in command. We are here on information business with a resident of the facility. We are requesting entry to the trading facility." A moment or two remained silent, as the comms technician checked with the command staff of the facility below.

"Affirmative, Buran you are cleared to dock. Once you near a certain threshold near the docking port, the automation systems will kick in. Auxiliary craft are provided, do you require them?"

"No, thankyou. moving to docking port now. Buran out."

Minutes later, the mooring tendril connected with the ship, latching onto the hull.

"Time to get us our informant," Chinatsu said, smiling sinisterly at T'varaan, who merely raised an eyebrow in that quizzical manner so characteristic of her kind.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mikey »

Harvey stalked back onto the bridge and handed Captain Chinatsu a report, his head cocked as if he had been listening to something as the ship dropped from warp speed. "Here," he said brusquely, clearly annoyed at having had to compile the list which he obviously thought someone else should have done. "Don't worry, I have my own copy."

"For what exactly are you looking, lieutenant commander?" T'Varaan asked.

Harvey shrugged nonchalantly. "I'll know it when I see it."

"Humans," murmured T'Varaan, somehow conveying exasperation without betraying any actual emotion.

Harvey gave the Vulcan a sidelong glance, then shrugged again and turned back to the captain. "Anyway, we're going to be down to two teams: Darwin and Sparky with their escort, and myself. We'll leave in one hour, which should give us ten hours before nightfall." Fulton made for the door, then stopped and turned as Chinatsu answered.

"Actually," she said, "an hour is fine, as I'll be leaving first. But you'll have eight hours, and your teams will check in every two." Fulton began to protest, but Chinatsu's expression made him pause. She continued, "I'm curious, lieutenant commander, why you wanted to wait an hour?"

"I want to take a look at the sublight stabilizers. They sound like they're out of alignment." Captain Chinatsu suppressed a chuckle as Harvey left the bridge.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Monroe »

Monroe walked in civilian clothes behind Harvey with Hudson trailing behind him through the crowded market place. Wares of all style and configeration were being sold around him. Monroe noted that most the alien species wore skin tight clothes. He wondered if there was some correlation between skin tight clothes and an advance warp society that humans hadn't crossed yet.

"Top what are those?" Private Hudson asked pointing to a rack of a strange curved bladed weapon.

"Klingon swords. Very ill designed." Monroe replied turning his head towards the shop. "Seems very impractical to me."

Hudson nodded, "My thinking too. So what do you think of the new LT?"

"Well it sure beats having your balls busted for the worse of reasons. Our former CO is lucky she's dead. I was actually filing paper work to bring in the UCMJ on her for her abuse of you jarheads."

"Well so far our LT hasn't beaten us for no good reason."

"Will you two cease your yapping." Harvey complained from in front, "I think I've found what we're looking for." Fulton walked up to a stall selling power couplings. "Now to see how they compare to Federation ones."

A strange creature with a vaguely squarish head and four eyes looked up at Fulton. "Zip'thra Muv." It said in a greeting.

"Oh for the love of... why won't these universal translators work for once? How am I suppose to understand this squareheaded lout like this?" Fulton asked throwing his arms into the air.

"Actually I can understand you perfectly I was speaking my name!" The creature yelled insulted, "How dare you come into my shop and insult me in the manner of our ancient enemies!" It yelled louder and pulled out an automatic slugthrower, "I challenge you to honorable combat!" Monroe jumped on Fulton to push him behind a pillar as the alien opened fire.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mark »

Shuttlepod One

Nelson sat back nervously checking the fastenings on his harness again. The ride to the facility had been bumpier than anyone had expected, and the Captain had selected a junior officer, a relief helmsman from Gamma watch to ferry them all over.

Federov looked over at Nelson with a bit of confusion "Are you ok?"

"Fine" was the one word answer.

"Are you sure?" Federov asked again, "Because you look like hell."

"If you must know" Nelson growled, "I'm not a huge fan of flying."

Federov looked a Nelson with an expression of disbelief. "My god, man. Didn't you KNOW that there would be flying in Starfleet?"

Nelson narrowed his eyes at Federov, "I didn't JOIN Starfleet, Lieutenant."

"Are you telling me that you're afraid to fly?" Federov pressed, trying very hard to keep his mirth suppressed.

"Absolutely not!" Nelson insisted. "I'm fine on the Buran. It's just these smaller ships that I don't much care for. They seem so ..flimsy."

From the front of the cabin, T'varaan asked "Would you have preferred to have taken the transporter then, Lieutenant?"

Nelson, still not sure what to make of the Vulcan or why the Captain had decided at the last minute in include her in the landing party replied, "Ma'am, I'll do whatever I have to do, by whatever means I must, to complete my mission. The recruiter never said that I had to like it. It's just that I'd expected we could use the docking ramp is all."

With a laugh, Captain Chinatsu said "Lieutenant Nelson, you may be the very first MACO to admit to being afraid of anything. And besides, for getting to the quarter we need to get to, a shuttlepod is much, much quicker than trooping through the ENTIRE complex."

"I never said I was afraid, Captain." Nelson replied "But I know a lot of MACOs who we had to plant in the ground because they didn't have enough sense to be ..cautious."

"We're making our final approach now, Captain." The pilot announced.

The small shuttle swooped over the landing area gracefully and began a gentle decent. Nelson began to revise his opinion of the kid until, at the last minute they hit the landing pad with a resounding THWACK, tossing gear around the cabin and jolting the passengers against they're safety restraints.

"Um, touchdown." The young pilot announced.

Giving the young man a look that spoke eloquently of death, Nelson began, "Everyone, double check your gear after that little bump. Sidearms included. Federov will stay with the Captain, and our Vulcan attache. I'll take point, five meters out front, to keep on eye on things."

Captain Chinatsu announced, after checking her own gear, that it was time to go. With a hiss the hatch popped open, and Nelson led the way out. After the rest of the party was on the ground, Nelson began to head towards the Promenade, when he noticed what seemed to be a half dozen or so Vulcans in evidence down the way. Some odd looking ones too.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by stitch626 »

Darwin picked trough the clutter at one of the many stands spread throughout the station. It had been three hours since he and Sparky, alone with their MACO escorts, had left the ship, and only now were they beginning to scratch the surface of the "shopping list".
Unfortunately, finding the needed items under all the junk was very difficult, compounded by the problems they were having with the universal translators.
"Hey Sparky, how much do we still have to find?" Darwin asked.
Sparky looked up from the mess in front of them. "Well, we found some wiring and some parts for the plasma injectors, though no idea if they will be useful. Other than that, we got nothin'."
Darwin sighed. "Well, this turned out to be a waste of time."
"That isn't true. We got to hang out with two of the MACO's. I never knew a person could stand at attention for so long." Sparky said with a smile.
Darwin turned to one of the alien merchants. "Excuse me; do you have any self-sealing hull patches?"
"Gar tar chaco lam thul." The alien said, pointing to another table.
Darwin shook his head. "Never mind."
The two engineers continued browsing, with the MACO's close behind them.

Two more hours passed by. Both Darwin and Sparky were getting annoyed at the lack of adequate parts available.
As Sparky was haggling with a Tellarite for a lower price on parts for the torpedoes, Darwin's communicator beeped.
"Ensign Darwin here."
"Ensign, glad I could get a hold of you. The communications have been acting up for the past two hours. You and your party need to get back to the ship immediately. There's been an incident."
Darwin hesitated. He knew that the shopping list was important. "What kind of incident."
"Fulton got into a fight with some locals. Not too bad, but the Captain wants nonessential personnel back on the ship for the time being. It shouldn't be too long."
Darwin looked at the Tellarite and Sparky's reddening face. "Alright, we're on our way."
He walked over to the arguing pair. "Hate to break this up, but we've got to get back to the ship."
The two MACO's breathed a sigh of relief as Darwin practically dragged Sparky away from the still shouting Tellarite.
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Re: NX-07 Buran Alpha Mission thread

Post by Mikey »

"Honrable?!" hollered Fulton, from behind the small counter and from under Monroe. "For the love of... whatever you people believe in, how is opening up with a slugthrower supposed to be 'honorable combat?'"

"Poor choice of words," answered Zip'thra. "You walk in here and start insulting me, you don't deserve the traditional rites of honor."

"I didn't think you could understand me," Harvey yelled back over the bark of the alien's pistol.

"That hardly makes a difference," called the alien, who paused firing for a moment to reload.

"Sure as hell does to me," muttered Harvey.

"What?" asked Zip'thra, confused.

Fulton took advantage of the alien's momentary puzzlement to push Monroe off of him and stand up. Monroe instantly sprang to his fight and levelled his rifle at the shopkeeper. Harvey stayed Monroe's trigger finger with a brief gesture and answered the alien, "Listen. I don't have anything against you personally. I don't have anything against your individual species. I'm just most comfortable around my own kind. You are, too, or you wouldn't be citing your own cultural taboos and customs to me. Sure, you may be more cosmopolitan than me, being a businessman in this environment, but we're all basically individual members of our own species. You know as well as I do that the moment I walked in, you thought of at least 15 different nasty things about me based solely on my appearance." The alien looked uncomfortable (as near as Harvey could judge) and Fulton ocntinued, "It's OK. I don't mind - it's natural. But what's more, those nasty things are based on your comparison of my appearance with a baseline. That baseline, for you, is naturally the typical appearance of a member of your own kind. It's no different with me - I'm just not as diplomatic or business-minded as you, enough to keep my comments to myself. So you see, it DOES make a difference whether or not I meant to say that unfortunate remark aloud."

Zip'thra considered carefully for a few moments and said thoughtfully, "Huh?"

"Exactly," answered Fulton quickly. "Now, I'm looking for a crystalline material for collated energy discharge, with high heat tolerance and a evenly-distributed doping agent. Also, if you've got any, a material that can create a long-lasting, high-temperature magnetic field that collapses VERY quickly when unpowered."

The square-headed alien was confused enough by Harvey's blather to fall easily into his natural state - talking business. "For the electromagnetic material, I can't really do any better than a simple ferro-ceramic, but I can get you a sample that's pure enough to have next to no residual charge. For the discharge crystal, I've got just the thing. It's..."

"Great!" Harvey interrupted. I'll take two 0.5 kg samples of the crystal, and 2 kg of the ferro-ceramic. What do you want for them?"

"Hmmm," Zip'thra considered. "I'm on a retainer to supply high-energy, stable plasma..."

Harvey slapped his forehead. "I knew it," he muttered. "How much?"

"Eight decaliters."

"What?!" Harvey feigned surprise. "That's a lot of juice for 3 kg of stock materials. I'll give you three."

"No less than five," answered Zip'thra slowly.

"Done." Fulton's communicator buzzed intermittently, and Monroe tapped him on the shoulder. "I'll be back with five decaliters of warp plasma in two hours."

"Everything will be in order. A pleasure doing business with you," Zip'thra said congenially.

As the MACOs and the engineer hurried to the landing pads, Monroe said, "I still can't believe you talked your way out of that mess, and into a deal no less. How'd you figure you could do it?"

"'Cause he's a stupid block-headed alien, is how," Harvey answered casually.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
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